29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
150th Anniversary of St. Ann Parish, Baltimore
October 22, 2023
Anchored in Hope
Anniversaries are important to married couples, to priests and religious, to dioceses, and indeed to parish families like St. Ann’s, and I am delighted to take part in your 150th anniversary. As you celebrate this milestone, you are reflecting on the history of your parish, a history that stretches back to the 1870’s, and the seafaring exploits of Captain William Kennedy. As his ship, The Wanderer, floundered in a gale in the Gulf of Mexico, he prayed to Saint Ann, the patroness of seafarers and the mother of Mary – that if he and his crew survived he would build a church in her honor, and so he did. To this day, the anchor of his ship can be seen here at St. Ann’s, and for us it stands as a sign of the hope we share in Christ Jesus.
For while, in this anniversary year, we look back gratefully on those who built this parish church and sustained in through the years, we also look to the future with hopefulness, as we focus anew on the mission that is ours here in East Baltimore, a mission which you have articulated so well in your mission statement, and I quote: “We, the parish community of St. Ann’s Church are called by God to be a family of believers, united in faith and love to teach and proclaim the message of Jesus Christ, to celebrate the Word of God, to witness to the presence of God in our community. We perceive our mission as both gift and challenge. We believe that God will use us as His instrument manifesting his Kingdom on earth. We rely on the Holy Spirit to lead us in being faithful to our mission.”
Mission as Gift
Your statement describes mission first of all as a gift. It is not something we have invented nor something we do on our own. It is a gift from the Lord and the Holy Spirit, as today’s Gospel story illustrates… When Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees about the controversial topic of paying taxes to Caesar, he ask for a coin and asked whose image was on it…and, of course, it was Caesar’s.
As on this parish anniversary we dedicate ourselves anew to its mission, let’s remember that, in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, the Holy Spirit impressed the image of Jesus on our souls. Jesus, who is the splendor of the Father, is “the coin of the realm”, the Kingdom of God of which the whole Church is the Sacrament. Belonging to Christ, we are the beloved sons and daughters of the Father and gathered together in the Body of Christ, we are brother and sister to one another. Together, we share in Jesus mission to proclaim the Good News of Salvation, to love the poor and the oppressed, to work for justice, to strive for holiness of life. Together, we share in the victory of Christ over sin and death in the Eucharist. It is a gift from God to share in divine life, and sharing in his life, we are equipped for mission. Let us today thank the Lord who sends us on mission day after day.
Mission as Challenge
Through the years, St. Ann’s has changed as Baltimore City has changed, but its mission as a community of faith, worship, and service has not. Yes, with the passage of time, demographics change, culture changes, the needs of communities change, and challenges and experiences differ. A parish community must embrace and engage such changes and challenges, as indeed, you the parishioners of St. Ann’s, have done. Yet it is also the task of every generation to keep its eyes firmly fixed on Jesus and to engage in the mission of spreading the Good News of salvation.
We recognize how challenging is this mission entrusted to us all. In his message for World Mission Sunday (being observed today throughout the Church), Pope Francis calls on us to be witnesses of Jesus so as to bear witness to Jesus. We cannot be a witness to Christ without first encountering him, without allowing him to impress upon us more and more deeply and clearly, the beauty his self-giving love, the truth of his words, and the goodness of his heart. And this we do, not as isolated individuals, but together, as partners, as fellow disciples, journeying towards holiness, journeying on mission, journeying towards the Kingdom of God where the saints beckon us in love.
Even so, the mission is not easy. Just as Captain Kennedy battled rough seas in the Gulf of Mexico, so too we battle rough seas as we strive to fulfill the mission given to us. Some of the choppy waters we experience come from the culture all around us. Sadly, some of the turbulence we experience comes from within the Church, such as the sin of racism and the harm inflicted on the innocent by the Church’s ministers. And sometimes turbulent waters surge within our troubled hearts as we face our own personal challenges and those of loved ones. Like Captain Kennedy, we need to pray to St. Ann, asking her intercession to help us navigate the choppy waters we encounter as we engage in the mission which the Lord entrusted to us.
We Are Not Alone
If St. Ann remains a guiding star for this parish family, so too do the “Saintly Six”: the Venerable Mother Mary Lange, the Venerable Henriette DeLille, the Venerable Augustus Tolton, the Venerable Pierre Toussant, the Servant of God Julia Greeley, and the Servant of God Thea Bowman. Their lives, their example, and their prayers open us to the depth of God’s love, to the power of God’s love working in us and through us, and they remind us that discipleship and mission are gifts to be cherished and exercised even in the most challenging of circumstances. We do well to pray daily and to advocate for their canonization.
And speaking of mission… a number of you are about to go on a mission to Rome to advocate for the canonization of the Saintly Six. At the end of October, Ralph and Delores Moore and Mary Sewell will meet with Cardinal Semeraro and officials from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. And they will carry with them letters from the faithful of this Archdiocese. It will be my honor to bless them this morning as they go forth from this parish to lift up the Saintly Six and to advocate for their inclusion in the ranks of the Church’s canonized saints. And what a blessing that would be to the Church in the United States, to African American Catholics, and to this Archdiocese of Baltimore!
The Anchor Is Christ
To conclude, let me leave you with these beautiful words of your own: “As we look back over the storms and challenges that St. Ann’s has faced from its beginning until today, we praise God that our anchor still holds and grips the solid Rock – Jesus. Through the years – past, present, and future – God’s love remains as constant and as secure as the anchor that held Captain Kennedy’s ship so long ago.” Dear friends: Happy anniversary! May we always give God the glory!