From its earliest time, the word "Church" has described the people of God. Its origin is rooted in the Greek language meaning "those called." Sometimes we think of Church, or "those called," in the context of the Lord's teaching that He is present wherever two or three are gathered in His name. Other times we think of "those called" as the Church Universal; envisioning our Holy Father with cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of every country gathered in prayer at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Most of the time, though, we think of Church as our parish community, where we gather each week to pray, hear the Word of God, celebrate His gifts and blessings, and commit ourselves to greater service in His name. This is our ordinary experience of Church as "those called": where we are brought out of the world and into a covenant relationship with the Lord and one another through the waters of baptism and shared faith. Our church buildings are a visible sign of God's dwelling among us. Built of materials indigenous to the locale and exigencies of the parish, church buildings reflect the history of our parish communities and were constructed to embrace the spirituality and theology of their era.
The bridge between our parishes and the Church Universal is the local diocesan bishop who presides over the community of "those called" as the Vicar of Christ. A cathedral church is the bishop's church, and in Detroit's case the archbishop's church. It is the place where he exercises his three-fold ministry as chief shepherd, priest and teacher. It is also the "mother church" and second parish for every Catholic in the Archdiocese.
The principal focus of the cathedral, as with every church, is the altar, representing Jesus Christ and the mystery of His death and resurrection, which is at the center of our faith. In a cathedral church, special importance is also placed on the bishop's chair or cathedra. A critical moment in the rite of installing a new bishop comes at the moment he is seated on the chair. At that point, he has the authority to preside over the local church, to teach, and to offer pastoral guidance. Even when the bishop is not present in the cathedral, the cathedra remains a sign of his apostolic role. The significance of the bishop's chair is so compelling that when Pope John Paul II visited Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in 1987, he did not sit in the Archbishop's cathedra, but in another chair marked with the papal crest.
Two particular ideas converge in common usage of the word "chair": teaching and leadership. At universities throughout the centuries, a "chair" has always designated someone credentialed to teach. Secondly, a person heading or coordinating a meeting is known as the "chair." These two functions of teaching and governing have come together in the bishop's chair or cathedra. From the earliest days of the church, the "chair" has been the symbol of pastoral leadership or shepherding of God's people.
This is why we celebrate an annual feast in honor of "The Chair of St. Peter" on February 22.
A cathedral is a living symbol, and as such, takes on a life of its own. Here in the Archdiocese of Detroit, our Cathedral has been dedicated to the mystery of the Lord's presence in the Most Blessed Sacrament. Appropriately, the magnificent stained glass windows in the apse depict the Lord handing over his body and blood before He died on the cross.
In every Eucharistic gathering, Christ continues to be present in a powerful way as we renew our sharing in that mystery of His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection, as we worship and receive His presence in the sacrament. Blessed Sacrament Cathedral is the mother church of the whole Archdiocese and it is also a home parish of the Boston-Edison neighborhood area. And so it is, that our Cathedral brings together both the local and the universal, the past and the present, and the timeless mystery of Christ present in the Holy Eucharist.
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