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All He Did, So Graciously

By CARDINAL JOHN J. O'CONNOR

As he did so faithfully every morning, the chancellor of this vast archdiocese, invested with enormous responsibilities, put the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass first; a priest above all, he celebrated the seven o'clock Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was the last Mass Msgr. Jeremiah Monahan would celebrate on this earth.

We of the household with whom he lived so gently and graciously joined him for breakfast at eight o'clock, as usual. Only God knew that it would be our final breakfast together. He went to the office as he would on any day, but was very soon diverted to the hospital with severe chest pains and related problems. Our ever-loving, ever-thoughtful God made it possible for one of our priests, Msgr. Thomas Bergin, to accompany him and to remain with him until our senior vicar general, Bishop Patrick Sheridan, and I with my ever-faithful secretary, Father Gregory Mustaciuolo, were able to go to the hospital.

What a grace for us to be able to pray with Msgr. Monahan, however briefly because of his weakness, to give him our blessing, to receive his in return, never dreaming that his condition was so serious and this would be a final visit on this earth.

To live in a community of bishops and priests is not only a rare privilege, but gives us insights into one another that would be difficult to acquire in any other way. Each day we sat at meals with Msgr. Monahan. As each of us would go about our diverse responsibilities, it was of immense comfort to me personally to know that a man of such personal integrity and sincere concern for his indescribable responsibilities was at the helm of all of the major administrative, financial, managerial demands of this immensely complex archdiocese.

Not everyone could be expected to be aware of the demands made on a chancellor. Given the crucial need to keep our Catholic schools open, with the extraordinary demands this puts on our pastors, on God's people of our parishes, on our teachers who make so many sacrifices, on our parents, and even with a fine vicar for education and superintendent of schools, it is a chancellor's responsibility to try to ease those burdens to the degree possible, yet to do what has to be done financially and administratively to keep our precious schools alive and well.

Perhaps not everyone would be aware either of the extraordinary complexity of trying to keep Catholic health care alive. Every bishop, every religious community engaged in health care, indeed today every secular agency engaged in health care is confronted with indescribable problems, soaring costs, reduced government support, etc. Is it even imaginable that we should permit the loss of our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic nursing homes, our Catholic health care in general, with all of the moral issues involved, in a day which our Holy Father has described as a "culture of death"? While we have a wonderful director of health and hospitals, it takes a chancellor, quietly, behind the scenes, to do everything possible to assure financial support.

The demands of this particular position, that is, chancellor of one of the largest archdioceses in the United States, are truly extraordinary. I could go on and on about specifics, but enough said.

I withdraw that. The most critical thing has been left unsaid, that this man, Msgr. Jeremiah Monahan, did all of this so quietly, so graciously, so gently that one had little sense of the demands being made on him which he never imposed on others. Living with him was a joy, again because of his gentleness, his concern about the rest of us. His quiet manner, his way of simply becoming a member of the household, made him beloved particularly by the domestic staff.

But I want to return to what I alluded to in passing above, the uniqueness of living with a band of brothers, priests and bishops. Permit me to select a few extracts from an anonymous essay called "The Unique Fraternity."

"There happens to be in this world of strange social conventions one friendship that transcends all conventions and knows no rules: It is the brotherhood of Catholic priests.

"There is not, I swear it, under the stars an intimacy more reckless or more profound than the bond between one Catholic priest and another.

"It needs no coaxing, no prelude, no ritual. It is subject to no formality. We meet and possess one another instantly. There is not the shadow of a barrier between us, neither age, nor antecedents, nor nationality, nor climate, nor color of skin.

"Ours is a blunt, rough-hewn affection. It almost forgets to be polite. I can sit at his table without invitation, sit in his study and read his books before I have ever met him; borrow his money or his clothes with no security.

"His home is my home; his fireside, my fireside; his altar, my altar. I can give him my confidence promptly and without reserve. I can neither edify nor scandalize him. We can quarrel without offense, praise each other without flattery, or sit silently and say nothing and be mutually comfortable.

"How and why all this can happen is our own precious secret. It is the secret of men who climb a lonely drawbridge, mount a narrow stair, and sleep in a lofty citadel that floats a white flag.

"Singly we go, independent and unpossessed, establishing no generation, each a conclusion of his race and name, yet always companioning one another with a strange sympathy, too tender to be called friendship, too sturdy to be called love, but which God will find a name for when he searches our hearts in eternity."

It is as a priest, above all, that we thank you, Msgr. Jerry. It is as a priest, above all, that we will miss you.

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