This year’s Chrism Mass served as a final farewell from Archbishop Michael Miller to the priests of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
On April 16, priests from across the Archdiocese filled Vancouver’s Holy Rosary Cathedral to celebrate their last Chrism Mass with Archbishop Miller. Many told The B.C. Catholic they were thankful for his steady leadership and spiritual guidance, while also expressing hope and anticipation about working with Archbishop-elect Richard Smith, who will be installed at the end of May.
In his homily, Archbishop Miller expressed deep gratitude to Vancouver’s priests and deacons “for their ministry to the Lord and his Church,” noting especially their accompaniment of parishioners through the joys and challenges of daily Christian life — “providing them with concrete experiences of God’s merciful love.”
For more than a thousand years, the Church has celebrated the Chrism Mass, in which sacramental oils are blessed for use throughout the year. In Vancouver, it is also an annual moment of fraternity, as priests from across the Archdiocese gather to renew their ordination vows.
“As your bishop, I have considered you to be brothers, sons, friends, and advisors,” Archbishop Miller told the priests during his homily. “The example of your fraternal collaboration bears witness to the power of the Holy Spirit, who enables brothers to live in unity and with a common mission.”
He said he has long admired their “spirit of priestly obedience,” willingness to work together, desire to give mutual support, and “even at times — though rarely — to offer fraternal correction out of a spirit of genuine charity.”
As a final piece of advice, the Archbishop reminded Vancouver’s priests that the stronger the bonds of communion they share — and the stronger the bonds they build with Archbishop Richard Smith — the more fruitfully they will proclaim the Gospel in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, and the more attractive the priesthood will appear to young men discerning a vocation.
After Mass, St. Anthony of Padua pastor Father Justin Huang told The B.C. Catholic he appreciated the transitional tone of the archbishop’s remarks. He added that the archbishop’s quotation from the Acts of the Apostles — the departing words of Paul to the presbyters at Miletus — was especially poignant and an apt final farewell.
The quote read: “And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32).
“I thought it was a very gracious last homily,” said Father Huang. “God bless him for thanking everyone.”
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