Providence can be unpredictable, if not downright surprising. It unfolds at the most unexpected moments. This summer, for me it occurred halfway around the world.
I have worked in Catholic journalism and publishing for four decades, but it took a trip to Singapore for me to hear a homily celebrating World Day of Social Communications and to stand up and receive a blessing for my chosen career.
My family and I were in Singapore to celebrate the marriage of my son Andrew to his bride Eunice, who happens to come from a very large Singaporean family. Her family has become part of our family, and vice versa, but it took a 19-hour nonstop flight to meet them.
Singapore is an island city-state less than the size of Manhattan, but inhabited by more than 6 million people, including 395,000 Catholics. While we Americans, land of immigrants, tear ourselves apart over DEI battles and deportations, Singapore has diversity baked into its DNA. It is multiethnic and intentionally mindful of its social tapestry of peoples, languages, and religions. Ethnic Chinese, Indians, Malays, Indonesians, and more jostle one another in the ubiquitous shopping malls and politely file onto the highly efficient metro trains and buses.
Singapore only became an independent nation in 1965, and in many ways, it is still finding its way forward. Sometimes calling itself the Red Dot (because on a map of the world it is little more than a red dot), Singapore punches way above its weight. In its 60 years of existence, it has developed a robust educational system, built housing for 80% of its population, and become a regional economic star.
While I expected to be surprised by many things during my first visit to the island, I did not expect that I would hear my first homily for the World Day of Social Communications.
Although my experience is that it is rarely acknowledged in our parishes and cathedrals, it has been celebrated by the Church for 59 years on the Sunday before Pentecost. I have never heard a homily that gave even passing attention to this subject on the day itself.
On the Sunday before Pentecost, however, we made our way through the island humidity and heat to the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The cathedral was founded in 1847, back when Singapore was a British colony and naval outpost. It has a neoclassical façade, but its interior is well lit, open, and air-conditioned. The church was packed, with a multiethnic congregation and a huge choir. Most of the liturgy was in English and Latin. Lyrics to the hymns as well as Catholic responses to prayers were projected onto the front walls by the altar, as was a digital code for electronic fund transfers at the Offertory.
But the biggest surprise was the celebrant, Singapore’s archbishop, Cardinal William Goh. A short man with a broad smile and a dedication to faith formation and the liturgy, he was made a cardinal in 2022, one of Pope Francis’ many appointments in the Church’s “periphery.” Cardinal Goh seems very much a man of the Francis era, with a popular touch and the ecumenical and inter-religious sensibilities that are necessary in this diverse city-state.
In keeping with Pope Francis’ theme for this year’s message, Cardinal Goh preached on being communicators of hope.
“We are living in a very troubled world,” the cardinal began, listing the superpower rivalries and the U.S. trade war. But he pivoted to the message of hope, the theme of this year’s Communications Day. “If we ourselves do not have hope, it is very difficult to communicate hope to others,” the cardinal said. In words that could have been addressed to all of us in the United States at this terribly polarized time, he added, “If you are a communicator, you can’t be a communicator of hope if your hearts are full of anger.”
At the end of Mass, Cardinal Goh said he had a special blessing for communicators. Members of his diocesan communications stood up en masse to receive his blessing. And so did one American in a pew several rows behind them. It was my providential moment, and I wanted to take advantage of it.
The cardinal has invested heavily in his communications team, and it showed in their multimedia presence and their pride. His is a Church dedicated to making a contribution in this relatively new country.
Perhaps the new old world of Singapore has something to teach our old new world about unity in the midst of diversity, about hope in a world on fire.
For me it was a providential encounter with the endless riches, and surprises, of our universal Church.
