2nd Sunday
Installation of Fr. Zach Crowley
Pastorate of Our Lady
January 17, 2026
Introduction
It is a pleasure to be with you this evening when Fr. Zach Crowley is installed as pastor of the Pastorate of Our Lady – Our Lady of Sorrows and Our Lady of Perpetual Help joined together. Fr. Zach has been with you for a while, first serving as administrator, and more recently, as your pastor. During this time you have come to know him as a talented, energetic, young priest – ready, willing, and able to work with you and to walk with you in fulfilling the Church’s mission in Edgewater, West River, and far beyond. And in case you hadn’t noticed, Fr. Zach loves being you pastor!
Now, at this point, you might think I’d talk about the pastor’s “job description” to explain what the Church law says about the pastor’s responsibilities, or to highlight salient archdiocesan policies. Church law and archdiocesan policies exist and have their place, but this evening, I will focus instead on how the Scriptures, just proclaimed, shed light on the identity, role, and mission of your pastor and on the deepest reasons why Fr. Zach is so happy to be your pastor.
In a nutshell, here how tonight’s Scriptures illuminate your pastor’s ministry: In some respects, he is to be like Isaiah the prophet; in other respects, like John the Baptist; and most importantly of all, he is to be like Jesus – but not just to be like Jesus, but in a sense, actually to identify with him—to share in his identity as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Now that’s quite a job description, and please allow me a moment to explain it!
How Your Pastor Is Like Isaiah
Let’s begin with Isaiah, arguably the premier prophet of the Old Testament, so clearly does he prophesy about the birth, ministry, and death of Christ. In today’s brief passage, the Lord says to Isaiah: “It is too little for you to be my servant…I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Like Isaiah, your pastor is to be ‘a light brightly visible.’ The light of Christ is to shine in him and through him – through his words and deeds, through his ministry, through is leadership. Just as Jesus is a light to the nations, so too the pastor is to be ‘an illuminator’ as he allows the radiance of Christ to illumine every situation, every encounter, and as he elicits from those he works with and those he serves the gifts of nature and grace that God has bestowed on them. Indeed, he works with you to build, so to speak, a spiritual “electrical grid” through which the light of Christ will shine onto the wider community, attracting those who no longer practice the faith and those who searching for oneness with God and with others.
How Your Pastor Is Like John the Baptist
How is your pastor to be like John the Baptist? He probably won’t live in a desert or confine his diet to honey and locusts. But like John the Baptist, his whole life must point to Christ. By his example, preaching, instruction, and pastoral encounters, he is to help prepare us to welcome Christ into our hearts and homes. Like John the Baptist, he is to point out the presence of Jesus, the Lamb of God, to call our attention to the Lord and to invite us to encounter him. The pastor’s own style of life is meant to point towards Christ – pastoral simplicity, celibacy, and obedience all point to the Lord who was poor, singlehearted in his love, and obedient to the Father. Just as John the Baptist called people to repentance, so too the pastor calls us to repentance and engages in it himself—for all of us, clergy and laity, journey together on the road of redemption.
How Your Pastor Identifies with Christ
How, then, does your pastor “identify” with Christ and share in his ministry—with Christ who is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”? By the word “identify”, I don’t mean that your pastor “substitutes” for Christ, or that any of the ordained begin to approximate the holiness of Jesus. What I do mean is that, in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the priest is consecrated, set apart, newly configured to Christ the High Priest, so he can speak & act in the Person of Christ, Head & Shepherd of his Church, so he can continue the saving mission Christ accomplished here on earth. Thus, the Word proclaimed by the priest is the Word of Life. The Sacrifice celebrated by your pastor is Jesus’ saving Death and Resurrection. The Bread and Wine consecrated by your pastor are Christ’s Body and Blood. The Absolution given by your pastor is Christ’s power over sin and death. In short, your pastor doesn’t merely point to the Lamb of God as John did; rather, in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, he makes him present and visible in the fullness of saving love. This is, as Shakespeare said, the ‘be-all and end-all’ of what your pastor does in his service to you, his parishioners, and in service to the wider Church. And none of this should ever be a cause of pride for us who are your priests. We depend entirely on the mercy of the Lord, and what we have been given through no merit of our own, we are to place entirely at your service in our journey to the Kingdom of God.
The Most Strategic Goal of All
Finally, let’s remind ourselves of what the pastor’s goal should be. Like other groups, parishes develop strategic plans, but at the heart of such planning, one simple goal shines forth. In the brief passage from 1st Corinthians read this evening, St. Paul tells the members of the Church at Corinth that they are ‘called to holiness’ – called to share in God’s life and love, called to shine with the radiance of divine glory, called to love God as they have been loved, called to love others as God has first loved us. That, dear friends, is the definition of success for your pastor, yourselves, and for the whole Church. May God bless you, Fr. Zach, together with all of you, God’s Holy People, in Edgewater, West River, and far beyond!