My first encounter with Archbishop
Hunthausen was in the late winter of 1976/1977 at the Colorado Women’s
College next to Stapleton Airport in Denver. He was the keynote
speaker for NOCERCC, a national organization for continuing education
for priests. Priests flocked around him. When I arrived for the
conference, a note on the bulletin board to call Bishop Topel came as a
shock: the Holy Father had appointed me the Bishop of Yakima. So
distracted, I never shook the Archbishop’s hand, and he never said peep.
Of course, he knew. My
relationship with him quickly changed; and he became a dear friend and
companion on the journey. He ordained me bishop in 1977. He
was so supportive of me as I began my ministry in Yakima. Many
times we would meet half way in the Cascades between Seattle and Yakima
as we hiked for a day. He loved the mountains, forests, lakes, and
rivers – all displaying the wonder and beauty of God’s creation.
However for the Archbishop as a native Montanan, there was nothing like
the big sky country. He loved the Church and the people in it. He
loved to tell the stories. He loved his priesthood. He was
very aware that this call was to serve, not to be served.
The
scripture readings this evening place in context our pondering as we
celebrate liturgically the welcoming of his body back home to this local
Church. As I reflect on these readings in reference to the
Archbishop’s life and ministry, you and I also have the opportunity to
look at our own lives as we continue our journey of faith.
The words
of Jesus from St. John’s Gospel are familiar to us: “Whoever loves me
will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him
and make our dwelling with him.” Did Archbishop love the Lord?
Elizabeth Barret Browning’s 43rd sonnet comes to mind: “How do I
love thee, let me count the ways.” So we count at least some of the
ways.
An outward
sign of his love of the Lord was his prayer life. Anyone who knew
anything about him and his life knows that he was deeply a man of
prayer. You could hear it in conversation. You experienced
it when he preached and when he celebrated Eucharist. One of the
ramifications of being deeply in love with the Lord is that we are to be
deeply in love with everyone else. For him the root of all love
was in the Lord Jesus. Everything else flowed from that.
A
second manifestation of the love of the Lord was how he looked at
himself. An awareness of God’s love for him was deeply engrained
in his heart. He was very comfortable in his own skin. There
was a sense of transparency about him, indicating that his feet of faith
were on solid ground. We are reminded of the words of Jesus about
John the Baptist: “But what did you go out in the wasteland to
see, a reed swaying in the wind?” (Mt 11:7) The wind can blow pretty
hard sometimes, but our solid foundation is in the Lord.
In the First
Letter of John this evening we hear: “See what the love the Father has
bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so
we are.” The Archbishop profoundly knew that, and lived that
relationship with all the children of God. When watching
television with him and a violent scene came up, he agonized over the
mistreatment and dehumanization of people. He could barely stand to
watch it. Brothers and sisters in humanity really meant something
to him, and so it should for us all.
In the
Gospel this evening, Jesus says: “Peace I leave you; my peace I
give you.” Also Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Blessed are the peacemakers…” If you ever want to see an example
of a promoter of peace, a peacemaker, we have observed in the Archbishop
a great witness. His prophetic vision of peace was deeply embedded
in his heart and soul. As we well know, that vision led to action.
The role of
peace making is not exclusive. It must embrace all of us in the
way we live and spiritually breathe. Justice as the foundation
stone of peace reminds us of the commitment of the Gospel to the right
ordering of relationships in our lives. It’s the love thing again
as well, and the countless ways we can live out that gift and challenge
from the Lord.
The
words of Micah speak forcefully to us: “Only to do justice and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” Yes, walking humbly with
our God -- once again let us count the ways. The Archbishop’s
relationship with others was always respectful. Even in some of
the more difficult moments of relationships and situations with in the
Church, I never picked up from him a trace of bitterness or cynicism.
This was a journey of faith and the cross, and somehow with all of the
hurt and pain, the vision what could be was always there. Humility
for him and for all of us is to embrace the cross and with vision look
beyond the empty tomb. He saw everyone as a brother and sister in
Christ and lived accordingly.
Ecumenism developed rapidly after the Second Vatican Council. He
was very much a part of ecumenical relationships and dialogue. I
vividly remember several times our gatherings as religious leaders
across the State for meetings, prayer and retreats. The respect he had
for them as leaders was returned many times over.
We live in a pluralistic culture and society with different faith
beliefs and cultures. Papal documents have called us to
search for the unity for which Jesus prayed in John 17, “that all may be
one.” That mandate continues, and we must not let ourselves off
the hook. Under the guidance of the Spirit in all of us, the
search and dialogue must go on.
His
relationship with George was another sign of his humility. One
time George’s apartment became a bit more than messy, and guess who was
part of crew who helped to tidy things up a bit? When I celebrated
my 25th anniversary as a priest in Yakima, the Archbishop came to the
celebration. George heard about it, and asked the Archbishop if he
could ride along with him. Of course, the answer was “yes”.
Whenever he
spoke, people were drawn in by the gentle voice and a sharing that
seemed to be directed to every person in the room. He saw people
as vessels of the Holy Spirit, and embraced the vision of the Church as
the people of God on pilgrim journey. I heard him speak frequently
of the Second Vatican Council and of his own conversion experience
during the council. Yes, walking humbly with our God who leads us
sometimes in ways we know not, gifts surfacing in and throughout the
Church.
Another way of how he witnessed humility was how he related
to his bishop friends who attended the Council with him as well as his
relationships with bishops in general. One may be on a different
theological wave length than he, but the relationship was paramount over
everything else. Endearing friendships remained. And of course,
all of the stories with their seriousness and laughs were part of that
reality. I never had the chance to tell Archbishop the request of Bishop
Emeritus Frank Quinn, when I visited him a few months ago in a care
facility in Sacramento. Bishop Quinn’s request was: “Would
you please tell Dutch to die? As the oldest living bishop in the
country, he is one month older than I. I would like that honor
just for a little while.” Bishop Quinn, now you’ve got it.
In a world of
differences today, we accompany one another in respect, appreciation and
love. Yes, we are inspired and encouraged by those many ways we
can walk humbly with our God and tell the stories.
Finally in the
First letter of John this evening we are told of the abiding presence of
God on the journey: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall
be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we
shall be like God, for we shall see God as he is.” Counting the
ways of how God comes to us, we remember: birth, family, faith
community, Church, ministry, trials, disappointments, joys, old age, the
constant unfolding of our vocation… they are all are part of the
package.
The revelation of
God comes to us as gift: rich, so often surprising, wrapped up in
the human package of ourselves as God molds and forms us. Jesus’
words are affirming: “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will
send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all
that I told you.”
As we observe the
Archbishop’s life and ministry, we see him deeply in touch with the
power of the Spirit. His vocation, his experience at the Second
Vatican Council, his advocacy for peace, his great love of the Church,
his drawing out the gifts of the faithful, are all manifestations of the
Holy Spirit at work.
We too have been sealed
with the same gift as we continue our journey to join him in the
fullness of the kingdom. Indeed, let us count the ways the Holy
Spirit touched him and touches us all. We are profoundly grateful.
In the formal
letters I received from him, always at the end was the sign off:
His joy, His peace, His Love. Now in death he knows fully the
implication of those simple words. May they also be a part of our
own hearts.
Most Rev. William Skylstad
