'I've always wanted to be a priest,' retiring shepherd tells presbyterate, 'and you've helped me to be the priest I wanted to be'
DETROIT — In one of his final addresses as chief shepherd of the Archdiocese of Detroit, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron thanked the priests of southeast Michigan for their friendship, brotherhood and encouragement over his 16 years as archbishop.
Celebrating a farewell vespers on March 2 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with nearly 100 priests, Archbishop Vigneron gave a heartfelt “valediction,” reflecting upon his life in ministry and the many ways Detroit’s presbyterate has been a source of inspiration to him.
“Like all of you, I owe my priesthood to Christ, but that grace is mediated through you, brothers,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “And so tonight, as I thank him, I thank you with all my heart. I have always wanted to be a priest, and you have helped me to be the priest I wanted to be.”
As the Archdiocese of Detroit prepares to welcome its sixth archbishop, Archbishop-designate Edward J. Weisenburger, on March 18, Archbishop Vigneron said he is wrapping up his ministry with a sense of gratitude and even “a bit of nostalgia.”
In addition to the vespers, Archbishop Vigneron will celebrate a farewell Mass at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 9, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, which will serve as a capstone and a chance for the local church to say goodbye. Local faithful are invited to participate in the Mass via livestream.
Archbishop Vigneron will also celebrate Ash Wednesday Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in Detroit at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, one of his final public liturgies as chief shepherd.
Although Archbishop Vigneron is not planning to depart the archdiocese — he plans to live in an apartment at Sacred Heart Major Seminary — he said he is looking forward to “embarking upon a new way of living out my priesthood,” a journey that began 53 years ago with his discernment as a seminarian at Sacred Heart.
Reflecting upon St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Archbishop Vigneron echoed the apostle’s words, in which he urged Timothy to “stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.”
In a similar way, the archbishop said, the priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit have stirred such a flame in his heart — as he prayed he has done for them.
“As I think about the ways God puts circumstances and people in our lives who spark again the grace of ordination and the grace of priesthood, I think they are of a very particular character,” Archbishop Vigneron told his priests. “I would even describe them as mysteries … they are earthly things that communicate heavenly realities.”
Reflecting upon the priests and bishops who formed and shaped his own vocation — in ways large and small — Archbishop Vigneron said he wanted to offer “my witness” to how Detroit’s presbyterate has “stirred into flame” his own love for the priesthood.
Among those who made an early impact on him, the archbishop recalled the witness of Fr. Daniel Complo, his first pastor as a young priest serving at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Harper Woods in the 1970s, his seminary formators, as well as priests who offered him advice upon his return to Sacred Heart Seminary as a faculty member in the 1980s.
The archbishop said Fr. Complo, who died Feb. 27 at the age of 96, “helped me to understand what it is to be a priest, how it is to serve, and how to be patient day in and day out.”
When he arrived as a faculty member at Sacred Heart Seminary in 1985, Archbishop Vigneron recalled asking a fellow priest how he could best serve as a seminary formator, and receiving some of the best advice he ever got.
“He told me the first thing is to love the seminarians,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “You can’t do anything for anybody that you serve if you don’t first love them.”
As a teacher in the seminary and later as academic dean and rector, the archbishop said he came to learn more deeply what it is to be a priest of the Catholic Church.
“A great irony about that ministry is that the more I shared my priesthood with the students, the more I made it my own,” Archbishop Vigneron told the priests. “And so, in some ways, it is many of you who have gone on to ordination who have helped stir up the priesthood in me.”
When he was called to the episcopal ministry in 1996 as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, and later back to Detroit as archbishop in 2009 after serving as bishop of Oakland, California, Archbishop Vigneron said he never felt out of place among Detroit’s presbyterate, who embraced him as a fraternal shepherd.
“I give God praise and thanks for your kindness, as that’s been my experience,” the archbishop said. “Tonight, I give God praise and thanks for the way you have helped stir up my missionary dimension as a priest, your readiness to launch into the deep with me in the new evangelization, to take up those challenges, to be partners together — all of us — in the synod of 2016, and in living out the synod.”
While these graces have been great blessings, the archbishop said, their true worth won't be known until the Lord reveals it on the last day.
“Like all mysteries, these external things have their meaning hidden from us, and it is only at the end of time at the Last Judgment that we will see how grace has been operating in us,” he said.
As the Archdiocese of Detroit moves to the future under Archbishop-designate Weisenburger’s leadership, Archbishop Vigneron urged Detroit’s priests to embrace their new shepherd in the same way, allowing him to be both a source and a recipient of the graces the Holy Spirit is pouring out upon Detroit.
Despite a perceived shortage of priests, Archbishop Vigneron reminded Detroit’s presbyterate that with God’s grace, anything is possible.
“I have come to the conclusion that whatever the challenges we face, we are enough,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Believe that. If there needed to be more (priests), God would send more. We must be as many as He thinks we need to rescue the world."
Wrapping up his homily, the archbishop called on Detroit's presbyterate to be a source of friendship, holiness and peace to one another, living Christ in and through the Church.
“We must sustain one another,” Archbishop Vigneron concluded. “It is my hope that we live this spiritual gift, that we ardently share the graces of the priesthood so that we are indeed consumed by the fire of God’s grace.”
Following the vespers, priests gathered with the archbishop for a dinner in Sacred Heart's Cardinal Mooney Parlor, where many expressed their own gratitude for the retiring shepherd's ministry.
Fr. Richard Cassidy, professor of Sacred Scripture at Sacred Heart, said Archbishop Vigneron will be remembered as "a priest and a pastor who reflects intensely on what it means to be a disciple of Jesus."
"His words are grounded as a disciple of Jesus," Fr. Cassidy said. "Don't ever undervalue having deeply grounded words from the heart of an archbishop."
Fr. Brian Cokonougher, a priest in solidum who serves primarily at St. Andrew Parish in Rochester, said Archbishop Vigneron's fatherhood has shaped an entire generation of Detroit priests.
Fr. Cokonougher, who studied under Archbishop Vigneron's leadership as a professor and rector at Sacred Heart before being ordained in 1999, said the archbishop's commitment to prayer is one such example.
"I'm going to miss him," Fr. Cokonougher said. "I take a lot of inspiration from 'Unleash the Gospel,' which was a really pivotal moment in my priestly ministry. He has always helped us to keep our eyes fixed on Christ. I may never be as smart as Archbishop Vigneron, but if I can pray like him, I'll be alright."
Archbishop Vigneron's words about "stirring up the priesthood" resonated with Fr. Brian Meldrum, who was discerning the priesthood in 2009, when Archbishop Vigneron was named Detroit's archbishop, and entered the seminary shortly thereafter.
"I was able to attend his installation while I was discerning the priesthood, still working as a music minister in the diocese," Fr. Meldrum said. "So, for me, his entire ministry as archbishop has been part of my priesthood."
Fr. Meldrum said Archbishop Vigneron's "great love" for the priests, faithful and people of southeast Michigan has left an impact that won't soon fade.
"Being a native son, a priest of Detroit, and then archbishop of Detroit, he's had such a wonderful way of relating with different generations," Fr. Meldrum said. "Everything we do as priests has been an extension of sharing in the ministry that he's received from the Lord. We feel very connected to our shepherd here in Detroit."
