In part two of his report, Bishop Hubbard shares with Catholics of the Albany Diocese the experiences, sights and sounds of his 'ad limina' visit to Vatican City

Every five years, each bishop in the world makes an "ad limina" visit to the Holy See. "Ad limina" means "to the threshold," mainly to the threshold of our Roman Catholic community: the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

The visits to these tombs remind us that, as bishops, we are successors of the Apostles, and, more significantly, that we are in communion with the successor of Peter, who was the first bishop of Rome -- Pope John Paul II.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8

A heavy fog hovered over the city this morning, the first time we have not arisen to the bright rays of the sun. The Roman veterans in our midst predicted that the fog would give way to sunshine by mid-morning, and their prognostication proved to be on target.

There was an air of excitement at the North American College, where I am staying: Later this morning, 11 seminarians will be ordained to the diaconate at the Chair of Peter in St. Peter's Basilica. An alumnus of the College, Bishop Peter Sartain from Little Rock, Arkansas, will be the ordaining prelate.

I understand that about 700 family and friends will be present for the liturgy and the dinner to follow at the College. That's a far cry from my ordination to the diaconate; my classmates and I walked to the Church of Twelve Apostles for our ordination. No one from our families or the College itself was present, except for two faculty members. After the ceremony, as we walked back, the only acknowledgment we received was the applause of the student body at lunch. Different days, different customs!

Migration

The bishops from New York did not attend the diaconate ordination because we had meetings scheduled at the Vatican offices in Trastevere, in my student days one of the poorer sections of Rome, but now very much gentrified.

Our first session was with the Pontifical Council for the Spiritual Care for Migrants and Itinerants, headed by Cardinal Stephen Hamao from Japan. The issue of migration is certainly one faced by each diocese in New York State, especially in metropolitan New York City, where it is estimated that 1,000 Mexicans migrate each week. We in upstate New York are witnessing growing numbers of immigrants, both from Latin America and the Far East, as evidenced by the recent development of apostolates for the Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese and Philippine immigrants to our Diocese (a topic The Evangelist treated recently; search for it at www.evangelist.org).

Issues of immigration

One of the great differences between the immigrations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which were composed mainly of people of European descent, and today's influx from Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa is that ordinarily these new immigrants are not accompanied by their priests and religious.

This has created a great problem in caring for them pastorally. We suggested to the staff of the Congregation that they encourage bishops from the sending countries to form missionary societies to accompany the migrants and to assist them in their initial phases of adjustment to life in the United States -- culturally, socially and spiritually.

While supportive of the concept, Cardinal Hamao and his associates expressed the view that dialogue and agreements between our U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the sending episcopal conferences would be a more effective solution than a mandate from the Holy See.

Integration

There seemed to be a consensus among us that the best way to accommodate immigrants to the United States is to integrate them into existing parishes rather than the previous pattern of establishing national parishes.

In this regard, it was noted that African immigrants, unlike their counterparts from Europe, Asia and South America, tend to identify themselves more by tribe or continent than by nationality.

What is very clear is that the United States continues to be enriched and energized by the waves of immigrants to our shores.

Justice and peace

Our second session was with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. One of our delegation, Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, served on the staff of this Council for nearly 20 years. Cardinal Renato Martino, the Vatican representative to the United Nations from 1987 to 2003, now serves as president of this Council and presided at our meeting.

The breadth and scope of issues that are of interest to this Council are amazing. In the course of our session, we touched upon international debt relief, religious rights and freedom, human trafficking, the formation of military chaplains in accord with humanitarian law, and AIDS treatment. It was noted that 25 percent of those living with AIDS worldwide are being cared for under Catholic auspices.

Cardinal Martino informed us that the long-awaited compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church will be released on October 25. Also, in late October, the Cardinal will sponsor the first World Congress of National Commissions on Justice and Peace, and within several months will be issuing documents on human rights and prisoners, the relationship between peace and liturgy, and on women and development.

Debt relief

The Council has been intensifying its efforts to advocate for debt relief, and recently facilitated a meeting with representatives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on this issue, as well as a meeting with international business leaders on questions of morality, ethics and business.

More specifically, Cardinal Martino prodded us about the approach of the U.S. government relative to the international debt. Thirty-four years ago, the developed nations of the world pledged to commit .07 percent of their national gross product to assist developing nations. To date, only four countries have met that goal. Astonishingly, the U.S. is only at .01 percent.

The Cardinal asked us to encourage our governmental leaders to move aggressively to meet this goal. If we and the other nations so committed would achieve this target, an additional $45 billion would be available annually for assistance to developing nations.

Disarmament

Cardinal Martino also used the occasion of our meeting to prick our conscience about disarmament. We in the United States, for example, are opposed to other nations' developing nuclear arms but are slow to divest ourselves of our own weapons of mass destruction.

Further, the United States is the only nation that failed to accept an international agreement that only governmental entities should be able to sell and trade in small arms, which continue to be the major weapons used in wars throughout the globe. The United States, however, favors a free-trade approach to this issue, which the Vatican and most all other nations believe to be a major public policy failure on our part.

At the conclusion of our meeting, we prayed together: "May we make enemies open to dialogue, bring adversaries to shaking hands and all peoples to meet together in harmony."

Looking for friend

After lunch, I stopped at nearby San Onofrio's, the headquarters for the Atonement Fathers, hoping to see the new Minister General, Father James Puglisi, a native of Amsterdam. He has distinguished himself as a leader in the ecumenical movement worldwide.

In addition to his responsibilities of overseeing the administration of the Atonement Fathers, he conducts the Center for Christian Unity, located in the historic Piazza Navona, and teaches at two Roman universities.

Unfortunately, Father Puglisi was on community business in Assisi; although we were to chat later by phone, our conflicting schedules didn't permit a personal meeting. We can, however, be tremendously proud of the extraordinary contributions a native son of our Diocese is making to fulfill the plea of Jesus "that they all may be one" (an interview with Father Puglisi appeared recently in The Evangelist; visit www.evangelist.org to read it).

Mass together

Later in the afternoon, we bishops assembled at the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls to celebrate Mass at the Tomb of St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Originally constructed in the fourth century over the tomb of Paul, the present Basilica is the fourth church built on this site and is the second largest church in Rome after St. Peter's. This imposing structure is noted for its coffered ceiling and alabaster windows.

Along the walls there are mosaic portraits of popes from St. Peter to John Paul II. There is still room for several more portraits. Legend has it that the end of the world will occur once the last space is filled.

Cardinal Edward Egan of New York City gave an insightful homily based upon Paul's Letter to Philemon and reminded all of us that we must fulfill Paul's exhortation to treat others as our beloved brothers and sisters.

After Mass, a couple from Blessed Sacrament parish in Albany, Ray and Cathy Salatis, came into the sacristy to say hello. They have been staying in Rome for the past week and were surprised to see their bishop concelebrating the liturgy. It was most pleasant to chat with these folks from home and to hear their laudatory comments about their beloved pastor, Father John Bradley.

Get-together

From the Cathedral, we went for a reception at the Villa Strich. This is the residence for American priests serving in the various Vatican Congregations.

Although we encountered many of them on our congregational visits throughout the week, it was pleasant to interact with them in a more informal setting.

These priests render great service to the Holy See and the Universal Church by attending -- mostly in anonymity -- to the wide variety of important responsibilities necessary to enable the Holy Father to fulfill his role as "the rock upon which the Church is built."

Rosary night

Today is the Feast of the Holy Rosary, so several of us capped off the day by visiting the Piazza of Santa Maria in Trastevere, featuring one of the most ancient churches in Rome dedicated to our Blessed Lady.

A large group of young adults was gathered in the piazza for the Rosary and Benediction. As I observed these young people exhibit so publicly their devotion to Our Lady, I was hopeful that this is a harbinger of a renewed understanding on the part of the young and all within the Christian community of the role Mary plays in the history of salvation. As the great spiritual writer Dom Abbott Marmion observed a century ago, "where the mother is left out, the son so often is misunderstood."

Not coincidentally, my favorite restaurant in Rome, Galeassi's, is also located in this piazza, so I felt compelled to verify whether it is living up to its reputation. I am pleased to report it is!

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8

As I was shaving, the phone rang and it was Cindy Wooden from Catholic News Service. She was in the process of interviewing bishops from our New York Province about our impressions concerning the ad limina visit (the article appeared on the front page of the Oct. 14 issue of The Evangelist).

Cindy also shared with me the good news that her colleague, Carol Glatz, a native of our Diocese who interviewed me during the Jubilee pilgrimage to Rome in 2000, had delivered her first-born child earlier in the week; otherwise, she would have been the interviewer.

Laity's role

This morning, we traveled again to Trastevere, this time to meet with Archbishop Rylko and the staff for the Pontifical Council for the Laity. At each of these meetings, one of the bishops has been assigned the task of leading the discussion and posing questions for the Congregation from our group. Today was my turn.

I was able to speak very positively about the development of lay ministries in the United States, and especially about the numbers of lay men and women exercising ministries in the fields of education, catechesis, social services, health care, campus, prison and hospital ministry, and a variety of pastoral and liturgical ministries.

Also, many are involved with parish and diocesan pastoral councils, and in a host of lay movements, like Cursillo and the Charismatic Renewal.

Salt and light

Archbishop Rylko, who is from Poland, was very affirming on the growth of lay ministries in the United States, stressing that such ministries should always be rooted in the baptismal call to holiness. He emphasized further that while forming laity for ministries within the Church, we should avoid the clericalization of the laity and never forget that the primary role of the laity is "to be the salt for the earth and light for the world" to the wider society.

In particular, he expressed great concern about the contemporary tendency, especially in the United States, to separate religion from public life. There is arising, in other words, the privatization of faith. While many call for tolerance and public discourse, there is an intolerance concerning the introduction of religious values and discussion in the public debate. Thus, the Archbishop noted, there is emerging a one-way tolerance and the dismissal of perspectives that are deemed politically incorrect.

Archbishop Rylko asked us to encourage our people to enter public life and to advocate for Christian values in the public forum. We must remember that, as Christians, we will often be like voices crying in the wilderness and a sign of contradiction to the world.

More discussions

The Archbishop and his staff shared with us the preparations underway for World Youth Day, which will take place next summer in Cologne, Germany. The theme for the event will be: "We have come to adore Him," the words spoken at Bethlehem stable by the Three Wise Men, whose reputed relics are enshrined in the Cologne Cathedral.

We also discussed the importance and value of parish, vicariate and diocesan councils wherein the laity are empowered to exercise their call to shared responsibility and collaboration in fulfilling the mission of the Church.

That discussion certainly reinforced a theme that we have been promoting in our Diocese of Albany over the past quarter of a century.

Pope, part two

After our session at the Council for the Laity, we were transported to the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican for a group meeting with our Holy Father.

I am always amazed at the interior of the Apostolic Palace, which, quite frankly, looks rather drab from the outside. But it is filled with exquisite marble hallways, superbly carved ceilings, and priceless paintings, sculptures and pottery.

We passed through at least ten varying-sized audience halls and meeting rooms before arriving at the papal library where our meeting was conducted.

Seating assignment

Prior to admission to the library, Archbishop James Harvey, the prefect for the Papal Household, explained that Cardinal Egan would give a greeting on behalf of our delegation, and the Holy Father would respond briefly and have his address distributed to the group.

What took me by surprise, is that I, as a senior bishop in terms of episcopal ordination, was designated to sit immediately to the left of our Holy Father throughout the session.

I thought His Holiness looked more refreshed than he had at our meeting on Monday and seemed pleased by our presence. Cardinal Egan conveyed our respect, admiration, obedience, loyalty and love, and the Holy Father welcomed us cordially. His written address stressed the responsibility we bishops have to govern the Church, a governance not, however, of "mere administration or the exercise of organizational skill" but as "a means to building up the kingdom of God."

Conference's role

In particular, the Pope addressed the role the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops can and should play in assisting us to exercise our episcopal role of governance.

The Conference, the Holy Father stated, should provide an opportunity for us bishops to come together in "that spirit of cooperation and unanimity of heart that should always characterize the community of disciples."

While not undermining the authority of the diocesan bishop in his own diocese or creating "an intermediate structure between the Apostolic See and the individual bishop," the Pope pointed out that our episcopal conference should assist the bishop "in carrying out his mission in harmony with his brother bishops."

Finally, the Pope praised us for what we have accomplished together through our Conference, particularly in our "statements on life issues, education and peace," and our efforts to address together the pressing pastoral issues that face us in the U.S., "for example, the decline in Mass attendance and recourse to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the threats to marriage, and the religious needs of immigrants."

Parting

Each of us was then presented individually to His Holiness, and he gave every bishop a sterling pectoral cross and imparted to us his apostolic blessing.

As we departed, I know that each of us felt a deep bond of unity with the successor of Peter and with one another, as well as re-energized individually and collectively to fulfill our roles as shepherds and servants of God's people.

Family life

Later in the day, after celebrating Mass at the Immaculata Chapel, we returned to Travestere to meet with the Pontifical Council on the Family.

The prefect, Cardinal Alphonso Lopez Trujillo from Columbia, was attending a conference on the family in Cairo, Egypt, so the meeting was led by his deputy Bishop Romer, who had previously served for 27 years as an auxiliary bishop in Brazil.

Much of the meeting was spent in the presentation of documents on marriage and the family developed by the Council. Our delegation affirmed the importance of these and so many other documents coming from the different Roman dicasteries, but we also pointed out that they would be far more useful in our pastoral work as bishops if we had more input in their development, if there were greater sensitivity to the language employed and if we were in receipt of the documents in a more timely fashion so they we could be better prepared to represent the information cogently rather than reacting to partial snippets taken from news accounts.

Problems to face

One of the most critical issues facing the Church -- both in the United States and worldwide -- is the dramatic decline in family life just within a generation.

For example, only 25 percent of American households consist of a couple and children. In many parishes, Baptisms and funerals far exceed marriages. Cohabitation and divorce have become commonplace, and the traditional definition and understanding of marriage are under assault.

Of course, many couples are living exemplary married lives despite great economic, social and cultural pressures on them. There are also some superb movements to support marriage and family life. But there is no magic wand solution as to how to respond to the breakdown of family life and values.

Harkening back to this mornings session, I believe lay men and women must take a leadership role in helping us in the Church to understand better the contemporary realities of human sexuality, marriage and family life, and how best to communicate this understanding in a way that takes into account both the Christian appreciation of the human person and human relationships, and the challenges of contemporary marriage and family life.

Our day drew to a close with a delightful meal at an outdoor restaurant on the Pio Borgo, just beyond the walls of the Vatican City State.

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9

Today, our last full day in Rome, is the first overcast one we have encountered. This week has passed by so quickly, it hardly seems possible that we are ready to depart.

We have only one session scheduled today, with Cardinal Grocholewski of the Congregation for Catholic Education. This Congregation has oversight of seminarians, Catholic colleges and universities, Catholic grammar and high schools, and the promotion of vocations.

Cardinal Grocholewski stated that the fundamental challenge in seminary formation is to convey clearly -- both theologically and pastorally -- the identity of the priest. His concern is that the priesthood is being considered as just one of many vocations in the Church, and that there is not an adequate understanding of the distinction between the ministerial priesthood and the common priesthood of the laity.

The Cardinal emphasized that the ministerial priesthood should be placed in the service of other vocations, but that the laity must be vigilant in promoting vocations to the ministerial priesthood because they cannot fulfill their vocation without the ministerial priesthood.

Cardinal Grocholewski also spoke about the apostolic visitation of seminaries in the U.S., which will commence next fall. He underscored that this visitation is in response to a request initiated by the United States bishops as part of our "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." Hence, the Congregation is not seeking to act as a policeman, but to offer practical suggestions which might improve the quality of seminary formation. Ultimately, the Cardinal noted, the oversight of seminary education and formation must be the responsibility of the bishops.

Colleges

Finally, Cardinal Grocholewski encouraged us to be proactive in fostering better relationships with the leadership of Catholic universities in the United States, affirming the important role they play in Church and society, and to continue our efforts to promote governmental assistance to our Catholic schools through vehicles like vouchers and tax credits.

It is astonishing to Church officials in Rome that the U.S. is the only democratic nation that refuses to fund and support the choice of parents to have their children educated in faith-based schools.

This session completed our interactions with the Vatican congregations.

Missed changes

There are several other congregations we would have liked to visit but time did not permit. I was disappointed personally that we didn't have the opportunity to meet with Cardinal Walter Kasper of the Congregation for Christian Unity and the president of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with Jews. He is one of the leading theologians in the Church whose insightful writings have impressed me greatly.

Further, the whole area of ecumenism, relations with the Jewish community and interaction with the Church in Russia -- on which Cardinal Kasper has been laboring so diligently and effectively -- is of great interest to me and of major importance for the entire Church.

Regrettably, he had commitments outside of Italy, but we bishops are very supportive of the creative ministry he is exercising on behalf of the Holy See and all of us in the Roman Catholic community.

Shopping time

After our last session, Bishop Matthew Clark of Rochester and I went shopping for some souvenirs. On the way, he stopped at the Vatican post office to mail a few letters. In the realm of "you learn something new every day," he was informed by a postal official that one need not place a stamp on letters addressed either to the Holy Father or the president of Italy.

Since our days together at the North American College, we have been doing business at Lelli-Garey, a religious art store in the Piazza Farnese, operated by a British man and an Italian woman who met and married after the Allies' liberation of Rome. They are people of great integrity and always most accommodating, especially to students and alumni of the North American College.

Adjacent to the Piazza Farnese is Campo Fiori, the Roman market, which sells all sorts of fish, meat, fruits and vegetables. While it still fulfills this traditional function by day, at night the Piazza has become a big drawing card for musicians and fans of heavy metal music -- quite a contrast between the old and the new.

I just love walking the narrow cobbled streets of old Rome with their venerable piazzas, historic churches, restaurants, villas, shops and shrines, pungent smells, festive music, creative parking, and always fascinating native Romani and tourists from every nation under the sun.

Memories

In the late afternoon, I concelebrated Mass in the main chapel of the North American College with the student community. Many of the families and newly ordained deacons were present, and one of them delivered his first homily.

During the liturgy, I was reminded of the folks who came to Rome for my priesthood ordination in December 1963: my mother; my aunt, Loretta Burke; two family friends, Alice and Margaret Brown; Father Ken Doyle, his sister Sally and their parents. All are now deceased -- except, of course, for Father Doyle, who serves so ably as our chancellor for communications and pastor of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Albany.

I recall serving as deacon in this chapel for the midnight Mass at Christmas the week after my priesthood ordination, just before the change in the Mass from Latin to the vernacular. For two years, I also was privileged to serve as master of ceremonies for all the liturgical events held in this chapel.

It is mind-boggling to consider the changes in our celebrations of the Eucharist and the sacraments over the past 40 years. Yet the essence of these rites remains the same.

I offered the Eucharist this afternoon for the victims of clergy sexual abuse and their families, as well as for my brother priests who have been removed from ministry because of this grave scandal.

Arrivederci, Roma

As evening fell, I joined Bishop Clark and Father Joseph Hart, both from the Rochester Diocese, for a walk down the Gianiculum Hill. It was our last night in Rome. The overcast skies had yielded a cooler day but no rain. Thus, it proved to be a perfect evening to enjoy the city.

We wandered through the streets to the Pantheon, the most famous monument from ancient Rome. It was erected by Agrippa in 27 B.C., restored by Domitian after a fire in 80 A.D and rebuilt again by Hadrian, who gave it its present form.

In 1609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated this temple to the Christian faith (St. Mary's of the Martyrs). During the Middle Ages much of the original structure was despoiled as its bronze was melted down for the building of St. Peter's Basilica and the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Celebrating Jesus

We stopped at the Piazza Navona for a light supper at the Tre Scalini. The piazza rises in baroque splendor over the ruins of the Circus of Domitian. Tonight, it was swarming with people, most of whom were young adults gathered for Mass, followed by a sound-and-light show in the form of a pageant celebrating the life of Jesus.

Beautiful hymns sung by the choir to a lively contemporary beat filled the piazza, and all evening long young and old alike filed into the august church of Sant'Agnese, where there was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

This was part of a week-long Eucharistic adoration festival. Even ancient Neptune, whose statue has dominated the piazza for centuries, must have been moved.

As we stopped by Sant'Agnese to pray ourselves, it was edifying to witness the number of people celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to hear the haunting strains of that ancient hymn, "Ubi Caritas et Amor, Deus ibi est" ("where there is charity and love, there is God").

What a glorious way to spend our last evening in Rome, capped off by the specialty of the Tre Scalini, tartufo, and the news emanating from a nearby pub that the Red Sox had won the first round of the division championship. (Is the curse of the Bambino about to be lifted? Stay tuned!)

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10

It was melancholy to hear the bells of St. Peter's Basilica tolling for the last time on our trip. But the toll also served as a reminder of God's constant presence and of the truth that, like the rock upon which the Basilica is founded, the Church will prevail.

Yes, we have experienced a very dark and stormy period in our history, especially in the Church in the United States. But the timelessness of Rome underscores that ours is not the only tempestuous sea upon which the barque of Peter has sailed:

* Peter himself experienced the guilt of his own betrayal, and knew great turmoil and persecution, culminating in his own martyrdom in this very city.

* The early Christians were subject to suspicion, oppression and death, and forced to huddle in the catacombs of Rome to escape the vigilant scrutiny of the emperors and their all too brutal minions.

* The Church itself was a beacon of light during the Dark Ages, especially its monasteries, preserving the treasures of antiquity and the flame of faith as the empire collapsed from internal decline and external assault.

* Then there were the needed spiritual and administrative reforms enacted by Pope Gregory the Great, followed by further decline and renewal again spearheaded by the great Francis of Assisi, and by the rise of the religious orders and the intellectual giants they produced, such as Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure.

* The Middle Ages witnessed the scandalous reigns of the Borgia popes and their worldly ecclesiastical cronies, leading to the Protestant Reformation and, then, to the Counter-Reformation, sparked by Ignatius of Loyola, and the spiritually and intellectually militant members of his Society of Jesus.

* There was the Avignon captivity and the fall of the Papal States, making the popes from Pius IX to Benedict XV (1870-1929) prisoners of the Vatican.

* Once free of political aspirations and manipulation, the See of Peter had to withstand the terrible "isms" of the 20th century: Fascism, Nazism, Communism and, now, the omnipresent threat of terrorism, conjuring up memories of past attacks by the Visigoths, the Vandals and the Turks.

So, when we are tempted to become discouraged or disillusioned by the slings and arrows of the present moment, believing ours to be the worst of times, it is good to recall the other historical challenges to our faith and to the Church, which is the splendid, albeit imperfect, instrument God has chosen to preserve and perpetuate that spiritual heritage that stems from the dawn of creation...to the covenant made with the chosen people...to the revelation of the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ...to the ever-unfolding reign of God under the guidance of the Spirit, until the end of the world.

So, let us be people of faith, hope, courage and love, knowing that God will never fail us and, despite ourselves, will lead us to "that kingdom where there will be no male or female, Jew or Gentile, servant or free," but where we will be one with our God and one another.

Amen, Alleluia.

(10/28/04)