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TOM'S FOREWORD: The Polar Express, our train of thought on sacraments pauses on side track as we tip our berettas to one of this writer's seminary classmates; the following are two pieces sent to the living members of our ordination class, the Menlo Men of '54. Allow this to be a preface as we move next week into exploring a Priesthood for the Age of Technology. Catholica readers have already seen some of the following message. (Notes to help readers understand the interplay between classmates who entered seminary in 1942 are in parenthesis.)

The funeral of a seminary colleague…

To the Menlo Men of '54 (Nevada, Utah, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco Bay area)
… from outpost San Jose (to most by e-mail)

REVEREND MONSIGNOR THOMAS F. AHERN …. A retired priest of the diocese of San Jose died in the peace of the Lord on Tuesday, September 30, 2008 in Saratoga, California at the age of 82 (Mercury News Obits 9/1/08).

Tom Burns (Navy Medic in WW2, concelebrant at funereal) is staying at our home on Thursday night and we go together to Tom Ahern's Thursday night vigil at 7pm and Friday morning funeral at 11am at Sacred Heart Church, Saratoga where Tom was once pastor. TMc will start the process of having in November a gathering of '54 at St. Patrick's Seminary and University, as is our usual custom…..'54 stand by ……

Frank M (original from '42) from NY sends the following by e-mail: "Tommy was one of the best of '54. He made us proud. Quiet. Classy. Thoughtful. Helpful. Positive. Always ready with a smile. RIP. Frank"

FOR THE TIME BEING (pre-funeral notice) TMc quotes here from a 12th century funeral service and the duty of then pastor: ONE OF TMc's hobbies is a study of THE MIDDLE AGES; I research the connection of past customs to the present. I quote here text I recently used at Sarah's funeral. Today's clerical role somewhat differs.

Before I take you into the room where Sarah lay ill I want to take you back to the year 1237 ce, the Middle Ages; this is a 700 year period that saw two thirds of Christian-Catholic Europe wiped out by the Black Plague; fear and superstition played a massive role in human thinking and it was to much of these practices that I was ordained a Roman priest. From John Hatcher's book The Black Death…

"In summer of 1345 William (wealthy landowner) was close to death … a discussion began whether his end was near … Two nephews hurried off to summon Master John … the priest was expecting the summons and immediately started to prepare himself to lead William safely through the crucial and dangerous stages of his last hours on earth…"

Master John 's preparations are similar to my1954 readiness to mechanically administer Extreme Unction, the last rites of the Roman Church; I did not see my role as leading the dying across the River Styx. I continue on from Hatcher's book…

"Master John dons vestments…" much like a knight would dress and arm for battle … "and assembles subdeacon and altar boys who solemnly process with cross, statue of Mary, handbells, lights and incense, the priest carrying a piece of the consecrated host in a pyx." William's confession differs in that with the priest he reviews all life as to justice in business dealings and final and equitable settlement of earthly property. Master John is virtually a lawyer who sets up a defensive barrier around William as the devil marshals his forces to seize William's soul.

A "creation on loan"…

I have not believed in a devil for a long time and surely there was no such talk with Sarah. Sarah and I talked about this gift called life. We spoke of the death of Jesus, my mother's death, that of Pope John the 23rd, my own some day, and I asked her not to look ahead, for I know nothing of the future, but to look back over the blessings (the sacramental–sacred sign presence of God) in her children and her many friends; we spoke of how we were a creation on loan, mortal sharers in the Eternal Life. We acknowledged God alone lives forever; Sarah spoke of God as her friend and smiled as she graciously prepared herself to return her gift of life to her Creator. Sarah's Last Rite was a thanksgiving to her God for having lived and having shared in such joy with her children and so many other wonderful people. Sarah closed her eyes in peace, smiling and she fell asleep. Sarah would not meet her God for the first time; a calming peaceful Higher Power was with her.

Along with her loved ones I mourn the loss of such a fine person; I am happy to share with you this celebration of her life. After we have had other's speak in love and tribute we shall close with a poem and the Serenity Prayer. (//end of funeral text)

Thomas, Menlo Man of '54, we hold you in fond memory (//end of message sent to Menlo Men of '54; 6 classmates were present at Ahern's funeral) --

The Procession (written post-funeral)…

It was a funereal procession, the motif definitely early Roman with the local Pontifex Maximus taking up the rear, many lower class pro-consul types in front and leading the way were court pages, one carrying the vexilla regis, the cross standard of their king; a deacon carried the Gospel Book triumphantly high. The entourage wore roman togas and authoritative signs of office crossed stole like across their bodies. My imagination envisioned a procession on the Via Apia as the body of the deceased was carried to temple for a ritual burial service; I imaged hearing the muffled slow beat of a drum as it signaled the death of one of rank, one who had fought the good fight, persevering in the battle against evil and to save Rome. The agedness of the participants was noticeable Patrician. I thought of the original use of "sacrament" — the sacred oath taken by a legionnaire to die protecting the roman standard and leader. In reality they were burying a boyhood classmate and fellow clergyman; as friends we had grown old together in separate ways. I would merely watch and not take part in the ceremony. The ceremony would not be mine when death closes my eyes.

I had taken a seat in the far back on the right wing of this huge church; I wanted to be spotted by my life-long friend who was the pitcher while I the catcher on our high school and college baseball teams 65 years ago. He possesses a green chancery office card officially acknowledging him as a Roman Catholic cleric in good standing and he goes "back stage", dressed in sport clothes before these clerical funereal gatherings to say hello to the "fathers", yet refuses to march in the funeral parade; he wears his black suit and roman collar only when he is being arrested in a justice protest. No longer in uni-form I, too, wear modern clothes, but do not possess the magic card of acceptability; a married priest for the time being is invisibly marked with the sign of Cain. Pitcher and catcher sit next to one another, remarking on the poor acoustics in such a splendid building, especially for the female voice. By phone later he will question my wife as to my not partaking in the communion wafer. My interest was more on how the congregation responds to the ceremony at the altar; with my training in psychology I scan crowds, studying body posture and faces. There were 400-plus present, mostly gray haired as was the processing clergy. Up front there was a small group of young people, dozens of grand nieces and nephews of the deceased priest. My classmate of seminary days was very close to his sister and her family; some mention of this was made but the emphasis was on the burial of a Roman Catholic priest who had remained faithful to the standards of the Council of Trent in 1542. The three scripture passages fortified this stand on the ideal Roman Catholic.

Meeting God for the first time?

The ceremony was perfect, word-for-word from the Roman ritual, one size fitting all. The prayers beseech the Almighty to have mercy on the deceased, forgive him his sins, and give his soul eternal life by opening the gates of heaven for this mortal. Jesus is judge. The prayers speak of the deceased meeting God for the first time. Old time laity must be confused by these prayers as this holy man was a model of perfection in his priestly service to State Prison and six different parishes. I have often pondered these prayers; I figure that the dead priest had said about 13,000 masses and I wondered how many it takes to qualify for holiness? Perfection in the Roman Church is measured by numbers yet gone are the days when one burger on Friday could cast one into the eternal fires. The word "holy" is from the old English "whole, complete and intregal" like Yahweh, not split mentally. The seminary of today still follows the holy standard of the Council of Trent whose basic job was to clean up the immoral and ignorant mess that was typical of the Council of Constance in 1444 ce.

A 70's aged male genuflected and his classy dressed wife, like a pretzel, bent her right knee toward the front of the church as she twisted her upper body and face to the left surveying the rest of the crowd; I thought of my 1930's mechanical training at Mission Dolores School and the reality that no nun or priest at the time told me why we dare not enter the pew without this salutation. I wondered about the nine uniformly dressed kids who occupied the pew just opposite me; they could hardly see the ceremony, often moving restless feet with rigid upper bodies and not saying a word of the Our Father, yet dutifully joining the lines that proceeded up to receive the Eucharist.

Has the Model T assembly line of Henry Ford found its duplicate in the Roman Church? The deceased had requested his breviary be placed atop his casket and mention was made of how faithful he was to the official prayer of the Church. I too had read this Latin book from the days we were ordained deacons in 1953, ceasing under medical advice to follow the monastic custom after Vatican Two in 1965.

Many memories of Church and priesthood flooded my mind as I attended this memorial tribute to my fallen comrade; at the evening service I even mounted the pulpit, for the first time in 40 years, to speak of my classmate as a human member of THE MENLO MEN OF '54 and his brotherhood homily at our recent class memorial gathering at our seminary to honor deceased Bob Bond (the only one in our class who was married twice) and Monsignor Zohilo Cammacho of Guam. We have golden memories of seminary days and our life long brotherhood. Tom Ahern, the deceased, had a year at Stanford and was on an army troop ship headed for the mainland invasion when Japan surrendered. The Menlo Men of '54 had five returning service men — a mature group who added mightily to those of us who had entered seminary at age 13. The wake service was conducted by a married deacon, straight Roman arrow. I thought "the priest of the future for sure".

A fascinating mystery to this experience of being a priest…

Time stood still as I reflected on seminary and priesthood over the past 66 years; the Menlo Men of '54 would serve in seven diverse dioceses and numberless parishes, servants of the Church and God. There is a fascinating mystery to this experience of being a priest and how the Voice of God calls each man separately and how each responds to Wisdom. At ordination we numbered 33 and at one time the Menlo Men of '54 had one third active pastors, one third married, and one third deceased.

In the year 2200 will the Pontifex Maximus conduct the solemn burial services of the clerical pro-consuls? Perhaps she might? The burial of Monsignor Thomas Ahern, native of San Francisco, the 18th of our brotherhood to die, and a Mitty Man of the 1950's offers us signs of the possible closure of a cherished era of church and priesthood so dearly loved and lived …… quo vadis, Domine? … the hurricane winds of a second Pentecost have blown harshly over the land.

PS: during the burial ceremony the words of Michael Morwood filtered through my mind; they have become for me a creed, a way of thinking by which I live. I repeat them here.

"We are living through the greatest shift ever in Christian thought. New images of our universe and our planet, along with knowledge about the long, slow development of life on this planet provide us with a new context in which to understand the divine presence we call God always present and active everywhere. Reflection on the universality of this presence leads to further reflection on and renewed appreciation of Jesus as revealer of this mysterious presence in our everyday living and loving, rather than on Jesus as the mediator between us and a faraway deity. A Church always in need of renewal must engage, at all levels, this shift in images and thought if it is to have integrity and relevance in the twenty-first century." [Again, thank you Michael]

Tom from outpost San Jose, Ca, to the Menlo Men of '54 and to Catholica /Australia. 10/10/2008

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Image Credits: Clicking on the images in the body of the article will take you to the original source.

Tom McMahon, a former priest now married, lives a very fulfilled life in San Jose and continues to contribute voraciously to several Catholic discussion lists in the States. He has been an enthusiastic supporter and encourager of the Catholica Australia initiative from the very beginning.

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©2008 Tom McMahon

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