Vatican City, Jun 29, 2017 / 11:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Newly-appointed metropolitan archbishops from around the world received the traditional woolen vestment called a pallium during a special Mass with Pope Francis on Thursday.
For the three new metropolitan archbishops of American sees, the experience was a reminder of their mission as shepherds of their local Churches, called to follow God and lead others to him.
The Mass, celebrated on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, was significant for Archbishop Paul Etienne of Anchorage, who told CNA June 29 he was “very mindful of the accompanying presence of these great saints.”
He is inspired by their great love for Christ and the Church, he said, and by the courage with which they went out into the world after encountering the Risen Lord.
“I just ask for as much of that same grace in my life and in ministry, that I can joyfully serve the Lord and present him to the world in a fashion that will be received.”
Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis told CNA he knows he has a lot to learn and get to know in his new role, but he’s looking forward to serving God and serving the people of God as the shepherd of the local Church.
After the Mass, each archbishop has an opportunity to greet the Pope. For Archbishop Thompson, this was his first personal encounter with Francis. Though the meeting was brief, Pope Francis “had a glow, had a great smile on his face,” he said.
“It really made me think about the joy of the Gospel and talking about having the joy of bringing people to Christ. Even though there’s also an awesome responsibility that I feel in this appointment, I just sense that the smile on his face was to do with joy.”
“Don’t let it overwhelm you. Trust in the Holy Spirit. Trust that God gives you the grace to fulfill this mission. And I’m banking on that, because I’m the least worthy of anybody here,” he said.
Archbishop Etienne said that it was “a great privilege and a great honor” to receive the pallium from Pope Francis.
He was grateful for the Pope’s homily, which reminded him that they aren’t in this for themselves, but that they are “servants of the Lord.”
“Our life is to be giving a confession, our own witness to Christ, and we should not be surprised when the trials and the persecutions come our way; and the best way to get through it is to pray,” he said, recalling the Pope’s words. “So those are all three pretty good points that he made.”
For Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, this was his second time receiving the pallium, the first being when he was appointed Archbishop of Indianapolis in 2012.
“It’s always a very moving moment to be with the Holy Father, to feel the connection with bishops from around the world and to deepen what it means to be a bishop,” he told CNA.
He explained that out of all the vestments he has to wear, his favorite is the pallium, which is a stole made from white wool and adorned with six black silk crosses. The wearing of the pallium by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops symbolizes authority as well as unity with the Holy See.
One significant thing about the pallium, Cardinal Tobin said, is the symbolism found in how it is worn: around the shoulders.
It shows “the obligation of the bishop to look for the one who’s lost, and carry that one back on his shoulders. So that’s why when I put it on my shoulders, I remember that,” he said.
It is traditional for the Pope to bestow the stole on new archbishops June 29 each year. The rite is a sign of communion with the See of Peter. It also serves as a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese as well as the other dioceses within his ecclesiastical province.
However, as a sign of “synodality” with local Churches, Pope Francis decided in 2015 that new metropolitan archbishops will officially be imposed with the pallium in their home diocese, rather than the Vatican.
So while the new archbishops still journey to Rome to receive the pallium during the liturgy with the Pope, the official imposition ceremony is in their home diocese, allowing more faithful and bishops in dioceses under the archbishop’s jurisdiction to attend the event.
Archbishop Thompson, whose installation as Archbishop of Indianapolis will be held July 28, has the unique privilege of being imposed with the pallium at the same Mass as his installation, which he said will be “a great symbol.”
Archbishop Etienne was installed as Archbishop of Anchorage on Nov. 9, 2016, so he’s had a few months to begin settling in. “The people in Alaska count winters, so I’ve been in Anchorage one winter now,” he laughed.
Though the weather is cold, the people there are warm, he said, noting that they have all been grateful he accepted the appointment, since it isn’t easy to live in Alaska.
“It’s a very diverse Church,” he explained, but the people have been wonderful, “helping me to understand their ways and to embrace that new territory and all the people that are a part of it.”
Both Archbishop Etienne and Archbishop Thompson said that learning about their new appointments came as quite a surprise.
“It’s a shock anytime you get one of those phone calls,” Archbishop Etienne said.
Moving to Anchorage was not something he expected, but “after a prayerful night, it became clear that if this is where Mother Church has asked me to go and where the Lord is leading, I promised him years ago I would follow. So Alaska’s my home now.”
Archbishop Thompson, who only received his appointment June 3, said the last few weeks have been “a whirlwind,” especially having to plan so quickly for a trip to Rome.
When he received the phone call, he had just returned home from saying an ordination Mass for new priests in his diocese, Evansville. In his homily that day, he said he had preached about missionary discipleship and how one cannot be comfortable or complacent in an assignment, but must be prepared to go out to the people, since it’s the Lord who calls us and sends us.
“So when I got this phone call, I got off the phone and thought, ‘Who was I preaching to this morning?'”
In Newark, Cardinal Tobin said there are so many people his work can be “daunting” at times, though it’s also “wonderful.”
“I would say it certainly gets me on my knees, to pray for wisdom and light, and to pray for the people and all their needs,” he said.
During his time, Cardinal Tobin has come out strongly about the issue of immigration in the U.S., in May issuing a call for Catholic and political leaders to work in defense of immigrants.
“I think it’s a very delicate moment in our history,” he said, both for the many immigrants in the U.S. and for the American soul in general. “Because I think that there are so many things that brutalize the American soul, beginning with abortion, proposals for euthanasia,” he said.
“The rounding up of immigrants, and the completely callous nature toward their suffering, I think, is just another thing that deadens our hearts. I think as spiritual leaders we have to be concerned about it.”
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From Costa and Ruffini we read: “The wooden figure of a pregnant woman has been described as both a Marian image and as a traditional indigenous religious symbol of the goddess Pachamama, or Mother Earth.”
“Fundamentally, it represents life. And enough. I believe to try and see pagan symbols or to see… evil, it is not. . .it represents life through a woman.”
First, a HYBRID–like the pagan Zeus was a hybrid offspring from a pagan deity and a primordial human, and then life through a woman IN PLACE OF all-creation from–as the incarnate Jesus Christ words it–a “Father who art in heaven.”
“Evil, it is not,” we are reassured. TRANSLATION: Don’t turn on the lights just yet.
Wasn’t it pagan idolatry [spiritual adultery] that caused the Jews to be exiled to Babylon?
I’ll let my imagination run wild a bit and envision Pachamama worship by Pope Francis and Hierarchy inside St Peter’s in front of the main altar. Pachamama who breast feeds pigs and weasels. And heretics. The Abomination of Desolation consecrated? Just a hideous passing thought. Back to reality. Although I don’t believe the Pontiff and hierarchy friends are occultists their apparent sham is to push a Naturalist agenda. That everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are discounted. As said before this trial is permitted by God. And consequently there’s a purpose that apparently is the offer of two pathways one in obedience to Christ and salvation the other in obedience to purveyors of false doctrine.
Fr. Morello,
I think there might be another purpose for disobedience to God in the hierarchy.
I think God might be slowly strengthening the laity to function in the midst of a future world environment where Christianity is largely illegal.
Actually Steve the much larger majority of faithful outspoken Catholics are now Laity, which is to your point. My experience indicates clergy are largely silent more due to complacent lack of faith than fear of repercussion. If as trending due to lack of papal leadership, coherent doctrine – and that’s still an if – national hierarchies dissolve Laity will naturally assume prominence. Although I hope with some confidence there will be faithful bishops and cardinals even presbyters to which we can form a global diaspora type Church unified by one faith. Perhaps Benedict XVI had similar in mind when he envisioned a smaller remnant Church. Surely there will be a faithful remnant whatever transpires on this rocky road we’re treading.
Do a google/images search on pachamama. Some interesting photos and explanations come up.
YES, it is pagan and YES it was bowed down to in the Vatican…and that included a Franciscan in his habit. How stupid does the pope’s handlers think the laity is? This is 2019, where access to this information is easy and instantaneous.
My only question regarding all this nonsense is this: where are the MEN with enough testosterone to rid our chapel in the Vatican of these abominations? Where are the living saints who will stand up for the Church and throw out pagan idols from our churches?
Marge you deserve acknowledgment from a priest. There are men and women like yourself that I serve. There are unfortunately few priests where I’m at that see any issue and seem clueless. The missionaries I worked with in Africa and Africans themselves were more aware of events in the Church. The difficultly is a universal one. The appointment of bishops most of whom are concerned with position rather than conveying the Word of God. Exceptions of course Cardinal Sarah. I mentioned Pachamama idolatry though the Hierarchy are simply patronizing the indigenous more intent on the Pontiff’s agenda. A recent Rome poster showed a native woman holding her infant in one arm the other facilitating a weasel to feed from her breast likely a lampoon of the Pachamama nonsense. She likely has breast fed that weasel as a pup to keep him as a deterrent to rats a great problem in usually rat infested native villages. Rats who invade huts at night destroying food and attacking infants. She in her primitive condition trying to survive yet lampooned. These are the persons created in God’s image that we missionaries suffer to save from idolatry uplift to the image of Christ. Amazonia ideologues are more intent on patronizing the indigenous for sake of their false Christianity. This is the battle for truth within the Church and only the faithful brave will stand and for with Christ’s children.
Marge you’d likely be interested in an article, quite relevant addressing your point just posted by Edward Pentin in NCR. How an Amazon Pagan Rite Brought 48 Years of Demonic Torment, Until Christ Freed Me.