On Dec. 8, 1974, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen served as homilist for the Diocese of Raleigh’s 50th Anniversary Mass. The celebration, held at Dorton Arena because Sacred Heart [then] Cathedral was too small to accommodate the expected crowd, had been planned as a joyful golden jubilee observance for the diocese.
Just days before the event, however, tragedy struck. On Dec. 3, Bishop Vincent S. Waters, who had led the diocese since 1945, died suddenly of a heart attack. His funeral Mass was celebrated Dec. 7, and the anniversary celebration proceeded as scheduled the following day, transforming what had been planned as a festive milestone into a moment of both remembrance and hope.
In the video below, Archbishop Sheen's homily captures that historic moment in the life of the Diocese of Raleigh. Preserved in this recording is a unique glimpse of his ministry and a memorable connection between the faithful of eastern North Carolina and the man who would later be recognized by the Church as Blessed Fulton Sheen.
(Transcript of the homily is also provided below.)
Homily for the 50th Anniversary Mass of the Diocese of Raleigh (1974)
Edited from transcript format
Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, brother priests, devoted religious, and beloved faithful in Christ:
We are saddened by the absence of Bishop Waters, yet we are gladdened by this celebration, for it was his dying wish that it be held. In that wish, I find a beautiful reflection of the life of Our Blessed Lord. Christ never spoke of His Passion without also speaking of His Resurrection. Likewise, Bishop Waters did not speak of his death without speaking of the joy of this occasion.
I have often thought that, in some cases, one can glimpse the eternal destiny of a soul through the significant days of that person's life. Bishop Waters was born on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. He was ordained on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. He was buried on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. If any of us could choose the days on which we would go to the Lord, we could hardly choose more fitting feasts than those associated with Bishop Waters.
Today we celebrate not only the fiftieth anniversary of this diocese but also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Let me begin by reflecting briefly on why the Blessed Mother was conceived without sin.
Imagine a polluted river on which a ship is sailing. Nearby is another river, pure and clear. If the ship is to pass from the polluted waters into the pure waters without the two streams mingling, there must be a lock that lifts the vessel from one level to the other. Humanity had been sailing for centuries in waters darkened by sin. Christ came to establish a new humanity and a new stream of grace. To provide the passage from the old order to the new, God prepared the singular privilege of the Immaculate Conception. In Mary, humanity was raised and made ready for the coming of Christ.
Let me now speak about the Church, first from a historical perspective and then from a spiritual one. I know that many people are troubled by what has happened in the Church over the past fifteen or twenty years. Many are confused and bewildered. Some have even predicted the end of the Church because of present difficulties.
Allow me to offer a word of consolation.
Every five hundred years, history seems to experience a great crisis. We should place both our Diocese of Raleigh and our present circumstances within that larger perspective.
In the first five hundred years of Christianity came the fall of Rome. Imagine a civilization that had endured for centuries suddenly collapsing. St. Jerome, writing from Bethlehem, believed the end of the world had come. St. Augustine spent eighteen years composing The City of God to explain the meaning of those events. Yet the Church survived.
In the second five-hundred-year cycle came the Eastern Schism, when many Eastern churches separated from Peter and the visible unity of the Church. Along with it came the Muslim invasions, which advanced to within a short distance of Paris. Northern Africa, once home to hundreds of dioceses, saw much of its Christian presence disappear. Yet the Church survived.
The third cycle brought the religious upheavals of the Reformation. What was needed was primarily a reform of morals, but instead there came a division in doctrine and communion. Yet the Church survived and entered a great age of missionary activity.
Today we find ourselves in a fourth great cycle. We are not witnessing the fall of Rome. We are not witnessing the Eastern Schism or a religious revolution of the same kind. What we are witnessing is the end of Christendom.
Not the end of Christianity, but the end of Christendom.
Christendom is the social, political, economic, and cultural order shaped by the ethics of the Gospel. That age is passing away. The sooner we recognize this reality, the sooner we can begin building anew.
There are many signs of this change. One is the loss of reverence for the sacredness of human life. Another is the breakdown of the sanctity of marriage, which has always served as a sign of God's covenant with humanity. A third is the growing belief that God is irrelevant and that humanity must construct its future entirely on its own.
Given these realities, let me offer three observations.
First, the Church has always endured such changes. The Church is not merely an institution that continues unchanged through history. In a sense, the Church constantly dies and rises again. The law of the Church is the law of Christ Himself. There can be no Easter Sunday without Good Friday. There can be no halo without the crown of thorns. Again and again, the Church emerges from the tomb and receives new life.
The Church will emerge from this present trial as well.
We should never imagine that the Church is permanently wedded to any one civilization or culture. The disciples on the road to Emmaus made that mistake when they said to the risen Lord, "We had hoped that he was the one to restore Israel." They had identified the Kingdom of God with a particular earthly order. The Church belongs to every age and every people.
Second, we Christians are being tested.
Throughout salvation history, God's people have been tested. The Israelites were tested in the desert. Moses himself was tested. Our Blessed Lord was tempted in the wilderness. Every generation faces its own trial.
We should be grateful that our test is not as severe as that faced by many others. German Christians were tested by Nazism. Russian Christians were tested by Communism. Our challenge is simpler, though no less important. We are being asked whether we will choose Christ or the spirit of the world.
That choice should not be difficult.
Yet the testing is real. We see some drifting away. We pray they will return. But moments of crisis reveal where faith truly resides.
Recall the story of Gideon. He assembled an army of thirty thousand men to fight an enemy far larger than his own force. God said, "Your army is too large." The fearful were sent home, and twenty thousand departed. God then reduced the number even further, selecting only those who remained alert and ready. In the end, Gideon was left with only a small company, but God promised to be with them.
So it is with the Church. In times of testing, the Lord calls forth what is faithful, courageous, and true.
Third, never be discouraged.
These are extraordinary days in which to live. They are challenging, but they are also filled with opportunity.
A generation ago, it may have been easier to call oneself a Christian. Society itself often reinforced Christian habits and values. Today, the situation is different. The currents of secularism and worldliness run strongly through our culture.
Yet this very circumstance gives us the privilege of witnessing publicly to our faith.
Remember this: dead bodies float downstream. It takes a living body to swim against the current.
Today we are called to resist the current and stand openly with Christ. We are called to bear witness in a world that increasingly forgets Him. And we can do so with confidence, trusting that a new day will come, a day in which the Church will once again reveal her glory in fresh and unexpected ways.