ARTICLES

Message From a Blackrobe

32,000 Attend Jubilee Celebration

By Ted Wallenberg

A wet and windy San Francisco day greeted 32,000 attendants of the Jubilee 2000 Mass on Oct. 28 at PacBell Park. People slogged their way from Santa Rosa and San Jose to participate in the largest assembly of Catholics in the Bay Area since Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to Candlestick Park attracted almost 80,000. Those who stayed were witness to diversity in all its variations, from the 'Circular Church' dance of performers in the pre-Mass attractions to the stern and strong message delivered in the sermon.

The event, which took a year to plan, was overwhelmed by requests for tickets early on. However, of the 43,000 tickets issued, 32,000 people attended, most likely due to the inclement weather. This resulted in a soggy but determined 'few' who arrived by car, bus, and train, and who for the most part viewed the proceedings from beneath umbrellas or the overhangs circling the park. Along with the weather as a last minute surprise, coordinators were pleasantly surprised with the relatively high turnout for the event. Kathleen Buckley, who did much of the planning and implementing for the day, was among those relieved. She remarked, "With the weather the way it was, we had to make some last-minute changes that we hoped wouldn't affect the outcome too much. We had about twenty committees planning for this. Some of their work was fruitful, but some wasn't, simply because of the weather. We were just happy that so many people came out despite the weather. It was a great day."

Despite all the planning, the committees hadn't come up with a plan for bad weather that was used. At the last minute, officials resorted to employing a party tent left over from a wedding the night before to use as a makeshift shelter for the altar and attendants. Over 200 priests, bishops, and cardinals from here in the Bay Area and around the world attended the Mass, which lasted approximately two-and-a-half hours. They, along with about as many extraordinary ministers, helped to distribute communion. John Malone, one of the ushers, said that the job was done smoothly despite the challenges faced by the weather. He said, "Rain isn't exactly something you plan for, but I don't think it changed the atmosphere much. As for Holy Communion, it didn't cause much of a problem. I was an usher, so I saw a little chaos but not much. Communion lasted about twenty or thirty minutes."

The weather wasn't the only memory people took from the event. The sermon, offered by Cardinal Jan Pieter Schötte, general secretary of the synod of bishops. Cardinal Schötte began with a story from the mission era: "Many years ago, at one of the settlements on an Indian reservation, where the priest was able to visit the Catholics only rarely, a government agent came by one day in his prairie-cart. He had things to give away; waistcoats, shirts and tobacco.

To one old man, who was a Catholic, the agent said jokingly, "Your priest doesn't seem to look after you. I don't see that he has brought you any presents, has he?"

The old man pointed to his bare chest, "Can you see into my soul?"

"No, I can't," said the agent.

"Well if you could, you would see the beautiful white garment that God gave me when the Blackrobe baptized me. And every time he comes he washes it clean for me in the blood of Jesus Christ through confession and Mass. And when he gives me Holy Communion at Mass, he gives me Jesus himself. Your tobacco soon goes up in smoke, and your shirts wear out, but the presents that the Blackrobe brings me are with me always and will bring me to heaven someday." Cardinal Schötte's sermon was felt by many to be the moment that defined the experience for many attending.

He cited a New York Times/CBS poll taken in 1994 that indicated that over 60% of Catholics in the United States are "alleged to have said that the bread and wine are simply 'symbolic representations of Christ.'" To the cardinal, this was an emergency beacon shining all the way to Rome, and it seemed that he had come to answer the call. He criticized the American Church for its casual approach to Christ's real presence in the sacred species and called not only for a renewed reverence for the blessed sacrament, but for the suppression of theologians and seminaries that teach concepts such as 'trans-signification' or 'trans-symbolization'. As a reason for this shift in thinking, he speculated that not only was the root of it mired in "the principalities, powers and the rulers of the world of darkness," but also "the secular, materialistic focus in our society has weakened our sense of and belief in the "mystery in life and the sense of God and His designs."

Bringing devotion to the Blessed Sacrament down to a human level, he cited the late Mother Teresa as someone whose devotion to the Host was manifested in her ministry to the sick, disfigured, and unwanted. He said, "Mother Teresa attributed all to the time she spent with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. She would insist, "I take no note of their outward appearance; I see only Jesus and seek to serve Him in them!"

Cardinal Schötte, visibly moved by the presence of so many that day, later remarked that he believes that the Mass will be a "springboard for a lot of graces and devotions."

He underscored the importance and weight of such an event taking place in such a permissive city, and this feeling was not lost on the Holy Father, who learned about the cardinal's plans last week. According to an eyewitness, the cardinal informed the Pope that he was traveling to San Francisco. As the Pope indicated that he have a nice trip, the cardinal leaned in and explained that he was giving the sermon at the Jubilee Mass and asked for the Holy Father's prayers. At this, said the eyewitness, "the Pope sat up straight and a solemn expression came over his face. "You're right. I'll be praying for you all that day and for those people."

According to many who attended, this was a clarion call to increase their devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and afford it the place of primacy. However, not everyone left feeling satisfied.

According to Miss Buckley, the chancery office has received a few letters that have called the sermon 'divisive,' due to the language the cardinal employed. One person, who asked not to be identified, overheard a woman complaining to a friend at a party. "She was criticizing the forcefulness of the words. She felt that the cardinal could have read the audience better and chosen a topic that wasn't so conservative."

One attendant, Peter Halpin, praised the cardinal's words. When asked if he noticed people disapproving of the sermon, he said if people felt that way, he did not notice it. Halpin said, "He got an applause, so I guess people liked it. I was looking around for frowns but I didn't see anybody looking too uncomfortable. But I can see how there could've been. I mean, he was pretty direct."

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