On dying well, as seen through Cardinal George

His Excellency the Most Reverend Francis J. Kane, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Chicago, spoke of a conversation he had with His Eminence Francis Cardinal George. "One thing he told me," said Bishop Kane, "was he wanted to die well."

Some time ago, I noted that "in whatever time remains to each of us we can now begin to prepare to die well, and the first step in doing so is living well." When I did so, I recommended to you Saint Robert Bellarmine's excellent little book, The Art of Dying Well. Let me recommend it to you again (the text is available at the link).

One of the Archdiocese's retired bishops, His Excellency the Most Reverend Raymond E. Goedert, was with Cardinal George as he died on Friday morning. Bishop Goedert recently shared something of the experience:

“I was at the breakfast table and Father Dan said the cardinal would like us to come up and pray,” Goedert said. “His eyes were open and Fr. Flens gave him Holy Communion and as the breathing subsided, I said the prayers for the dying…I struggled to get through the prayer. I was afraid I would lose it and he had asked that we sing the ‘Salve Regina’ so we sang the ‘Salve Regina.’ It was kind of a nice way to go. He always was curious about ‘I wonder what it is like’ and now he know. I wish he could come back and tell us.”

Bishop Goedert said the two shared many good times, filled with both serious thoughts and much laughter. He says the official residence of Chicago archbishops, today just feels empty.

It is both beautiful and profound to be in the presence of one who dies well because he lived well. Let us endeavor to do the same.

Cardinal George, friend of Jesus

Over the past fifteen years, I had many opportunities to be with His Eminence Francis Cardinal George throughout his ministry as Archbishop of Chicago. As a Master of Ceremonies at Mundelein Seminary, I worked closely with him in a number of liturgical celebrations. Likewise, other opportunities arose through my ministry as Priest Secretary and Master of Ceremonies to His Excellency Bishop Paprocki. So it was that I had the privilege to pray, dine, and visit with Cardinal George at a great many different occasions from Chicago to Madrid.

From the moment I first met Cardinal George in the sacristy of the main chapel at Mundelein Seminary, I have held him in the highest esteem and with the deepest respect. We were not close friends, but I am glad to have known him enough that he knew me, and would take a few moments to visit with me whenever we saw each other.

He was always very kind to me, for which I am grateful, but there is one moment above all for which I am indebted to His Eminence, the very same moment that he called “one of the most important – if not the most important – events” of his time as the Archbishop of Chicago: the introduction of the Cause of the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton. Cardinal George opened Father Gus’ Cause on February 24, 2011 and closed the Diocesan phase of the investigation into his life and virtues on September 29, 2014. By God’s good grace, I was able to be present at both moments.

After the opening of Father Tolton's Cause

In fact, I last saw Cardinal George at this later event, for which I flew to Chicago from Rome for a brief visit solely for the purpose of attending the accompanying prayers and simple ritual. I was happy then that I did so, and I all the more happy I did so now.

During his homily that day, Cardinal George said:

Each saint has his own personality, her own of looking at things, but each of them is a friend of the Lord and to make that friendship public and to do it in a way that assures people that here is an exemplar, assures people that here is an intercessor, assures people that here is someone whom we want to be friends with now and for eternity, that is a very important thing to do.

He intended these words to refer to Father Gus, to say that Father Tolton was a friend of Jesus and encouraged others to be friends of Jesus, as well. It seem to me, though, that these same words might also be applied to Cardinal George.

He was certainly a man with his own personality. Those who knew him knew he was often blunt and direct, a bit rough around the edges sometimes, if you will (but he was a Chicagoan). Yet he was also a man of tremendous kindness and brilliant humor, and possessed an insatiable intellect. A man without pretense and of true humility, he was one of the most sincere men I have ever known.

At the same time, though, and most importantly, he was a friend of Jesus. He lived his friendship with Jesus publicly, especially in these last several months and I think he did so in a manner that gave us an example to follow.

The way of Cardinal George was a tenacious search for the truth. He once said to John L. Allen, Jr.:

For us, the category that matters is true/false. I just reject that whole liberal/conservative deformation of the character of our lives. If you’re limited to that, as the press has to be because it can’t talk about the faith in its own terms, then somehow or other you’ve betrayed your vocation as a bishop and a priest.

As we know, the Truth is a person. Pontius Pilate famously asked Jesus, “What is truth” (John 18:38)? He should have asked instead, “Who is truth?” He would have known then that the one who stood before him was the one who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

At the same, though, Cardinal George encountered many forms of adversity and suffering throughout his life, from his difficulties with polio, to misunderstandings of one form or another, to his sufferings from cancer. He faced all of these sufferings with courage and with trust in the Lord Jesus, the Truth whom he came to know as a friend.

Let us, then, pray the Lord Jesus to welcome him into his Father’s house, that he who sought to bring to glory to Christ in the Church may now share in the glory of his Lord and friend in heaven.

Cardinal George has died

His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop Emeritus of Chicago, died today at the age of 78.

Let us pray:

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that the soul of your departed servant Cardinal George,

to whom you committed the care of your family,

may, with the manifold fruits of his labors,

enter into the eternal gladness of his Lord.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Cardinal George's homily on Father Tolton and on saints

One month ago today, His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, concluded the final phase of the diocesan investigation into the life and virtues of the Servant of God Father Augustus Tolton by giving his signature to the final documents and sealing the acts to be sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. It was an important day in the history of the Archdiocese, the history of Illinois, and in the history of the Catholic Church in the United States of America, and I remain very happy I was able to be present.

I noticed this morning that a video recording of the ceremony, conducted within the context of Midday Prayer, has been posted to the web site of the Cause:

This semester, I have Wednesdays free, so I took the opportunity today to transcribe the homily preached that day by Cardinal George:

In these days, as I look towards retirement, people often ask, “What do you think was most important in what happened, or what you did or what happened to you, in the seventeen years and more that you served the People of God in this Archdiocese as their Archbishop?” And there are many truly important, significant events in the Church and in society that fill these years - sometimes to joy, sometimes with sorrow - but I truly believe that the introduction of the Cause of Father Augustus Tolton whose sanctity, recognized by the Church, is one of the most important – if not the most important – events of these past seventeen years. At least unique events. The sacramental life of the Church is, of course, event by event, always most important in terms that it puts us in contact with the Risen Lord. But in terms of ecclesiastical actions, there are many things that are unique, but few that are as unique as this.

The Church over the centuries has ordained many priests, most of them quite holy, in small ways, some in very great ways, some in martyrs, some who betrayed the priesthood and themselves. And in recent years in this country, we have heard a lot, haven’t we, about priests who have betrayed their priesthood and betrayed young people, and those wounds will be with us for generations to come and remain in the lives of victims whom we talk to and watch the way in which evil, even in forgiven people, has long-ranging consequences. But virtue also has long-ranging consequences, and virtue is stronger than evil, forgiveness is great than sin.

In the case of Father Tolton, it was important that there be a name of a holy priest, from our history, long before the current history in the current development in the Archdiocese, which happened really only after his death in the way in which we experience it now, very important that would recognize that from the beginning this Diocese has been served by priests who have been made holy by the Lord because they have loved his people as ordained priests.

And Father Tolton was such a one, in love with Christ and his Church and suffered much in order to be ordained a priest and dedicated himself entirely to his people, quietly and in his own way. Each saint has his own personality, her own of looking at things, but each of them is a friend of the Lord and to make that friendship public and to do it in a way that assures people that here is an exemplar, assures people that here is an intercessor, assures people that here is someone whom we want to be friends with now and for eternity, that is a very important thing to do.

History is what God remembers; the rest passes.  In the Church, therefore, we have a very different sense of what is important in the history of the human race, for it isn’t a story of individual progress in freedom that is important - although freedom is also a Gospel virtue and we were created free and should use our freedom well – but that’s important only if it also helps us to advance in holiness. The Church’s history is the history of holiness, not the history of conquests of freedoms of various sorts, which is why we celebrate the death of saints, for that is when they are confirmed in holiness; that is when we know that they are with the Lord forever, whereas the civic calendar holidays are not holy days at all. They celebrate the birth of someone who in the course of his lifetime or her lifetime will do something of importance for society. Our calendars are very different because our sense of history is very different. So here we have, we hope, in time, a new date in our calendar of heroes, a new moment to tell all of us that we are here to become saints; everything else is of very, very secondary importance.

It’s often in our society today as we read the papers and contemplate what is going on and try to rearrange the mission of the Church in such a way that she can be a leaven for God’s grace, we recognize that our country can be a very good place in which to be free. That is still true and we should rejoice in that, but it can also be a very difficult place in which to be holy and that is, in the end, the way we will all be judged.

And so it is our responsibility, as members of Christ’s Body, the Church, throughout the world, to act in place after place in such a way that people will realize that sanctity is not only possible, sanctity is our goal. Sanctity is what God wants for us. Sanctity is what gives us the promise that will not only be saved, but that we will be truly saints, that we will be friends with the Lord for all eternity. Father Augustus Tolton’s cause gives us further certitude in that conviction and I thank God that we are able to bring the Diocesan part of the preparation for his sanctity to conclusion today.

Bishop Perry thanked many people, he’s welcomed many people, so perhaps many of those same people I can thank even as they’ve been made welcome. Doctor Ambrosi, the Postulator, is not here but he’s worked hard, he’s very skilled at this, and he’s helped us a lot. But the Vice Postulator, the Diocesan Postulator, in charge here has been from the beginning Bishop Joseph Perry, who has given himself to this task in ways that, as we all know who know Joe, are very thorough, very quiet, very unassuming, and very, very, effective. And so I thank him. I thank the episcopal delegate, the promoter of justice, ecclesiastical notaries, the historical commission members, the theological commission members, all of those who have fulfilled their tasks in accordance with the instruction given us by the Holy See to assemble the acts so that they can be sent now to the Holy See in order to be processed along with all the reports of favors received so that perhaps, if is God’s will, we will at, some point, many of us at least, some of us, be able to talk about Saint Augustus Tolton, priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Pope Francis names Bishop Cupich Archbishop of Chicago

As first reported yesterday by the Associated Press, His Holiness Pope Francis named His Excellency the Most Reverend Blaise J. Cupich, until now Bishop of Spokane, as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Archbishop-elect will succeed His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. who resignation was accepted upon his having reached the age limit.

From his installation as Bishop of Spokane
September 3, 2010

His Excellency will be installed as the fourteenth Archbishop of the Windy City on Tuesday, November 18th.

Please remember Cardinal George in your prayers, especially as his battle with cancer continues. Please also remember the Archbishop-elect as he prepares to assume the daunting responsibility of teaching, governing, and sanctifying the Church in Chicago.

Cancer has returned to Cardinal George

In the charity of your prayers please remember His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, whose urothelial cancer has returned. Writing in the Catholic New World, Cardinal George said:

If I may speak personally, this Lent finds me once again in poor health. My cancer, which was dormant for well over a year, is still confined to the area of the right kidney, but it is beginning to show signs of new activity. After many tests, scans, biopsies and other inconveniences, the settled judgment is that the best course of action is to enter into a regimen of chemotherapy, with drugs more aggressive than those that were used in the first round of chemo. This treatment will take place over the next two months, when my reaction to the chemo will be evaluated.

I was able to maintain my administrative schedule well during that first round, although my public schedule was sometimes curtailed because of lowered immunity. As I prepare for this next round of chemo, I ask for your prayers, which have always sustained me, and for your understanding if I cannot always fulfill the schedule already set for the next several months. While I am not experiencing symptoms of cancer at this time, this is a difficult form of the disease, and it will most probably eventually be the cause of my death. Chemo is designed to shrink the tumor, prevent symptoms and prolong life.

Conscious that such an announcement will likely fuel questions about his resignation, the 77 year old Cardinal wrote, "The only certainty is that no one knows when that will be, except perhaps the Holy Father, and he hasn’t told me. As required by the Code of Canon Law, I submitted my resignation two years ago and was told to wait until I heard from the pope. The consultation the pope makes through the Apostolic Nuncio takes a good number of months, and it hasn’t formally started yet."