Retiring archbishop reflects on 16 years of blessings, seen and unseen: 'I thank God for all that the Holy Spirit has accomplished'
DETROIT — Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron thanked God for all of the blessings — seen and unseen — during his episcopacy in the Archdiocese of Detroit during his final public Mass from the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on March 9.
The Mass liturgically commemorated the first Sunday of Lent, but the cathedral was packed to the brim with fellow bishops, priests, curia staff and the lay faithful from across the Archdiocese of Detroit there to thank and celebrate the chief shepherd who has led Detroit's Church for the past 16 years.
“This is my last public celebration of the Eucharist at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral before the installation of Archbishop (Edward J.) Weisenburger (on March 18), and I’m deeply touch so many friends, and colleagues, and indeed my family have made the effort to join in this offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,” Archbishop Vigneron said.
The opening procession featured an honor guard from the Knights of Columbus and a procession with the Knights and Ladies of St. Peter Claver and the Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta — a society to which Archbishop Vigneron has a close personal relationship as a frequent pilgrim to Lourdes, France.
The archbishop greeted fellow bishops, who included retired Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Donald F. Hanchon, Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton, Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Metropolitan Nicholas of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Detroit, along with his family who were sitting in the front pews of the cathedral.
Archbishop Vigneron said it was fitting for his last public Mass in the cathedral to be the first Sunday of Lent, as the liturgical season is a time of renewal and recommitment to the mission of reclaiming the world for God.
“The first Sunday of Lent sets the right context to look back over these 16 years in my service as archbishop,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “For 17 Lents, for over 16 years, I have been blessed to lead this local Church in our fight against the evil one, our fight to be Christ’s instrument in order to rescue our world from the kingdom of darkness and make it part of the kingdom of light, where it belongs.
"That’s where Wayne County, Oakland County, Macomb County, Lapeer County, St. Clair County and Monroe County all belong, in the kingdom of light,” Archbishop Vigneron said.
Archbishop Vigneron reflected on the Gospel passage from St. Luke when Christ was thrice tempted in the desert and how the temptations of human desires, earthly power and spiritual abandonment that Jesus faced mirror our own temptations.
“That’s why we have Lent,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “So we will have the strength not only to imitate, but even more importantly, to participate in the Lord’s triumph over these primordial temptations.”
After using the first half of his homily to expand upon the meaning of Christ’s temptation in the desert, Archbishop Vigneron reflected on his time as archbishop of Detroit and all the successes — and even failures — that the Church has experienced in the 16 years of his episcopacy.
“I look back and I thank God for all that the Holy Spirit has accomplished through all of us,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “I give God thanks in particular for successes, some of which I know about, many of which I will not — (that) I will never know about until the last judgment.
“In fact, I give God thanks for our seeming failures,” Archbishop Vigneron added. “Because when we give our failures over the Lord, He is so powerful in His saving grace that they, too, become grace and successes.”
Archbishop Vigneron said the mission of spreading the Gospel to all corners of southeast Michigan will continue as Archbishop Weisenburger takes his cathedra, because the world doesn’t belong to human beings, but to God.
“While this is an occasion to give thanks, to look at the past and to think about the future, this is an occasion for me to hand over pastoral leadership,” Archbishop Vigneron said, “to recognize that the Church’s mission to overthrow Satan’s kingdom is the work that still is ongoing. There are still many of our neighbors who have not heard the good news. Still, our own zeal for the mission is not as ardent as it ought to be in order to bring the saving message of Jesus to our community, our parishes, our schools, our families.”
At the end of Mass, Michael and Helen Vlasic were invited by Fr. J.J. Mech, rector of the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, to present a spiritual bouquet of 129 Holy Masses, 381 rosaries, 767 personal prayers and special intentions offered for Archbishop Vigneron, in gratitude for his service to the people of God in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
“Your years of devoted service to the people of the Archdiocese of Detroit have left an enduring mark on this community of faith,” Michael Vlasic said. “Through your leadership as a shepherd in a spirit of unwavering commitment to Christ and his Church, you have been a source of strength, wisdom and inspiration to countless individuals. As a testament to the deep appreciation and prayers of the faithful, we are pleased to present this spiritual bouquet, a collection of prayers and sacrifices in thanksgiving for your ministry.”
Fr. Mech and the pastoral team at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the parish where Archbishop Vigneron is canonically the pastor, presented the archbishop with a Pewabic tile from the famed Pewabic Pottery studio in Detroit of the archbishop’s personal coat of arms, which had been placed above his cathedra.
“You were first a deacon, then a priest, and then you became a bishop and then an archbishop of this archdiocese,” Fr. Mech said. “And yet, like Peter and those wonderful disciples, you faced your fears and led our archdiocese with such grace. The leadership team and I here at the cathedral discussed what possible gift we could give you to represent our gratitude as you conclude this very special role in your ministry for these last 16 years, as you have presided from the cathedral with strength, wisdom and kindness, and really, unbelievable faith and trust.”
On the back of the Pewabic tile is a quote from the Gospel, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” in reference to Jesus’ parable about the servants who took the talents their master gave them and multiplied that which they were given.
At the end of his final homily in his cathedral, Archbishop Vigneron, fittingly, quoted his personal hero, St. John Henry Newman, about the joy one receives when one shares the love and devotion of Jesus Christ with a friend:
"Oh, my brethren, oh, kind and affectionate hearts, oh, loving friends: Should you know anyone whose lot it has been by writing or by word of mouth in some degree to help you to act as faithful disciples of Christ; if he has ever told you what you knew about yourselves, or what you did not know; has read to you your wants or feelings and comforted you by the very reading; has made you feel that there was a higher life than this daily one, and a brighter world than that you see; and encouraged you, or sobered you, or opened a way to the inquiring, or soothed the perplexed; if what he has said or done has ever made you take interest in him, and feel well inclined toward him — remember such a one in time to come, though you hear him not, and pray for him, that in all things he may know God's will, and at all times he may be ready to fulfill it. That is, for the ways my heart has spoken to your hearts, brothers and sisters, I give God praise and say thanks to you."
