Bishop Philip Egan has pronounced his Magna Carta for his episcopate. Beautifully and compassionately delivered, and so clear.
Dear fellow pilgrims on life's journey,
we inhabit a remarkable century, the 21st,
which despite the current economic distemper,
is witnessing momentous advances
in every domain of human knowledge and
endeavour,
with new discoveries and new applications in
science and engineering,
in computing and cybernetics, in medicine and
bio-technology,
in the social sciences, arts and humanities,
all of which manifest the limitless
self-transcending reach
of human experience, understanding and
judgement
and the cloud of burgeoning possibilities for
human deciding,
undreamt of by those who've gone before.
Indeed, even as we speak, Curiosity is roving
among the sand-dunes of Mars,
in anticipation of a manned space-voyage to
the Red Planet.
With all these exhilarating developments, the
Catholic Tradition must engage,
the old with the new, in a mutually-enriching
critical-conversation.
Yet the ordination of a Bishop,
as Successor of the Apostles, in communion of
mind, will and heart with the Pope,
as the chief Shepherd, Teacher and High Priest
of the diocese entrusted to him,
who, like the Master, must lay down his life
for his flock,
reminds us that human needs ever remain essentially
the same:
the need to love and to be loved,
the need for a purpose and vocation in life,
the need to belong to family and community,
the need for mercy and forgiveness, for peace
and justice, for freedom and happiness,
and most profoundly, the need for immortality
and for the Divine.
All these fundamental desires, hard-wired into
the human heart:
theology expresses in the word 'salvation,'
and we profess that every child, woman and man
on this planet can find that salvation.
There is a Way - and it's the Truth!
It's the true Way that leads to Life, real
life, life to the full, a life that never ends.
There is a Way, and it's not a strategy, a
philosophy or a package-deal.
This
Way has a Name, because it's a Person,
the
only Person in human history who really did rise from the dead,
a
Person alive here and now: Jesus of Nazareth, God the Son Incarnate.
He alone can save us.
He
alone can give us the salvation our spirits crave.
He
alone can reveal to us the Truth about God and about life,
about
happiness and humanism, about sexuality and family values,
about
how to bring to the world order, justice, reconciliation and peace.
This message of Good News, and the
civilisation of love it occasions,
we
Catholics must now communicate imaginatively, with confidence and clarity,
together
with our fellow Christians, and all people of faith and good will,
to
the people of England, this wonderful land, Mary's Dowry.
We must offer this salvific message to a
people,
sorely
in need of new hope and direction,
disenfranchised
by the desert of modern British politics,
wearied
by the cycle of work, shopping, entertainment,
and
betrayed by educational, legal, medical and social policy-makers
who,
in the relativistic world they're creating, however well-intentioned,
are
sowing the seeds of a strangling counterculture of death.
My brothers and sisters, today, the Feast of
Our Lady of Ransom, of England's Nazareth,
let's go forth from this Mass with joyful
vigour, resolved in the Holy Spirit,
to help bring about the conversions needed - intellectual,
moral and spiritual -
for everyone-we-meet to receive Jesus Christ,
the Gospel of Life, the way to TGLHH&F.
Bishop Crispian, I thank you sincerely for your
most gracious welcome here
and
on behalf of the whole diocese I express to you our deepest gratitude
for
the wonderful legacy you have bequeathed to us.
Please
pray I might be a worthy successor.
Archbishop Peter Smith, our metropolitan, I
thank you for coming here today as co-consecrator
and
Bishop Mark too, you have given me an inspiring example
of
what it means to be a brilliant diocesan Bishop.
I thank Archbishop Vincent for his excellent
homily,
and
all my brother bishops for your support and prayer.
I also greet Mgr. Brian, asking him to express
my gratitude to his Excellency,
Archbishop
Mennini, and through him to the Holy Father, Pope Benedict,
who,
in God's providence, has trustingly given me this appointment.
On everyone's behalf, many thanks to Canon
Hopgood, Fr. Phillip,
all
the helpers here at the Cathedral,
and
to Fr. Stephen, our musicians, servers, sacristans and others
who
have made this Liturgy so memorable.
I also greet all our friends here today:
first,
our ecumenical guests, the dignitaries from the Navy,
the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Mayor and Lady
Mayoress, and civic leaders,
then,
the priests and people of this diocese, and those of Shrewsbury Diocese,
and
all my personal friends, many of whom have travelled from so far away:
from
the US, California, Germany, France and the north of England.
It's marvellous too that so many dear
parishioners have come from Romiley,
together
with some of our best altar servers, all in fine array,
-
a huge journey - thank you so much.
And finally, I must add my love and thanks to
my family,
my
three brothers and sisters in law, my nephews and nieces,
and
to one truly special person, without whom I wouldn't be here today: my father.
Thank you Dad for everything - all my
love to you, God bless and good health.
I must stop now or we'll be late for the 'do'.
Thank
you all, once again.
Please
pray for me to the Lord Jesus,
whose
Heart yearns for us in the Blessed Sacrament,
that
I might be a humble and holy, orthodox, creative and courageous,
Bishop
of Portsmouth, one fashioned after the Lord's own.
