The Catholics

had a fine service March 19 as they celebrated the Silver Anniversary

of the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Tom Zaworski as one of the first

married deacons in the Catholic Church. The celebration was conducted

at The Catholic Church of Saint Gabriel in Fayetteville. Archbishop John

F. Donoghue presided over the service, a high tribute to Tom and his family.

The church

house was full, a true testimony to Tom's faithful service over the last

25 years. Many fellow deacons participated as well as present and past

pastors of Saint Gabriel's. The Knights of Columbus provided a bright

and beautiful color guard. The ladies of Saint Gabriel prepared some of

the most appetizing array of snacks and desserts ever to stretch half

of the church's length. It was no doubt that all the folks at Saint Gabriel's

wanted to get across the message, "We love Tom."

In giving remembrances

concerning Tom, one of Tom's long time friends noted that Tom possessed

a strong sense of right and wrong and would often go to extremes to express

his opinions, but that in the final analysis Tom would always manifest

the spirit of Christ himself.

Now, the rest

of the story: guess who was also invited? You got it: that now grown-up

boy from southwest Georgia where 50 years ago, a Catholic was from another

planet. Who was there? You've got it: that pastor trained at a Baptist

seminary.

You see, Tom

invited me to participate in the celebration by reading a portion from

the Apostle Paul writings in First Timothy. Tom, as a devoted Christian

who is a Catholic, and I, a historical Baptist, believe differently on

many matters of faith and doctrine. However, there was enough spiritual

glue at the point of confession of Christ to allow me to participate in

the celebration.

As the ministers

were gathering in the sacristy, I was honored to talk briefly to Archbishop

Donoghue. Donning my black Wesley preaching robe, I explained to him that

we did not use various vestments; to which he responded, "I think

at times we have too many." In the course of our conversation, it

hit me, "Hey, this is a genuinely nice guy, under all those vestments."

The celebration

included the Eucharist, which we call The Lord's Supper. Well, Catholics

and Baptists differ on the matter of the supper. They say that the bread

and wine become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We say, the bread

and Concord grape juice stands as a symbol for Jesus' sacrifice of his

life on Calvary. So, what should we do? Get mad with one another and call

each other the devil?

In sensitivity

to those of us in the service, we were invited to come forward and receive

a blessing instead of the bread and wine. The Catholics would not want

me to betray my beliefs by taking of the Eucharist with different presuppositions,

but they also did not want to offend. What did I do?

I went forward

and asked for a blessing. Do you know what the Archbishop did? He blessed

me and touched my forehead. I walked