From Archbishop Donoghue

Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary
October 7, 1996
Cathedral of Christ the King
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My brothers and sisters,

I am happy to be here with you today, on this great feastday of Our Lady, the Feast of the Holy Rosary. As we might recall, this feast was established by St. Pius V, to commemorate the victory at Lepanto, when the allied countries of modern-day Europe, defeated the immense Ottoman navy at the Battle of Lepanto.

People often say, of course, that it is unbelievable the way people used to act in those days, and find it hard to understand why the Church should have been mixed up in armed conflicts. But it is very difficult to understand those people who have lived in times before - to understand the exact circumstances of their day to day lives - and to feel the same threat of invasion and violent death that prompted their actions. But if we read the accounts of the brave men who ventured forth on the sea, to fight the Battle of Lepanto, then it becomes clear that they were not fighting in order to vent some perverted sense of cruelty - they were sincere, dedicated, brave, and determined to end what they considered to be a menace to their homes and to their families.

And St. Pius V, who was a very holy man and who obviously understood the Gospel, and the tragedy of human life lost, nevertheless considered this to be such a great event for the Church and for all Christendom, that he gave its memorial a place on the eternal calendar of the Church, acknowledging at once, the intercession of our Lady, and the prayers of the Christian faithful.

While we perhaps, do not face the terror of fearing that some great enemy will invade our country, laying waste our land, and killing people indiscriminately, we do, in a very real sense, face certain invasions in our own time.

The invasion of a materialistic and hedonistic attitude into our homes and minds through the medium of television, for instance - or the relaxation of manners and politeness which make communication between differing parties so much more likely to give way to confrontation and to violence - or the growing contempt for the minor laws which guarantee in a major way, the peace and order of our society, and of the very neighborhoods in which we live - laws against speeding, against noise, against vulgar language, against littering - things that in and of themselves perhaps do not amount to much, but when added together show an unmistakable unraveling of the fabric of our society - or on a distinctly higher level of evil, we face an invasion of the mentality by which fearful acts of violence are committed upon those in our society the least able to defend themselves - our old people, our mentally ill, our children, and our infants in the womb - and even within the bosom of the Church herself, the Church we love, there are false teachers at work, who seem to revel in challenge for challenge's sake, and who often profit by sowing doubt, discord, and arrogance in that place where if we but obey, we have Christ's guarantee of faith rewarded, His promise of peace in our lives with one another, and His example of that humility which leads finally to real and lasting glory.

My brothers and sisters, there always have been, and there will always be, until the end of time, assaults on the Gospel and on the law of Love. Our good-will notwithstanding, there will always be that force in the world which seeks to tear down what is secure, and to profane what is holy. For this reason, the people of God have ever been characterized as "vigiles et sancti" - as the holy and the watchful - watchful, because the responsibility to recognize evil, to challenge it, and to overcome its persistent efforts will never be lifted from us - this responsibility, it is the Cross of Jesus, which we are called to share, and to carry ourselves - and it is founded on the confidence of Jesus, who went to His death knowing that from His sacrifice, all holiness, all life, and all truth would rise, and forevermore be protected by His Presence.

Those in the past, like St. Pius V and his armies, did what they were moved to do; and we, of this place and this time do what we have to do. We pour our talents and our support into the work of the Church, confident that in the end, the victory will be ours.

And so, on this special day, when educators from all over the Archdiocese have gathered here at the Cathedral, to listen, to learn, and to pray - and on this special day which is dedicated to the great intercessory powers of the Virgin Mary, let us do as our ancestors did when faced by the treat of invasion and annihilation - let us turn towards our Lady, entreating her help, and with her, uniting the force of our individual prayers into the one mighty prayer of the Church, that God's voice, and His will, may be heard clearly in this, our troubled world.

For as one of our greatest popes has written:

It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary, and to seek for peace in her maternal goodness; showing that the Catholic Church has always, and with justice, put all her hope and trust in the Mother of God. (Leo XIII, Supremi Apostolatus Officio, 1883, 2)

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