They should be shown with pride the wonderful basilicas of the ancient world, the mosaics, the icons, the frescoes, lovingly created by generations of believers. They should know that it was our family that built the great cathedrals of Europe and the humble churches and the ancient monasteries. They should know the family quarrels that created suspicion, hostility and even war in the 16th century and since. They should know of the religious traditions of the people who founded this country, and of the Catholic exiles who settled along the Atlantic coast and of the Catholic missioners who evangelized the Southwest and the immigrants who built the great churches of our great cities in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was knowledge of history which made Mathis and others see that the way things are today are not the way things always were, yet enabled them to rejoice in the continuity and resolve to strengthen it.
Renewal requires identity.
Identity requires that we know who we are and where we come from. Memory delivers us from the tyranny of mistakes and the idolizing of particular historical and cultural forms. Accepting responsibility for our history means knowing what must endure and what must be changed if we are to be faithful. Responsibility for the Church Michael Mathis' sense of history did not make him an historian but a missioner and a liturgist, teacher, a preacher and a celebrant. It made the Church of his own time all the more precious, all the more deserving of his best pastoral care.