Council - Hardcover

CHAPTER ONE
 
 
Jersey City, New Jersey, September 11, 2001
 
The archbishop, a lean, almost ascetic figure, tall with broad shoulders that filled out the flowing emerald-colored Chasuble, bowed deeply toward the altar in a gesture of obeisance and reverence as he deliberately pronounced the words that sacred Tradition and Scripture attribute of Jesus Himself: "This is my body." He paused for a heartbeat, then continued: "Which will be given up for you." Timothy John Cardinal Mulrennan lifted the host, a thin water of unleavened bread that had, with his words, become the body of his Lord Jesus Christ. He held the host aloft before the gathered attendees of this special, early-morning mass, then replaced it in the plate and genuflected before it.
Next, he took the chalice of wine intermingled with a drop of water and pronounced the similar words of consecration in a clear, measured cadence: "This is my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven." Again, he breathed silently before he added in a near-whisper the admonition that he brought Christians together for two thousand years: "Do this in memory of me" The gleaming upraised vessel reflected the blameless sunlight that shot through the windows of the chapel, in St. Peter Hall on the college campus, which were open to a bright, cloudless new day.
Cardinal Mulrennan had returned from Rome less than twenty-four hours earlier, ending a brief vacation trip combined with a visit to the Holy Father. He had been emotionally shaken by the sight of the old man whom he so loved--a bent and shrunken shell ravaged by age, disease, and the woes of the world, and still suffering the aftereffects of an assassination attempt twenty years before. Yet, never had he known the people to be so mentally acute, attuned to the spiritual currents across the globe, even prophetic in his words and his attitude. The pontiff--the holiest man Tim Mulrennan had ever known--had sadly predicted a renewal of evil and darkness in the earthly kingdom, Which very soon he would depart.…Difficult to believe on such a warm and glorious September day that war, pestilence, and famine might descend upon the people of God. Mulrennan smiled to himself as he continued the sacramental rite of the Eucharist, through the Lord's Prayer and the Agnus Dei and as he served Holy Communion to the community which had gathered for the planned events of the day--another busy, overcrowded schedule for the cardinal who was responsible for the care of one and a half million souls in the Archdiocese of Newark, within hollering distance of Manhattan island.
God is in charge, his spiritual director, an old priest colleague and mentor, Father Joel, always reminded him. Let God do His job and try your very best to do yours. Simple as that. Though Timothy Mulrennan's job was quite demanding and complex and highly public; still, he stove for simplicity and focus amid the heavy challenges and responsibilities that he faced nearly every day.
Like the pope himself, Cardinal Mulrennan was a successor of the apostles, a member of the worldwide college of bishops which is charged to teach the ancient faith and to tend the far-flung flock of Christ. Yet he also believed that the Bishop of Rome was indeed first among equals, a direct inheritor of the ministry of St. Peter and the living representative of Christ on earth, His vicar and chief servant. Not that he spent a lot of time thinking about the meaning of the apostolic succession…he was more often too busy with the day-to-day affairs of his diocese to soar into such elevated theological realms. In front of him each day was laid a crushingly packed agenda of activities--masses, talks, meetings, charity dinners, parish visits--that would cow any corporate CEO. But he liked it; in fact, he thrived on it.
The trip from which he had just returned, which had included a several-day holiday in Ireland, his ancestral homeland, was the very first lengthy break he had taken since his appointment to this archiepiscopal see. Occasionally he had taken a two-day "weekend" (in the middle of the week, of course) or squeezed in a round of golf on the Essex County public course, or a few days on retreat, which was always more work than relaxation. So he actually felt refreshed and ready to tackle this first full working day, feeling blessed that he was in a job assignment that he loved. He was grateful that his five years in a curial position in Rome had ended with his appointment to the archdiocese where he had been born, raised, and educated.
In fact, in his homily morning, after the Gospel reading from Luke, in which Jesus calls the apostles to join Him in His ministry, Mulrennan spoke to the forty or so professors, deans, and administrators from St. Peter's College about their connection to the apostles and their role in proclaiming the Good News, and he urged them, too, to be grateful for such a vacation. This mass was the archbishop was a part of their day-long convocation to mark the beginning of a new academic year.
"Push your boats out farther into the waters and let down your nets," he preached, echoing the words of the evangelist. "The fish you will catch, even after you think there are none left to harvest, will astound you--even as Simon Peter and his men were astounded. Let yourselves be surprised by God and his Power to work miracles in your lives and the lives of those you touch through your profession." If every Christian, and every Catholic, were to heed the simple instructions of Jesus, how the world would be transformed and the light shine through any darkness or disaster that might befall God's people. "They left everything behind to follow Him--all the way to His death and resurrection and beyond, to the end of their days. And today He calls us, his latter-day followers, to do the same. His message is changeless, asking us to change and become fully whom the Father created us to be."
When the liturgy ended, at about 8:20 A.M., the archbishop stayed for a quick cup of coffee with the college president, a Jesus priest friend of many years, along with the other academicians and religious who pressed him for details of his ad limina Vatican visit and asked after the health of the Holy Father.
"As you know, he is planning a trip to Armenia, the oldest Christian nation in the world," Cardinal Mulrennan said, "and is still determined to travel to Iraq some day. And I certainly would not bet against him--based on strength of will alone. His physical body is failing him, certainly as it does everyone, but his mind and spirit are stronger than I have ever seen, and I have known him for almost forty years." He had first met the future pope at the Second Vatican Council when the Pole was a young bishop--had observed the philosopher-pastor's fertile, restless mind at work even then. "I pray for him everyday. And he pray for us."
By eight forty-five he had extracted himself--gracefully, he hoped--from the gathering and made his way to the car in the crowded college parking lot. A young priest named David Gallagher awaited him and would drive him back to Newark. Mulrennan got into the front seat instead of the back, pulled on his seat belt, and turned on the radio as the driver pulled onto the narrow street. He set back and closed his eyes. A news bulletin caused him to jerk upright and turn up the volume: An airplane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. "David, let's drive toward Liberty state Park, quickly." He caught intermittent glimpses of the towers across the river and saw for himself that smoke was rising from one of them.
Less than ten minutes later, as they headed directly for the park on the Turnpike extension, he witnessed the swift, eerie approach of another airplane and a second heart-sickening explosion, and heard the...