St. Patrick: A model of evangelization
CHARLOTTE — Bishop Michael Martin celebrated two Masses over an extended St. Patrick’s Day weekend at a pair of historic churches – St. Patrick Cathedral in Charlotte and Old St. Joseph Church in Mount Holly. While honoring the roots of Catholicism in North Carolina, he urged Catholics to embrace the missionary spirit of St. Patrick, telling them to “get into the game” and asking, “Do we influence the culture or are we influenced by the culture?”
Starting on Sunday at St. Patrick Cathedral, which was built by Irish immigrants in 1939, Bishop Martin said God challenges us to be more than spectators. Just as basketball players push themselves to excel in games, Lent calls us to be transformed in our daily lives.
“You’ve got to be the transfigured one in the world, so that the world will look at you and be amazed at the spectacle of your life,” he preached. “So that (people will) look at you and say, ‘Wow.
I want some of what she’s got. I want some of what he’s got.’”
The Mass concluded with a beloved tradition – the playing of “Highland Cathedral” by Mark Adamson of Charlotte on bagpipes and Dr. Gianfranco DeLuca on organ.
On Monday at St. Joseph, the oldest Catholic church in the diocese, members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians hosted Bishop Martin for an annual Mass that pays tribute to the first Catholic families who settled in western North Carolina.
The Greek Revival style wooden frame church was built in 1843 by Irish immigrants who had come to search for gold along the Catawba River. No longer an active parish, Old St. Joseph is used for occasions such at the feasts of St. Patrick and St. Joseph in March.
“It’s just rare that you get to see places like this,” said Bill Bridgeman, a Knight of Columbus who serves as the church’s caretaker, as he opened wooden shutters to allow the rising sun to light the space since it lacks electricity.
Yet the church’s idyllic presence still beckons to passersby like Deacon Bill Melton. He was in the process of converting to Catholicism years ago when he discovered the church while patrolling the area as a member of the Gaston County Police Department. “I would come at night and pray the rosary here in the cemetery,” he recalled. Monday was his second time inside the church and his first for the Hibernians’ feast day Mass.
As Bishop Martin repeated the tradition of blessing the grave of the church’s first pastor, the Irish Father T.J. Cronin, he honored all immigrants who have shared their faith in their times.
“If it were not for them, we would not be here,” he said. “If it were not for us, future generations will not know the Good News. May we take our responsibility for the Great Commission as seriously as these women and men so many years ago.”
During his homily, Bishop Martin continued that thought, noting that St. Patrick is almost synonymous with Ireland.
“I believe that Patrick influenced the culture,” he said. “To me that's our takeaway today: Do we influence the culture or are we influenced by our culture?”
“Christ, in today's Gospel, tells us to go out into a culture that has very different values and influence it in such a way that it begins to change, that it begins to be different,” he said. “To me the reason why St. Patrick is today so beloved and so synonymous with Ireland is because that's what he did.”
The bishop went on to suggest that we often allow the world to impact us.
“We aren't comfortable being uncomfortable,” as we are witnessing to the culture of Christ in our world, Bishop Martin said.
“Don't you believe that they did that?” he asked, gesturing toward the cemetery outside the church. “That they walked around in a culture that had nothing to do with Catholicism and in fact found themselves on the outside looking in, immigrants themselves… We, too, should have a little sense of that, that we're on the outside looking in.”
While we should celebrate the beauty and history of the buildings of our past, Bishop Martin said we should recognize that they were built where the people once were, and where people are today has shifted.
“We have to meet them where they are,” he emphasized. “We have to take the spirit that's in the very wood of these walls and floors. We have to take that to where people are: to the supermarkets, to our workplace, to our homes, to our schools, bringing that spirit, that vision of Jesus, into the world.”
— Trish Stukbauer. Photos by Aidan Creter | Catholic News Herald
