The Pope Would Have Liked Cardinal Cooke

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Pope Francis would have been a big fan. That’s what Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., told those gathered for the 31st anniversary Memorial Mass for Cardinal Terence Cooke at St. Patrick’s Cathedral Oct. 6.

“He was in the purest sense a Pope Francis bishop,” said Cardinal McCarrick, a close friend and a former secretary to Cardinal Cooke who served as Archbishop of New York from 1968 until his death in 1983, almost 30 years before Pope Francis was elected in March 2013.

“Francis would have loved him. What a shame that they never got together,” said Cardinal McCarrick during his homily, “because he would have nodded his head and smiled about everything that Pope Francis said about the poor and the humble and the refugees.

Continuing to extol Cardinal Cooke’s virtues, Cardinal McCarrick added, “The Lord was so much with him, so much in him, his first love was social work, taking care of the poor, taking care of the humble, taking care of those who have no one to take care of them...He loved the poor. He loved the Sisters. He admired them so much. He loved his brother priests with the great affection of a good father. He loved the sinners and he loved the saints. That was what he was all about. He brought into this house, into that chair, an enormous sense of love for people.”

Priests of the archdiocese, many of whom knew Cardinal Cooke personally, joined Cardinal McCarrick, the principal celebrant, on the altar. Members of the Cardinal Cooke Guild and other admirers of the late prelate, including delegations of eighth-grade students from St. Helena and St. Theresa schools in the Bronx, attended the Mass. Ciara Mercado, a student at St. Theresa, gave the first reading while Isaura Linares, a student at St. Helena, led the prayers of the faithful.

At the conclusion of the Mass, Msgr. Joseph Giandurco, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Suffern and vice-postulator of the cause for Cardinal Cooke’s canonization, presented Cardinal McCarrick with the 2014 Cardinal Cooke Medal of Peace.

The medal, established by Cardinal O’Connor in 1988, is presented annually to those who embody the ideals of the late Cardinal Cooke. Cardinal McCarrick was surprised and visibly moved to receive the honor.

“The Cardinal Cooke Guild thought you were the ideal recipient of this year’s Cardinal Cooke Medal, and Cardinal Dolan wholeheartedly agreed with us,” said Msgr. Giandurco in making the presentation. “Quite truthfully we see in you a humble and gentle shepherd like Cardinal Cooke.”

Among the Cooke Guild members attending the afternoon liturgy was Peggy Gale, a retired nurse and a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena in Manhattan. A longtime Guild volunteer, she joined its advisory board this year. She agreed that Pope Francis would have been a Cardinal Cooke fan.

“Absolutely, and I think people are touched by his humility and his humanity,” she told CNY. “And certainly with a pope whose focus is on the poor and charity and living a simple, humble, spiritual life, I think people can relate now to Terence Cardinal Cooke in a way they might not have before.”

John d’Onofrio, another Cooke Guild volunteer and member of the Knights of Columbus, has a personal connection to the late cardinal.

“I knew Cardinal Cooke. He confirmed me and he also was at my high school graduation Mass,” he said. “I have fond memories of him and I pray for him every day.”