Roman Catholic Church is more than the sum of her parts

ROME — The travels this week have been really nothing short of remarkable. I left for Rome, not Rome, Oregon, on Sunday, Jan. 23, and spent the week visiting the various Congregations and Dicasteries at the Holy See. I traveled primarily for the sake of introducing the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) to the members of Roman Curia and to establish some good relationships with these offices for the sake of the work of the CMA.

I found the visits to be most rewarding as well as interesting. They were rewarding in that the various congregations expressed great interest in and support for the work of the CMA. They were interesting in that I discovered that the congregations in Rome are very much attentive to the work of bishops and organizations, such as the CMA, and very much want to assist and collaborate. Of course, one cannot go to Rome without attempting to see the Holy Father and, if possible, attend some event or function at which he is present. In this regard I was extremely fortunate.

The two physicians and I who attended the general audience on Wednesday were assigned relatively good seats, and as a bonus the various bishops in the audience hall were called forward at the beginning of the audience to join the Holy Father on the platform. After the general audience, the Holy Father greeted each bishop individually and took more time with each bishop than any of us had ever hoped or anticipated. He was most gracious.

Later on the same day we joined with the Holy Father at the prayer service marking the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This was a vespers service held at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four major basilicas of Rome. Having the opportunity to see the Holy Father on two separate occasions on the same day in two very different settings was most edifying and gratifying.

I write this, not out of any sense of boasting or pride but purely as a way of sharing some of the joy I experienced in having this opportunity. Besides the visit with the Holy Father, I took the opportunity to celebrate Mass in a variety of locations in Rome, the most notable of which is the Clementine Altar located in the undercroft area of St. Peter’s Basilica, directly under the main altar in the upper basilica. This is the altar most closely connected with the Tomb of St. Peter, and it is a singular privilege to celebrate Mass at this altar. I had Mass in the basilica several different times at various altars in the upper basilica. There is a famous mosaic of Raphael’s painting of the Transfiguration and the altar located near it is called the Altar of the Transfiguration. I celebrated at this altar as well as the altar of Pope Leo the Great.

One day we traveled to Subiaco, a famous Benedictine monastery and had Mass there near the cave where St. Benedict spent three years of his life in prayerful solitude. Our group visited one of five local communities of the Missionaries of Charity, better known as the Sisters of Mother Teresa, and I celebrated Mass there with them. That day was, providentially, my sixth anniversary of being ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Baker and so we had a little impromptu “serenade” by the Sisters and novices. Since I had to be away from the diocese on this occasion, I could not have chosen a more supportive environment in which to celebrate that anniversary.

I hope by now that you recognize that I do not like to travel. I would much rather stay home. Yet since I must travel, and since those travels often take me away from the diocese, I do try to make the best of it. I must tell you, however, that my travel to Rome has been personally most rewarding and edifying. I can say very glibly that I celebrated Mass at the Tomb of St. Peter, but there is no other Church in all of Christendom in which that claim can be made. To stand before the Tomb of Peter, at an altar in a location where Mass has been celebrated for more than a thousand years, and to celebrate Mass in that long line of other Masses is both humbling and reassuring. To celebrate Mass near a cave where St. Benedict himself lived and prayed 1,500 years ago is likewise humbling and reassuring. Humbling because of the privilege of belonging to something so much greater than any one individual or any one “institution”; reassuring because of the sense that God really does have a providential care for His Church and for Her members.

It is very easy to see the local parish church or even the local diocesan church and to find there many shortcomings and defects. Indeed, one can even find shortcomings and defects in the Universal Church as manifested in the lives of individual priests, bishops, cardinals and possibly even in the Holy Father himself. None of us are impeccable, that is, free of sin.

The Church Herself, however, is actually much greater than the sum of Her constituent parts. She extends down through the ages, through the lives of countless holy men and women, through the lives of countless saints, through the lives of more than 250 Popes, tens of thousands of bishops and hundreds of thousands of priests, down through Twelve Apostles, through one special Virgin, to Christ the Lord, the Redeemer.

This sense of a Church built on the “foundation of the Apostles” is especially present in Rome. This is a city linked for all time with the Apostles, particularly Peter and Paul, and linked in a particular way with all those early martyrs who gave their very lives in witness to the Lord whom they chose as their Lord, their one and only Lord. Here every Catholic finds his Catholic roots. This is most strikingly apparent for me as a bishop. Here one finds his true earthly moorings. Here one realizes that he can and must turn to Rome to ask his questions, to seek guidance and to be affirmed in the Faith.

The Holy Father’s first encyclical is dated March 25, 2006. It was written at Christmas 2005, and I am certain that its publication was not timed for my visit to Rome, but it was a great honor to be in Rome on the occasion of its publication. Titled, God is Love, the Holy Father talks very beautifully about God’s love for us and our love for Him as the foundation for our love for others. It is not a “new” message at all, but it is also a brand-new message.

So much of our Church is not “new” but it is always brand new for us. Peter has been under the basilica for nearly 2,000 years, Benedict “found” Christ 1,500 years ago, Jesus told us “God is love” nearly 2,000 years ago. Pope Benedict XVI reiterates this in 2006. It is humbling and reassuring to belong to a Church wherein everything is always new and wherein everything is just as it has always been.