Bishop Peter Jugis congratulates Father Christian Cook after installing him as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville Sept. 28. (Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald)HENDERSONVILLE — Smiles greeted Father W. Christian Cook at Mass Sept. 28, as he was officially installed as pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish by Bishop Peter Jugis. The installation Mass drew hundreds of parishioners, clergy, family and friends, members of the Knights of Columbus, and St. Joseph College Seminary students from Charlotte.
In his homily, Bishop Jugis described the responsibilities of a pastor that he had outlined in Father Cook’s letter of appointment, which was read out at the start of the Mass. Through his roles of teaching, sanctifying and governing, Father Cook is to support and encourage the people of his parish to become holy, the bishop explained.
“The Church has a mission, and that is the salvation of souls,” the bishop said. Jesus and His Church offer sure answers to life’s perennial questions: “What am I doing here? Where am I going? What is my purpose?” The duty of a pastor, Bishop Jugis said, is to help people navigate these questions in life and reach their ultimate goal: union with God in heaven.
“The mission of the pastor is you, your salvation,” he told parishioners. “He is dedicated to helping you grow in holiness, and by preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments and shepherding the people of God, to keep you on that path – that straight and narrow path which goes to heaven.”
“What a tragedy it would be if we were to live our whole life here and never get to our goal. It would be a complete waste of time, everything that we did here,” he said.
Through offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a priest enables the faithful then to go out into the world and share the love of God with others, he continued.
“The most important work of the priest is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,” he said. “The celebration of the Mass, the worship of God, is first and foremost, and everything flows from our worship of God – our ministry to the poor, our Respect Life ministry, our ministry to young people, ministry to the sick and dying... Everything starts from the love of God and the presence of Christ Jesus that we carry in our hearts from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and take with us” into our day-to-day lives.
“They’re praying for you,” he said. “At every moment of the day you are being remembered in their prayers. You’re not alone, you are being sustained, you are being supported and helped by their ongoing prayers. It’s a beautiful gift. So I ask you if you also would return that favor by praying for your pastor, for your parochial vicar also, every day so that they may be successful in the work that they have undertaken for you.”
“It is a lot that they have to do, but they’re not alone because they have you,” he said.
Father Cook most recently served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Grace Church in Greensboro and as chaplain of Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville. He succeeds Capuchin Franciscan Father Martin Schratz, after the New Jersey-based order withdrew its clergy from the parish and the diocese last summer.
The parish’s transition to diocesan clergy after 28 years of leadership by the Franciscans necessarily brings a great deal of change, Father Cook noted, and his primary goal has been to interact with the Franciscans “to try and make any disruption in the transition minimal.”
Another of Father Cook’s initial goals has been working with Immaculata School’s hiring committees to name a principal and a number of teachers before the current school year began.
“The pastor is tasked with a lot in a parish of this size, and it is easy to be consumed with managing the temporal and business side of the parish church and school,” Father Cook said. “However, my prayer is that I integrate the three munera (duties) of ordained priests in my daily life – that is, to teach, to sanctify, and to shepherd the people of God, in persona Christi.”
Father Cook makes his profession of faith and oath of fidelity to the Church during his installation as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville Sept. 28. (Patricia L. Guilfoyle | Catholic News Herald)
Father Christian Cook greets parishioners after his installation as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville Sept. 28. (Photo provided by Alberto Arce.)“Immaculate Conception and Immaculata Catholic School are very special, and are filled with wonderful people seeking to live their lives as witnesses to the fullness of truth taught by Jesus Christ in His Church,” he added. “I hope to be given the grace to serve humbly as His servant, while courageously teaching the truth of our beautiful faith.”
Reiterating the bishop’s homily message, Father Cook said, “The whole point here is for all of us to be reunited in heaven; and while living in this world, our entire lives should be directed towards heaven in everything we do. That is my ultimate goal, as pastor of Immaculate Conception – to always be centered on Christ, and to then shepherd His sheep home to Him.”
Parishioners’ reactions to their new pastor have been positive.
“He’s very well-liked by everyone he’s met so far. He seems to be getting everything very well organized. We have a lot of different groups that he’s quite interested in, and everyone seems to like him,” said Gene Cox, minister of hospitality and an Immaculate Conception parishioner of five years.
Added parishioner Betty Connolly, “We are feeling very blessed to have Father Cook with us. He has such a beautiful smile and a joyfulness about him that we are really pleased to have him here, and we look forward to getting to know him as we grow together at Immaculate Conception.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor. Annie Ferguson, correspondent, contributed.