2nd Sunday
Installation of Fr. Andrew DeFusco
St. Ignatius, Forest Hill / Hickory
January 18, 2026
Light from Scripture on the Pastor’s Ministry
It is a pleasure to be with you this morning, and at long last to install Fr. DeFusco as your pastor here at St. Ignatius. Fr. Andrew has been with you for a year and a half, so it cannot be said that we rushed into this installation! During this time you have come to know him as a talented, energetic, and engaging priest, and as an experienced pastor. Together with Fr. Alex, and now Fr. Ned Conklin – as also the parish deacons and lay leadership – Fr. Andrew is working with you and walking with you in fulfilling the Church’s mission in Hickory and far beyond.
Now, you might be thinking I’d use this occasion like this to talk about the pastor’s “job description”: to explain what Church law says about the pastor’s responsibilities, or to highlight salient archdiocesan policies. Church law and archdiocesan policies do exist and have their place. But this morning, I will focus instead on the light today’s Scriptures shed on the identity, role, and mission of your pastor, and indeed on every priest who has the privilege of serving you.
In a nutshell, here how today’s Scriptures illuminate your pastor’s ministry: In some respects, he is to be like Isaiah the prophet; in others, like John the Baptist; and most importantly of all, he is to be like Jesus – but not just to be like Jesus, for in a very real sense, he is to identify with Jesus — to share in his identity as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Now that is quite a job description, so 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 his 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 of you he works with and those of you he serves the gifts of nature and grace that God has bestowed on you. Indeed, he works with you to build, as it were ‘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 your 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, “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 your pastor is the teaching of Christ. 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 your pastor’s service to you, his parishioners and of his 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 as we journey together.
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 them. That, dear friends, is the definition of success for your pastor, for yourselves, and for the whole Church. May God bless you, Fr. Andrew, Fr. Alex, and Fr. Ned, together with all of you, God’s Holy People, in Hickory and beyond.