Archbishop Thomas Wenski Installed in Miami: 'Let Us Start Afresh from Christ'

'To a world tempted to live as if God doesn't matter and therefore a world that teeters on the brink on despair, we need to witness to hope by showing- by what we say and do (and by what we won't do) - how beautiful, how joyful life is when one lives convinced that God does indeed matter. And, because God matters, we are also called to model a life in which man matters as well.' (Archbishop Thomas Wenski, 4th Archbishop of Miami)

MIAMI, FL. (Catholic Online) - An Archdiocese which is home to 1.3 million Catholics and one of the most beautiful Cities in the Nation, Miami, Florida, welcomed home a native born son to serve as its Fourth Archbishop. Archbishop Thomas Wenski was installed on June 1, 2010, the Feast of Justin Martyr. For many observers, this editor among them, this growing Archdiocese, so significantly placed Nationally and Internationally, has been shown the favor the Lord. The response among the faithful of Miami to their new Archbishop has been nothing less than an exuberant joy. Archbishop Thomas Wenski  was born to a Polish immigrant father and a Polish-American mother. He was raised in Lake Worth and attended his parish school, Sacred Heart. He did not wander far from the nest even to respond to his vocation to the priesthood. He studied at St. John Vianney Minor Seminary in Miami-Dade and went on to St. Vincent de Paul Major Seminary in Boynton Beach. He was ordained as priest for the Archdiocese of Miami in 1976. At the age of 46, Fr. Thomas Wenski was then ordained a Bishop. The wonderful event took place in the old Miami Arena to a packed assembly. Now he is the first native Floridian to assume the leadership of this burgeoning and challenging Archdiocese.   Recently interviewed by Orlando's Channel 13, Bishop Wenski was asked about the challenge of assuming this post. He responded with the kind of grit which has made him both fruitful in his service and beloved by God's faithful "I have been told that Miami has its challenges. What else is new? But the Lord tells us, do not be afraid." Amen to that! This American of Polish stock looks like he could have come from the same home town as the Venerable John Paul II. Yet he is clearly at home in his beloved South Florida. Here are excerpts from his homily as he was installed today and began the next chapter in a life of service to the Lord and His Church: ********************
Let us begin. Let us start afresh from Christ Excerpts from Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami Inaugural Homily  "Sometimes I tell people - only half in jest - the best thing about Miami and South Florida is that it is so close to the United States. Miami is certainly part of the United States, this great land of opportunity and freedom. And Miami can rightfully claim to be our nation's new Ellis Island - for it has become a port of entry for refugees and immigrants from around the world, but especially from the Caribbean, Central and South America.

Of course, there was no Statue of Liberty here to welcome the newcomers - and sometimes those newcomers were not very welcomed anyway; but for the past 52 years under the leadership of my predecessors, Archbishops Coleman Carroll, Edward McCarthy and John C. Favalora, the Church of Miami was here to extend her maternal embrace to all. For the Church is the Father's House - and all God's children should feel at home in their Father's House, and here in the Archdiocese of Miami - in our parishes, schools and charitable institutions - we have welcomed newcomers - from the first refugees fleeing the Cuban Revolution to this year's victims of Haiti's January earthquake. And we've learned that the best way to make someone feel at home in their "Father's House" is to speak their Mother's tongue. And while Miami (and South Florida) is part of these United States, it also has become a vital part of the various nations from which our people have come: Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia and the rest of the Caribbean, South and Central America. South Florida is truly a transnational community - and that, more than the sun and the beautiful beaches, explains why those who live here find it such a dynamic and exciting place to live. Sometimes, Miami boasts that it is the capital of the hemisphere. The presence here today of Bishops from Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico, I think, shows that this is no idle boast.... Here in the Archdiocese of Miami, we have our problems, our challenges to face - the economic crisis and the closing of schools and more than a dozen parishes, have frustrated everyone and angered many. But let's not feel sorry for ourselves. Our brothers and sisters in Haiti, Cuba and elsewhere have challenges much more daunting than our own - with far less resources than we have. We can be tempted, like Martha in the gospel, to be worried about many things - but let us not forget the one thing necessary: our relationship with Jesus Christ. With the light of the Risen Christ and with the power of the Holy Spirit we must continue to announce the good news of Jesus Christ and invite all to an encounter with him in the Church so that they might have life in him. We have no other treasure but that: the gift of encounter with Jesus Christ. As the bishops of Latin America said at the Fifth Conference of CELAM in 2008: "We have no other happiness, no other priority but being instruments of the Spirit of God, in the Church, so that Jesus Christ may be known, followed, loved, adored, and communicated to all, despite difficulties and resistances." Some of those difficulties and resistances are found within us - sometimes faith is found weakened, hope uncertain and charity grown cold. Pope Benedict remarked last month commenting on the scandal of clerical sex abuse of children and young people: "The greatest persecution of the Church does not come from the enemies outside, but is born from inside the Church." This "suffering of the Church inside the Church that comes from the sins that exist from inside the Church" will not be solved by better computer programs, more efficient business practices, or even by better preaching -what is required rather is conversion, a recommitment on the part of all to live the faith coherently. But there are other difficulties and resistances found outside as well as inside the Church. The increasing sway within our culture of what Pope Benedict has called the "dictatorship of relativism" is a growing challenge to the Church's mission to bring the gospel to all. This radically secular world view wishes to reduce faith to the realm of the "private" and the "subjective" and thus tries to limit our freedom to serve, whether in health care, education or social services. It tries to exclude our voice, the voice of the Church, in the public square.

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To a world tempted to live as if God doesn't matter and therefore a world that teeters on the brink on despair, we need to witness to hope by showing- by what we say and do (and by what we won't do) - how beautiful, how joyful life is when one lives convinced that God does indeed matter. And, because God matters, we are also called to model a life in which man matters as well. For this reason, Catholics should involve themselves in the public square - and do so coherently and unapologetically. This is not to "impose our views" but to "make our proposal" about what is necessary for human flourishing in society. Thus, we bring to public policy debates on issues of human life dignity, justice and peace, immigration reform, and marriage and the family an understanding of the human person that, while founded on the Christian Scriptures, is also accessible to human reason. While this understanding expressed in the Church's social teachings can seem to be quite complex, I believe it can be summarized in one simple phrase: no man is a problem. This why as Archbishop of Miami I will continue to proclaim a positive and consistent ethic of life: no human being - no matter how poor or how weak - can be reduced to just a problem. When we allow ourselves to think of a human being as a mere problem, we offend his or her dignity. And, when we see another human being as a problem, we often give ourselves permission to look for expedient but not just solutions. The tragic history of the 20th Century shows that thinking like this even leads to "final solutions". For us, Catholics, therefore, there can be no such thing as a "problem pregnancy" - only a child who is to be welcome in life and protected by law. The refugee, the migrant -even one without "papers" - is not a problem. He may perhaps be a stranger but a stranger to be embraced as a brother. Even criminals - for all the horror of their crimes - do not lose their God-given dignity as human beings. They too must be treated with respect, even in their punishment. This is why Catholic social teaching condemns torture and advocates for the abolition of the death penalty. As I begin my service to this local Church as its fourth Archbishop, I ask for your support, your cooperation - and, most of all, I ask for your prayers. We begin a new chapter in this history of this local Church - and so, this is the time for us all - priests, deacons, religious and members of Christ's faithful - to assess our fervor and to find fresh enthusiasm for the spiritual and pastoral responsibilities that lie ahead of us. We must look ahead and, like Peter, trusting in Christ's words, "put out into the deep". Duc in altum. The Lord has already assured us: "I am with you always." So let us begin. Let us start afresh from Christ."

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We invite our global readers to pray for Archbishop Thomas Wenski and the faithful of Miami.

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