He has been at the very center
of our age's greatest struggles.
A champion of the Civil Rights movement,
one of the founders of the Pro-Life movement,
and one of the first and greatest leaders
in the Catholic Charismatic renewal,
the Catholic Catechetical renewal,
and the renewal of Catholic higher education in America.
Fr. Michael has been the best of friends,
or, more accurately, the best of fathers.
His love, like those waves of sound and light,
has reverberated through time and space
and has illuminated the lives of millions.
Our Church and culture owe this man a debt that
we can never repay.
I think what's always amazed me when I look at it,
is Fr. Mike was being, obviously,
formed for a great purpose.
Now, if I had met Fr. Mike in 1945 or '48,
I wouldn't have thought that great purpose was
becoming a Franciscan Friar.
I would have thought, "Oh, this guy's going to be a senator,
"this guy's going to be a mover on Wall Street,
"this guy's going to do something great in the world."
Because that's his formation, you know,
he had two Ivy League degrees, one from Williams College,
one from Harvard.
He was a JAG attorney in the Navy, never lost a case
in his first year.
Who does that?
Like, everybody lose cases, especially,
as a first-year lawyer.
Not Fr. Mike, there was greatness stamped on him
from the beginning.
But, what people didn't realize is that greatness was really
being cured for a holy purpose.
What he always shared with me this sense that,
the Lord had a plan for his life.
In these encounters with the Lord, which really changed him
and began, you know, the road that he was going to be on
in walking with the Lord and his faith in his Lord.
But, what was really transformative, and he would say this,
what was most transformative in life is,
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
To overcome the force of darkness in this world,
what comes first is the lordship of Jesus Christ
and the power of the Spirit that has overcome the world.
So he started the FIRE rallies and, you know,
we know we have the statistics, but I think more than
300,000 people attended FIRE rallies in, maybe,
more than 100 FIRE rallies all over the world.
The two times I saw people actually healed of blindness
were at FIRE rallies.
I would say, for people in general, what they encountered
was real faith, and they knew it, you know?
You know that, you know that, you know that you know.
You can't even quite...
But, it's intangible and yet it was very real.
I think they knew they were speaking
to a man of great faith.
When he came to visit us, he was an uncle.
You know, and we played sports together, have a catch,
or, I just thought, that he was real.
He was, the single greatest man of God I knew well.
Because he was the perfect balance between head and heart.
He lived by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and he was always open to whatever the Holy Spirit
would lead and prompt him to do.
There was times that he preached that people just say,
"My life changed."
Jesus is our great High Priest, he's the Holy One of God,
he's the I AM and the Just One.
He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He's the Most High God and he's the New Creation.
He's the Only Begotten of the Father.
He's the Power and Wisdom of God, he's our Peace,
he's our Resurrection and Life, he's our Salvation.
That's Jesus, that's Jesus.
Yeah, I was also going to say, I was nervous preaching
when Fr. Mike was around.
But, the funny thing is, I don't know why.
You know, I don't know why
because Fr. Mike was always really encouraging.
He would always tell me to preach Jesus.
So, if I wasn't sure about which direction to go,
it would always bring me back to that.
He says, you know, "Preach Jesus."
He was a man who was willing to take on difficult tasks.
The whole rejuvenation of Franciscan University
of Steubenville was an extraordinary task that
he embraced with, I think, a great deal of self-confidence.
Whenever Fr. Michael was interviewed for the position
of president, they asked him what his vision was
for the College of Steubenville.
Fr. Michael's vision was for Christ to become the center
of the campus, here.
And Fr. Mike was the first to say that he did not have
this great plan for what was going to happen.
It's like, okay, you need to go to the university,
you need to do this, he did not have that great plan.
Fr. Mike's encounter with the Holy Spirit that brought
about the change in the university as a university.
But also, the conferences and the thousands
and tens of thousands of people who would come
to the conferences,
because of, Fr. Mike's experience with the Holy Spirit,
and then, continual relationship with the Holy Spirit.
He was always the first one in the chapel in the morning
and he wasn't going to leave the chapel until he knew,
on that particular day, what it was that God was asking
him to do.
And I would say, sort of, my first meeting that
I actually remember, you know, having that kind
of connection with him was at graduation.
During the ceremony, I was just thinking
about all the graces, all the gifts, all the blessings
that I'd received during my four years
at Franciscan University.
I just was overwhelmed with gratitude to him.
Michael Eddington Gaitley, Honors Program,
Summa Cum Laude.
I was so grateful that when I shook his hand
for the diploma, I actually ended up giving him a hug.
I think I was the only one who did that.
Walking with Fr. Michael on the campus, it was profound.
He wasn't just the president of the university,
he was a father to these kids,
and that's what he became to me.
Being called father was his greatest joy,
because he realized that's what he had become.
You could feel the depth and sincerity of his prayer,
of his worship.
And that's what he created within me, a striving, a longing
to reproduce that in my own life.
What I most loved about Fr. Mike is his big, "Yes" to God.
Honestly, that's the secret of his life,
that's the secret of everything that happened,
all the fruit from us.
He just said a big, "Yes" to God, and he kept saying, "Yes",
and he kept saying, "Yes".
He never took it back.
We are called to follow Him, to throw it all in to Him.
To believe He's sufficient for our lives,
to turn our lives to Him.
And receive what?
Receive the Kingdom of God.
I mean, I can certainly say that,
that I wouldn't be here, the university wouldn't have
become what it became, the conferences,
because of Fr. Mike's, "Yes".
I can't imagine what the Church would look
like in America today without Fr. Mike.
My prayer is, someday I would love to be
a priest like that, who could just be a docile instrument
of the Holy Spirit so powerfully as Fr. Mike was.
Uncle Mike was a true, true light to the Church
that needed direction.
You know, there's never going to be another Uncle Mike.
We honor Fr. Mike's legacy by imitating him
and we say, "Yes" to God when He calls.
Fr. Michael had a real vision for evangelization,
he had real vision for sharing of the Gospel.
And, to be able to see that vision and that dream continue,
I think, would be a great legacy for Fr. Mike.
There is nothing in my life that is so glorious
as looking ahead to the possibility of Jesus presenting me
to the Father and saying, "This is my faithful disciple."
That's it, there's nothing else that can equal it,
anywhere, anytime.
I owe Fr. Michael Scanlon a debt I can never repay.
But as I prayed and thought about it,
I came up with two ways to honor our beloved Fr. Mike.
The first and best is by reaffirming our "Yes" to the Lord.
I invite you to join us in prayer to deepen our "Yes",
so that, just as he blessed Fr. Mike, God can bless us
and make our lives even more fruitful
for the Kingdom of God.
The second way we can honor Fr. Mike is by helping
Franciscan University of Steubenville
fulfill his vision for education and evangelization.
He poured himself out generously for his students
as our president, pastor, and spiritual father.
His passion for this mission never waned,
even in his illness.
I invite you to partner with us in Fr. Mike's mission
to spread a fire on this Earth
through Franciscan University.
Sign up at FatherMike.Franciscan.University,
to receive prayers and inspiration to deepen your "Yes"
to the Holy Spirit.
And to become members of our Franciscan Friars
monthly giving team.
May the Lord bless you and grant us all the grace
to live like Fr. Mike.