Cardinal Maida's Golden Jubilee

The archbishop of Detroit marked 50 years of priesthood yesterday, four other red hats -- predecessor Szoka, George, Ted and Ed -- in attendance:

"The most important lesson I have learned over this half-century is simply this: Every one of us has the gift and power of making all things new in Christ," Maida, 76, said. "Whatever gift we have received is not for ourselves, but for others."

The cavernous cathedral on Woodward, restored to shimmering during Maida's tenure in Detroit, was filled to the back pews for a 2 p.m. Eucharist Liturgy of Thanksgiving.

Maida's golden jubilee was, as he said, "a joyous occasion," which included a reception in large white tents, set up on the Cathedral Plaza, that sheltered the throng from an afternoon shower. Attendance at the Mass and the reception was by invitation.

Maida has served Catholics since before the seminal Second Vatican Council that changed much about how Catholics practice their faith to an unsettled time of declines in the number of priests in the United States, fewer faithful in the pews and more Catholics questioning clergy about some of the tenets of their faith.

And everyone up there keeps asking, "When? When?"

Well, we'll see....


PHOTO: The Detroit News/Elizabeth Conley

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