By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
The durm and strang of the abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church during the past two decades have caused, unfortunately, some to overlook or forget the humble devotion of many, if not most, Catholic clergymen, and the important role these men model for all of us who want to be better human beings.
I could cite numerous supporting examples from the approximately ten years that my late mother (Kathleen “Kay” O’Brien) worked as the receptionist at the Utah Pastoral Center, the offices of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Mom loved the kindness of Bishop George Neiderauer, and marveled at the relentlessly hardworking Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald. She enjoyed the true gentle, teddy-bear demeanor of the gruff-appearing Monsignor John Hedderman, and witnessed the quiet and patient suffering endured, in his final years, by Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal.
Yet, I think the best example may have occurred on Mom’s very first day of work. She was in orientation with Deacon Silvio Mayo, who then served as chancellor of the diocese. A chancellor keeps the official records/archives of a diocese, certifies documents, and generally manages the church’s administrative offices. Deacon Mayo was remarkable. He was one of the first ordained deacons in Utah, worked for the diocese for almost three decades, and also had a long career in the accounting department of retailer J.C. Penney. His son, Monsignor Joseph Mayo, was one of my grade school teachers and himself gave another four decades of service to the Church.
During my mother’s new job orientation meeting at the diocese some twenty-five years ago, she told the deacon she was happy to work at the church offices. Deacon Mayo smiled, nodded his agreement, but then said, “Remember, Kay, no saints work here.”
His comments anticipated the words of an Argentine cardinal who, many years later, accepted his election as pope with these humble words: “I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In an interview a few months later, the newly-ordained pope said, ‘Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio? I am a sinner. This the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.” Speaking to a group of priests in 2016, that same Pope Francis told them, “almost all the great saints were great sinners” but he also noted that, as a result, these saints also became the “best practitioners of mercy.”
What Deacon Mayo, who passed away last week at age 93, was trying to tell my mother many years ago (and what the pope reminds us regularly) is that imperfect humans serve the Church, people subject to the same failings as the rest of us. The old deacon’s orientation message also contained some really good counsel, i.e. that humbly accepting and acknowledging our imperfection not only allows us to strive every day to be more perfect, it also helps us better understand, show mercy to, and get along more amicably with, our fellow sinners. It is the foundation for fulfilling Jesus’ great admonition in the Gospel of Luke: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Not bad advice for the first day on the job. Not bad advice for every single day.
