Celebrating a Jan. 20 livestreamed Mass marking the feast day of Blessed Basile Moreau, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory praised the French priest who founded the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1837, saying his work in promoting Catholic education and the meaning of Christ’s cross continues to have important relevance today.
“His contribution not only touched the life of France, but touches the life of us right here in the Archdiocese of Washington, as many of his Sisters and his devotees have been engaged in the work of the education of our young women for many decades in Washington. So something that was born in France 200 years ago still bears fruit today,” the cardinal noted in the Mass streamed from his chapel for the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, Maryland, a Catholic high school for young women sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
In announcing the livestreamed Mass to its school community, the Academy of the Holy Cross said in an email, “As our school formally celebrates the founder of the Holy Cross Congregation, we continue to honor Father Moreau’s legacy through courageous acts, a compassionate spirit and dedication to scholarship, living the mission of educating the minds and hearts of young women to have the competence to see and the courage to act as women of faith.”
The Academy of the Holy Cross, founded in Washington in 1868, now has 400 students. During the pandemic, the academy has been offering a hybrid program, with about one-half of its students attending classes in-person and the others taking classes virtually.
Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland, founded by the Brothers of the Holy Cross as an all-boys’ school in 1964, became coeducational in 1992. The Congregation of Holy Cross sponsors 17 schools in the United States, including the University of Notre Dame, founded in 1842. The schools continue the Catholic educational legacy of Blessed Moreau, who died in 1873 and was beatified in 2007.
In his homily at the Mass for Blessed Moreau, Cardinal Gregory noted that he founded the congregation in the decades after the French Revolution, a tumultuous era that produced many saints and martyrs.
“We too are going through a moment of social upheaval,” said the cardinal, speaking two weeks after a rioting mob stormed the U.S. Capitol following a rally contesting the election loss of then-President Donald Trump.
Cardinal Gregory, celebrating the Mass early on the day when President Joe Biden was inaugurated, noted, “We are going through a transition, from one political party to another, and from one administration to another.”
The cardinal also noted the COVID-19 pandemic that has impacted people’s lives, health and work.
“We realize we are facing the awful impact and the awful residue of this virus, this coronavirus, so we too need the same strength, the same determination, the same holiness of life that Blessed Moreau exhibited and that his followers continue to try to live,” he said.
Blessed Basile Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (Screen grab from the congregation's website)
Cardinal Gregory said Blessed Moreau’s emphasis on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and its meaning in people’s lives is especially meaningful today.
“He referred to the cross as our one hope, and indeed it is,” the cardinal said. “Occasionally, all of us, myself included, fail to reflect significantly on the meaning of the cross, that it brings both challenge, but it brings life. It brings suffering, but it brings promise.”
The cross, said Cardinal Gregory, “is a two-dimensional symbol. It tells us and urges us to endure the difficulties that come our way, but it also promises us if we endure and accept it (our cross), we will bear the fruit of the Lord’s cross, which is new life.”
Noting that day was a time to honor Blessed Moreau and “all those men and women who have followed in his footsteps in the communities of the Holy Cross,” the cardinal said, “We ask the Lord to give us the courage to accept the crosses that come our way, to be good citizens, to value our Catholic faith, to make good contributions to the world that we live in, as did Blessed Moreau.”
Prayers offered at the Mass included one “for essential workers and first responders, that they may be kept safe.”
Those offering comments in a chat coinciding with the online Mass for the feast day included Marco Clark, formerly the longtime president and CEO of Bishop McNamara High School who now serves as the executive director of the Holy Cross Institute at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. The Holy Cross Institute is responsible for strengthening the Holy Cross character and identity of the secondary schools and the colleges and universities sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Clark wrote, “Thank you, Your Eminence! May Blessed Father Moreau's vision live strong in the thousands of men and women around the world who continue this apostolic mission as disciples with hope to bring.”
