Home | Schedule | Stained Glass Windows | Bulletin | Directions | Holy Father | Lent

      

 Requiescat in Pace 

REMEMBERING OUR BISHOP AHERN

Bishop Patrick Ahem went home to God on the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19. There is great significance in the fact that he died on St. Joseph's feastday. St. Joseph^'s Seminary was such an important part of his life: he studied there for the priesthood and later served there as professor. On the Feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1970, he was consecrated as a bishop by the late Servant of God Terence Cardinal Cooke. But the greatest significance in the fact that Bishop Ahern died on the Feast of St. Joseph was simply that he was like St. Joseph, whom the gospel calls "the just man," the man who did God's will, without asking questions, just acting obediently and lovingly. That was St. Joseph and that was Bishop Ahern.

 Of course he learned to serve God faithfully from his parents. Of course he built on that determination to serve God during his years at the Seminary. But no doubt also he learned to serve God obediently and lovingly from his first assignment as a priest. He was ordained on January 27, 1945 and was assigned as a newly ordained priest to our own St. Helena Parish. Certainly he learned here what it meant to serve God faithfully and the teachers of that lesson were our beloved Monsignor Arthur Scanlan, the other priests who served here, and the parishioners who supported him with their prayers and encouragement in those first two years of his priesthood. He often called his St. Helena years "the honeymoon of my priesthood." Again and again he came back here for so many Confirmations and other visits and you could see how much St. Helena's Parish was in his heart. In a sense, even though his 66 years of priesthood and 41 years as a bishop brought him throughout the world, he still remained a "St. Helena priest." A few years ago, as his age kept him from visiting here, he wrote to me about his memories of our parish. He thanked everyone for their kindness to him over the years and he wrote at the end, "St. Helena's has been wonderful to me."

 To speak of Bishop Ahern is to speak of so many things: his beautiful singing voice (the older parishioners will remember his tenor voice singing the old Irish songs "O Danny Boy" and  I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen"),  his powerful preaching, his concern for vocations, and his love of special needs children (for whom he dedicated so much of his efforts). But to speak of Bishop Ahern means to speak of the saint whom he called the "love of his life," St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Little Flower. His devotion to St. Therese began with a suggestion from our founding principal Sister Purissima Riley O.P., who encouraged the young priest to develop devotion to "the greatest saint of modern times." He certainly listened to Sister's advice. He wrote a book about St. Therese's correspondence with a young priest called "Maurice and Therese." He was instrumental in spearheading the efforts of the bishops of the world to petition our late Holy Father Pope John Paul II to declare St. Therese our latest Doctor of the Church. And he was the one responsible for the placing of the statue of St. Therese in our church. When we were making some renovations in our church in 1996, I asked for his advice, specifically about moving the tabernacle back to the center of the sanctuary and the positioning of statues in the church. He gave me his good advice and then, in his own inimitable way, he asked me, "And where will you be putting the statue of St. Therese which you are going to get for the church?" He offered to buy it. I told him that we would be honored to provide it in his honor as a remembrance of the importance of praying for vocations to the priesthood, an intention near and dear both to St. Therese and to Bishop Ahern himself. That statue of St. Therese in our church is a permanent memorial to Bishop Ahem. Every time we see it, may we pray for St. Therese's help for more priests to follow in Jesus' footsteps, even as Bishop Ahern did.

 Bishop Ahern was a master storyteller. He was not afraid to tell stories poking fun of himself. He loved to tell of the day when he gave his first sermon in our church, shaking in anticipation, only to find his father sitting in the first bench. More afraid than ever, he gave his sermon, waited for the train to go by, ended the sermon with a hasty Sign of the Cross and exited quickly. One of the stories I most remember and one that I share with our children often is the story he told of a little boy coming into church with his father one day. The boy wanted to know what everything was, the crucifix, the statues, but most of all the windows. The beautiful stained-glass windows portrayed the saints and the boy was entranced with the sunlight shining through each window making beautiful colors. "Who is that?" he asked. And the father said, "That is St. Joseph... That is St. Peter... That is St. Elizabeth." A few years later the boy went to school and the teacher asked, "Does anyone know what a saint is?" The children gave good answers, "A saint is God's friend....A saint is someone who is with God in heaven... A saint is someone who did God's work." Then the boy thought back on the day when his father brought him to church. He thought of the sunlight and the windows and the pictures of the saints. He raised his hand and said, "I know what a saint is. A saint is someone the light shines through."

 God's light certainly shined through Bishop Patrick Ahem. We are the better because we were privileged to see Jesus' light shine through him. I find it hard to imagine our world without him, without his infectious smile, his beautiful voice, his love for any and every person who came to him. But we must not be greedy. We now have to share him with heaven because the angels need a new signing voice to make their praise of God even better. When he went home to heaven on March 19, he must have been greeted by so many "heavenly friends," his own dear parents, our beloved Monsignor Scanlan, Cardinal Spellman, Cardinal Cooke and Cardinal O'Connor whom he served so faithfully, St. Joseph, of course St. Therese, and Our Blessed Mother herself All of them must have escorted him into the presence of the Lord Jesus who must have smiled at the good bishop and said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant, come and share my joy forever."  

                                                                              Father Thomas B. Derivan

 Requiescat in Pace

© AM 2011