by Father John P. Cush
April 27, 2014 was a glorious day in the city of Rome. Two great popes, John XXIII and John Paul II, were canonized as saints of our Church. The priests of the Diocese of Brooklyn were well represented in Piazza San Pietro on that day. Concelebrating with the Holy Father among the bishops and cardinals was Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez. Assisting at the altar as a deacon was transitional Deacon Juan Luxama. I had the honor of distributing Holy Communion at the Mass to the faithful along with Father Jun Hee Lee and Father Dwayne Davis.
In the clergy section was Msgr. David Cassato, Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, Msgr. Thomas Machalski and Father Gerard Sauer. Broadcasting live for NET-TV was Father Robert Keighron and Msgr. John Strynkowski. Among the faithful were our seminarians from the Diocese of Brooklyn, Nicholas Colalella and, visiting from Dunwoodie, N.Y., Mark Bristol. Other Brooklyn priests, Fathers Peter Purpura and Cuong Pham, were actively involved in the coverage of the event for NET-TV.
The day itself was a testimony to faith and the good will of the people of God. I found it to be remarkably well-organized by the city of Rome and by the Vatican. Leaving the Casa Santa Maria of the Pontifical North American College on Sunday morning at 6:15 a.m., the main street leading to St. Peter’s Basilica, Corso Vittorio Emmanuele II, was closed off from traffic, and pilgrims who were not already in the area were making their way to St. Peter’s Basilica. As my fellow graduate student priests approached, showing our blue Communion distribution tickets, without any difficulty, we were permitted to enter the Paul VI Auditorium, where we waited, along with around 1,000 or so other priests.
At 8:30 a.m., we were ushered out to the basilica and were seated remarkably close to the altar. The overcast day, with slight showers, seemed to get brighter as the day went on, especially during the actual canonization ceremony. One could feel the excitement in the Square when our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI came into the sanctuary to concelebrate Mass publically for the first time since Ash Wednesday, 2013.
Emotions, too, swirled during the presentation of the relics of SS. John XXIII and John Paul II. As Cardinal Amato of the Congregation of the Causes of Saints petitioned our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to declare these two as saints, my own memories went back to my years as a seminarian in Rome in the 1990s and the many times I was blessed to be in the presence of this holy man. Memories of serving Mass with John Paul II in 1996 and when our newest pope-saint met my mother and my late father the day before I was ordained a deacon at St. Peter’s in 1997 came foremost to my mind.
For me, John Paul was my pope in my youth, the one I knew the best, the one who was the Holy Father for most of my life. I was personally inspired by his zeal, his courage and his love of the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist, all which made me consider a priestly vocation. I knew John Paul was a saint all my life, and now I can officially call on his intercession.[hr]
Father John Cush is a Brooklyn priest assigned to doctoral studies in fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy.