Pledge of Devotion, Service Made in Bishop’s Address
A pledge of devotion and service in his labors among his new island flock was made by His Excellency, Bishop James J. Sweeney, D.D., in his installation address at the ceremonies held Wednesday (Sept. 10, 1944) in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. The following is the text of Bishop Sweeney’s address:
“My heart goes out to you this morning in sincere gratitude for this splendid welcome which the priests, religious and laity of the Diocese of Honolulu have accorded me, your new bishop. Truly the sincerity of welcome warms my heart. I wish to express my gratitude likewise to my metropolitan Archbishop who has so kindly come to erect the new diocese and to install me as its spiritual leader and to the visiting prelates and clergy who have graced the occasion by their presence here today. The honor they have paid us today is not to our person alone but particularly to the priests, religious and laity of Hawaii. The raising of the Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the status of a Diocese by His Holiness Pope Pius XII is indeed a tribute to the priests, religious and laity of the Church in Hawaii and in recognition of that tribute to your loyalty and self-sacrificing efforts for the glory of God’s Church these men have come from afar that they might rejoice with you on this signal honor.
“Our beloved Holy Father Pius XII has sent me here to continue the great work begun by the Congregation of the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts in 1827 and continued on thru the intervening years by the bishops, priests and religious sent to guide you and to lead you step by step to eternal salvation. He has commissioned me to continue and to develop the splendid work done by my illustrious predecessor, Bishop Stephen Alencastre of holy memory. I knew your former bishop and revered him highly and I well know the high place he holds in your hearts because of his priestly zeal, his kindness and charity to all. My every effort will be to follow in the footsteps of this saintly bishop, to carry on the work he so ably performed and my earnest wish is to win from you some part of the love and devotion you so willingly and rightly offered Him.
“I come to you today as your spiritual leader, your bishop with a pledge of service and devotion to you my beloved people. As your Shepherd it is my duty to protect the sheep of my flock from insidious and false doctrines, to give to my sheep the green pastures of sound faith and upright morals; to strengthen and develop your spiritual life with the Sacraments given unto us by the Loving Master; to offer sacrifice for you unto the Loving God and to draw down upon you through constant intercession the graces and blessings you will need from the Father of us all, to nourish your souls with the body and blood of Christ and to bind you closer and closer to Our Eucharistic Savior with bonds of love so that when God shall call us before His judgment seat we may be able to present to Him pure and undefiled the souls of those He entrusted to our care. To do this I pledge myself to you today and I earnestly ask your prayers that I may never fail in the promise I make to you.
“To our beloved Holy Father Pope Pius XII, Vicar of Christ on earth, I pledge unswerving loyalty, constant devotion, untiring efforts in whatever He shall ordain for the defense and preservation of the Holy Roman and Apostolic See. My every effort will be made to fulfill to the best of my ability the confidence and trust He has placed in me by appointing me a Bishop of the Holy Roman Catholic Church and entrusting to my care a portion of the flock of Christ.
“In taking possession of this Diocese I wish to repeat and make my own the beautiful profession of faith made by Blessed Peter at Caesarea Philippi. When the Divine Master eager for an acknowledgment by men of His Divine Sonship asked His Apostles: ‘Whom do men say that I am?’ the answers made known to Him by His Apostles fell far short of that which was eternally true. Sad and disturbed at this lack of faith in Him Who was the Light of the world the Savior turned to His Apostles and asked them the question directly, ‘Whom do you say I am?’ Those whom He had come to teach and to save had failed Him; their eyes could not penetrate the veil of His Humanity and see shining the unutterable Divinity within. Would these His chosen ones fail Him likewise? And then Peter stepping forward uttered in the name of all the Apostles that sublime declaration of faith: ‘Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.’ And upon the rock of Peter Christ the Son of the Living God built His church which was to endure forever despite the assaults of hell itself. Today I take my stand by Peter and in my own and your name I acknowledge Jesus Christ to be true God and true man the Creator, the Redeemer, the Judge of heaven and earth.
“To Christ I pledge our loyalty, our every effort to follow in His footsteps, our wholehearted and complete accession to His doctrine as made known to us through the Holy Roman Catholic Church, our complete acceptance of His will as manifested to us through the commands and laws of the said Catholic and Apostolic Church.
“Again the scene changes and we find ourselves with Christ and the Apostles on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Divine Master has drawn Peter aside from the others and again He voices a question: ‘Lovest thou Me more than these?’ No longer the proud and boastful disciple but now the humble penitential Apostle answers simply from the depths of a heart overflowing with love: ‘Lord Thou knowest that I love Thee.’ No comparison, no boastful assertion— but a simple statement of fact: ‘Thou knowest that I love Thee.’ ‘Feed my lambs.’ Thrice was that question asked and thrice repeated the answer and thrice the given command ‘Feed my lambs, fed my sheep.’ Today the Loving Master asks that question of me your Shepherd and I wish earnestly and before you all make public my confession of humble abiding love in Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. Thou knowest Lord that I love Thee and the proof of my love will be to feed as Thou commandest me the lambs and the sheep of this portion of Thy flock which Thou entrusted to me; to make known to them the tender solicitous love of Thy heart for them and to feed them on Thy Body which was broken for love of them; on Thy Blood which was spilled for their salvation.
“In conclusion I would say; be it our glory and our proudest boast that we are children of the Church which Jesus Christ established, with which He promised to remain until the end of time, against which He assured us — the gates of hell shall not prevail and be it our dying consolation that we have ever loved, honored and obeyed her.”
