The Church is an awfully small world; more like a big family, really.
My good friend and classmate in seminary and ordination for this Archdiocese, Fr. Mark Knestout, recently was called to work for the Holy See in her Mission as Permanent Observer at the United Nations. For this purpose, about a month ago he moved to New York. Because he is my friend, I am obliged to go visit, to investigate and “approve” his new situation. Because there was an art exhibit there that I was eager to see (portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger), I went last week.
The mission is headed by a Nuncio who is an Archbishop, just as is the Papal Nuncio to the United States here in Washington. Archbishop Gabriel Caccia received me graciously as my friend Father Knestout showed me around the Mission offices. He was working in the Vatican – at a high level – when I was in Rome serving Cardinal Baum, though he and I did not encounter one another then.
I also went to visit my old seminary rector, who is now the Archbishop of New York. I have always been fond of Cardinal Dolan, and he has always been very good to me. I figured I would just spend a few minutes with him in the midst of his busy schedule, but he was in an expansive mood, and then he invited me to join him for other events that morning.
He had scheduled a press conference in his cathedral, creating an opportunity to bring attention to the ongoing devastation of Ukraine. He invited the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations; Archbishop Caccia, the Holy See’s ambassador to the UN, Archbishop Boris Gudziak, Archeparch of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Father Peter Vaccari, head of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
Each of the speakers reflected movingly on the suffering of Ukraine, how the Ukrainian people are fortified by their faith, and the work of the Church there to help in every way possible. It served well its purpose of preventing this grave wound from passing out of the short attention spans of Americans like me. 
Cardinal Dolan introducing the speakers at the press conference:
Abp. Gudziak, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN; Abp. Caccia; Fr. Vaccari
After that event, we returned to the residence and Archbishop Gudziak, whom I had never before met, were able to talk about friends we have in common, including one whom you may meet here in our parish within a few months. All this went on much longer than I had anticipated, but these people really did have much to do, and they moved on quickly, leaving me to make my way to the crypt of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral to offer Mass.
It did make me laugh that even when I slip away for a few days’ break I find myself hanging out with not one, but three archbishops. Old habits die hard! But it was the most natural thing in the world, because they were all old friends, or close friends of old friends. In the ecclesial version of the game “six degrees of Kevin Bacon,” it seems that it takes only one or two degrees to reach almost everybody.
The Cross of Gratitude
The backdrop for the press conference in the cathedral was a large, roughly carved wooden crucifix next to a Ukrainian flag. When I investigated, I learned that this was the “Cross of Gratitude” conceived and carved in Lviv, Ukraine, in 2005, and sent on its pilgrim way to prepare for the jubilee year of the Passion of our Lord (2033). The cross has already been to Rome and many European capitals, and is making its way through the United States.
Is it a coincidence that Ukrainian Catholics seventeen years ago fixed upon the Cross of Christ to express their gratitude to God and bind them into union with the wider Church? Is it a miracle that this is the sacramental reminder in our midst today of the faith of our brothers and sisters currently under violent and criminal attack?
Not especially, I think. The Church is an awfully small world; more like a big family, really, in which when one member suffers, everybody hurts. The only degree of separation one from another is how far any of us drift away from the Cross of Christ. No matter how isolated we become, when we look upon the Cross and see that God’s Son is united with us in our suffering, our communion is restored not only with Him but also with our brothers and sisters who suffer. And we pray for and with our brothers in sisters in Ukraine at the foot of the Cross of Gratitude.
Monsignor Smith
