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Remembering Clarence R. Haden, 1910-2000
The Fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California, 1957-1978
A Memorial Homily, 2000

Trinity Cathedral
The Rev. Dr. Grant S. Carey
Canon Residentiary

Jesus said to his dear friend Martha words that echo down through time”: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?  She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe…”

I recently had a very interesting experience.  I was going through some artifacts of the Cathedral and came upon a book written by Bishop Haden entitled “What We Believe,” and with it was an old edition of the Missionary which told of his election as bishop and a program of his consecration.

Reading them brought back a host of memories, and for several days, even before I knew of his illness, Bishop Haden was much in my thoughts.

In the year 1957, Fr. Zealand Hillsdon-Hutton and I graduated from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific; we were present at Bishop Haden’s consecration in June of that year.  Zealand was the first deacon he ordained, and six months later, I was the first priest. So, our relationship, historically, was, at least for us, significant.

Today have gathered in this Cathedral to recall the life and ministry of one who, in many ways, has influenced all of us, and who was responsible for much of what we are today as the Diocese of Northern California … even our name.

When Clarence Haden was consecrated Bishop 1957, we were known as The Diocese of Sacramento … which, at the Bishop’s urging, was re-named  The Diocese of Northern California.  When the Bishop attended Lambath Conference shortly after his Consecration, the English Bishops, following the custom of addressing Bishops by the name of their dioceses, referred to him as Clarence, Sacramento.  They all agreed that that was a delightful name for a diocese, but wondered in which of the colonies it lay. 

The Bishop of California  quipped: “There ought to be three dioceses in the state: Cal, - - No Cal,  - - and Metra-Cal…”  (For those here today too young to know what “Metra-Cal” refers to - - ask your elders!)

I have enjoyed reading Bishop Haden’s little book, “What We Believe,” which is an expression of his own strong faith.  And I was especially interested in his response to those who ask, “Is death the end?”

The answer, he writes, is to be found in Jesus’ response to Martha:  “I am the resurrection and life…”

 [The Bishop affirms:] “Our belief in eternal life is centered in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  His resurrection was the Father’s seal of approval on all that Jesus taught and did; it was the Father’s Amen to the words of our Lord on the cross, it is finished. Saint Paul stressed the centrality of Jesus resurrection, If Christ did not rise, our preaching in vain, and your faith are vain also.”

And he concludes: “Jesus’ resurrection is the pledge of our own.  We too shall rise from the dead, not in our physical bodies, for “we shall be changed…”  “Our physical bodies die as do the seeds we plant in the ground, but out of the body, just as out of the seed, a new body is formed. In some ineffable, indescribable way, our resurrection is the resurrection of the whole [person] …. We are citizens of eternity, and life everlasting begins at our baptisms here on earth.”

When he wrote these words, Bishop Haden would never have thought that he would be proclaiming this truth at his own memorial service - - but , in my opinion, this is exactly what he would have wanted, for he was a strong preacher of the Word!

One of his great strengths was his faith in the Presence and the Power of God  revealed in Jesus Christ; it inspired his deep love for the Church he sought to serve faithfully during his many years as priest and bishop.

I remember well our first meeting. 

I had only been ordained Deacon for about a month (assigned by Bishop Porter to be vicar of Saint John’s, Lakeport) when the Suffragan requested that I come to Sacramento for a personal interview. 

As I was describing MY ministry, he interrupted me in mid-sentence:  “Grant - - it is not YOUR ministry.  It is CHRIST’S ministry. You are his representative.  Your task is re-present  Christ in all you do as HIS  minister.”

I have never forgotten his words.  They have guided me throughout the years, helping me to keep in perspective my life and my calling to be a priest in the Church of God. 

Bishop Haden’s Episcopate was not an easy one - - nor was it an easy time for any of us who labored in the Episcopal vineyard during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies - - through times of insecurity and financial crisis, through the national political struggles, through the controversies that rocked the Episcopal Church. 

But as Saint Teresa so wisely reminds us:  “All things are passing.  God never changeth.  Patient endurance attaineth to all things…”

Through it all, with God’s grace, we have persevered and grown strong; the Diocese of Northern California is alive and well; we enjoy strong leadership, outstanding lay involvement, a sense of commitment, and we are looking forward to greater things to come as the new century unfolds. 

Paul wrote in his first letter to the Christians in Corinth: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth …” and he goes on to observe this very important fact: We are God’s fellow workers…”

Bishop Haden came to this Diocese at a most difficult time; he gave tremendously of himself, physically and emotionally; and left us on solid ground. We give thanks to God for his contribution - -  recalling, as we look forward to the future - - again the words of Paul: “Each builder must choose with care how to build …  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” (I Cor 3:11) 

As the people of the Diocese he once led, we come to this Cathedral Church  as God’s ministers, clerical and lay, to commend to God’s gracious keeping our brother and Father in God, Clarence, Bishop in the Church of God, who, after fighting the good fight, has finished the race, keeping the faith to the end…

We have come to commend him into the loving hands of the great and merciful God he proclaimed so forcefully during his long and fruitful life.

Yet I feel certain that he would admonish us not to think so much of him - - nor to dwell too much on the past … its good times and its bad, but rather to look toward the future, to that ministry which our Lord Jesus Christ calls each one of us to share.

In “What We Believe,” Bishop Haden recalls the legend of a conversation between our Lord and Archangel Gabriel. 

Gabriel asks Jesus what measures have been taken to provide for the continuance of the Lord’s work. 

Jesus replies: “I have given the message to Peter, James, and John, to Mary and Martha; they will tell others and so will the Gospel spread.”

Gabriel responds: “But supposing the fishermen get too busy fishing and the housewives too busy with their household duties and neglect to tell others. What further plans have you made?

Jesus replies, “None. “I am counting on them.”

Surely, it is our vocation as ministers of Christ that Bishop Haden most surely would want us to remember and celebrate this day … and as we move forward in the days to come.

Amen.