c. 2000 Religion News Service

NEW YORK _ A packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral bid farewell to Cardinal John O’Connor in a solemn liturgy Monday (May 8) marked with sadness at his death and rejoicing in his commitment to the principles of the Roman Catholic Church.

Although he was known as the spiritual leader of one of the nation’s largest archdioceses, he was recalled as a priest of the people.

“There was no burden too heavy, no problem too complex for his genuine compassion and desire to help,” Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston said in his homily. “To understand this in him is to understand that he was, to the core of his being, a priest.”

Beneath the cathedral’s massive gothic columns and brilliant stained glass windows, parishioners of the archdiocese joined dignitaries such as President Bill Clinton, former President George Bush, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the second in command at the Vatican, in the two-hour, 15-minute Mass of Christian Burial.

Archdiocesan officials estimated that 3,500 _ including 1,000 priests, 15 cardinals and scores of bishops were in attendance. An ecumenical delegation including Protestant, Jewish and Orthodox leaders also was present.

“Lord, we do not complain because you’re taking him from us but rather we thank you for having given him to us,” prayed Sodano.

The Eucharistic Prayer, said by the concelebrating cardinals and bishops, was a core part of O’Connor’s life, Law said. The Boston cardinal recalled a visit a few weeks ago to O’Connor’s residence where the ailing New York prelate was no longer able to read and had limited ability to converse.

“With strength and conviction he was nonetheless able to recite from memory the Eucharistic Prayer,” Law said. “So much was the Mass a part of his life that when some things began to fade, the Eucharist did not.”

Even in death, the cardinal received standing ovations _ once when Law recalled O’Connor’s urging that the church should be “unambiguously pro-life” and again as his body, borne in a mahogany coffin, left the cathedral sanctuary for the last time and was taken to the church’ crypt for burial.

The congregation _ dressed in suits, street clothes and clerical robes _ stood silently and patiently as O’Connor was buried in the crypt beneath the main altar in a private ceremony viewed only by a select group of clergy and family members.

“In the sure and the certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, we commend to almighty God our brother John Cardinal O’Connor,” prayed Auxiliary Bishop Robert Brucato of the New York archdiocese, heard over the cathedral’s speaker system. “And we commend his body to his cathedral’s crypt, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

The cardinal’s influence on the city _ and far beyond it _ was demonstrated on the street outside the cathedral. Crowds of people stood behind police barriers gazing at the cathedral, whose doorway was draped with black and purple strips of mourning cloth. Satellite trucks for television networks lined Fifth Avenue to cover the funeral at the cathedral, located within blocks of Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center.

O’Connor died at the age of 80 on May 3 after months of failing health. He had surgery for a brain tumor last August.

The spiritual leader of 2.4 million Roman Catholics in the New York archdiocese had held his post for 16 years. In the last months of his life, he enjoyed the singing of “Happy Birthday” in his honor in January by the congregation at St. Patrick’s and a final visit with Pope John Paul II in February. He last led Mass in the cathedral in early March.

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O’Connor, a Philadelphia native, was ordained in 1945 and served as a U.S. Navy chaplain for 27 years. After nine months of service as the bishop of Scranton, Pa., he was appointed in 1984 to oversee the Archdiocese of New York, which includes three New York City boroughs and seven New York state counties. Pope John Paul II elevated him to the rank of cardinal in 1985.

When he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75, O’Connor formally offered his resignation but the pope never accepted it.

St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers recently named a faculty position in Hebrew studies in O’Connor’s honor, a tribute to his work to improve relations between Catholics and Jews. The cardinal also received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by Congress on civilians.

O’Connor gained prominence for his public opposition to abortion and homosexuality but was remembered as much by many for his private compassion for the poor and people with AIDS. He was praised by the president and the pope, Catholic, Protestant and Jewish organizations and average Americans.

The Vatican called him “a truly faithful shepherd and an outstanding witness to faith and human dignity.” President Clinton said “his lifelong journey of faith was our nation’s blessing.”

As archbishop, O’Connor also touched the life of Joan Martin, a nurse from Long Island’s Nassau County, when he said the funeral Mass for her uncle, a monsignor, within months of his appointment to lead the archdiocese.

“He was very kind to us,” Martin said, as she departed the cathedral. “I wanted to be here. I just felt like I had to say good-bye to him in the right way.”

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