Installation as Rector of Saint Mirin’s Cathedral
Father Oliver Freney
Thirtieth Sunday, Year C, 2016.
 
Dear brothers and sisters,
 
Fr. Oliver has not had much time to settle into his post as Rector of our Cathedral and already the big events of what is really ordinary Cathedral life have overtaken us.  I want to commend you, Fr. Oliver, and the people of St. Mirin’s Cathedral parish, for the wonderful way you attended to the recent funeral of our dear bishop John this week as we sent him to the Lord.  You welcomed the diocesan family, the family of Bishop John and indeed the whole religious and civic society of the surrounding area with masterful organisation and loving dedication that were a credit to St. Mirin’s parish and our diocese.
 
Today we are gathered at this Sunday Mass to install you, Fr. Oliver, as our Rector in succession to Mgr. John Tormey.  Mgr. John left a good legacy on which to build, with improvements to the Cathedral and its vicinity and attention to the dignity of our Cathedral liturgies, rites and celebrations.  I want to take this opportunity to commend him for his good work and thank him particularly for the warm welcome he gave me when I arrived as the new bishop a few years ago.  He opened wide the Cathedral to me and, thereafter, always strived to make me feel at home in my Cathedral as its principal pastor. 
 
Fr Oliver I want to give a warm Paisley welcome to your family -your sisters and brother -, who have come over from Ireland to be with you today on this auspicious occasion.  They have never failed to keep a home for you across the Irish Sea and I hope they can now routinely find a home from home here within our diocesan family. 
 
Fr. Oliver, having lived with you these past few years in Saint Fergus and having witnessed at first hand your loving care of the poor who came weekly to the parish and found in you and your parish community a cheery welcome, I have no hesitation in appointing you to this important and lofty seat in our diocese.  You will bring to us, above all, the heart of a pastor and the long experience of being a parish priest.  Although our Cathedral parish has the particular mission to host the many events of the life of our diocese it is, at its heart, a parish and I know, in no time, you will gather your parishioners around you as a happy and vibrant community, reaching out into the town and civic centre and beyond.
 
In a few moments you will make your promises together with your people who promise to support you in your ministry.  You will promise, from your seat close to mine, to proclaim the Gospel of the power and mercy of Our Lord Jesus Christ so as to build up the faith, hopes and spirit of your people.  You will promise to spend long hours in private prayer to the Father for the needs of your people, for me your bishop and for our diocese.  You will promise to be a good steward of the Church’s Sacraments and, in the Cathedral Chrism Mass, Easter Mysteries and Confirmation season, you will find yourself closer than ever to these fountains of grace and mercy that the Lord opens for His people.  May your time in our Cathedral see you grow to ardent love of the Sacraments of our Church and in tender devotion to the Lord who dwells in them in Person and power.  You will promise to celebrate Holy Mass with a particular dignity since the faithful will come here hoping to see the Liturgies of the Church offered up with unique solemnity.  You will promise to be a good collaborator with me, your bishop, but then again, we are already good friends and companions and I look forward to our continued cooperation as brothers in the Lord.   Above all, Father Oliver, you are asked to build up the body of Christ in the parish of Saint Mirin by the eloquent witness of your Christian life, which I already know is humble, dedicated and given up in love for God and your people.  After all of these promises I will confer on you the keys of the Cathedral as a symbol of the high trust the Good Lord places in you, as He did with Saint Peter, to watch over His flock and I know you will be a good custodian of all He has placed in your care. 
 
Finally, Fr. Oliver, your appointment as Rector of our diocesan Cathedral is not without its challenges.  This position will be seen by our people and your fellow priests as a promotion.  There will be talk of you moving up the clerical ladder as it were.  Certainly the post you now hold is an honourable one and highly esteemed but I know you will be the last person to fall into the trap of pride.  The Lord, who is no respecter of personages or titles has chosen you for this task because He saw before Him a man who, with his whole heart, has only ever wanted to serve the Church.  God has always heard your prayers as those of the humble man and in that same simplicity of heart He calls you to serve Him now, next to the bishop. 
 
Others, of course, would come to this post overawed by it and think the prominence that comes with it too demanding.  But you, like Saint Paul, can be sure that the Lord will stand by your side, rescue you from any evils that may attempt themselves on you, and give you power so that through you the whole message of the Good News will be proclaimed.  All he needs is your readiness to pour your life away in His service, fighting the good fight and running the race of fatherly service every day. 
 
It is because you are a humble man, like the Blessed Mother who has always had you in Her care, that God has exalted you to serve Him here, just as it is that all of us who have begged His mercy have come to find ourselves rejoicing in His righteousness.  To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.