26 April 1990
Bangor, PA

Bishop Welsh, my dear Fathers, Sisters and Parishioners,

When I was a young boy, I lived within the shadow of an Augustinian Church. We often went to Mass there. The Augustinian Fathers who served the Church frequently spoke of Mary, the Mother of God, and invoked her intercession under the title of Our Lady of Good Counsel. On one of the two side altars there was an illuminated picture of Mary holding the Child Jesus in her arms, the original of which is to be found in a shrine of Our Lord at Genazzano, some thirty miles or so outside of Rome. I cannot remember now anything particular that the Augustinian Fathers said about Our Lady of Good Counsel, but I do remember the last two lines of a simple hymn that was sung from time to time in the Church and which my mother in our home would sometimes quote: "O Mother of Good Counsel, tell me what I ought to do."

For us who believe in the power of Mary's intercession at all times, it is natural that we should in moments of perplexity call upon her to help us in making right decisions. It is natural that we should ask her for advice and counsel, when we cannot see clearly ahead on the road of life. I like to think that she herself, when she was a pilgrim on earth, appealed often to God's wisdom and knowledge in her moments of perplexity. We know that she was perplexed momentarily at the Annunciation, and she must certainly have prayed in her heart before she replied to the angel: "Tell me, tell me what I ought to do." When she was reaching the term of her pregnancy and was searching with Joseph in Bethlehem for a lodging house in which she could bring forth her child, and to her dismay found all doors closed, she must have appealed to God, her Father, praying: "Tell me, tell me what I ought to do." Did she repeat that prayer, I wonder, when twelve years later she lost Jesus in Jerusalem? "Tell me, tell me what I ought to do." At Cana in Galilee, when she saw the embarrassment of her hosts when the wine had run out, would she ask her Son, the Wonderful Counsellor, to anticipate His hour by working a miracle? "Tell me, tell me what I ought to do." She had, too, to make a decision when she learned that they had condemned her Son to execution in Jerusalem. Would she go to Calvary to see the brutal death that was being meted out to her Son? "Tell me, tell me what I ought to do."

Every Christian is continually faced with decisions to make, if he or she is to live according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the indwelling Spirit of God to guide us to make right decisions that are in conformity with what God wants us to do. In such moments of decision we would do well also to appeal for counsel to her who is the Mother of Him Who is called the Mighty Counsellor.

Does a parish face moments of decision? Pastors, assistants and people in the living of their individual vocations certainly do. Are parishes, as a whole, asked to make decisions? They are and perhaps since Vatican Council II with the introduction of local parish councils, the parish as a unit is being invited to make more decisions as a group of Christians than it did previously. Last year in his Apostolic Exhortation on The Vocation of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World, Pope John Paul II reminded the world that the "laity ought to be ever more convinced of the special meaning that their commitment to the apostolate takes on in their parishes." (Christi Fidelis Laici, p27). The Pope goes on to remind the laity of what Vatican Council II stated: "The laity should accustom themselves to working in the parish in close union with their priests, bringing to the Church community their own and the world's problems as well as questions concerning human salvation, all of which need to be examined together and solved through general discussion. As far as possible the laity ought to collaborate in every apostolic and missionary undertaking sponsored by their own ecclesial family." (Decree on Apostolate of Laity, Apostolicum Actuositatem, p10)

The celebrations of parish jubilees, be they of twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five or one hundred years, are occasions when we not only look back on the past, but look forward to the future. On the occasion of a jubilee such as that which we are celebrating this evening, we look back gratefully to the priests who worked here and to the parishioners who collaborated so generously with them in building up the Kingdom of God here in Bangor. We rejoice that this parish has been during its seventy-five years, a nursery of heaven. Within its boundaries hundreds of its members have grown up to be strong, convinced Catholics, some of whom undoubtedly are now in high places in our Father's house. For all that the parish has received, we give thanks and praise to God from Whom all good things come.

We must not only look back. We must also look forward. A jubilee celebration is a halt on the road so that decisions may be made about the journey ahead. What decisions face the people of this parish as a parish at the present time? Is God calling it to embark on any project for the poor (and surely a Vincentian parish must be characterized by its love for the poor), on a project for the diocese, for the third world, for greater justice in society? Does the parish plan on commemorating this jubilee in ways other than tonight's ceremony? These are questions which call for decisions by the parish. In taking them, I am sure you will not fail to turn to her who is the Patroness of your parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel, for it has never been known that anyone who fled to her protection, or sought her intercession, was left unaided.

May Mary, the Mother of Good Counsel, draw closer to you all as you enter upon the quarter century that will culminate in the centenary of this parish in the year 2015. May she help you in the years that lie ahead to shape your decisions as individuals and as a parish, so that they will be in full harmony with the teaching of Her Son and of His Church.