On Sunday, June 4, at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, Bishop Emeritus William. K. Weigand celebrated Mass in thanksgiving for his 60th anniversary of priestly ordination. Following is the text of Bishop Weigand's homily.
Good morning, dear friends. I am happy to be with you on this Holy Trinity Sunday. Yesterday a new priest was ordained by Bishop Soto, Fr Eric Patrick.
Today I celebrate my 60th anniversary of priestly ordination and I am offering this Mass in thanksgiving to our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Quite a juxtaposition: the young priest just starting out; the old priest grateful for the privilege of serving God and the Christian community as a priest for long years. Whether young or old, a priest is sent to announce the Gospel, the Good News, namely, as we heard in the Gospel: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."
I was ordained for service of the Diocese of Boise. As a young priest I had assignments in parishes and missions, a bit of part-time teaching of high school Religion, and then four years working in the bishop’s office as chancellor of the diocese. Ordained five years, I volunteered toaccept an assignment to the Idaho mission project in South America, where I served for nine-and-a-half years as pastor of the large and very poor parish of St John the Baptist in the outskirts of Cali, Colombia. When I returned to Idaho, I was pastor of the parish of Homedale in southwestern Idaho when Pope John Paul II, on September 3, 1980, appointed me bishop of Salt Lake City.
After 13 years and 3 months, the same Holy Father appointed me diocesan bishop of Sacramento to succeed Bishop Francis Quinn who was retiring. So, for the past 30 years -- half of my 60 years as a priest -- I have served here in Sacramento:15 as the diocesan bishop and nearly 15 in retirement, as bishop emeritus.
In today’s first reading, just as a priest must do, we see Moses developing a deep and personal relationship with God. On Mt Sinai the Father reveals himself to Moses: “Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord’. Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.’ Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.” Again, as a priest, in union with Christ, prays for the faithful entrusted to his care, Moses prays on behalf of his community: “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company…Pardon our wickedness and sins and receive us as your own.”
Permit me to look back for a moment, not 60 years but more than 75. Nothing like Moses’ experience of God, but the Lord began to gently stir my heart when I was about nine years old. We were living in the small town of Tekoa, of only about 1,500 people, some 45 miles south of Spokane, Washington. It was soon after the Second World War had ended and my pastor, who had been an army chaplain during the war and thus had a lot of credibility with us, gave a homily about the Lord’s call and the need for vocations. As young as I was, something began to stir in my heart. Soon after, I became an altar server and began to experience an attraction to the altar, to Christ’s love poured out for us on the cross and mysteriously present in the sacrifice of the Mass. I continued to serve Mass as often as I could. When in the fifth grade, I received the sacrament of confirmation.
The next year, while in the sixth grade, I felt an inclination to attend and serve the 6:30 a.m. Mass at the Sisters' convent every day during Lent. This must have been the inspiration of the Holy Spirit received in confirmation, because no one in my family joined me. I got up early on my own, walked a mile and a half to the convent -- usually in very cold weather -- went back home for breakfast after Mass and then went back again for school. Even now I don’t know how I did it but by Easter I knew that I was being called to be a priest. I was 11 years old. I didn’t say anything to my family or talk to anyone about it. It was this little secret between Jesus and me.
When I was starting the eighth grade. my family moved to the town of St. Maries about 40 miles away, into Idaho. The sister teaching the eighth grade realized I was thinking of the priesthood and began talking to me about it. In due course, she connected me with my pastor, who facilitated a discussion with my parents. My father was not surprised and delighted; my mother not so much so, because the plan that was taking shape would require that I leave home young and enter the minor seminary for high school -- a practice common in those days.
An interesting sidelight, at about the mid-point of Lent, a friend of mine who was a year ahead of me in school, got wind of what I was doing and asked if he could join me. So for the rest of Lent we would meet half way and walk to the convent chapel and back together. His name was Jim McGreevy. Jim had been confirmed along with me the year before. In due course, after college, Jim also discerned a vocation, was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Spokane, and later served a dozen years or so at the Spokane mission among the very poor in Guatemala. I was serving in Colombia at the time, both of us missionaries in Latin America.
This was all very pivotal early in my life. You each have your own experiences of God, and God really does act in our lives doesn’t he? Moses was spot on when he prayed, “Lord, do come along in our company.” And God does.
Nearly 43 years of my 60 years as a priest have been as a bishop. My episcopal motto has been, “Feed My Lambs,” taken from John’s gospel. (Inspired by local Basque shepherds). John 21;15-19 was the gospel proclaimed at my ordination and installation as bishop of Salt Lake City and the same for my installation as bishop of Sacramento. Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.’ ‘Feed my lambs.’”…’Tend my sheep’…’Feed my sheep’. The reference is to the pastoral ministry. “Feed” through communicating in season and out the authentic Word of God and celebrating worthily the Eucharist. But it’s broader: tend, take care of, teach, lead, guide, correct, challenge, protect, listen, heal, counsel. But first and always there has to be a personal love relationship with the Lord. “Simon, do you love me? Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” OK, now show it: feed my lambs. I have tried consistently to do both through my 60 years, but I wish I had done better, if not more. Yet, the real shepherd is the Lord himself, who loves us dearly: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…”
In my recent years in retirement, I have been able to be of some assistance to my successor, Bishop Soto, especially with Confirmations and periodic weekend assistance in parishes. As the years have taken their toll on me, I have become less able to help out in those ways and my priestly ministry has become increasingly one of prayer for the lambs: the needs of the Church and the world - in union with Christ, our great High Priest and intercessor before the Father. I also am able to assist a number of people with spiritual direction.
A few people have asked me what stands out in my mind about my years in Sacramento. Without question, celebrating the Eucharist and sacraments, especially Confirmation, and breaking open the Word of God. “Feed my lambs.” I especially treasured the shepherding contact I had with the faithful of the diocese as I would make weekend pastoral visits to the parishes: celebrating all the weekend Masses and visiting with the people and the parish staff, and listening. Sometimes it took me 2 or even 3 weekends to complete the visit. Often weekends fell out due to other needs of the diocese. You may remember that from the year of Jubilee 2000 this pastoral contact broadened out into an extensive consultation process with the faithful to clarify the needs and priorities for the diocese -- a six-year process that included the fervent invoking of the Holy Spirit for planning and conducting of the Third Diocesan Synod, which involved 400 synod members from around the diocese. Pastoral priorities were adopted by the Synod and approved by me, and new Diocesan Statutes, as well.
Although of lesser importance in my mind, I think some would list as significant the development of six new parishes and the consolidation of others; the seismic retrofit and artistic restoration of this Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament; the $70 million capital campaign for the cathedral project, an upgrade of St. Francis High School, the building of the priests’ retirement village and stabilizing of their retirement fund; and major assistance to various outreach programs for the poor and needy.
From the angle of tending the sheep, the continual effort made to extend to more and more parishes effective ministry to the fast growing Spanish-speaking and Filipino communities was important. So were major efforts made to increase local vocations to the priesthood for the diocese, while, on the short term, also recruiting worthy candidates in the Philippines and Mexico. Effort was made to maintain good ecumenical and interfaith relations. A high point
was the ecumenical prayer service, with 7,000 people in attendance at Arco Arena, on the first Sunday of January of the Jubilee Year 2000; our diocese was the lead initiator of this.
There were difficult challenges also. Two, in particular, come to my mind. The revelation some 20 years ago of sexual abuse on the part of a few of our priests -- which in most cases took place many years prior. As accusations came forward on my watch we tried to deal with them forthrightly, doing our best to do justice to the accusers, removing offending priests from ministry and putting in place numerous safeguards to prevent abuse from happening in the
future. But it was a heavy burden for me and for all of us. Bishop Soto is still dealing with it, of course, with the three-year lifting of the statute of limitations by the state of California.
Another major difficulty was my deteriorating health. After dealing with a liver disease for nearly 25 years, and with serious complications for five years, my time was running out unless I received a liver transplant. Dan and Terri Haverty came to my rescue and on April 1, 2005, I received a living donor liver transplant at UCSF. At the time Dan was a prominent fireman of the Sacrament Metro Fire District, later the Fire Chief of Folsom. Five years ago Bishop Soto ordained Dan as a permanent deacon and he is with us on the altar today as I celebrate my 60th anniversary. Terri is also here. Thank you, Dan and Terri, for your generosity and love. Without you, I may not have even made it to my 42nd anniversary!
Dear friends, as God answered Moses’ request, God also answers ours: “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company…” Along the way God has revealed himself to us, as he did to Moses: “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son…” Friends, I make my own St. Paul’s trinitarian blessing from the 2nd reading, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” Amen