August 1983 Print

... A Pastors Best-laid Plans May Go Awry

Fr. Gregory Post

THE STORY of Archbishop Lefebvre's visit to Campbell, California, in May really begins down in the central-valley city of Bakersfield, where a former Protestant church had been purchased early in 1982. This was a real boon to our people, who had begun a Mass center in a private home on Monday, September 8, 1975, and from there had gone on to a series of homes and motel rooms. The motel accommodations were not too bad for a while; but when the congregation grew to the point of having almost a hundred people, it became clear that a change had to be made. Through a good deal of prayer, dedication, and financial sacrifice then, the present building was found, bought and re-done to make it suitable for traditional Catholic worship.

This is the starting point of our story, really, because on Thursday, May 5th, feast of St. Pius V, I was relaxing in my rectory after a somewhat hectic day of telephone calls, traveling around, and giving the Sacrament of Extreme Unction to two of the women in our Mass center who were quite ill—one of whom subsequently died on June 23rd.

At about 8:30 p.m. my calm was interrupted by a phone call from Father Terence Finnegan in Phoenix, telling me that the Archbishop had arrived in Bakersfield from San Bernadino, being driven by Albert Matties from Houston. The Archbishop had immediately looked around and been surprised that I was not there to greet him. The original plan for the trip was for Father Franz Schmidberger and Father Hector Bolduc to accompany His Excellency throughout the District, but this was derailed by the rebellion in the North-East District and Father Bolduc's previous commitment to perform a wedding in Kansas City, a responsibility he could not ignore. So it was that His Grace arrived alone in Bakersfield, with his driver. Phone calls were hurriedly made, I was reached at last at home, and I tried to form a quick mental picture of the possibilities of getting to Bakersfield that late in the day. This city is not the easiest to travel to in the best of times; after nine at night, forget it! The only thing I could come up with was to fly on PSA out of San Francisco to Los Angeles and have someone pick me up there.

Sean Donovan volunteered to break off from altar boy practice, then going on, to drive me up to San Francisco Airport, a forty-five minute drive. And so I sleepily navigated myself onto PSA flight 728. This jet left at 9:55 p.m. and made it down to Los Angeles in fifty-one minutes, three point nine seconds! We disembarked, and I made my way out to the front of the terminal building to await my ride to Bakersfield, a seventy minute or so drive.

The people in Bakersfield had also been given very short notice, and so it was not until 12:34 midnight that they emerged into my rather shaky consciousness. I had resolved to rent a car and begin driving if no one showed up by 1:00 a.m. It is a good thing that such did not come to pass, because with my state of disorientation at that time it is entirely possible that I would have taken a wrong turn to Tijuana.

Once we had gotten onto Interstate 5, going north towards Bakersfield, things went comparatively smoothly. We decided to pull off for a snack somewhere, although at this point my interest in food was not exactly at its highest. We pulled into one place in which the restaurant was closed but the bar was open. After some debate this was rejected, and we ventured on until coming across an eating establishment named the Castaic Junction Restaurant. When I tasted the food, I made the suggestion that the name could be shortened by dropping the last half of the second word in the name. But at least the coffee they served helped to keep us awake the rest of the trip—it would have kept anything awake.

No further adventures awaited us and we sailed into Bakersfield at 4:00 a.m., proceeding forthwith to the Hill House Motel, the same inn in which the Archbishop and Mr. Matties were lodged. One of the men with me went to fetch the key; we made our way to room 156, opened the door, and heard a voice from the darkness, "What's going on?" The night clerk had given us the wrong key, and I said a prayer of thanksgiving that the occupant of that room had awakened before we got any further in! After some ado, we found the correct room. And so to bed.

Arising at 7:30, I made my way to room 166, where Mr. Matties was staying, and had some conversation with him and Mr. Louis Munis, one of the men of the Bakersfield chapel. The three of us went over to the motel cafe and had a breakfast of coffee, toast and tomato juice. We returned to Mr. Matties's room and met the Archbishop, who was in the room adjoining his, at 8:33. Greetings were exchanged, and we hastened off to St. Michael the Archangel Chapel, where the Mass of the blessing of the Chapel and the Confirmations were to begin at 9:00 a.m. There were several confessions to hear and I did these while the Archbishop began the ceremony of blessing the Chapel.

Immediately following the blessing, the Confirmation Mass commenced. I served His Grace as an Assistant Priest; and the Master of Ceremonies, thurifer and altar boys did a splendid job, as did the newly-formed choir.

Fifteen young people received the Sacrament of Confirmation, and there were a total of about eighty people in the Chapel. This was on a Friday morning, and there would have been many more people present if it had been in the evening or on the weekend.

Following the ceremonies, there were congratulations and picture-taking outside. The day was sunny, but with some clouds, and not too warm, so we can say that the weather was perfect.

We went back to the Hill House Inn, changed into our black clerical suits, and prepared for the luncheon, which was to begin at noon. About sixty people attended. The Archbishop gave a short talk of thanks to the people who had arranged the events, and then we had to leave fairly quickly. The luncheon was over at 1:20 p.m., and we had a five-hour drive ahead of us in order to reach Campbell at the scheduled time of approximately 6:00 p.m. Still, His Excellency took the time to bless a table-top full of religious items and to sign copies of his book, I Accuse the Council, as well as some other volumes.

Finally, then, we got underway, stopped to gas up the rented car that Mr. Matties was driving, and headed up California Highway 99 towards San Jose and Campbell. We got over to Interstate 5, took the Pacheco Pass Highway across the Diablo Range of the coastal mountains, and then made our way up US 101 into San Jose, arriving at the Chapel in Campbell at 6:02. This was really very good time on the road, and we made it to the Chapel before anyone really expected us. A few of the men were still making last-minute adjustments in the Chapel when I walked in and announced that the Archbishop had arrived. His Excellency came in, made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and then greeted the people who were there. He made a telephone call to Father Williamson at the Seminary and then was taken to his place of lodging, along with Mr. Matties. I made a trip to a few stores for some items that would be needed for the Confirmations, and then said the Friday evening Mass at 8:00 p.m., instead of the usual 7:30.

The next day, Saturday, May 7, was the big day of the High Mass, the Confirmations, and the luncheon in San Jose. We had decided to have the ceremonies in the same place as the luncheon, Lou's Village. I said an early Mass and then drove over to the hall and heard at least eighteen confessions, while the Archbishop and the others prepared for the Confirmation Mass. At this Mass the Archbishop was assisted by two local priests who help us out on the mission circuit, Father George Kathrein, C.Ss.R., and Father Pietro Ottonello. We had at least four hundred people in attendance at the Mass, and there was an expert crew of servers from our Chapel, trained by Mr. John Collins. The Chapel choir sang the Mass, although unfortunately without the direction of Mr. John Farpelha, the choir director, who was hospitalized at the time. Mrs. Loraine McGowan led the singing in his absence as she had done during the weeks of his illness; and the result was most satisfying.

It was necessary for me to miss quite a bit of the ceremonies, since I had to make two trips back to the Chapel—about four miles away, through city traffic—to bring back some things which had been forgotten.

Everything went quite smoothly, with all three of the priests assisting the Archbishop with the Confirmations in the various functions of reading the names, wiping off the oils from the foreheads, and so on. Mr. Collins and others also took photographs of each person as he or she received the Sacrament. His Excellency confirmed eighty people, representing all the Mass centers of northern California: Campbell, Walnut Creek, Sacramento, and South Lake Tahoe, plus two other traditional centers, those at Salinas and Redding. At the conclusion of the Confirmations, the Archbishop asked all those present to express the Catholic Faith which had just been confirmed in these people by reciting together the Apostles' Creed and the Our Father.

The Mass and Confirmations were concluded by 12:10 p.m., after which there was a scheduled two-hour break, during which the hall was prepared for the luncheon. The Archbishop had time to rest in a good-sized trailer brought to the site for the occasion by Mr. and Mrs. Joaquin Homen who, with their children, are one of the hardest working families in Campbell.

The luncheon was attended by at least three hundred people and was over by 4:30 p.m. Just before its conclusion, the Archbishop gave a talk in French, which was translated by Mr. J.J. Kleinsmith; this gentlemen and his wife, Nicole, are old friends of His Excellency, having first met him in France. A few other talks were also included, although that given by the Archbishop himself was, of course, the most interesting and the one most awaited by the people.

We had received instructions weeks before the Archbishop arrived that no events were to be scheduled for later than 5:00 p.m., so our timing of the Confirmations, Mass, luncheon and talks turned out to be just about perfect. The Archbishop was able to leave the hall before 5:00—although not before making a presentation of some gifts to Father Kathrein on the occasion of his anniversary as a priest.

His Excellency and Mr. Matties were then taken to their lodging; and, after some goodbyes and conversation, I returned to Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel to prepare for the Sunday Masses.

Shown with His Grace are members of Father Post's family—his parents, his aunt, and a niece and a nephew.

The next morning, Archbishop Lefebvre celebrated the 8:30 a.m. Mass in our Chapel, which again was a High Mass, very well attended. There were 151 Holy Communions and almost 200 people in attendance, which for some Chapels would not seem like very many, but for this Chapel was actually more than its capacity. Extra seats had to be set up in the library, which is just off the sanctuary—which is enough to tell you that our Chapel is small, and getting smaller.

After the Mass, His Excellency spent some time on the front lawn greeting people, blessing children and religious goods, signing books and holy cards. Then he was given a breakfast in our tiny dining room, served by several ladies from the Chapel Women's Club.

I then said the 11:00 a.m. Mass, put down a quick breakfast, and took off in the aqua-colored 1976 Datsun station wagon for a 2:30 p.m. Mass in Walnut Creek and an 8:00 p.m. Mass in South Lake Tahoe. The Archbishop and Mr. Matties had left earlier to drive up to San Francisco, forty-five minutes to the north, for a flight to Spokane.

So, for us here at Campbell, it was the end of a wonderful, inspiring two days with the Archbishop. But for him, it was on to Post Falls, Idaho, to do it all over again.

(Left to right) Mr. Albert Matties, Mr. Post, Father Kathrein, Mr. Al Beauchesne, His Grace, and Father Ottonello.

 

Father Post, author of this article, was ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre over ten years ago. He has an extensive Mass circuit throughout the western part of the United States.