“It is my honor to be here to offer the homily for Father Faustner’s funeral. For those of you who don’t know who I am, … for the last going-on two decades, I was the frequent confessor of Father Faustner. Just know that I am not breaking that seal.
“Everything that we might share is not within this, and one of the things I want to start with is something we all start with, particularly us as priests:
“O God, come to my assistance.”
(Congregation: “O Lord, make haste to help me.”)
“That’s the beginning of our prayer, every Office – and then we pray the Glory to God:
“Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.”
(Congregation: “As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.”)
“That was the center of Father Bill. …
“We had a very long friendship … and many of you who served with him over the years know the stories (about him), too. You have your own. A priest even just said ‘May you say the stories you’re supposed to and not say the ones you’re not supposed to. Offer the homily you should, not the one you want.’ And it’s true, because there’s so much that goes beyond, and both options are equal with Father Bill. …
“As we come here and offer this Mass of burial and of resurrection for Father Bill, we come as something he recognized in himself, because we talked about this outside of the confessional. It was that we are sinners – redeemed, but we’re sinners and we live within that, really – relying on the mercy of God for our own continuing conversions, and Father Bill was part of that.
”He had his way. He never changed from his desire always to be a good priest. … His model was always dedication to his priesthood, and that is what we can all take from him.
“There are other things – and I know, Bishop Fernandes, you know this from the times Father Bill went down to visit the pastor at the parish where you were assigned as an associate at the time – about once a month, when he would come out, there was a ritual. I won’t share it, but we know what some of it is. And with that, there was a consistency in what he did, consistency in what he felt, and the strongest is there was consistency in loving the people of God.
“The Gospel that we have proclaimed – the sheep and the goats – I don’t know if all the sheep were as pure as the Lord accepted them, but in that mercy, He did. He (Father Faustner) brought those who love Him and strove to be right – feeding the hungry, (giving) drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked. (Asking) ‘What need is there? Who needs an ear? Who needs a shoulder?’ and offering those, and offering it freely.
“There were times when I had the opportunity and he listened to my venting. Once, he even turned off the television to listen, and I don’t mean just putting the mute on, but actually turning it off. Those of you who knew Father – and I’m sure the bishop would agree to this – he would come in and I would greet him with a hearty hug and take the bags that he had brought and hand him the remote.
“How he shared his love was practical and reflecting one of the things – because of how his growing up within a very staunch, strong German community, that we had very similar growing up – deep faith and practical living. You lived your faith practically. That’s what the Gospel was. Somebody’s hungry; feed them. They’re thirsty; give them drink. Don’t ask what the cost would be.
“That brings me to one of the other scriptures from Matthew’s Gospel: ‘When you give alms or assist someone, don’t sound the trumpet before you so that you may be praised by others. I tell you instead, let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing, then what your heavenly Father sees in secret, He will reward.’
“Many people don’t know of some of his assistance, of his assisting others in need, making sure particularly when children were involved ‘What do they need? What would make then happy?’
“I got to look at some of the cards that the children from here (Columbus St. Timothy Church) wrote on his retirement, and recognizing their simple trust and love.
“I read a letter of support to him (which said) that one of the first times that the writer met him, he saw Father Faustner as the lead of the movie ‘Up’ – the Ed Asner character with that curmudgeon face. Even as he had his conversion in the movie, when he (the writer) began to speak about God, the conversion of thought because of the diligence that he (Father Faustner) recognized in the man.
“And I know that as we go through, and his wanting to reach out always, to touch, to be God to others, he (Father Faustner) also, I think, had a little bit of St. Francis of Assisi in him. When he would come to visit, I had two dogs at the time and they would always be happy to see him, and then I would become nothing because they would follow him around.
“He’d sit on the couch and one would be on one side and one would be on the other, and he would never give them treats. They just knew they would find something with him, and I say and I believe that’s special. Even though he would call my little female a wench, she would just wag her tail.
“But what a love he expressed in the practical, and that’s what legacy he hands down for us to be modeled. We need to do that. We need to recognize always our need for God – Number 1, ‘Come to my assistance, make haste to help me.’
“’Act in service and in love,’ which was his motto that would have been emblazoned on his coat of arms. It was about service; it was about love; it was about compassion; it was about peace; it was about recognizing the need of mercy that he had. ‘Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,’ like the tax collector, like the parable when Jesus was commenting on that, that this one would be justified before God. …
“And then Jesus called children to Himself to find the energy, to get that loving energy, to offer it and to receive it. That’s part of it. For the Lord said “It is just to such of these that the kingdom of heaven belongs’ and that’s for us.
“With the second reading (of Father Faustner’s funeral Mass), ‘I am poured out as a libation,’ I snickered in my head. I thought he (Father Faustner) wouldn’t pour out a libation. He offered to, and he would always offer to, but he would never pour a libation out. But that’s OK. We know of that. And that’s part of – you know, the Lord crated the ability for us to ferment, which is good.
“I’m going to tell on myself. Discreetly, we have at his feet a can of Miller Lite and a bottle of Beefeater’s (gin) because when he gets up at the resurrection and the Lord calls him, he might need a drink. I had to put it there so – I’m sorry, Bishop – you know what he’ll do. He’ll say ‘Here Lord, you want one too?’ That was a joy of his and a blessing.
“And as I said, with the children, you know he loved children, he loved being around people. Even when he was at the Forum (of Knightsbridge nursing facility), for all of those new children – prayed with them, prayed for them, led prayers at dinners, at meals. All of those things that a shepherd does, he did. …
“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace, Amen.”