By Gretchen Keiser

Newly vested Monsignor E. Peter Ludden said that he has experienced God’s love from him through the many people who have spoken words of encouragement in recent weeks.

Citing the prophet Isaiah, who had been given a “well-trained tongue” with which to rouse the weary, Monsignor Ludden said “a great army of well-trained tongues has roused me to hope, to confidence, to gratitude to God, to an awareness of God’s special love” for him.

“The Lord has mediated His love and His concern for me through you,” he said, “and that, it seems to me, is what being the body of Christ is all about.”

Monsignor Ludden spoke from the pulpit at the Cathedral of Christ the King after he had been vested by Archbishop Eugene A. Marina, in silk-fringed purple sash and white surplice over his purple cassock. The two priests embraced as the congregation of over 350 applauded. The procession into the church began with some 50 priests, followed by Monsignor John McDonough and Monsignor Donald Kiernan, then the monsignor-designate and the archbishop.

The investiture of the chancellor as a monsignor, under the title Prelate of Honor of His holiness, took place Sunday, April 2, during a Vespers service that included exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction.

Two of Monsignor Luddens’ three brothers, Seamus and Michael, a sister Joan O’Reilly, all from Ireland, and another sister, Muriel, from Florida, sat in the front pew, and stood alongside their brother during a reception that lasted several hours.

Father Edward Dillon, the vicar general, read the Latin decree and a letter from Archbishop Pio Laghi, the apostolic pronuncio in Washington, D.C. The letter said the pope “wishes to single out a priest noted for his dedication, his zeal, his wisdom, and his loyalty to the Holy See and the Archdiocese of Atlanta.”

“Pope John Paul II especially wanted this privilege to be a sign of his solicitude for Monsignor Ludden during this time of illness, as well as an indication of his esteem for the entire presbyterate of Atlanta,” Archbishop Laghi’s letter said.

Monsignor Ludden is expected to begin chemotherapy shortly for liver cancer detected during surgery in late February.

In his homily, Archbishop Marino recalled the episodes in Scripture in which the apostle Peter is revealed, “bold, audacious, presumptuous Peter” who vowed that he would never betray Jesus, who sprang up to attack those seizing Jesus in the garden, but who later denied Him and then three times affirmed his faith in the Lord after His resurrection and was told by Jesus, “Feed my lambs.”

In “honoring one priest named Peter” the archbishop said, the occasion also served to remind that “it was the will of Christ that this priesthood be mediated through men… human, weak, fallible, sinful, treacherous at times, capable of great scandal, but men chosen by Christ. That is the distinct reality that sets these men apart.”

Even while celebrating the honor given to Monsignor Ludden, he urged the congregation to recall the “deeper reality” that it is the presence of Jesus Christ in His priests for which thanks and praise must be given.

Archbishop Marino also prayed that “If it be God’s will that he (Monsignor Ludden) be cured of this illness” and asked that he “be given the strength to continue to our midst as a sign of Jesus Christ.”

The archbishop “has shown tremendous kindness, love” and pastoral care to him, Monsignor Ludden said, “My heart is full and grateful as I acknowledge and express my profound thanks to His Holiness (the pope) for the singular honor he has bestowed on me. I am very conscious too and very grateful to our own beloved archbishop because it was through his kind and gracious intervention that this was possible.”

At the reception which followed, Monsignor Ludden sat in a chair and welcomed the people individually who stood in line to offer their congratulations and prayers, a line that did not dwindle for more than an hour.

Chancellor of the archdiocese since 1983, Monsignor Ludden has been pastor of St. John Vianney, Lithia Springs, Holy Spirit in Atlanta, and founding pastor of St. Andrew’s in Roswell.