Archbishop celebrates Mass of Thanksgiving
for election of the new pope

By Brandon A. Evans

Catholic faithful joined Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein and five priests to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for the election of Pope Benedict XVI on April 20 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis.

It was the archbishop’s birthday, and an opportunity for him to publicly give a witness of thanks for the election of a cardinal with whom he has worked—and the first German pope in centuries.

It was also the first day for the faithful to hear their bishop include the name of the new pope in the eucharistic prayer.

“I suggest that we celebrate this Mass in gratitude to God because, by his grace, the apostolic succession continues in our Church in the 264th successor to St. Peter,” he said. “Let us give thanks to God also for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI, who succeeds the gift of God in the late, splendid Pope John Paul II.”

Peter and Brenda Greenen, members of Cathedral Parish, attended the Mass.

“I wanted to join everyone to pray for the new pope,” Peter Greenen said.

Katy Gyurek, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis, attended the Mass with her son, Croix, “to celebrate the new pope and the transition.”

It was the third in a series of Masses with the archbishop since the death of Pope John Paul II—the first Mass was shortly after his death and the second was on the day of his funeral in Rome.

Those first Masses were steeped in sorrow and remembrance, but the Mass on April 20 was now one of Easter transformation—a Mass of joy, thanksgiving and forward-looking hope.

Archbishop Buechlein shared some comments about the first message of Pope Benedict XVI, which had been published earlier that day, and noted that it revealed an “unmistakable personal warmth and gentle spirit.”

The archbishop expressed his thanks that the apostolic succession of the Church has, by God’s grace, continued in the Church, and spoke of the Holy Father’s intention to carry forward the ministry of the late John Paul II.

“I think [the cardinals] made a good choice, and I think the cardinal will uphold the spirit and virtues of the Church,” Peter Greenen said of the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as the Bishop of Rome.

“I think the Holy Spirit hand-selected him,” Gyurek said.

The archbishop concluded his homily by giving a short prayer for the well-being of our new pope—something that Catholics all over the world were doing in the same moments. †