Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: August 16, 2020
In my column here in The Carpenter last week, I mentioned the two recent ordination ceremonies held here at the Cathedral. All of the ordinands and their families and friends have remarked on how beautiful the services were, and how profoundly moved they were spiritually.
Yet one thing I didn’t do was single out for special mention and thanks some of the people without whom those special Masses couldn’t have happened. First of all of course is Bishop Michael Duca, whose obvious love of ordained ministry and of all our diocesan candidates for priesthood and diaconate shines forth in his liturgical leadership. But I should also point out a few others.
Father Tom Ranzino has headed our diocesan Office of Worship and served as principal diocesan Master of Ceremonies for almost 40 years now. He is the ever-present calm priest at the bishop’s side throughout every ritual, following the script in the binder that’s never far away! This year Father Jamin David helped him out as assistant M.C. at the first ordination, as did Father Michael Alello at the second one. All three of them did a fine job, and it needs to be acknowledged.
(Yes, I also have been a diocesan M.C. for some 30 years. This year, given the smaller numbers attending during the Covid-19 pandemic, we didn’t need as many shepherds for the sheep, so I stayed out-of-sight in the sacristy helping set things up and remembering forgotten things. It worked out well especially since I wrenched my right knee a couple of weeks ago and have been limping around ever since, recovering very slowly.)
But four other people were absolutely essential to this year’s ordination setup and organization: Mrs. Jarja Carville of the diocesan Worship Office – she’s the one who types up the scripts and puts all of those binders together! – and Ms. Suzanne Payne of the Vocations Office; and our own staff members Ms. Lorie Watson and Mrs. Carla Kennedy. Seating in the Cathedral this year had to be carefully arranged and monitored: these ladies put out the chairs, put up the signs, showed the hospitality ministers what to do, and cooperated with the ordinands and their families in helping things go smoothly. Since their names weren’t printed in the official programs, at least they appear here in The Carpenter, and our gratitude goes out to them.
You see, gratitude is one of the hallmarks of a Catholic believer. It has to be. We owe thanks first of all to God, who bestowed existence and life upon us. When human selfishness then ruined our opportunity for paradise on earth, He saved us through His Son’s immensely self-less gift of His life.
Yet we also owe thanks to so many other people just like us: our parents, families and friends come to mind of course, but that’s not all. Most people who make life manageable for us are unknown (quick: do you know who invented the air-conditioner? the TV remote? cruise control? the daquiri machine?). Many people work “behind the scenes,” and for very little recognition. To be ungrateful to them would be the very opposite of Christian!
Always yours in Christ Jesus,
Very Rev. Paul D. Counce
