May 8, 2001
Eulogy preached at his funeral by Phil Johnston
INTRO:
Good morning. My name is Phil Johnston, and like all of you, I am a friend of Ed Hastings. Like all of us in our turn, Ed Hastings died last week. We’re here this morning to console one another in our loss, to rejoice in our good fortune for having known this good man in our lifetimes, and to try to piece together the meaning of his life as we move on in our own.
BIRTH & DEATH:
Edward Hastings, Jr. was born on the 9th of October 1924. Seventy-six years later, he passed from this life on Tuesday, the 8th of May 2001. In the years given to Ed, he has done many wonderful things in the service of God and his neighbor. But perhaps the most wonderful thing in his whole life was his open and generous collaboration with a God who loves him and whom he loved dearly each day of his life. The great work of Ed’s life was, in the end, Ed himself.
FAMILY BACKGROUND & PRIESTHOOD:
Born into an Irish Catholic family in the city of Detroit, his grandfather a prominent politician, his father a Detroit police officer, Ed was raised in an environment of deep faith and strong sense of public service. He entered the seminary for the Archdiocese of Detroit as a lad of 14 and was ordained a priest on May 20, 1950. Sunday will be the 51st anniversary of his ordination. Ed was an outstanding young priest, standing out among his fellow priests from a very young age. Although one of the younger pastors in the large Archdiocese of Detroit, Cardinal John Dearden selected Fr. Ed Hastings as one of 9 Episcopal Vicars in the administration of the Archdiocese—an honor, indeed, but even more so a recognition of the qualities of leadership and holiness of this young priest.
QUALITY OF ED’S MINISTRY—LOVE & COMPASSION:
Ed was a natural as a pastor and priest. He was prayerful, intelligent, warm, outgoing with a distinctly Irish charm, but above all, Ed was a man of compassion. As all of you who have known Ed will agree, from the moment you met Ed Hastings you felt he was genuinely interested in you and your well being. He didn’t simply love mankind; he loved each and every one of us individually.
VATICAN II CHANGES PERSPECTIVE:
Ten years into Ed’s life as a priest, the Catholic Church was shaken and set afire with the Second Vatican Council convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962. As the Bishops of the Church labored to redefine and revitalize our Faith in a rapidly changing and culturally diverse world, Ed Hastings was caught by the new spirit. He found the teachings of Vatican II both exciting and challenging, but most of all deeply reaffirming of the Faith into which he was born. And as a pastor, he felt the sufferings and struggles of those who would come to him for counsel. He yearned to see the Gospel become a source of support and encouragement rather than a burden of laws and regulations.
ED RESIGNED FROM ACTIVE MINISTRY:
In a struggle experienced by many dedicated priests at the time, in 1970 Father Ed Hastings resigned from his pastorate and active ministry in the Archdiocese of Detroit. He found himself torn by the tensions between a newly discovered presence of the Holy Spirit and the more traditional authority structures of the Church. He was no longer able to speak and act as an official representative of the institutional Church. But as he said then and has said repeatedly in the years that followed, he never separated himself from the Church. He only resigned from a role as official leader and spokesperson. He knew then what we have all come to understand—that the Church is not to be identified solely with its leaders, but is a community of all the Baptized.
MARRIAGE AND NEW VOCATION:
On December 12, 1970 Ed married Frances McKweon [McHewen], a recent widow and prominent journalist with the Michigan Catholic, the Archdiocesan Catholic Newspaper. Ed and Frances purchased a home in Mission Viejo in 1971 and began a new life together. Ed had a Masters in Pastoral Counseling from the University of Detroit. He completed work on a Doctorate in Counseling at Claremont College and continued his ministry of compassion as a licensed marriage and family counselor. Over the years, many have been blessed with Ed’s warm acceptance, sensitive listening, and wise advice. Ed was always walking in the steps of the Good Shepherd.
HEALTH PROBLEMS:
Not long after the move to California, early signs of Ed’s health problems began to appear. And Ed and Frances began to become acquainted with a new path down which the Lord would lead them. Both Ed and Fran shared an active and profound Irish Catholic Faith. Together they began each day at morning Mass in their local parish. They continued this practice as long as Ed was able to get to Church. But the roles in their life together would change gradually. From the bright, strong, robust man of his youth, Ed would find himself gradually relying more and more on the love and support of Fran—as if this special vocation from God would draw them at once closer to one another and to God Himself.
VOCATION OF SUFFERING:
As Ed had encountered God in his youthful enthusiasm as a priest, he would now encounter him in the mystery of human suffering. Such illnesses have broken others, turned them bitter and cantankerous. But illness for Ed was met with a deep sense of Faith and trust in God and God in his compassion blessed his life with his wife, Fran. It was not easy. There were many difficult moments. But in these years the two of them learned the meaning of love and the price of love. And in it all they came to know the love of God in Jesus.
ED WAS NO STRANGER TO SUFFERING AND DEATH:
For so many people of our day, suffering and death are things never mentioned. We are embarrassed by suffering. We cannot stand to think of death. Yet we Catholics live each day of our lives staring into the face of death. We experience it daily as we see the crucifix hanging in our churches, on the walls of our homes. Ed experienced death as he left home as a boy to enter the seminary. A portion of his life as a child in that family had ended. He must have experienced a sense of death as he left his ministry as a Catholic Priest, an end to a work he dearly loved. And through a prolonged illness, Ed died to one part of his life after another. And now he has left us once again.
AS CHRISTIANS WE KNOW RESURRECTION FOLLOWS DEATH:
But because we have gazed into the face of the crucified Lord through all of our life, we know that, because of Christ Jesus, the many deaths we experience are not the final word. For us, each death is transformed, by God’s power, into resurrection. Ed’s death to his family as a boy gave birth to a new life as a priest in loving service to God’s People. His death to a ministry within the Church gave birth to a new experience of God’s love through his wife, Fran and a special vocation to holiness that they both undertook through the years of Ed’s illness.
ED’S DEEP ATTACHMENT TO HIS FRIENDS:
Ed was a fine man, but only of his most outstanding characteristics, I think, was his deep and genuine love for his friends. Ed made friends quickly. He loved them and was always interested in them. You always felt very special because of Ed’s friendship. And he never forgot his friends. He would call them, write to them, think of them, speak of them and always hold them in his heart. Friends from childhood, friends among priest colleagues and parishioners, friends in later life—the many deaths of Ed’s life never separated him from those he loved. Is there any reason to believe that he love for us will change because he is now with God?
ED’S WITNESS TEACHES US TO LIVE AS CHRISTIANS:
My dear friends, our lives have been blessed by the gift of Ed Hastings. His call from God was a constantly evolving mission. He served us as a priest; he served us as a colleague and as a friend, but most of all he taught us how to live by living with us. Ed’s vocation, as the vocation of every Christian, is to witness to the presence of God in our midst. And Ed did that in his warmth, his concern, his compassion, his friendship, in the way he dealt with the many challenges of his life. Life was not easy for him, but life was never a burden either. He embraced it as a gift from God and he lived every day of it with gratitude.
NOW HE IS AT PEACE:
Now he is at peace in the company of God. We are left to live this day and the tomorrows that will be granted us. And for every day of our lives we shall carry the memory and the example of Ed Hastings, one of God’s good gifts to each of us. May we live to be worthy of such blessings.
FINAL WORDS TO FRAN & FAMILY:
To Fran and the family, and especially to his little grandson, Devon, whom Ed loved dearly, I extend on behalf of all here and all who have known and loved Ed our sincere condolences. I think as a member of the Baptized Faithful that I can speak for the Church to thank you, Ed, for your years of service and the deep faith you have shared with us all. You will surely be missed, Ed. But as we grieve, let us always remember how blessed we have been to have shared your life these many years.
May God be with us all. Amen.
