Beloved Archbishop of Edmonton. Shepherd of the Catholic faithful. Friend to everyone who met him.
This was how Archbishop Joseph MacNeil was remembered during a funeral Mass at St. Joseph’s Basilica on Feb. 16. Over 1,000 people from the archdiocese and across Canada came to say goodbye to MacNeil, who died on Feb. 11 after suffering a stroke. He was 93.
“His warm welcome, attentive listening, quick understanding, shared laughter or pain, gentle counsel, and faithful accompaniment assured us that, in his estimation, we were, indeed, his ‘very good friends,’” Archbishop Richard Smith said in his homily.
MacNeil served as the fifth Archbishop of Edmonton for 26 years until retiring in 1999. As president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, he formally invited Pope St. John Paul II to Canada for a historic visit that included Edmonton. To this day a bronze plaque hangs in St. Joseph’s Basilica, depicting the two fathers of the Church together on that site.
Archbishop Richard Smith celebrated the funeral Mass with dozens of his brother priests and bishops, including Bishop Lionel Gendron, the current president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and Bishop Robert Harris of the Diocese of Saint John, where MacNeil first served as bishop.
In Rome, Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, who succeeded MacNeil as Archbishop of Edmonton, celebrated a Mass for him. Through the Vatican, Pope Francis shared an apostolic blessing for those mourning the beloved archbishop.
The basilica was filled with the cascading sounds of organ music above the congregation as smoke from burning incense lingered in the air. Scott Jenken, a member of the adult choir, says he loves the use of incense during funeral masses.
Scott Jenken
“Watching the incense rising up to God, I always envision the soul rising up to God, and I think that’s a beautiful imagery I always look forward to,” Jenken said.
Many took a solemn moment to touch the Archbishop’s casket, silently mourning the loss of a spiritual giant who had led the Catholic community and had personally touched the lives of thousands.
“We gather in sadness, certainly, yet also, and even more, in a spirit of praise and thanksgiving to God for the gift that this remarkable disciple and bishop has been to us,” said Archbishop Smith.
At the end of Mass, a sea of priests in white vestments surrounded the casket as Archbishop Smith anointed and spread incense over it.
Gene Blazo
“It seemed like heaven came down,” said Gene Blazo, adding he was amazed at the sight of all the bishops and priests who gathered to celebrate the life of their dear friend.
“It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony,” said Don MacNeil, the Archbishop’s nephew who flew in from Halifax. “Things could not have gone better for Father Joe, Your Grace, in the sense that he was a friend to everybody. You couldn’t find someone who was more upbeat and positive and friendly.”
As a family member, Don said he knew Archbishop MacNeil differently. “Father Joe,” known for his sense of humour, would often share jokes around the dinner table.
“It’s funny. Obviously I would communicate on a different level than some who knew him through the parish and everything like that … He was my uncle.”
“He always coined that phrase – talking to him and (asking him) how things were going – that he could ‘still sit up and take nourishment,’ and as long as he could still do that, he was happy. It’s all those positive comments and everything. Those are my fond memories.”
In addition to the stirring music ministry of the cathedral choir throughout the Mass, a choir of 40 students from MacNeil’s namesake junior high school also sang while priests prepared the altar.
Julie Lee
“The Mass made me cry and laugh at the same time,” said Julie Lee, whose two sons are graduates of Archbishop Joseph MacNeil school, which opened in 2003.
During his homily, Archbishop Smith described his predecessor as a loving friend to so many people, particularly to the children he saw often at the school.
Smith also shared a light-hearted story about how MacNeil, who attended hundreds of meetings as part of his episcopacy, once told him that he wanted his epitaph to read “He went to meetings.”
“It was all for the sake of the communion of the Church, for building up the Body of Christ, for helping us grow into Christ, into the Lord’s friendship, into the joy of knowing that we were all counted as the Lord’s very good friends, just as the Archbishop knew that he was,” said Archbishop Smith.
Current Archbishop of Edmonton Richard Smith presides over the Mass in celebration of his friend and mentor, Archbishop Emeritus Joseph MacNeil.
During his homily, Archbishop Smith described his predecessor as a loving friend to so many people, particularly to the children he saw often at the school.
Smith also shared a light-hearted story about how MacNeil, who attended hundreds of meetings as part of his episcopacy, once told him that he wanted his epitaph to read “He went to meetings.”
“It was all for the sake of the communion of the Church, for building up the Body of Christ, for helping us grow into Christ, into the Lord’s friendship, into the joy of knowing that we were all counted as the Lord’s very good friends, just as the Archbishop knew that he was,” said Archbishop Smith.
Russell Grigaitis knows that well. He met with Archbishop MacNeil four years ago, and years later the Archbishop still remembered him.
Russel Grigaitis
“He’s a friend, that’s who he was. And If he knows you, you’re a friend for life,” said Grigaitis.
After Mass, Archbishop MacNeil was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Edmonton.
The last funeral for an Archbishop of Edmonton was that of Archbishop Anthony Jordan, who died in 1982. Archbishop MacNeil himself was the celebrant for that Mass.
