“What a Gift He Remains”: Memorial Mass for Bishop Joseph Gerry, OSB, Held in Portland
PORTLAND---Bishop Joseph Gerry, OSB, never sought to be the center of attention in life.
According to Monsignor Paul Stefanko, the large gathering at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for a Memorial Mass celebrating the life of the 10th Bishop of Portland (1989-2004) on Thursday afternoon would have surprised Bishop Joseph.
“Because it has been nearly twenty years since his retirement, in recent years he was thinking that at the time of his death, there would be no need to have any ceremony back in Portland because no one would remember him,” said Monsignor Stefanko, who was appointed judicial vicar by Bishop Joseph in 1992 and served as homilist on Thursday. “You have proved him wrong because here you are - family, members of his monastic family, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful - because you do remember him and the impact he has had on your lives. Your presence here today demonstrates what Thorton Wilder once said when he stated that the highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. We are grateful to God for what a gift Bishop Joseph has been for us and what a gift he remains.”
Bishop Robert Deeley, surrounded by over 40 priests and deacons, served as the main celebrant for the Memorial Mass remembering Bishop Joseph, who died on July 2 in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the age of 94.
A native son of Millinocket, he was baptized with the name John Gregory, named for the fifth Bishop of Portland, John Gregory Murray. Who could have imagined that 60 years later, Bishop Joseph, who received the name Joseph when he entered religious life, would assume the very position of his namesake.
“He had said that from a very young age, he prayed for the grace to come to know what the Lord desired, for somehow, he never doubted that God’s desire for him was his well-being and happiness,” said Monsignor Stefanko.
After attending Saint Anselm College in Manchester, Bishop Joseph discerned that, for him, the Lord desired the priesthood. While still a student at the college, he entered the Benedictine novitiate. He professed first vows as a member of Saint Anselm Abbey in 1948 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1954. In the years that followed, he flourished at different times as prior of the abbey and academic dean at the college before being elected abbot of the abbey and chancellor of the college in 1972. Current abbot of the abbey, Abbot Mark Cooper, OSB, concelebrated Thursday’s Mass.
The day Bishop Joseph died actually marked the 75th anniversary of his profession as a member of the Benedictine community.
“You can’t understand Bishop Joseph without first understanding him as a monk. He was first and foremost a monk, and that never changed,” said Msgr. Marc Caron, moderator of the curia and vicar general for the Diocese of Portland. “In terms of his personal life, his outlook on life, the way he led the diocese, and his decision-making process, he was a monk.”
“Although Bishop Joseph served in many positions and capacities as a monk, a priest, an abbot, and a bishop over the years, in every one of them, he was always the teacher,” said Monsignor Stefanko. “Bishop Joseph learned that accepting reality as it is, instead of living in denial or driven by wishful thinking was a more positive and productive way to live life. That is how Bishop Joseph lived and embraced life, a lesson he has passed down to me and many others.”
He was ordained a bishop in 1986, serving as Auxiliary Bishop of Manchester for three years before being installed in the cathedral as the Bishop of Portland in 1989.
“He didn’t know if he was capable of fulfilling all the expectations and demands of the office of bishop,” said Monsignor Stefanko. “However, after much prayer and reflection, he came to the conclusion that it was what God wanted of him.”
It was a conclusion that shaped a diocese and positively affected thousands he encountered in the 15 years that followed, particularly the presbyterate he guided during his episcopacy.
“When I was assigned to the Bishop’s Office in 2005, one of my duties was to accompany him as his Master of Ceremonies at some of these special events,” said Monsignor Andrew Dubois, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor and the first seminarian to be accepted into the program after Bishop Joseph was installed as diocesan bishop. “Traveling this geographically large state with him was an adventure, because neither of us had a good sense of direction; yet his wisdom about the real meaning and purpose of life had absolute clarity and vision – about these things that really matter, he had an incredible sense of direction. He loved the Lord and served him with genuine humility, humor, and holiness.”
“I first met Bishop Joseph at youth ministry events when I was in high school,” said Fr. Seamus Griesbach, pastor of the Portland Peninsula and Island Parishes. “He was joyful and thoughtful, and he also took an interest in the young people of the diocese. When I decided to spend some time at a monastery in South Dakota after I graduated from high school to take a year in service and prayer, he reached out to encourage me. As it turns out, I ended up going to Saint Anselm College. It was Bishop Joseph who accepted me into the seminary in 2002. He was such a positive and encouraging presence in those years and continued to be a source of encouragement in recent years.”
“I never saw Bishop Joseph without a smile. He was a humble and faith-filled man, who radiated kindness and respect,” said Fr. Bill Labbe, pastor of St. Thérèse of Lisieux Parish in Sanford and St. Matthew Parish in Limerick. “He was a joy to be around and was truly a generous servant, in word and deed, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
“He respected everybody, and he found the good in everybody. I think the greatest gift he gave to the diocese was the spirituality he brought,” said Sister Rita-Mae Bissonnette, RSR, chancellor of the diocese. “He was genuine. It was a glow from within that shined through.”
Bishop Gerry served as bishop until February of 2004, at which time he returned to Saint Anselm Abbey, where he lived until his health required additional care, and he was transferred to Mt. Carmel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, where he would live his final days while still displaying his trademark benevolence and humility.
“When he was told that Saint Anselm College was going to name a building after him in recognition of all he had done over the years, he said he would prefer that it not be done at that time but only after he had died,” said Monsignor Stefanko. “The humble person engages in service, care for others, and true compassion. Bishop Joseph modeled that in his kind and gentle manner, his graciousness and warmth, his joy and his love and respect for everyone. He modeled it as he lived his own episcopal motto, ‘to serve rather than to preside.’”
The Memorial Mass on Thursday featured readers and gift bearers who worked with Bishop Joseph during his time in Maine and it included special prayers asking that Bishop Joseph be admitted to the company of the saints and given a place in the liturgy of heaven, and that his family, friends, and monastic community be consoled in their grief by the Lord.
“Grant, we pray, almighty God, that the soul of your departed servant Bishop Joseph Gerry, to whom you committed the care of your family, may, with the manifold fruit of his labors, enter into the eternal gladness of his Lord,” prayed Bishop Deeley.
