Pray in thanksgiving for the many blessings God has given us, in gratitude for the sacrifices so many have made to preserve our liberty, in vigilance to preserve religious liberty in our nation and in hope that our nation's laws may be consonant with God's plan for all creation.
The attack took place in the small town of Dablo, about 200 kilometres north of the capital, Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, Africa.
The faithful were leaving church after the 9 AM Mass, when about 20 suspected jihadists on motorcycles encircled the church.
From reports by eyewitnesses, it appears that their target was the 34-year old Burkinabe priest, Father Simeon Yampa, in charge of interreligious dialogue in his diocese. When he tried to escape, the terrorists chased and killed him.
Returning to the church, they forced the faithful to lie on the ground, picked out five of them and shot them.
Dablo mayor, Ousmane Zongo, told Reuters the attackers then burned the church, looted a pharmacy and some other stores, and left.
No one has claimed responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Islamic extremists who are known to be active in the area.
“The Holy Father has learned with sorrow about the news of the attack on the church in Dablo, Burkina Faso. He prays for the victims, for their families and for the entire Christian community in the country," said a spokesperson for the Vatican.
A New Kind of Bigotry
Over the short history of our nation, we have struggled with bigotry of various kinds and generally have forged agreement that bigotry has no place in a democratic country. Not only does it marginalize certain groups, often denying them their fundamental God-given rights but tears at the fabric of our common good.
The consensus that irrational hatred for certain groups is odious seems to be dissolving over the last decade or more. Now it seems acceptable for certain groups to demonize even those who have different opinions than their own. Rational discourse is gone. Civic protections become unraveled by press or mob outcry. Employers cave into pressure from the loudest special interest group who protest the employability of persons holding certain opinions. We don’t discuss, we litigate.
As we reflect on the history of our nation this weekend, perhaps we can nourish the hope for rational civic discourse and debate to return to the public square. If we can’t even talk with our fellow citizens and elected representatives, how can we hope to hold our own in the world.
The spirit of hope and healing which Jesus brings in today’s gospels and the reminder that we are all made in the image of likeness of a loving God from Wisdom can focus our prayer for national unity around respect for persons, not only of different races or lifestyles, but also Americans who in good conscience hold different opinions from our own.
In this morning's first reading we learn of the fall and captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. Though they are part of the chosen people, they ignored repeated warnings from prophets to reform their lives and worship only the God of the Israelites. They were carried off into captivity and never received permission to return to the homeland. They have become the "lost tribes of Israel."
Sobering warning for us we celebrate Religious Liberty week in the United States, that our responsibility is not to pray that God helps and protects our right to religious liberty, but that we walk in the Way of the Lord. If we find ourselves lost, who has wandered, God or us?
Luke’s gospel this morning
Should remind us of Christmas.
The carefully balanced stories
Of John the Baptist’s birth
With Jesus’ birth
Including that they were both
Announced by the Angel Gabriel
Prepare us
As everything John the Baptist
Said and did for the coming
Of the Lord.
By the time he was born
He had already recognized
The Christ child
Dancing in Elizabeth’s womb
For joy.
Once he spotted Jesus
On the shore of the River Jordan
His ministry became focused
On pointing the way to Christ.
There He is, The Lamb of God!
Drop everything and follow Him,
He is the culmination of history;
All your hopes and dreams
Reside in Him.
For calling out authority
For immorality
He eventually lost his life.
Beheaded in a game of
Jealousy and anger and lust
At the court of the king.
He’s the perfect saint to
Celebrate during Religious Liberty week,
Especially when our media culture
The press, corporations, universities,
Some government leaders
Get as angry as Herod’s court
When confronted with the teachings
Of Christ and his church.
Direct confrontation isn’t even necessary
In some cases,
Just the very fact that Christians dare
To practice their faith in public
Is deemed a direct threat
And must be curtailed.
Many years ago
Public schools in this country
Taught American Protestantism
And ridiculed the Catholic faith
Leading many to found the
Catholic schools as a place
Where the faith could be taught
And not mocked.
Today it would be hard to characterize
Exactly what the public schools
Are teaching about religious faith
Or civic faith or faith in relationships.
In some cases, educators seeking
To remake society
View the American family itself
As a threat.
At a time when Catholic institutions,
Schools, adoption agencies, hospitals,
Are needed now more than ever
Their very existence is threatened
Not only by market economics
But by maneuvering in
Our toxic political square.
Our prayers during Religious Liberty week
Are to strengthen the laws which protect
Our God given right to worship
And witness our faith as we must,
In the spirit of John the Baptist.
Democracies depend on virtuous citizens
And virtuous leaders to survive;
May we be encouraged by
The Holy Spirit to be strong witnesses.
All of us can give witness to the virtues
About which Jesus spoke:
Mutual sacrificial love
And the beatitudes.
Sometimes it takes the courage of John the Baptist.
This famous portrait of Thomas by Hans Holbein the Younger shows More's resolute determination and the symbols of his office conferred by King Henry VIII.
Today's celebration begins a week of prayer for religious liberty in the diocese of the United States. We don't need reminders anymore how necessary this is, since with every passing year the atmosphere in the public square and in the media becomes more inimical to Christianity.
Join us after morning mass for a moment of reflection and prayer to continue the blessings of religious liberty in this country and strengthen our resolve to witness to our faith when necessary.
The US Bishops hailed the Trump administrations new regulations which restore more broad exemptions from the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act to religious groups and organizations.
This should finally allow the Little Sisters of the Poor and other groups who have been challenging the regulations to come to reconciliation.
The USCCB's statement regarding the broadening of the exemption read in part:
"Such an exemption is no innovation, but instead a return to common sense, long-standing federal practice, and peaceful coexistence between church and state. It corrects an anomalous failure by federal regulators that should never have occurred and should never be repeated.
"These regulations are good news for the Little Sisters of the Poor and others who are challenging the HHS mandate in court. We urge the government to take the next logical step and promptly resolve the litigation that the Supreme Court has urged the parties to settle.
"The regulations are also good news for all Americans. A government mandate that coerces people to make an impossible choice between obeying their consciences and obeying the call to serve the poor is harmful not only to Catholics but to the common good. Religious freedom is a fundamental right for all, so when it is threatened for some, it is threatened for all. We welcome the news that this particular threat to religious freedom has been lifted...."
Letter from Notre Dame President to Sen. Feinstein
Honorable Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
September 9, 2017
Dear Senator Feinstein:
Considering your questioning of my colleague Amy Coney Barrett during the judicial confirmation hearing of September 6, I write to express my confidence in her competence and character, and deep concern at your line of questioning.
Professor Barrett has been a member of our faculty since 2002, and is a graduate of our law school. Her experience as a clerk for Judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is of the highest order. So, too, is her scholarship in the areas of federal courts, constitutional law and statutory interpretation. I am not a legal scholar, but I have heard no one seriously challenge her impeccable legal credentials.
Your concern, as you expressed it, is that “dogma lives loudly in [Professor Barrett], and that is a concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for years in this country.” I am one in whose heart “dogma lives loudly," as it has for centuries in the lives of many Americans, some of whom have given their lives in service to this nation. Indeed, it lived loudly in the hearts of those who founded our nation as one where citizens could practice their faith freely and without apology.
Professor Barrett has made it clear that she would “follow unflinchingly” all legal precedent and, in rare cases in which her conscience would not allow her to do so, she would recuse herself. I can assure you that she is a person of integrity who acts in accord with the principles she articulates.
It is chilling to hear from a United States Senator that this might now disqualify someone from service as a federal judge. I ask you and your colleagues to respect those in whom “dogma lives loudly”—which is a condition we call faith. For the attempt to live such faith while one upholds the law should command respect, not evoke concern.
Respectfully,
Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.
President
Statement from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
WASHINGTON—Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty has issued the following statement in response to the line of questioning directed at a federal judicial nominee earlier this week.
Archbishop Lori's full statement follows:
"America has a strong and venerable tradition of pluralism that respects all religious views. In this context, this week's hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is deeply disappointing. Rather than simply consider the professional achievements of a nominee for the federal judiciary, multiple senators challenged her fitness to serve due to her Catholic faith.
Such questions are not just contrary to our Constitution and our best national traditions, which protect the free exercise of one's faith and reject religious tests for public office, they are offensive to basic human rights. They also, sadly, harken back to a time in our country when anti-Catholic bigotry did distort our laws and civil order. These comments are a reminder that we must remain vigilant against latent bigotries that may still infect our national soul.
Were the comments of the Senators meant as a warning shot to future law students and attorneys, that they should never discuss their faith in a public forum, if they have aspirations to serve in the federal judiciary? In truth, we should be encouraging faithful, ethical attorneys to serve in public office, not discouraging them by subjecting them to inappropriate, unnecessary interrogation based on their religious beliefs.
People of faith—whatever faith they may hold—should not be disqualified because of that faith from serving the public good. Rather than hold people of faith in suspicion, our laws and lawmakers should tolerate, if not celebrate, the role faith has in society and in the lives of individuals. To do otherwise is contrary to the ideals of a healthy, pluralistic society."
We tried something different after the 10:30 AM mass last Sunday. Parishioners love singing patriotic hymns and several are in our hymnal. Even if one is selected for the recessional hymn on a patriotic holiday weekend, that leaves a few favorites unsung. So, after America the Beautiful as a recessional hymn, most parishioners stayed on to sing the entire repertoire of patriotic hymns in our hymnal!
Before the mass, we prayed the Prayer For Religious Liberty from the USCCB. We have a lot to be thankful for and as much to be vigilant about on this national celebration of freedom.
Alito: America's dedication to religious liberty being tested
Associated Press
Wednesday,March 15, 2017 7:10 p.m.
MADISON, N.J. -The U.S.is entering a period when its commitment to religious liberty is being tested, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito told an audience Wednesday at an event
sponsored by a Catholic lawyers' organization.
Alito used his own words from his dissent in the Supreme Court's landmark same-sex marriage case, telling the gathering he had predicted opposition to the decision would be used to "vilify those who disagree, and treat them as bigots."
"We are seeing this is coming to pass," he said, then mentioned Bob Dylan's famous song lyric, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
"A wind is picking up that is hostile to those with traditional moral beliefs," Alito said.
The speech was sponsored by Advocati Christi, a group of Catholic lawyers and judges who seek. to "provide an opportunity for lawyers learn about the Catholic faith and Catholic social teaching and to help them integrate these into their life and practice."
Alito served as U.S. Attorney in New Jersey and was based in Newark while a member of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been a Supreme Court justice since 2006.
In a roughly 45-minute speech that mentioned the Founding Fathers and 19th-century French writer Alexis De Tocqueville as well as Dylan and the 1960's TV sitcom "The Flying Nun," Alito discussed the hostility faced by Catholics in the U.S. over the centuries, and of his own joy as a youth staying up until the wee hours of the
morning to witness John F. Kennedy elected the first Roman Catholic president in 1960. "I felt it bad lifted me up from the status of second-class American," he said.
While religious freedom has been recognized in Congress and in the courts, Alito said, attitudes are slower to change. He recounted a Democratic lawmaker who opposed his nomination in 2005 because Alito would make "too many Catholics on the court."
Alito said reactions to Supreme Court decisions such as the Hobby Lobby case, in which a company balked at being required to cover certain forms of contraception in its employee health plan, should spur action.
"We are likely to see pitched battles in courts and Congress, state legislatures and town halls," he said. "But the most important fight is for the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. It is up to all of us to evangelize our fellow Americans about the issue of religious freedom."
Another interesting book for Lenten reading, sobering but spiritual, The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher was published this week. A book in the genre of Archbishop Chaput's book, written from a slightly different perspective but arriving at the same conclusions: we (Christian believers) are in trouble around the world and here in America.
Dreher's thesis is that we have lost the culture war against religion. Just as the barbarians sacked Rome and then St. Augustine's city of Hippo, they have done so again in our age of "liquid modernity, a time when social change occurs so rapidly that no social institutions have time to solidify." Dreher complains we have become a society of strangers, each pursuing our own interests under minimal constraints. Barbarians abandon objective moral standards, refuse to accept any religious or culturally binding narratives except those they choose, repudiate memory of the past and reject history as irrelevant and distance themselves from community and any unchosen or unwanted social obligations.
Remember the Capital One credit card commercials with hordes of rapacious tribesmen rampaging through cities heedlessly destroying the structures of civilization? "Barbarians are governed only by their will to power, and neither know nor care a thing about what they are annihilating. By that standard, despite our wealth and technological sophistication, we in the modern West are living under barbarism, though we do not recognize it. Our scientists, our judges, our princes, our scholars, and our scribes—they are at work demolishing the faith, the family, gender, even what it means to be human. Our barbarians have exchanged the animal pelts and spears of the past for designer suits and smartphones." The barbarians are not at the gates, they are on the Supreme Court, in our national and state legislatures and our national security agencies in elected and non-elected positions of power.
Don't think so? Consider how that in less than one generation, "Christian beliefs about the sexual complementarity of marriage are considered to be abominable prejudice—and in a growing number of cases, punishable."
He traces the roots of these losses from the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and two World Wars. The most dramatic post-war losses here in America were the Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion and then only decades later the right to same-sex marriage. The gleeful, vindictive pursuit by same-sex marriage activists of a few Christian bakers and wedding planners who won't cater same-sex weddings should warn us, that Christian believers are the real targets, not a shortage of bakers and caterers for same-sex weddings.
Dreher laments that the West has "lost the golden thread that binds us to God, Creation, and each other. Unless we find it again, there is no hope of halting our dissolution. Indeed, it is unlikely that the West will see this lifeline for a very long time. It is not looking for it and may no longer have the capability of seeing it. We have been loosed, but we do not know how to bind."
The only thing to do is to become like St. Benedict of old, who preserved ancient wisdom, fostered communities of belief and nurtured the flame of faith until the time was right for the faith to rekindle the world with the love of God.
Guess what? During Lent that looks like pray, fast, give alms. Grandparents and wise elders need to educate their adult children and their grandchildren in the riches of the Faith. Stations of the Cross, Palm Processions, the Veneration of the Cross and the solemn celebrations of the most Holy Days of the Christian year, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil give us the strength to "keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts until the Lord comes," as our parents and godparents were charged during our baptisms. This is as urgent now as it was in the days of the Roman persecution.
Excerpts from the prayer Bishop John Carroll, first American bishop, composed this prayer in 1791.
We pray Thee O God of might, wisdom, and justice! Through whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed, assist with Thy Holy Spirit of counsel and fortitude the President of these United States, that his administration may be conducted in righteousness, and be eminently useful to Thy people over whom he presides; by encouraging due respect for virtue and religion; by a faithful execution of the laws in justice and mercy; and by restraining vice and immorality. Let the light of Thy divine wisdom direct the deliberations of Congress, and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.
...We recommend likewise, to Thy unbounded mercy, all our brethren and fellow citizens throughout the United States, that they may be blessed in the knowledge and sanctified in the observance of Thy most holy law; that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world cannot give; and after enjoying the blessings of this life, be admitted to those which are eternal.
The document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship from the United States Catholic Bishops' Conference is worth reading, especially since elections are finally upon us.
It is available online or by pdf at the USCCB's website, click below.
The US Civil Rights Commission released a briefing report to the President entitled "Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties." It studied the conflict between the expanding Federal legislation and regulations on sexual identity and marriage vs. freedom of Religious organizations, institutions and individuals to practice their faith.
The Commission's recommendations are troubling, but telling
The full report (over 300 pages) is linked here Peaceful Coexistence.
Comments from Chairperson of the US Civil Rights Commission, Martin R. Castro, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011.
“The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian
religion.” —John Adams
The phrases “religious liberty” and “religious freedom” will stand for nothing except hypocrisy so long as they remain code words for discrimination, intolerance, racism, sexism, homophobia,
Islamophobia, Christian supremacy or any form of intolerance.
Religious liberty was never intended to give one religion dominion over other religions, or a veto power over the civil rights and civil liberties of others.
However, today, as in the past, religion is being used as both a weapon and a shield by those seeking to deny others equality. In our nation’s past religion has been used to justify slavery and later, Jim Crow laws. We now see “religious liberty” arguments sneaking their way back into our political and constitutional discourse (just like the concept of “state rights”) in an effort to undermine the rights of some Americans.
This generation of Americans must stand up and speak out to ensure that religion never again be twisted to deny others the full promise of America.
Faith and the Full Promise of America
A Statement from Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty
For the current Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, religious liberty is reduced to "nothing except hypocrisy," and religion is being used as a "weapon… by those seeking to deny others equality." He makes the shocking suggestion that Catholic, evangelical, orthodox Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim communities are comparable to fringe segregationists from the civil rights era. These statements painting those who support religious freedom with the broad brush of bigotry are reckless and reveal a profound disregard for the religious foundations of his own work.
People of faith have often been the ones to carry the full promise of America to the most forgotten peripheries when other segments of society judged it too costly. Men and women of faith were many in number during the most powerful marches of the civil rights era. Can we imagine the civil rights movement without Rev. Martin Luther King, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel? In places like St. Louis, Catholic schools were integrated seven years before the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Jesus taught us to serve and not to count the cost.
Our record is not perfect. We could have always done more. Nevertheless, we have long taught that the one God, maker of heaven and earth, calls each and every individual into being, loves every individual, and commands believers to love and show mercy to every individual. The idea of equality, which the Chairman treats as a kind of talisman, is incomprehensible apart from the very faith that he seeks to cut off from mainstream society.
Today, Catholic priests, religious and laity can be found walking the neighborhood streets of our most struggling communities in places abandoned by a "throwaway culture" that has too often determined that quick profits matter more than communities. We are there offering education, health care, social services, and hope, working to serve as the "field hospital" Pope Francis has called us to be. We wish we were there in even greater numbers, but we are there to humbly offer the full promise of America to all. Rest assured, if people of faith continue to be marginalized, it is the poor and vulnerable, not the Chairman and his friends, who will suffer.
Catholic social service workers, volunteers and pastors don't count the cost in financial terms or even in personal safety. But, we must count the cost to our own faith and morality. We do not seek to impose our morality on anyone, but neither can we sacrifice it in our own lives and work. The vast majority of those who speak up for religious liberty are merely asking for the freedom to serve others as our faith asks of us. We ask that the work of our institutions be carried out by people who believe in our mission and respect a Christian witness. This is no different from a tobacco control organization not wishing to hire an advocate for smoking or a civil rights organization not wanting to hire someone with a history of racism or an animal rights group wishing to hire only vegetarians.
In a pluralistic society, there will be institutions with views at odds with popular opinion. The Chairman's statement suggests that the USCCR does not see the United States as a pluralistic society. We respect those who disagree with what we teach. Can they respect us? We advocate for the dignity of all persons, a dignity that includes a life free from violence and persecution and that includes fair access to good jobs and safe housing. People of faith are a source of American strength. An inclusive and religiously diverse society should make room for them.
There are likely to be a great many questions this weekend about the nature and meaning of marriage and the Catholic Church's teachings. It is a great opportunity to shed informed, gospel light on an otherwise dark and confusing morass of politics and media hype.
There is a great resource at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's webpage.
To see it, click here.
It is fitting that the US Bishops fortnight for freedom prayer for Religious Liberty will be prayed at all the masses this weekend, especially in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision affirming the right of gay couples to marry in all 50 states. Whether or not the decision will be as controversial and divisive as another 5-4 ruling, the Roe v. Wade decision which paved the way for legalized abortion in the United States, remains to be seen.
Almost that same day, in a surreal coincidence, Pope Francis appeared to endorse divorce in certain circumstances.
No doubt the law suits will begin against those who deny such couples their rights under the 14th amendment and they will surely not be limited to Christian bakers who refuse to decorate wedding cakes with same-sex wedding themes. The battle to not only permit, but to force individuals and institutions to sanction same-sex marriage will intensify. Loss of tax exempt status , loss of authority to perform civil marriages for certain ministers and priests, and prosecution of preaching as hate speech are some of the problems experts identify for church based groups which oppose same-sex marriage.
Pray with us this Sunday to preserve the rights and freedoms of all.
I would now like to turn to my native tongue to express feelings of profound sorrow. Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians. Their only words were: "Jesus, help me!". They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. You, my brother, in your words referred to what is happening in the land of Jesus. The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ. As we recall these brothers and sisters who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood. The martyrs belong to all Christians.
Let us pray for one another, and continue to advance in the way of wisdom, good will, strength and peace.
Pope Francis at the Vatican
Sunday homilies are constrained by length and by the understanding there are children of all ages present at most liturgies. They are never “speeches” or “talks” and even those that convey new information are not to be lessons or lectures. One of my pastor mentors in seminary used to say that a homily should always end with something we can do. With that understanding, here is last Sunday’s homily.
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:29-39
Jesus heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law
Any week the President of the United States
Uses Christ’s name twice in one speech
In the same context with the
Inquisition and Crusades
Serious Catholics have some
Praying to do
My responsibility isn’t to criticize
The president
But his speech has left some sickened
My responsibility is to lift us up
With the gospel truth
Of Jesus Christ
Just as Christ raised up
Peter’s mother-in-law
From her sickbed
To full health
Don’t let anyone keep you
In a sickbed about your faith!
Read, study, know the truth
A few moments on the two issues
The president raised in his prayer breakfast speech:
In 1998 John Paul II made these concluding remarks in a speech about the Inquisition
Yet the consideration of mitigating factors does not exonerate the Church from the obligation to express profound regret for the weaknesses of so many of her sons and daughters who sullied her face, preventing her from fully mirroring the image of her crucified Lord, the supreme witness of patient love and of humble meekness. From these painful moments of the past a lesson can be drawn for the future, leading all Christians to adhere fully to the sublime principle stated by the Council: The truth cannot impose itself except by virtue of its own truth, as it wins over the mind with both gentleness and power.
The modern synthesis of the Crusades in many academic and political institutions is that the soldiers of the First Crusade appeared without any warning to pillage and plunder the Holy Land and slaughter non-Christians.
In truth, well before 1095 the year of the first Crusade which came to the aid of the Byzantine emperor in the West who feared Constantinople would fall to the Muslims, wars of Islamic aggression had already seized control of the formerly Christian territories of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa, Spain, most of Asia Minor and Southern France. Italy was under assault, Sicily was eventually taken. Muslim invasions would be led into Europe.
3 of 5 Christianity’s primatial sees had already been captured: Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria. Constantinople would eventually fall. Only Rome escaped…narrowly.
Any war, primitive or modern, is gruesome and brutal.
Here is John Paul II’s prayer during a celebration of the Great Jubilee in 2000:
Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in his merciful love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbour, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.
The silence of Islamic religious leaders
Asking forgiveness for wars of aggression
or disavowal of the acts committed by some
in the name of their prophet
is deafening
Our Christian baptism
does not put us on a “high horse" as the president said...
Far from it
We are touched by Christ
For service and to be his disciples
After today’s gospel miracle
He set out on a preaching mission
Throughout the whole region
We are empowered to
Preach about Christ’s church
His gospel message
And to condemn
The abuse of human rights
And religious freedom
Wherever they occur
Not because the church
Can claim its members
Are sinless saints
But because
Christ and his church
Are the world’s best hope
Not its greatest threat
As some media pundits
And militant atheists
Would have us believe.
We must be careful
Not to let criticism of religious extremism
turn to religious indifferentism
Or hostility to
Persons of any religious faith
But this is not a time for Christianity
To be in bed with the flu
Or to be weakened
By medicinal doses of guilt
Whether served up to us
By the media or our president
Out of an abudance
Of political correctness
Should our voices for an end to
Senseless violence against civilians
Men, women and children
And graphic, public executions
Be silenced?
Can we at least agree to condemn
Beheadings, crucifixions
And slave markets
Of Christians?
Can we condemn
Cowardly acts of terrorism
Defend against them
And try to make the world
A safer place?
We must.
Lent is almost upon us.
A perfect opportunity
To express our grief in ashes
And our hope in Jesus Christ
To pray, fast and do penance
And work
For peace.
In solidarity with Pope Francis, Bishop O'Connell has given Trenton parishes permission to substitute the Mass of Peace and Justice in lieu of the mass for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Special intentions for world peace will be offered at all the masses which will unite Catholics throughout the world in prayer for a conversion of minds and hearts and aversion of further bloodshed and more serious calamaties. We will also pray for the many dead and for those who are persecuted, especially Christians in the Middle East, Africa and in fact, all around the globe.
Please join us for a prayerful and holy Eucharist and raise your mind and heart to God together with your fellow parishioners in praise, lament and petition.