Continued...
celebrating the nuptial Mass. Any problems with a particular delegated priest could be respectfully made known to the Bishop afterwards.
***** The test case was not long in coming.
The following Sunday, Father Dillon announced the banns for the future marriage of John Dean and Maria Worthe, who were to be prepared for marriage by Father Cesik. John was from an old-time SSPX family which had been with the Society since well before the Consecrations in 1988. Maria, on the other hand, had come to the parish three or four years previously, having become disgusted with her local parish priest in particular and the Novus Ordo in general. Because of this, she had incurred the wrath of her parents and family, who no longer spoke to her.
Immediately after Mass, Mr. and Mrs.
Dean were waiting outside the sacristy to speak to Father Dillon. John’s father made it perfectly clear that if a priest from the Diocese were to witness the marriage of his son, then he was not going to be present! Mrs. Dean was no less vociferous in her opposition, but stopped short of following her husband to the point of not attending. Father Dillon managed to extricate himself alive from the conversation, but he knew it was not the last he was going to hear of the matter.
As arranged, he informed Father Brian of the upcoming marriage, who replied that that the Bishop was considering the matter and would inform him of the details of the arrangements as soon as possible. Three weeks later, one week before the marriage, Father Dillon received an email from the Secretary, stating that the Bishop had delegated a priest of the Diocese for the Dean/ Worthe marriage: a certain Father Paul Kazowicz, Pastor of Saint Paul’s in Wakeville. Father Paul would be in contact directly in the coming days.
"A very bad situation has just got much worse", was how Father Dillon put it to Father Cesik that evening. "Look at this article written by him in the Diocesan magazine! Absolutely disgraceful! The Bishop has sent the worst he has!"
"You can say that again, Pat! Kazowicz is notorious, and if I’m not greatly mistaken he was Maria Worthe’s Parish Priest!"
Once more, Father Dillon buried his face in his hands. "What are we going to do, Larry?"
"Leave it to me. I’ll speak to John and Maria. They have to know what’s going on".
Father Cesik turned out not to have been in any way mistaken. Father Paul Kazowicz had indeed been Maria’s Parish Priest – the same one who had told her that she was narrow-minded for considering marriage to be a lifetime commitment. "Marriage lasts as long as love lasts – Jesus doesn’t expect people to torture themselves for life", he had told her.
Maria Worthe was inconsolable. Nothing Father Cesik said could reassure her.
Mrs. Deane, on hearing the pedigree of the Diocesan witness, firmly joined ranks with her husband and refused to attend the wedding. Even some of the cousins of the Deane family who were conservative Novus Ordo Catholics, and who had never agreed with the SSPX stance, also refused to attend the wedding since one of the Diocese’s most liberal priests was officiating! Several members of the congregation expressed their anger and disappointment... But, perhaps the most distraught of all was Father Patrick Dillon, who now presided over a deeply divided parish.
***** The day of reckoning finally arrived.
As far as Fathers Dillon and Cesik were concerned, it was more like the day of a funeral than a wedding. At ten minutes to ten, the sacristy doorbell rang. Father Cesik opened it to find a low-sized, scruffily-bearded individual sporting a clerical collar, a black leather jacket and jeans, standing on the doorstep.
"Hi. I’m Father Paul Kazowicz. I’m here for the Dean/Worthe wedding".
He was ushered into the sacristy. Father Dillon steeled himself and went to greet him.
"Father Kazowicz – pleased to meet you! I’m Father Dillon, Pastor here at Saint Anthony’s".
With that, he directed the visitor to the vesting table, where there was a cassock, surplice and stole laid out.
"Oh, thanks very much...but I brought my own gear", he replied. To the dismay of the two priests, Kazowicz proceeded to open his backpack and withdraw a large alb and giant white stole. Two minutes later, he was asking to be shown to the sanctuary.
Father Cesik led him to the communion rail, while Father Dillon remained in the kneeler, bracing himself for the ordeal.
As soon as the congregation caught sight of the official witness (who had merely bowed in the direction of the tabernacle), a subdued, but distinctly audible collective groan was heard.
"You got the book, pal?", Kazowicz almost shouted to Father Cesik. Father Dillon winced. Then, obviously addressing the congregation, he continued: "Not used to having this barrier between myself and God’s People! Who’s being kept away from who, I wonder?!" Silence from the congregation. Another wince from Father Dillon. "I thought this was a wedding, not a funeral – seems to me I got the wrong place!" Again, no reaction from the congregation. Finally getting the message, Kazowicz shrugged his shoulders and waited for the bride to arrive.
She arrived pretty much on time and came to join her future husband at the altar rails. It was then that the ceremony was to officially commence.
Father Cesik beckoned to Kazowicz and pointed out in the book where he was to start. But, the official witness motioned that he wasn’t interested, and instead started to speak. "Brothers and sisters", he began. Father Dillon beckoned to Father Cesik to try to stop him, but Father Cesik could do nothing.
"Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord!", continued Kazowiz. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the love of John and Maria. And that’s the most important thing here – that you love each other, John and Maria. In the past, the priest would have droned on to you about the rules of marriage – one man, one woman, for life, woman be subject to your husband – all that nonsense! No, today we know that the most important thing is love. Jesus told us that God is love. Your marriage, John and Maria, is a sign to the world that love – in all the various forms which we recognize today – is possible. You have decided to express this love by a ceremony in church; others decide not to. But the most important thing is that you love one another..."
At this point, a seething Father Cesik showed his watch to Kazowicz, who took the hint, and turned his attention to the book and began the ceremony proper. But, at least half of those in attendance had already left the church in protest.
The bride was in tears from beginning to end and the groom was barely able to suppress his anger. Near the altar, Father Dillon had buried his head in his hands and his fingers in his ears, mortified that such words could be uttered in his church...
******* "Hey, are you still asleep, Pat?!" It was the voice of Father Larry Cesik. "Wakey, wakey...it’s supper-time!"
"Huh?" Father Dillon rubbed his eyes, stretched and looked around him. He was in the big comfortable armchair in the presbytery living-room. "Have I been asleep long?"
"About four hours – I didn’t have the heart to wake you after you came back from that long Mass-run! You must’ve been exhausted!... Here, take a look at this – it’s from the Mother House".
Father Cesik handed a piece of paper to his confrère - it was a press-release concerning the SSPX’s position in relation to the Ecclesia Dei Commission’s letter on jurisdiction for marriages. Father Cesik pointed out the salient passage, which read: " Having consulted with the Society’s major superiors, the Superior General has informed the Vatican that (despite an initial press-release to the contrary) its priests will continue to witness marriages as usual, and will not accept delegated priests from the local ordinaries, as the Ecclesia Dei Commission’s letter requests. The Society will do this, relying on the extraordinary jurisdiction conferred to it by the Church in these times of everworsening crisis, waiting for the Light of the True Faith to return to those in the highest ranks of the Church..." "So, we won’t have to go through all that again?"
"All what again?!"
"Why...having that Diocesan heretic witness a marriage in our church again!"
"My dear Father Pat... you have been dreaming!"
"Have I?!... So, you mean I never went to see the Bishop, and all that?!"
"Not that I know of...!"
"Just as well!", said Father Dillon, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. "I could never go through all that again!... Right, Father Cesik, let us off to supper...and I order a Te Deum after Compline for the next week, at least!" ■