(This is the prepared text of Archbishop Marino’s homily at his Installation Mass on May 5.)

Archbishop Laghi, it was from you that I received the word that our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II would appoint me the fourth bishop and the third archbishop of the See of Atlanta. You honor this local church by your presence here today. I am profoundly grateful to you for coming to install me as shepherd. In your person you make present the Bishop of Rome, the pastor of the universal church. Through you we send to the Vicar of Jesus Christ our pledge of filial loyalty, fidelity and affection.

With joy and gratitude, I acknowledge the presence of the eminent cardinals, and also my brother archbishops and bishops who have come in such numbers. You truly honor us by your presence. Also, let me thank the priests and deacons who have come from all over the nation to share this joyous moment! How happy it makes me to be able to celebrate it with my sisters, my brother, and their families! In a special way, I must recognize the presence of so many from my home in Biloxi, Mississippi, as well as the large group of those who have journeyed from my other home for the last 14 years, Washington, D.C. The Church of Atlanta welcomes all of you.

The welcome presence of brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we share the pain and suffering of Christian division calls forth my pledge to pray, to dialogue, and to work in the quest for that deeper communion which is God’s will for us. We are honored and I am heartened by the presence of representatives of the Jewish community – through the law and the prophets, ours is a strong bond which seeks ever new expression. I speak as both greeting and urgent prayer that hallowed word, Shalom.

In acknowledging gratefully the presence of federal, state, and civic officials, I pledge to you my prayers for your awesome responsibilities, and I assure you of my cooperation on those programs which are for the common good.

This moment cannot pass without a word of tribute to those who have served before me. In its brief 32 year history, the Church of Atlanta has been served by three outstanding shepherds: Bishop Hyland, Archbishop Hallinan, and most recently Archbishop Donnellan. Fresh in the mind and heart of all of us is the memory of Archbishop Donnellan, that good and wise and holy man who led this archdiocese for almost two decades. May his great soul rest in peace.

To the archdiocese of Atlanta, its lay men and women, its religious and clergy, my deepest gratitude for the warmth with which you have received me. In your name and in the name of all here present allow me to express deep gratitude to a good priest who has served this archdiocese well for many years as priest and pastor, and most recently as administrator. Despite serious illness and major surgery, Monsignor John McDonough has guided the Church of Atlanta with pastoral skill and competence and we are deeply grateful.

To all of you who have gathered here for this celebration, and to all who witness it through television, to all men and women of good will – may the peace and love of Jesus Christ be with you!

My first words must be to the Catholic faithful of the archdiocese of Atlanta, for it is to you especially that I have been sent in the name of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. As chief shepherd of the Church of Atlanta, it is now my privilege and my duty to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ authentically, to govern the Church with strength and compassion, and to lead the People of God surely in the way of truth and in the path of holiness.

It is the Eucharist which reveals for us the mystery of church and illumines the relationship of bishop and diocese. There is no church without Eucharist, and there is no Eucharist without the bishop. It is not simply to satisfy a juridic prescription that from this day my name will be spoken in every Eucharist celebrated in this archdiocese. Prayer for me, as prayer for the Holy Father, is a sign that those gathered around the various altars of this archdiocese are one in faith and communion with those who shepherd in the name and in the power of Christ. The Eucharist then is the source of our strength and meaning and the summit of all our activity. Because of this mystery and from it we draw the substance of our teaching and the energy and direction for the education and social activities that we perform. Our programs, our schools, our institutions indeed our total apostolate of education, advocacy, and outreach must clearly reflect this Eucharistic centrality, for it is in the Eucharist that we most authentically encounter Jesus Christ. We do the things we do with and for people not because they are Catholic necessarily, but because we are.

As your shepherd, I must call you to the celebration on this Eucharistic mystery and challenge you to make it the central norm and guiding force of your life and activity. I must follow the Lord’s command to “Feed My Lambs” with the Eucharist, with sound doctrine, and with food for mind and body. But the good shepherd’s heart must also and always go out to those weakest and most vulnerable members of the flock, and his concern is for those on the fringes, those most likely to stray, those most threatened by danger.

Evil surrounds us and danger threatens the entire human family today as never before in history. The breakdown of traditional structures and values of family and society has led to a general disregard for authority of any kind. A widespread attitude of selfishness and immediate self gratification has produced a flood of pornography and sexual immorality and increasing alcohol and drug addiction bringing in its wake child and spouse abuse, crime and violence of every kind. Over this grim landscape hangs the dark and ominous cloud of abortion. Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Yet we deal out death through abortion to the most innocent of human beings. Having made our peace with the death of the most innocent and defenseless among us, is it any wonder that we are so ineffective in dealing with hunger, with injustice, with the threat of nuclear war? Was not the Lord speaking of this generation in our first reading today from Isaiah when He says: “They seek Me day after day, and desire to know My ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God.”

In pointing out the evil and calling attention to the danger, the shepherd must speak the truth in love. Like Jesus, our purpose is not to condemn, but rather to persuade, to call to conversion. As your bishop the Gospel impels me to do nothing less.

My appointment to Atlanta has drawn a great deal of attention from the media. There can be no escaping the fact that I’m the first black bishop to serve in Atlanta, and the first black archbishop in the nation. Having noted the fact, I hasten to add my deep conviction that it need not affect the quality of my ministry among you, nor the nature of our relationship with each other. I hope you share that conviction. I am proud of my black and Puerto Rican identity, just as I am sure that you who are Irish, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Anglo and Native American are proud of your identity. We are a richer church for all our cultural and ethnic diversity. Let our differences be a source of strength for all of us. Our Spanish speaking sisters and brothers are a special part of this particular unlikeness and I must offer them a brief word.

Saludo a mis hermanos y hermanas hispanos de Cuba, Mexico, Centro America y Sur America. Por que sus antecesores trajeron la fe a este continente, ustedes pertenecen a la iglesia y en una manera muy manera muy espeicial la iglesia les pertence a ustedes. You, que desde ahora soy su obispo, les doy la bienvinida para que participen plenamente en la vida de la iglesia. Especialmente damos la bienvenida aquellos que han llegado recientenmente y a los refugiados de naciones destrozadas. Queremos, y en verdad necesitamos, que ustedes enriquezcan nuestra iglesia local con su fe Catolica y les aseguro que es nuestra intencion continaur aumentando el numero de celebraciones en su idioma y las oportunidades de servicios educativos y sociales para los jovenes y para los necesitados. Que dios les bendiga!

I see myself as bishop to all the people. My mission must be first to the household of the faithful, but then I must preach the gospel to all who have not heard the Good News. I must see to it that the poor and all who are in need in our part of Georgia are given a witness of the compassion of Jesus Christ.

As bishop, I see it as my task to teach. Within the community of faith I will call you who with me are the archdiocese of Atlanta to live out fully our profession of faith. The truths of faith must illumine all our decisions: We cannot tolerate the false notion that it can be “yes” in some aspects of our lives and “no” in others.

As bishop and Church we have been called by God to walk together through the final years of the Twentieth Century and into the dawn of a new millenium of the Christian era. The next twenty years will have enormous impact on our archdiocese, our nation, and our world.

As Church we are meant to be a sign of God’s love for all people. As Church we are meant to show forth the living presence of Christ in the world. Mary, in the moment of the Annunciation, models for us what this means. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us through her unreserved “Yes” to God. May this first Eucharist we celebrate as archbishop and people help us to show forth the living presence of Christ in the world, help us to be a light shining in the darkness.

Our archdiocese of Atlanta has already been entrusted to the patronage of Mary, the Mother of God, under the title of her Immaculate Heart. Following the wish of our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, and in union with him, I begin my ministry as archbishop by reconsecrating the archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.