On the evening of June 5, 2006, Msgr. Octavio Cisneros, my college seminary rector, asked if I would be available to drive him somewhere the next day. He said that he would have too much on his mind to drive himself and didn’t want to get in an accident. Little did I know then that I would be driving him to the announcement of his nomination as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, along with Msgr. Sansaricq and Msgr. Caggiano.
Most of us who participate in Sunday Mass regularly know that we are imperfect, that we are sinners, that we are so often hypocritical. We do not attend Mass because we are perfect; we attend because we are imperfect. It is only God who can heal and perfect us. This is true of parishioners and preachers alike.
John Hume, the Nobel Peace prize winner who died on Aug. 3, was being hailed as a man who strived to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
