4th Sunday of Easter
Installation of Father Kenny
New All Saints, Balto.
May 11, 2025
New Shepherds for the Church
This past week, a new pastor was chosen for the universal Church, Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States. As he begins to guide and serve the Church throughout the world, let us pray for our new shepherd. May he guide us after the mind and heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
Today, we are gathered for the installation of your pastor, Father Kenny. Although he has been “on the job” for some time, today’s Mass officially marks the beginning of his ministry as your shepherd. We are grateful to you, Father Kenny and Father Magnus for your leadership and service and pray that the Good Shepherd will continue to bless you as you teach, sanctify, and guide New All Saints Parish, especially in this moment when parishioners from Immaculate Conception & St. Cecilia become part of a new parish family.
Today is a most appropriate day for Father Kenny’s installation; it is called “Good Shepherd Sunday”. Our Scripture readings for today paint a portrait of Jesus as our Shepherd and at the same time help us to understand more deeply the ministry entrusted to Father Kenny as your pastor. Let us reflect on what we have heard.
Acts of the Apostles
In the Acts of the Apostles, we met Paul and Barnabas. These shepherds were preaching the Gospel in Antioch. It was not an easy mission. They encountered opposition and hardness of heart, even persecution. But following the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, Paul and Barnabas persisted in preaching the Good News. Instead of folding their tent, they expanded their mission to the Gentiles, for as the Good Shepherd himself said, “I have other sheep who do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd” (Jn 10:16).
The first responsibility of every pastor is to evangelize, to preach, & to teach, to spread the Word of God, to bring it out to the wider community, to bear witness to the Good Shepherd all the time, in season and out of season. As I wrote in my recent pastoral letter, “A Light Brightly Visible 3.0,” it is vitally important that parishes engage the surrounding neighborhoods, that they be centers of missionary activity, marked by pastoral creativity. Father Kenny, as you know, is a missionary priest, a Spiritan. As your shepherd, he wants to walk with you and to work with you in the ongoing work of making New All Saints an evangelizing, mission-minded, welcoming community of faith. In a special way, I want to recognize the young people who are here today. You are a vitally important part of this community of faith. Sometimes people say, “Young people are the future of the Church” But this parish is saying that you are fully a part of the Church right now.”
Book of Revelation
In the Book of Revelation, we see where preaching the Word of God leads. As we listen to the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd and take to heart what he has done to accomplish our redemption, then we begin to hunger and thirst for his living Presence in our lives. Then it is that we set our hearts on the Eucharist where the Lamb slain for our redemption is not only our Shepherd but also our food, our drink, our sustenance as together we journey through this life towards the Kingdom of God.
At the heart of every pastor’s life and ministry is the Eucharist: the great mystery of faith in which Jesus’ sacrifice of love becomes present so that we can share in it, make it our own, and allow it to work its effects in our lives. For that reason, day after day, Father Kenny will celebrate Holy Mass with devotion and joy. For that reason also, he will urge one and all to make Sunday Eucharist the center of their lives. For it is when we come together as a community to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Lamb, to share in his death and resurrection, that we are truly the Church of God, the Church that is guided and nourished by the Good Shepherd.
Gospel of John
Finally, in the Gospel, the Good Shepherd says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Those of us who serve as your priests must listen intently, every day, to the voice of the Good Shepherd as he speaks to us words of spirit and life. For only when we are deeply united to the Good Shepherd can we represent him in your midst.
Today, Father Kenny will not only lead you in professing the faith, but he will also re-affirm his fidelity and loyalty to the Catholic faith as he leads, guides, and serves New All Saints Parish. With you, he will continue to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. We hear his voice in Scripture, in times of quiet prayer, in respectful conversations with one another, and in the cries of the poor and vulnerable.
Mother Church
Finally, on this day when we celebrate and give thanks for our mothers, those who are alive and those who have gone home to the Lord, let us also give thanks for the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary. She who is the Mother of the Good Shepherd is our Mother also. She who is first among all the saints is praying with us and for us, offering us her maternal love as we journey through life.
Let us ask Mary, the Mother of the Church, to bless Father Kenny in his service as your pastor and indeed to bless the entire community of New All Saints, now and for many, many years to come! May God bless us and keep us always in his love!