JOHN Cardinal O’Connor, priest, teacher and warrior, was laid to rest yesterday as he lived – with a thunderclap that rocked the rafters of his beloved St. Patrick’s Cathedral and will reverberate through the great city he loved so much.
What a sendoff! What a crowning moment! What an unbelievable spectacle!
And, profoundest irony of all, the cardinal hurled his thunderbolt without speaking a word.
He lay in his vestment-draped casket at the foot of the high altar, an open Gospel resting on top, surrounded on all sides by the brothers and sisters he cherished – hundreds of priests, bishops, cardinals and nuns.
It was the memory of his life, his example and his convictions that set the cathedral afire.
It happened when his good friend, Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston, was midway through a sweet and tender homily. He recalled, quietly at first, Cardinal O’Connor’s dedication to the sanctity of life.
“No one has proclaimed the gospel of life with greater effectiveness,” said Cardinal Law. “In doing so, he became a national and international public figure.
“He was eloquent and unswerving in his defense of the life of the unborn as well as his support for the value of human life to the moment of natural death.”
True in every word. But then the Boston cardinal bore in with a passion that caught everybody in the jammed cathedral by surprise.
He said: “Cardinal O’Connor preached most powerfully by his example the necessity of seeing in every human being, from the first moment of conception to the last moment of natural death and every moment in between … the image of a God to be loved and served.
“What a great legacy he has left us in his constant reminder that the church must always be unambiguously pro-life.”
There was an instant of silence. Then the import of his words exploded around the cathedral. The applause began, then swelled and rolled throughout the vast church.
The discomfort felt by all the pro-choice politicians, Catholic and non-Catholic, was graphic. President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, squirmed visibly. Vice President Al Gore and wife Tipper, once pro-life but now vociferously pro-abortion, stared blankly. Mayor Giuliani, Gov Pataki, Sen. Daniel Moynihan – all pro-choice Catholics -appeared stunned.
The Clintons and the Gores could not, would not, join in the prolonged applause, which seemed to go on forever. It actually lasted a bit more than two minutes.
I don’t believe for one moment Cardinal Law set out to embarrass the dignitaries, especially the president, who came up from Washington to honor the memory of Cardinal O’Connor.
The late cardinal himself, the most gracious of men, even to those who disagreed with him, would not publicly humiliate any public official, least of all in the cathedral he revered.
What happened, just happened. Cardinal Law, quite properly, addressed Cardinal O’Connor’s unwavering devotion to the unborn. To do less would have been a disservice to the truth.
But it hit the central core of Cardinal O’Connor’s priestly life. The thousands in the congregation recognized it and reacted spontaneously. They just poured out their love and gratitude the only way they knew how – applause.
Cardinal O’Connor would have loved it, especially when Cardinal Law, taken aback by the outburst, quipped: “I see he hasn’t left the pulpit.”
Exactly. Even in death, John Cardinal O’Connor was rocketing home a mighty message. His voice cannot be stilled.
I say the pro-life movement in this city, which has had to fight long and hard against political and legal sanctions, has seldom had a finer moment.
Cardinal O’Connor went to his tomb enveloped in tributes from friend and critic alike. What made him so universally admired and loved?
The answer is as old as the world itself. True, lasting greatness can be won only by serving others. John O’Connor did that all his life, tirelessly, generously, cheerfully. William Cardinal Baum said it simply, “He loved everyone.”
Now he has left the world to claim his inheritance from the Master he served with a fidelity that will shine for all eternity.
Cardinal Law said his final farewell with a most affectionate petition. “We pray,” he cried out, “saints of God, come to his aid, come to meet him angels of the Lord, receive his soul and present him to God the most high.”
That, surely, has already been done.