Homily by Reverend Monsignor James J. O'Brien at 5:30 Mass on September 29,1979

Our homily this weekend, my dear friends in Christ, must of necessity be a veritable litany of "thank you's." First of all, we are most grateful to Almighty God Himself for having given us this beautiful church one hundred gears ago in which to worship Him. Just think about it for a few minutes. Only God Himself knows how many Masses have been celebrated and how many Communions have been received in this church since September 28,1879.

Only God Himself knows how many babies and also adults have been baptized here and thus became members of the Mystical Body of Christ - living branches on the true vine which is Christ Himself. How many people, young and old alike, have had their sins forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation; how many young people and older "St. Patrick" ones, too, have been strengthened and committed themselves to Christ in the Sacrament of Confirmation; how many couples have exchanged their vows and administered the Sacrament of Matrimony to each other in marriage; how many young men and a few older ones, too, have been ordained to the holy priesthood here in this church. We do know that two bishops were ordained and a third one installed right here in this cathedral, all of whom were with us last night for our one hundredth Anniversary Mass of Thanksgiving.

Finally, how many members of our parish family hove been laid to rest here with a Mass of Christian burial fifty three Already during this calendar year alone. It is very easy for us to take things for granted, but we must not forget that St. Patrick's has been a very busy church for the past hundred years, doing God's work for God's people.

Secondly, my dear friends in Christ, we are grateful to all the wonderful people who have belonged to St. Patrick's parish family, especially to all those who were God's helpers a hundred years ago in building this beautiful edifice. Thank the good Lord, we still have many families in the parish whose grandparents, or even great grandparents, worked on the actual building of the church.

We read that way back in 1871, "The men did come with picks and shovels and got down to the serious business of digging for the foundations." In fact, one of our families still has a pickaxe which was used in turning over the first sod of earth. Not only did the parishioners work hard with their hands, they were also most generous with their pocketbooks. The "ten cents a week" club made it possible for the construction work to continue. Every working family - which meant almost every family - was asked to give ten cents a week and this is how the building of St. Patrick's was financed.

Thirdly, my dear friends in Christ, we are grateful to all the priests and the three bishops who have served God and served the people so well here at St. Patrick's for a hundred years now. Beginning with Father Daniel Mullen and after him, Father Shahan, right down through the years, St. Patrick's has been blessed to have so many good priests both pastors and associates to take care of the spiritual and moral needs of our parish family. During the past twenty-six gears now, we have had three bishops to give us at close hand the spiritual leadership and direction that we certainly need in the world of our day.

Finally, my dear friends in Christ, we must not forget the good Sisters of Mercy, who come to Norwich in 1872, seven years before the dedication of our church. At the invitation of Father Mullen they opened an academy on the original church property. St. Patrick's School was opened in the Fall of 1883 and has been going strong ever since. We have only two Sisters of Mercy in our school today along with seven lay teachers and a student body of 215 pupils. We are most grateful to the Sisters of Mercy for the wonderful work they have done for all of our children over the past 107 years.

That's the story, my dear friends in Christ, of St. Patrick's Parish over the past one hundred years. Please do not ever forget this is your church - this is your parish. The priests and Sisters, and even the bishops, come and go - this is the nature of our vocation. But many of you stay - sometimes for many generations. We remind you again today - you do not belong to the church the church belongs to you. You are the Church.

It seems a very strange coincidence to me, my dear friends in Christ, that we began our year of jubilee on August 6,1978 the day Pope Paul VI died. We conclude our jubilee this weekend, the day before Pope John Paul II arrives in Boston for his first visit to the United States of America. I don't know what all this means. I do know that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and God's ways are not our ways.

In conclusion, my dear friends in Christ, if I had to sum it all up in one word, that word would be FAITH.