Bishop Encourages Priests to Support One Another

By Linda Busetti
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 4/4/02)

"What takes place at this Chrism Mass this year will take on new meaning … the setting is like no other," Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde said at the annual Chrism Mass at Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington on Holy Thursday.

The "unique setting," Bishop Loverde explained, was because the Church is "enduring suffering and a wide range of reactions" to disclosures of sexual misconduct by priests in the United States. "We cannot run and must not run away," Bishop Loverde said. Instead, he told the more than 170 diocesan and order priests and 30 seminarians, "We must recommit ourselves to Jesus Christ."

"We are passing through a period of purification," Bishop Loverde said. He assured the congregation, which filled the cathedral, that diocesan policy on sexual misconduct is "regularly reviewed and refined when needed … Pedophilia is judged to be incurable and one so affected cannot take part in ministry."

Bishop Loverde encouraged his brother priests to "be relentless in supporting one another" and to pray for one another.

At the conclusion of the bishop’s homily, applause began among the priests and spread through the congregation.

After the homily, Bishop Loverde gathered the priests upon the altar to share a prayer of renewed commitment to priestly service.

During the Mass, the bishop consecrated the chrism — a mixture of olive oil and balsam — that will be used in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, as well as the anointing of the sick, throughout the diocese in the coming year.

After the Gospel, several deacons carried the oil and balsam to the sanctuary and placed them on a table. First the balsam was blessed and then the oil. The balsam is mixed into the oil producing the chrism. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the chrism is taken back to the sacristy and distributed among the priests.

Oil is frequently used in the Old Testament to consecrate priests and kings and in all liturgical functions. The blessing of oil is described in the fourth century in the "Prayer Book of Serapion," a book of the Bishop of Serapion (d. c. 362). Oil is a symbol of sweetness, strength and suppleness, while aromatic balsam staves off corruption. Balsam is first mentioned as a component of chrism in the "Gregorian Sacramentary," in the sixth century.

Chrism is also used to anoint the head and hands of a bishop at his consecration, the hands of a priest at ordination, churches, chalices, patens, altars, altar stones, and baptismal water, according to The Catholic Encyclopedia.

Before the Chrism Mass, Bishop Loverde joined Father Curtis Clark, director of the diocesan Office of Vocations, and seminarians in preparing a hearty breakfast of hotcakes, sausage, bagels, and orange juice for the diocesan and order priests, which they enjoyed together in the cafeteria of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More School. 

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