Shadow of Death

by William Kienzle

  FOR FIONA, who is Javan, my wife

  TORONTO

  “You don’t want to see your bishop go to jail, do you?”

  “N—no, Eminence,” Father Maurice Ouellet, the master of ceremonies, stammered. As usual, he had no notion of what his Cardinal-Archibishop had in mind.

  “Then, Maury, go find a dime and put it in the parking meter, or my car will be towed away and I’ll be hauled off to jail.”

  Father Ouellet’s left hand found the pocket in his trousers through the slit in his cassock. He rummaged through a handful of coins in search of a dime. “Where is your car parked, Eminence?” Ouellet asked, stifling a smile. After all, this was Holy Thursday’s Chrism Mass. It would not do for the Archbishop’s secretary and master of ceremonies to break up in the sanctuary of crowded St. Michael’s Cathedral.

  “It’s just out the door there on Church Street. Under the spreading chestnut tree, as luck would have it.”

  Ouellet briefly pondered the immediate future. The Mass had just begun. The choir was singing a vernacular version of the Kyrie, which would be followed by a choral rendition of the Gloria. He had plenty of time to safeguard his Archbishop’s car. With that special grace shared by adroit emcees and maître d’s, Ouellet made his departure from the sanctuary appear to be part of the ritual.

  Adrian Cardinal Claret spoke softly out of the right corner of his mouth. It was a signal for Father Ed MacNeil, deacon of the Mass, seated to the right of the large upholstered red throne, to lean toward His Eminence.

  “For some reason,” said Claret, “the choir puts me in mind of the classical definition of clerical tact.”

  “What’s that, Eminence?” MacNeil asked out of the left corner of his mouth.

  “It happens at an old solemn high Mass,” out of the right corner of his mouth. “The old pastor is the celebrant. The oldest assistant is the deacon, and a young priest, just ordained, is master of ceremonies.

  “Well, they’re all seated during the Creed. The pastor’s arms are folded across his chest.

  “The master of ceremonies leans over to the deacon and whispers, ‘Tell Monsignor to put his hands on his knees.’ After a moment, the deacon leans over to the pastor and says, ‘The choir sounds pretty good today, doesn’t it?’ The old pastor nods. Then the deacon leans back to the master of ceremonies and says, The Monsignor says, go to hell!’”

  MacNeil chuckled quietly. “The choir does sound good today, doesn’t it?”

  Claret smiled and nodded.

  Holy Thursday is a special feast in the Catholic Church for many reasons. Catholics, in common with all other Christian denominations, commemorate the Last Supper that Jesus shared with His Apostles. But for priests, the feast holds a unique significance. It marks the event during which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and invited the Apostles to “do what I have done”—in effect, creating the cultic priesthood. Many priests considered Holy Thursday to be a sort of birthday of their priesthood. In recent years, a ceremony of “Renewal of Commitment to Priestly Service” had been added to the Holy Thursday liturgy.

  In addition, during the Chrism Mass in Catholic dioceses throughout the world, bishops gathered with their priests and as many of the faithful as they could entice to the ceremony, to solemnly bless the oil that would be used to consecrate candidates for baptism and confirmation and to anoint the sick. Each year on Holy Thursday, the past year’s unused blessed oil was disposed of and each parish was offered a new supply of freshly blessed oil at the Cathedral. There was, then, a practical reason why each parish was represented by at least one of its priests: Someone had to go to the Cathedral to pick up the new oil.

  The choir was midway through the Gloria when Father Ouellet returned to the sanctuary. He and the Cardinal exchanged a knowing glance. The deed had been done; His Eminence’s car was protected for another hour.

  The Gloria concluded, the Archbishop rose to lead the congregation in prayer.

  “Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit you anointed your only son Messiah and Lord of Creation; you have given us a share in His consecration to priestly service in your Church. Help us to be faithful witnesses in the world to the salvation Christ won for all mankind. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.”

  “Amen,” the congregation affirmed loudly.

  This was followed by two readings, one from the Old Testament, the other from one of Paul’s Epistles.

  During the readings, Cardinal Claret absently toyed with his pectoral cross. Father Ouellet, aware that many in the congregation were watching the Cardinal rather than the lectors, noticed the Cardinal fingering the gold cross suspended on a cord around his neck.

  Ouellet leaned near the ear of Father MacNeil and whispered, “The Cardinal’s hands should be resting on his knees.”

  MacNeil looked surprised. He then smiled, leaned toward the Archbishop, and whispered, “The choir sounds good today, doesn’t it?”

  Claret glanced at Ouellet, then, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, whispered to MacNeil, “Tell him to go to hell.”

  An eager young priest proclaimed the Gospel reading rather forcefully. Then he began preaching a homily playing on the functions of oil in everyday life.

  Claret had heard it all before; many, many times. It was not long before he tuned out the young priest and pursued his own stream of consciousness.

  Holy Thursday held a special significance for Claret because his priesthood was so precious to him.

  Last year he had celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. Just as Saint John, writing his gospel memoirs from exile on the island of Patmos, could remember not only the day but the hour he first met Christ, Claret could clearly remember his ordination as well as all the related minor and major events of the past fifty years.

  He had been born, raised, and ordained for service in the diocese of Saskatoon. During his postgraduate studies in Rome, he used to kid his classmates that he owed his rugged constitution to his Saskatchewan heritage. He especially enjoyed telling priest-students from tropical countries about the frigid winters in his hometown, where, he would boast, only the hearty survived.

  It got to be a game. The other doctoral students would periodically ask him how cold it was in his hometown. Claret would invariably reply that it was so cold that the Saskatoon flasher walked the streets describing his anatomy to innocent passersby. At least the first time around, he had to explain the special North American connotation of the term “flasher” to the many non-North Americans in Rome.

  If Adrian Cardinal Claret had a single regret in all his clerical years it was that so few of those years had been spent as a parish priest. After obtaining his doctoral degree in theology, he had been assigned as a seminary professor.

  Then a few years in the chancery. After which, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Edmonton, and finally, made Archbishop of Toronto. For the past twelve years, he had been a Cardinal, a hierarchical position second only to that of the Pope.

  There had even been talk in recent years that Claret was in the running for the Papacy. At seventy-six, he was by no means too old for the office. Besides, he was in vigorous good health—undoubtedly, he assured others, the result of his rigorous years in rugged Saskatchewan. He had established an outstanding record in Toronto. He was a brilliant and gifted writer. And, perhaps paramountly, he was a proven conciliator. The world, in special ways the Catholic world, was in deep need of conciliation. The Papacy would be an extremely appropriate platform from which to exercise an effective conciliatory role.

  The rumor amused him. He was not convinced he was cut of papal cloth. He imagined himself standing on a balcony above St. Peter’s Square, in
white cassock and zucchetto, microphones bending toward him, the world eager to hear his first pontifical words, while he would be toying with the temptation to say something utterly ridiculous—just to get rid of the tension and to begin the demythologizing of the Papacy. No, it was not for him.

  “The bishop rises.”

  “What?”

  “The bishop rises.” Father Ouellet seemed perturbed Claret had not heard the direction the first time.

  The homily had concluded. It was time to proceed with the Chrism Mass. Claret had, indeed, been lost in thought.

  Now for the Commitment Renewal. A small altar boy, bearing a large liturgical book opened to the appropriate page, approached the Cardinal. The boy seemed overwhelmed by the book. But, somehow, he managed.

  The Cardinal adjusted his bifocals.

  “My brothers, today we celebrate the memory of the first Eucharist, at which our Lord Jesus Christ shared with His Apostles and with us His call to the priestly service of His Church. Now, in the presence of your bishop and God’s holy people, are you ready to renew your own dedication to Christ as priests of His new covenant?”

  “I am,” each responded simultaneously.

  Claret led his priests through the ritual commitment. He then resumed the high-back throne, or cathedra, just as Father Ouellet was about to direct, “The bishop is seated.” Ouellet’s pursed lips betrayed frustration. Claret enjoyed these small games. Nothing hurtful. Merely playful.

  Three deacons, each bearing a container of oil, approached the Cardinal. Each, respectively, loudly intoned his presentation.

  “The oil for the holy chrism.”

  “The oil of the sick.”

  “The oil of the catechumens.”

  The oils were then set aside for later attention. The Mass proceeded.

  As one familiar ritual blended into another. Claret felt a rare sense of warmth for and unity with his priests—a good percentage of them gathered with him this day around the main altar of St. Michael’s Cathedral. It was their special day, the liturgical anniversary of their priesthood. They had assembled this morning to renew that unique supper first celebrated almost twenty centuries before. They might have their differences from time to time, he and his priests, but for this moment they were united spiritually and emotionally in their common priesthood.

  A deacon brought a vessel of oil to the altar. Father Ouellet indicated the proper prayer in the Missal. Claret prayed.

  “Lord God, loving Father, you bring healing to the sick through your son, Jesus Christ. Hear us as we pray to you in faith, and send the Holy Spirit, man’s Helper and Friend, upon this oil, which nature has provided to serve the needs of men. May your blessing come upon all who are anointed with this oil, that they may be freed from pain and illness and made well again in body, mind, and soul. Father, may this oil be blessed for our use in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

  The Archdiocese of Toronto had just been provided with a year’s supply of oil for the sick.

  The greeting of peace was given and received with more than ordinary enthusiasm, as priests and bishops milled about the sanctuary and nave of the cathedral shaking hands or embracing. The effusive spirit of camaraderie spread to the lay portion of the congregation; many left their places to mingle in the aisles, greeting and wishing each other “the peace of Christ.”

  There would be no extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist to help distribute communion. The cathedral staff well knew the mind of Cardinal Claret on this point. Extraordinary ministers, a post-Vatican II creation, were lay people appointed to assist in the distribution of communion—when there was a shortage of priests. But they were just that: extraordinary. The priest was the ordinary minister of communion. And there certainly was no shortage of priests here.

  Claret was appalled at the practice in so many churches of using extraordinary ministers while one or another of the parish priests lounged in the rectory. Some priests considered distribution of communion to be a proper function of the laity. But this clearly had not been the mind of the Church. Nor was it the thinking of Cardinal Claret.

  Besides, Claret enjoyed distributing communion. He could not understand why some priests apparently did not enjoy it. Priests seldom got closer sacramentally to their flock than when presenting their people with spiritual food at communion. After all, hadn’t that been the enjoinder of Jesus to Peter—if you love me, feed my sheep. As often as he had the opportunity, Claret distributed holy communion and always with great reverence.

  And so, Cardinal Claret, ciborium in hand, stood front and center in the sanctuary, presenting a consecrated wafer to each approaching communicant. Next to the Cardinal stood Father Ouellet, extending a gold-plated paten beneath the chin of each communicant who chose to receive the host in the mouth rather than the hand.

  The other priests present processed to the altar to communicate themselves. Some few took ciboria filled with wafers or chalices of consecrated wine, and assisted in the distribution.

  “The body of Christ,” Claret announced, proffering a wafer.

  “Amen,” a well-dressed young woman affirmed.

  Undoubtedly, she was not a parishoner of the cathedral—at least not one who resided within its technical boundaries. The cathedral was situated near the center city, an area populated mostly by transients, the elderly, and the poor. Claret thought it gracious of such outsiders, as this woman obviously was, to attend the Chrism Mass. Thursday morning was a difficult time to clear one’s calendar for a religious service.

  “Body a’Christ.”

  Claret heard the formula elided by the priest standing nearby. It was one of the cathedral’s assistants. The Cardinal glared at him. After Mass, Claret would lecture the elderly cleric on the reverence due this Sacrament as well as on the disedification of the laity.

  “The body of Christ,” said Claret.

  “Amen,” a youth responded, extending his cupped hands.

  Claret smiled. A young lad, his life before him. A possible vocation to the priesthood. It was the Cardinal’s invariable presumption. Though it was unlikely. Not that many years before, almost every Catholic boy, especially those attending parochial schools, at least considered entering the priesthood. Now, there were so few seminarians. Where was it all to end? Who would follow the present clergy?

  “The body of Christ,” said Claret.

  “Amen.” The black man extended his tongue. Ouellet positioned the paten beneath the chin as Claret placed the wafer on the tongue.

  Something was wrong. Claret knew something was wrong, but he was so startled by the sudden feeling, he did not know what it was. He looked down. A crimson stain was spreading at an alarming rate over his white cotton outer vestment.

  “Oh . . . oh, I’ve been hurt,” a bewildered Claret stated loudly.

  He staggered backward and collapsed.

  “Call St. Michael’s Hospital!”

  “Call the police!”

  “My God, the Cardinal’s been assassinated!”

  Pandemonium!

  2.

  “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! This is terrible!” Father Ouellet buried his head in his hands.

  “Get hold of yourself. Father,” said Father MacNeil. “It’s just a lucky thing that St. Michael’s is only a few blocks from the cathedral. I do believe that was the shortest ambulance ride I’ve ever had.”

  The two priests sat side by side in the waiting room of the hospital’s emergency department. It was not unlike corresponding rooms in almost all hospitals. An occasional statue or religious print established its Catholic character.

  Small groups of people sat or stood in clusters throughout the room. Beyond the swinging doors were several trauma rooms outfitted to handle, at least initially, almost any medical emergency imaginable. But the waiting room held its own peculiar trauma. Friends or relatives of emergency patients generally were confused, bewildered, isolated, and helpless. They had delivered a loved one to this emergency facility or had arrived after the delivery
and had joined the vigil. Something or nothing was being done for the patient, but the friends and relatives had no idea what, if anything, was happening. Periodic intercessions with the desk attendants more often than not proved fruitless. The patient was doing as well as could be expected. Or, doctor so-and-so was in attendance. Or, we’re still trying to find out what’s wrong.

  Just questioning the attendants was made to seem such an imposition that the more meek simply sat, entwining their fingers and wondering. The more dauntless went right on asking for—even demanding—updated information, on the theory that their squeaking might win a little medical oil for the subject of their concern.

  Slightly more than half an hour before, the relative tranquility of the emergency department had been shattered when a gurney bearing Adrian Cardinal Claret had been wheeled through in the company of several Toronto police officers and a couple of clergymen in liturgical vestments.

  The Cardinal had been whisked through the waiting room so quickly that none of the visitors had recognized him, even though his picture had appeared often enough in newspapers and on television. All the visitors could surmise was that the new patient must be a very important person.

  They were correct. St. Michael’s top trauma team had been summoned. No sooner was the Cardinal wheeled in than they began working on him.

  “I can’t believe this actually has happened,” said Father Ouellet. “I mean, who would want to harm the Cardinal?”

  “It’s the times,” Father MacNeil reflected. “We live in violent times, Maurice. But the Cardinal . . .” He shook his head. “Why would anyone want to attack him? Such a good man!”

  Two men with the same and similar questions on their minds approached the clergymen.

  “Inspector Hughes, RCMP.” One of the men proffered his identification in a manner which seemed to demand that each priest examine it carefully.

  “You would be,” Hughes consulted his notepad, “Fathers Ouellet” —Ouellet nodded— “and MacNeil.”

  “How did you know?”

  “We were at the church.”