Bishop Joseph L. Bernardin said his past two years in Atlanta have been the happiest of his life because of the spirit of the Church and its people.

The bishop made his comments on the Church in Atlanta during a Mass he concelebrated Friday with priests of the archdiocese. He was honored at a reception after the Mass by about 700 persons at the Cathedral Center.

“As I leave Atlanta, I have thought a great deal about what has made the archdiocese so outstanding, well-respected throughout the country. I have tried to put my finger on the thing that has made the Church here unique in so many ways. And, I have come to the conclusion that it is the spirit of the Church in Atlanta which makes it so different. That spirit is largely due, under God’s grace, to the spirit of our late Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan. His spirit was one of peace.”

“The title of his homily I preached at his funeral was taken from the words of Christ: ‘Peace is my gift to you.’ Peace was the archbishop’s gift to Atlanta. His great faith in God, his tremendous commitment and loyalty to the Church, the wisdom which was his to interpret correctly the signs of the times, to see in those signs (as confusing and contradictory they may seem on occasion) the firm hand of God drawing all men to Himself -- these were the things which gave us stability, these were the qualities which gave us the assurance that the braque of Peter would not capsize in the swirling waters of our modern society.”

Bishop Bernardin said the archbishop’s humanness, his concern for people, his insistence that the necessary structures of the Church be used to obtain order but not dehumanize the individual who put the Church into the mainstream of life.

The bishop said the archbishop’s gift of peace should never be lost. “For it is that peace which, under the leadership of the new archbishop, will continue to make the Church in Atlanta the dynamic force in society Christ meant it to be. It will be the qualities of complete orthodoxy on the one hand, and a humanness which is totally open on the other, that will bring everyone together.”

“It will be these qualities which will make it possible for all men of good-will -- Catholic, Protestant and Jewish -- to join together in the many problems which confront our community, both locally and nationally. It will be these qualities which will insure that all under the new shepherd, Archbishop Donnellan, will continue to live in peace and harmony.”

Bishop Bernardin said he has learned the archbishop’s lesson well. “Both in the archdiocese and the Cathedral parish especially, I have tried to be the friend and father of all.”

“The past two years have been the happiest of my life because, despite the problems and difficulties which sometimes arose, I felt that in some measure at least I was able to bring people together, not as clergy and laity, not as priest and bishop, not as Catholic and non-Catholic, but as PEOPLE: God’s people who love Him and each other.

“And in the process, I am the one who gained the most. Your acceptance of me, your response to me, taught me much that I didn’t know before. It matured me and, above all, it gave my heart a capacity for loving and helping people which before I thought was impossible.”

“And for this, I am deeply grateful to all of you -- my fellow priests and religious, my parishioners of every parish, especially the Cathedral, my confreres of other faiths whose friendship has meant so much to me.”

“As I leave for Washington to take up my new responsibilities as general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, please pray that I will never forget what I have learned here. Pray that I may bring to the conference this necessary dimension of openness and understanding which will make its work for the Church and nation effective.” “And you may be sure that I will never forget you. In every Mass I offer there will always be a special place for you, my friends of Atlanta. May God Bless you always.”