Archbishop offers words of comfort
after pope's death

By Beth Arnold

DANVILLE—Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein planned to install the new pastor at Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in Danville, on April 2.

Pope John Paul II’s death the same day did not deter him from his duties as archbishop.

More than 400 people came to celebrate Father Bernard Cox’s installation as pastor of the Indianapolis West Deanery parish.

Several parishioners first learned of the pope’s passing from the archbishop at the beginning of Mass.

Saddened and shocked, the assembly was consoled by the archbishop.

“Pope John Paul II has been very much on our minds. He’s gone home to God,” Archbishop Buechlein said. “Though we grieve, he has left us so much about… how to live.”

Gathered to celebrate the Eucharist, parishioners were called to pray for the Holy Father and to be attentive to the Gospel message.

During his homily, Archbishop Buechlein said he had been asked repeatedly during the past two days about the pope’s legacy.

“That is not an easy question to answer,” he said. “As a successor to Peter, Pope John Paul II has fulfilled his duties as a missionary to the world and as a global pastor, even to those not of the Catholic faith.

“Pope John Paul II was a champion of dignity of the human person,” the archbishop said. “He showed that people are not diminished because of illness or ­disability.”

The archbishop encouraged everyone to be as compassionate and to remember all that the pope had done for others.

Archbishop Buechlein reminded everyone that Father Cox had also answered the call to the priesthood. He asked for prayers, love and support for Father Cox, explaining that “prayer is the key to happiness.”

The archbishop asked three things of the faith community of Mary, Queen of Peace Parish.

He asked them to pray for and invite vocations to the priesthood, to focus on what connects people instead of what divides people, and to always ask Father Cox if he has been praying, resting, exercising and playing.

Archbishop Buechlein ended his homily by reminding the gathering that“God is love. Believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ.”

(Beth Arnold, a member of Mary, Queen of Peace Parish in Danville, is a freelance writer.) †