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Bishop McDowell: ‘He inspired people’
archived from: 2010-03-15
by: Patricia Bartos

Aux. Bishop John McDowell’s entire life — not just his work as a priest and bishop — exemplified nobility, according to Bishop David Zubik.

Bishop McDowell knew that “nobility comes with the distinction of having Christ within us,” Bishop Zubik said in his homily at Bishop McDowell’s funeral Mass March 4 at St. Paul Cathedral.

Joining Bishop Zubik and retired Aux. Bishop William Winter in offering the funeral for Bishop McDowell, who died Feb. 25 at age 88, were former Pittsburgh priests, retired Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I.

Benedictine Archabbot Douglas Nowicki of St. Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe attended, as did Rabbis Walter Jacob and Alvin Berkun and the Rev. Donald Green, head of Christian Associates.

More than 100 priests made up the entrance procession.

Before delivering his homily, Bishop Zubik walked to the casket and placed the Book of the Gospels on it.

“Words can’t even begin to describe how humbled I am to be in the pulpit today,” Bishop Zubik said, adding that Bishop McDowell had made the request as part of his funeral plans.

He was a high school student in 1966 when Father John McDowell was elevated to the rank of bishop. “That was the first time I came to know of him, and in the course of the last 44 years I came to know him,” Bishop Zubik said.

That knowledge came through Bishop McDowell’s life’s work in education and the achievements of his life, he said.

“I couldn’t tell you how many times his homilies created a rush for me and his books inspired me. He inspired people — everyone who crossed paths with this wonderful man of God.

“He was a man who loved God and was not ashamed to invite us to love him, too,” the bishop said.

He acknowledged Bishop McDowell’s secretary, Mildred Keenan, who had served with him for 63 years.

“It’s time in a very special way to say thanks to this selfless woman of God,” he said to applause.

The bishop spoke of the many different sides of John Bernard McDowell, “the humorous, feisty, intellectual and very organized sides.”

He recalled how, with his characteristic wit, as Bishop McDowell ordained his last class of deacons, he told the men, “in six months you’ll be ordained as priests. Pray God that for sure it stops there.”

His intellectual side was evident through the many books he wrote, the quality of his talks, his dedication to education.

The organized side was seen in the 1950s and ’60s when he supervised the diocesan Catholic school system. At its height, that system educated more than 126,000 children in 250 grade schools and 56 high schools.

“We must think of the sum of all the parts of his life, the totality of the priesthood he so lovingly embraced,” Bishop Zubik said.

He recalled “the most outstanding homily I’ve ever heard him preach,” about a French nobleman concerned that his son was becoming too impressed with his place in society.

The father ordered the son to spend one year living among the poor before he could assume his place among the elite.

“Then, pray God, you will know what nobility is all about,” the father said.

Bishop Zubik added, “Noblesse oblige — with nobility there is obligation. Nobility obligates.”

Bishop McDowell’s role in teaching, leading and sanctifying personified that knowledge. All of his 88 years call believers to understand that “the nobility of Christ obligates you and me.”

It is the obligation of priests to study and prepare before preaching the Gospel, Bishop Zubik said. The obligation of parents, through baptism, is to teach and serve as examples, “to give gifts back to God, not just as we received them, but enhanced.”

He urged his brother priests, in the spirit of Bishop McDowell, to “take seriously the role of the priesthood and obligation, the idea that the nobility of Christ obligates us.”

The bishop concluded, “We thank God for the man of God called by God to teach, to lead, to sanctify, and may what we do not be as disinterested bystanders but as involved people of Christ.”

In final remarks, Archbishop Wuerl said, “this funeral is as much a testimony for his life as a prayer for his rest,” acknowledging Bishop McDowell’s life of ministry and as the “education bishop.”

“He was a born teacher,” he said. “As much as a scholar he was a teacher, as much as he was a speaker, insightful and delightful, he was a teacher.

“How many hundreds of thousands of us were touched through his role in education?” Archbishop Wuerl asked.

Bishop McDowell loved his work, living out “his deep, profound, quiet faith,” he said.

In bidding Bishop McDowell farewell, as the Mass ended, his brother priests and prelates gathered around his coffin and joined in singing the “Salve Regina.”

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