Off to the Thunderdome (Gomez leaving SAT)

Whispers in the Loggia ^ | 5/17/2010 | Rocco Palmo

[markomalley]

Ten days before his installation as Archbishop-in-Waiting of the continent's largest local church, José Gomez bade an emotional farewell to San Antonio yesterday before a packed-out, ticket-only crowd of 1,500.

The Big Pick's ties to the Alamo City longstanding -- his grandparents were married and his mother raised there, and having served as a priest there for over a decade before returning as archbishop in 2005 -- the paper of record reports that the next head of the 5 million-member LA church wept:

Gomez, 58, echoed what has been his consistent message for local Catholics: to rediscover their faith and let it drive them into a deeper spirituality, one with roots in San Antonio as a place where fervent missionaries toiled three centuries ago.

“Our lives are not our own, my brothers and sisters. We have been bought with a great price,” he said in his characteristic softly accented English. “What must we do to repay such love? Nothing less than giving our lives.”

Emotional throughout the sermon, he paused to control tears and stumbled through a request for prayers to help him inherit larger duties, including transitioning from an archdiocese with about 700,000 members to one with 4.3 million and an international platform.

The audience responded with a prolonged, standing ovation — one of several during the afternoon Mass....

[T]he entire audience stretched hands toward Gomez at one point to pray for a blessing on him while he knelt at the steps of the altar.

“I pray that each of you live lives always in joy and enthusiasm that comes from knowing you are a child of God,” Gomez said afterward. “I will never forget you.”

In a farewell presser bookending the afternoon Mass, Gomez underscored the question of his succession at the helm of the San Antone church, voicing his hope that the next archbishop would "be able to speak Spanish."

In other words, while the better part of three decades with the nation's lone Hispanic archbishop have made San Antonio the Stateside church's de facto "Latin seat," that distinction's light-years ascent to the Pacific coast -- and, indeed, a national scenario in which demand for Hispanic prelates far outstrips supply -- signal that a third generation of the custom dating to Archbishop Patrick Flores' 1979 appointment is by no means assured.

On a related note, Gomez's Roman standing as a result of the LA nod has already stepped up a notch. Earlier this month, Pope Benedict named the incoming coadjutor to the American council of the Synod of Bishops, placing him alongside such heavy-hitters as Cardinals Francis George of Chicago, the omnipresent Honduran Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, and the CDF prefect William Levada.

Since 2008, the archbishop has likewise served as a consultor to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America -- the Holy See's lead dicastery on matters South of the Border.

For a live taste of B16's choice to inherit the Stateside bench's most challenging assignment, here's an interview Gomez gave shortly after his appointment was announced.

Perhaps the first quote is the most telling -- on hearing of the pontiff's decision, the archbishop said his first thought was "Please don't do this to me":

[Tax-chick]

Zoiks, I can’t bear Rocco’s faux-breezy style ...

Best wishes to Archbishop Gomez. I often wish to be back in San Antonio to stay.

[Salvation]

Off to the Thunderdome (Gomez leaving SAT)
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