This is such an awesome
weekend. You can only imagine how I
groaned when I realized I was going to miss it!
There’s not much that can take me
away from the Fall Festival weekend here at the parish, so you may figure out
what did it, since it is the same as last time I missed it. The Ordination to the Diaconate for the North
American College in Rome was Thursday of this week. I went, not least because Christopher Seith,
our seminarian assigned here for the summer of 2012, is one of the new
deacons. One other man from our
Archdiocese, Aaron Qureshi, is also among the forty-one newly ordained.
That is a huge class, and very good
news for the church in the United States.
The College is filled to capacity, with not one empty bed. They are adding on to the already-large
building, to make room for more library, study space, and classroom space
needed to give all those men a place to do the work of preparation for
Priesthood.
My own ordination class of deacons
numbered twenty-three when we knelt before then-Bishop, now-Cardinal Edwin
O’Brien, our former rector. That was
seventeen years ago to the day. So, I
will be travelling with my classmate and fellow Washingtonian, Fr. Mark
Knestout, who is now Pastor at Saint Bartholomew in Bethesda.
While we are in Rome, we will surely
spend time as well with Msgr. Tom Powers, who was immediately to my right as we
prostrated ourselves before the Altar of the Chair in Saint Peter’s
Basilica. He now serves as an official
of the Congregation for Bishops in Rome.
To my immediate left was another character whom some of you may well
remember, Msgr. David Toups. With
company like that, is it any wonder that this is a happy anniversary for us?
But this year’s class boggles the
mind, for size anyway. Only for events
like the Pope’s funeral, or the creation of new Cardinals, have I ever gone to
Saint Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in the world, and worried whether
there would be room for me to find a seat!
But that is precisely the case this week. And that is awesome.
So I will be missing the awesomeness
that is here. I hope you do not hold it
against me that I go away at this odd time of year. Because I get by on the help of student
priests – two very, very good ones, I might add – I can’t leave the parish
during normal vacation times. That’s
when the students are away. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone on vacation.
Strange as it sounds, this weekend, I am in Europe,
but thinking of Silver Spring. You’re
always in my prayers, but especially during the Festival I will be thinking of
you.
All of the best of Saint Bernadette will be on
display making it clear to any visitor – and let’s hope there are many – what a
delightful parish this is. I take this
opportunity to thank Lauren Draley and Jessica and Stanley Barsch, for all
their good work in organizing and executing the fall festival for several years
in a row now. Other folks will also be
making it happen, including but not limited to the Rosensteel Knights of
Columbus, the CYO, the HSA, the Scouts of Troop 440, the guys of Holy Name, the
Blue-Haired Sno-Cone Guy, and a slate of other colorful volunteers. Please, thank them – and then thank them
again, once for me. I really, really, really, wish I were there!
Monsignor Smith
