St. James Cathedral here dedicated a shrine to Blessed Pope John
XXIII the last weekend in September.
Installed in the west nave of the
church, between the shrine to the Infant of Prague and the regally
marble St. Anthony of Padua, the almost life-sized statue was unveiled
Sept. 29, the evening before a Sunday Mass commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
Dedicated to the Italian-born pope of humble origin who once said,
“Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center
of love, a vivifying leaven amidst his fellow men,” the shrine features
an open-armed and realistically wide-girthed bronze sculpture that
hovers above a rounded pedestal of Jerusalem stone.
Designed to exude a
spirit of compassion and openness, the statue visibly opens up into the
space, serene and inviting.
Those gathered to worship and witness the shrine’s dedication
applauded with joyful emotion and tears when Fr. Michael G. Ryan, pastor
here since 1988, welcomed his friend and mentor, retired Archbishop
Raymond G. Hunthausen, to the cathedral they had once tended together.
Hunthausen, 91, had traveled from his home in Helena, Mont., to join in
the remembrance of the historic event and to honor the memory of his
“hero,” John XXIII. Hunthausen was named bishop only weeks before the
opening of the council. He is the only American bishop still living who
participated as bishop in all four sessions of the council.
Ryan, in a homily that began with Moses and ended with John XXIII,
told parishioners that “Good Pope John was simply doing what the Spirit
had always prompted him to do -- espousing a church with an open heart
and an open mind -- a church every bit as open as he was: a church
renewed from the inside out and from top to bottom, a church where the
gifts of all -- women and men, laypeople and clergy, Protestant and
Orthodox, poor and rich, simple and educated -- would be welcomed and
honored and celebrated.”
The shrine was envisioned about a decade ago. It also serves as an
extension of renovations to the cathedral carried out in 1994 that
implemented and integrated Vatican II guidelines for the celebration of
the liturgy, including moving the high altar to the center of the
church.
The architect, Stephen Lee, who oversaw that renovation and the
development of the new shrine, described this latest work as “elegant,
sacred, comfortable … fitted to the rest of the building.”
Created in bronze through the ancient lost-wax process by local
artist John Sisko and treated with a polychrome patina that lightened
its exterior, the sculpture appears pleasantly approachable to some,
shockingly true-to-life to others. Set in front of a gilt-framed sketch
of St. Peter’s Basilica, the sculpture’s pose suggests the balcony scene
on the moonlit eve of the council, when John addressed a crowd
estimated at perhaps half a million.
Even unfinished, the statue inspired visitors. As Sisko first shaped
the pope’s figure out of oil-based clay, people browsing the gallery
adjacent to his studio would catch a glimpse of the work in progress,
and recognize, with surprising frequency, someone they knew.
Lingering
near, they would engage the sculptor with stories about the pope that he
likened to “generous helping hands in the process.”
Sisko also immersed himself in his subject through photographs, film
and books. At times, he would bring in his own father as a model, and
borrowed Hunthausen’s long, buttoned cassock so that he could study the
garment hanging from a similar body type.
Sisko told about an elderly man who approached the statue, stating
with emotion: “This is Good Pope John.”
The man then explained that he
had met the pope as a teenager, while on a trip to Italy with his
grandmother; she had been granted audience with the pope, and though he
had recently become an atheist, he understood that this wasn’t an
opportunity one declined.
Desiring to be respectful but also mindful of
his conviction, he fretted for days over what to say. Just before their
moment of meeting, words came to him.
Kneeling, he said, “Holy man,
bless me.”
The pope then took him by the shoulders, embraced him, and
whispered in his ear: “No, holy man, you bless me!”
So connected is John to the Second Vatican Council that his feast
day, usually assigned to the day of death, is Oct. 11, the day the
council opened.
Announcing a “new Pentecost,” he once spoke of throwing
open the windows of the church so that “we can see out and the people
can see in.” Both quotations appear as inscriptions on the shrine.
At the close of the dedication liturgy, Ryan invited Hunthausen to
have the “last word.” The archbishop spoke gently. “You touch my heart,”
he began.
He concluded, “It’s my hope that you continue as a faith community,
as God’s holy people, to live in the spirit of Good Pope John, to live
in the spirit of Vatican II. You have certainly done a wonderful job so
far, but there is so much more to bring to our troubled world. So may
you be Gospel people, may you live the life of the disciple, asking John
to be with you and of course to direct us all to our savior, Jesus
Christ.”