Headquarters Rediscovered

HEADQUARTERS REDISCOVERED BY: ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO

MASS AT THE BASILICA OF THE NATIONAL SHRINE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Normally, my quarterly article to you is filled with details about pastoral visitation, Catholic communities across the globe, and the valiant men, women, and families who serve the Nation. Something called the Coronavirus altered my agenda. You all know its effects very well.

January and February were still very full. After the bishops’ retreat at the beautiful Bethany Center near Tampa, Florida I flew to Israel for a visit to the Christian communities there along with several bishops from Western Europe, Canada, and South Africa. This was my second and last trip with the Holy Land Coordination, a gesture of solidarity to increasingly isolated populations in Israel.

The first stop was Gaza where I presided at Sunday Mass for the Baptism of the Lord. The Catholic community is vibrant, but not nearly as numerous as it once was. It was amazing to see the charitable outreach and to visit some families in their homes.

Leaving Gaza was probably one of the most degrading experiences in my life. Obliged to remove our shoes, coats, and collars, empty our pockets, walk through an internal check point filled with cameras, microphones, long corridors, and screens we had to wait for our luggage which was completely inspected by hand. Can you imagine enduring that anytime you want to leave Gaza to go to Jerusalem?

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THE ISRAELI WEST BANK BARRIER NEAR ADU DIS, JERUSALEM.

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The rest of the visit included a kindergarten separated from the occupied territories with a wall right through the property. We also had Mass with the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, met with some officials at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and with the Palestinian Government in Ramallah. After the final Mass with the Catholic parishioners at Holy Family Parish in Ramallah I made my way to the airport in Tel Aviv.

My driver, a

ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO, WEST POINT CADETS, AND AMS STAFF PARTICIPATING IN THE Palestinian, was convinced that he would be searched at

RIGHT TO LIFE MARCH IN WASHINGTON, D.C. the first gate for the airport and told the police that we were coming from Haifa! I suspect that my diplomatic passport from the Holy See protected the driver from the feared search.

The return from the Navy retreat in Palm Beach was designed to allow my participation in the annual vigil for life and the march. As usual, several cadets from West Point joined the staff of the AMS in this annual walk in favor of the unborn. This year the weather could not have been more clement.

The annual visit to West Point took place just before I left for the National Catholic Bioethics Center’s symposium for bishops in Dallas. Those lectures are always very useful and the center is an extremely valuable

asset for the Church in these complex times. Their staff has often aided individuals in the military when confronted by a moral dilemma.

One of the AMS co-sponsored seminarians, Peter St. George (Diocese of Arlington) was in charge of Mount 2000 (a gathering for youth aged 13- 18) and ably demonstrated his leadership skills throughout the weekend. I was invited to celebrate the closing Mass at the seminary in Emmitsburg on Sunday, but came out a day early to be with the military participants and to hear confessions. No one told me that I would be busy for two hours in the afternoon and three in the evening. It was a wonderful experience.

The visit also allowed me an opportunity to visit with the many co-sponsored seminarians who are studying at Mt. St. Mary’s. Little did I know that they would soon be returning to their dioceses to continue their education online.

ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO (CENTER), AT MOUNT ST. MARY’S, WITH THE AMS GROUP THAT ATTENDED MOUNT 2000 IN FEBRUARY.

The next week gave me an opportunity to visit Maxwell Air Force Base and the priests preparing for the chaplaincy there. The visit provided the occasion for some office calls with the leadership both of the Air University and the Chaplain School. It was good to celebrate Mass and to enjoy a meal with the priests there.

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HEADQUARTERS REDISCOVERED

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I arrived back in D.C. on Friday evening 14 February so that I could leave for Rome the next afternoon. While the transatlantic trip was for a meeting in the Secretariat of State on Monday morning, it was good to see some friends and enjoy a lovely meal in a Roman restaurant. Once again I was unaware that such events would soon be remembered privileges!

The first inkling was in the airport on Monday afternoon when the agent at Alitalia asked me if I had been in China! I arrived in Washington at 10:15 p.m. so that I could board a plane anew on Tuesday morning at 5:55 and begin the pastoral visit to the installations in Wyoming and Colorado.

The time out west followed the usual pattern and provided many opportunities to visit with the faithful, celebrate L-R: SARA B (FOCUS), REVEREND THOMAS S. FOLEY, STL, confirmation and baptism, CADET KATIE G., CADET LINUS M., ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO, CADET RACHEL O., DEACON BOB WALLER, AND MIKAYLA G. (FOCUS) AFTER WEEKDAY MASS IN meet the commanders, and discover the Air Force

THE BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL, USAF ACADEMY, Academy with a closed COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO. chapel. A significant moment of the visit out West was the ordination of co-sponsored seminarian Anthony Davis (Denver) to the diaconate. It was the last crowded ordination in which I was to participate.

After the annual visit and Ash Wednesday Mass at Walter Reed Military Medical Center and the Rite of Election, I managed a quick pastoral visit to Parris Island. Celebrating Mass for several hundred recruits and

responding to their questions was a unique experience. It was also touching to visit the site of the first Mass in South Carolina, which is on the grounds of the Marine installation.

My return coincided with my first meeting as the Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Priorities and Plans. While I was at the ARCHBISHOP TIMOTHY P. BROGLIO (L), FATHER THOMAS S. FOLEY, AND DEACONS WALTER AND ROSS, WITH CONFIRMANDI Conference headquarters all FROM THE USAF ACADEMY, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO. of the other bishop members participated by telephone. It was a foreshadowing of things to come.

The spring discernment retreat in San Francisco was another first: everyone registered was able to participate and we even added one young man! Let us pray that some of the participants join the ranks of the cosponsored seminarians.

My return from San Francisco ushered us into the week we all remember. Businesses were closed, stay-at-home orders were issued, and at the AMS the priests began to take out food from restaurants, wash dishes, and organize the house with less domestic help.

Despite a last minute attempt to participate in Jason Allen’s ordination to the diaconate on 19 March, I was unable to ensure AMS presence. However, I did concelebrate and preach the homily at Garrett Braun’s diaconate ordination on the Saturday before Palm Sunday near Evansville, Indiana. Counting everyone we were ten in the parish church!

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Summer 2020 | 9

HEADQUARTERS REDISCOVERED

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Even though Bishop Spencer was ready and willing to represent the AMS at the diaconal ordination of Michael Kapolka and Edward Hoffmann in Cincinnati on 25 April, the restrictions on gatherings imposed by the Coronavirus obliged him to cancel his plans.

Probably the most interesting week was Holy Week. For the first time we celebrated Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil in the main chapel of the Edwin Cardinal O’Brien Pastoral Center with the participation of very few lay people. Many of us remarked that it was the most prayerful Holy Week we have ever known as priests.

I did miss celebrating with the Catholic communities at West Point and Annapolis, but there was no other option. Easter Sunday’s Spanish Mass placed me in the empty Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (see picture page 4). I celebrated before two cameras with a very small choir socially distanced among themselves behind me. I hope that the viewing audience was able to pray and to rejoice in the Risen Lord.

I spent a good bit of time on Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday sending messages to some priests and calling others. It was good to connect with them and see how they were helping their flock celebrate the Easter mysteries in uncharted waters. Their creativity and willingness to go the extra mile to stay in touch with the flock tell so much about their commitment to ministry. Not having assistance, I learned how to find e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and addresses for envelopes. The work is slower, but not traveling gives me more time.

As someone wrote to me, this is the longest time I have spent in one time zone since I returned to the United States twelve years ago. It has also allowed me to clean off my desk and arrange some photographs which came with my personal effects when I moved north from the Dominican Republic. I do wonder who the dark-headed young man is in the pictures! V

COVER STORY

A Navy nurse deployed in New York City to augment the health care workers battling the COVID-19 crisis, forwarded a photograph of a Navy Chaplain administering anointing of the sick to a patient in the ICU.

The family of the patient requested that he receive the anointing of the sick by a Catholic priest. The hospital was unable to locate a priest in a timely manner so the nurse contacted her unit which sent their chaplain. The nurse witnessed the sacrament and took a photograph because it reminded her of Father Vincent Capodanno. The nurse's father is also a Marine veteran who served with (and knew personally) Father Capodanno in Vietnam.