take: # 1: Look around. #2: Get up. # 3: Listen for the sound of voices. # 4: Scream, “Help!” # 5: Go towards the light. # 6: Start moving. # 7: Don't give up. # 8: Pause. # 9: Listen some more. # 10: Keep moving slowly. # 11: If you meet someone ask them where we are. #12: Say, "Thank you."
The title of my homily is, “Guided Tours - Especially
Churches.”
NEW YORK CITY
Let me begin this way.
Years ago my niece Maryna invited me to go with her on
guided tour in Manhattan, New York City. She was attending NYU at the time - getting her degree in English literature
and - she was asked to write a review for the school newspaper of one of 10
guided tours this company invited folks to make.
This one started at the Chrysler Building and ended up
in Columbus Circle. Two hours in the morning - 10 till 12, then lunch, then 1
to 3 PM.
It didn’t include churches. Looking back, maybe one of
the 10 tours was 10 churches or holy places in Manhattan or where have you?
I still remember a good bit of that day - and how
enlightening it was - and for years later it gave me places I would take people
who had never been to Manhattan before.
STATIONED IN
LIMA, OHIO
When I was stationed in Lima, Ohio later on - in the 90’s
- myself and a good priest friend of mine - were in a different parish - preaching a parish mission - for a week for about 20 weeks a year. We did that
for 8 ½ years.
These were small parishes, so when we were there we began
asking folks, “If you had visitors to this town, where would you bring
someone?”
Annie Oakley
We went to Annie Oakley’s birthplace near Willowdell and Miamisburg, Ohio, and we went to Joe E. Brown’s birthplace near Holgate, Ohio
and on and on and on.
Joe E. Brown
One place we preached was Delphos, Ohio. It was a huge
church in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. The steeple was 222 feet high and you
could see it from every farm for some 20 miles around or so.
The church was built in the 1800’s and it was in pretty
bad shape when we first saw it. Different pastors raised money for a renovation
- but a major fix up was rejected by parishioners down through the years. It
was a big beautiful old German church with great wood carvings inside.
A Father Tom Gorman became pastor. He was a renaissance
man and managed to get the church renovated. He didn’t destroy the treasures
within - but enhanced and updated the church.
Surprise! The renovation that folks had rejected became
honored. After all was finished, I found out that whenever folks had visitors
from other parts of the country or what have you, the first place they brought
folks to, was their church.
AN ASIDE
The following is an aside. Father Tom Gorman asked me
once if we Redemptorists had a place in Manhattan, he would get a few
overnights in - with two couples from his parish.
I called and asked our provincial house if 5 people could
use the guest house there for 3 nights. A priest from Ohio wanted to visit New
York City and see St. John Divine Church for the blessing of the animals on the
feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
I got the rooms and they went. I was anxious to hear
after they got back that they had a good time and received wonderful
hospitality.
I met Tom at a meeting and he said it was a great trip
and the Redemptorists showed him and his friends great hospitality.
The best news he told me went like this.
They wanted to get from Shore Road up to 4th
Avenue to get a subway car over to Manhattan. It’s a big hill and they were
pointed in the correct direction.
However, when they saw a UPS truck they asked the driver, “Do you know
how to get up to 4th Avenue so we can get the R train.” The UPS driver said, “Hop in.”
Then Tom said, “You’re not going to believe this. That
evening when we got off the subway on 4th avenue and 75th
street - Bay Ridge Avenue - they spotted a different UPS truck and they asked
the driver if he knew how to get down to Shore Road. He said, “Yes, hop in.”
I felt great. Not
only did our house at Shore Road show great hospitality, but Brooklyn did as
well.
NOW ST. MARY’S
- TODAY’S FEAST DAY
Let me get to my last point.
Where do you take folks who visit you here in Annapolis?
My suggestion is St. Mary’s Church - Annapolis, Maryland.
Next suggestion: buy Robert Worden’s book - Saint Mary’s
Church in Annapolis Maryland, A Sesquicentennial History, 1853-2003.
Since today is the feast of St. Martin de Porres, it hit
me to make a visit to the statue of St.
Martin de Porres at St. Mary’s. It’s about 2 feet high. It was placed in
the church in 1974.
By Reading Robert Worden’s book - taking notes - one
could give a brief history of the Black Community in Annapolis. There was a St.
Augustine’s church which lasted till
I have to admit that I have not done my homework. So I
have that on my agenda list.
Next one would have to do one’s homework on the life of
Martin de Porres, a black or mulatto Dominican brother who worked in Lima,
Peru. His dates are ….
I love the story that when there was a money shortage at
the church he served he said, “Take me and sell me as a slave.”
CONCLUSION
So that’s a few thoughts about Guided Tours - especially
of local churches. Amen.
November 3, 2017
SACRAMENTS
Sitting there, waiting for my plane,
in an airplane terminal, I began
listening to two men in the seats
just behind me. One said, “I used
to be a Catholic - but then I realized
I don’t believe in things like priests
and sacraments and all that religious
stuff.” Silence. Silence. Silence.
“Well,” the other man said, “I used
to be an atheist - but then I realized
we are all priests and we're all called to give and to receive the body and blood - of Christ - and all of creation - with all of creation - which we are all part of each and every day.”
“It was as simple as that,” he continued.
I had been baptized as a baby - but
