BY A STAFF REPORTER EIGHTEEN bishops and 26 priests took part in a concelebrated Mass to mark the episcopal ordination of Mgr. Victor Guazzelli and Fr. Gerald Mahon as auxiliary bishops of the Westminster Archdiocese in the Cathedral on Saturday.
Also present were 21 representatives of the other Christian churches, among them Archbishop Anthony Bloom of the Russian Orthodox Church: Dr. Robert Stopford, Anglican Bishop of London; Dr. Graham Leonard, Anglican Bishop of Willesden; Dr. Trevor Huddlestort, Anglican Bishop of Stepney; and Bishop Kenneth Sansbury, representing the British Council of Churches.
The consecratory were Cardinal Heenan and Archbishop Enrici, the Apostolic Delegate. It was the first time the new rite of episcopal ordination had been used in the Cathedral.
The Cardinal paid warm tribute to both his new auxiliaries, saying: "It would be hard to find in this diocese a man more beloved than Victor Guazzelli. I think it would be true to say that throughout the English-speaking world there is no one more loved and respected than Gerald Mahon, He is respected throughout the missions and the cities of the Third World," (Fr. Mahon, M.M.M., was the SuperiorGeneral of the Mill Hill Missionary Order.) The Cardinal warned them that by accepting obediently the call of the Holy Father to become bishops they would lose some friends and gain some critics because it was characteristic of the age that authority was suspect.
Being called to rule means increasingly being called to
serve," he said. "Being raised in rank is merely to have a greater opportunity to serve."
MANDATE READ Before the actual ordination one of the two priests assisting each candidate read the mandate of appointment from the Holy See.
The Cardinal then asked each of them whether they would remain faithful unto death in the office received from the Apostles, whether they would preach without fail the true Gospel of Jesus Christ Our Lord and whether they would safeguard the 'body of doctrine as handed down by the Apostles.
The candidates also pledged unfailing loyalty to the successor of St. Peter, to guide the people of God in their way to salvation, to be true friends of the poor, immigrants and all in need, to go in search of lost sheep, to pray without ceasing and to discharge the duties of the fullness of the priesthood without blame.
After the Cardinal had formally laid hands on the new bishops every Catholic bishop present followed suit to stress the collegiality of the bishops involved in the mission to the whole world and not just their own dioceses.