My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
For the past three weeks, I have been traveling and attending some important meetings and would like to share with you what I have learned during this time. The first meeting was the VI World Congress on Migration sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. It was held in the Vatican offices in Rome and was attended by over 350 people, 40 of whom were bishops, as well as several cardinals. The theme of the meetings was “Five Years After the Pontifical Decree, ‘The Love of Christ Towards Migrants’.” This decree set the tone for the policy of the Church on migrants for the past five years and was the basis for the many discussions in this four-day meeting.
Migration has intensified with the new area of globalization. There are probably no countries in the world that are not affected by the issue of migration, either by immigrants entering or emigrants leaving. To see so many counties represented with people involved in migration was truly heartwarming and was a great opportunity for networking with people from all over the world.
Migration is an issue in our own country which most probably will be taken up in the next year in the U.S. Congress, especially the situation of the undocumented. Another important issue is a reform of the total immigration system that, hopefully, might conform to our Catholic understanding of migration as a social issue that needs to be addressed as part of the social doctrine of the Church.
Some of the themes treated at the meeting involved the care of immigrants in detention, the link between migration and development, the pastoral care of migrants in receiving countries, and the place of the Church in assisting immigrants to integrate into the new countries.w Many other themes were treated, but clearly the basic issues were summarized in our audience with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as he encouraged the delegates in his address to the Congress.
Pope Benedict commented on the global context in which migration is happening today, particularly in light of the global economic crisis. He also spoke about migration in its positive aspects, especially in regard to cultural exchange between peoples. As a worldwide Church, the ability of the Church to assist dialogue between various peoples is a special and necessary characteristic of our Catholic Church. The pope then spoke about a theology of welcome and hospitality, citing St. Paul who urged Christians to listen to the Word of God and imitate Christ who welcomed all people to Himself. And finally, he emphasized the key concept of Catholic social doctrine, that is the respect of the human person. When the respect for the individual is carried out, nations and people will adopt the correct policy in regard to migration and many other social issues. The meeting was well worth attending. As a member of this Pontifical Council since 2000, it was heartwarming for me to see the work progressing so well with a new president of the Council, Archbishop Antonio Vegliò, and its vice president, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto.
Unfortunately, there was not much time between the meeting in Rome and the annual U.S. Bishops’ General Meeting in Baltimore. I arrived home from Rome on Friday evening and departed for Baltimore on Saturday morning with barely enough time to repack.
The Bishops’ meeting this year centered on three major discussions: the liturgy with new translations of prayers and other texts, the document on the defense of marriage, and the discussion of the healthcare legislation currently before our federal legislators.
The liturgy somehow can be a lightning rod whenever it is discussed among the bishops. All of us are involved in the liturgy. Bishops, priests, deacons, Religious and the laity have a particular insight into what is the center of the spiritual life of the Church. Strong opinions are voiced on almost every aspect of the new translations that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) forwards to Rome for final approval. It is a fascinating process and will mean some adjustments for all in the future.
Another most important work of the Bishops was a statement on marriage and family. This statement basically has two parts: an overview of the current situation of marriage and family in our country and a theological reflection of family as a part of our faith. Unfortunately, marriage and the family need defense today. Our society is undercutting these pivotal social institutions in many different ways. Besides the issue of divorce and the breakdown of the family, the redefinition of marriage attempted in some states whereby same-sex unions become the equivalent of marriage must be addressed. If the Church would not speak about marriage and the family, who can speak authoritatively about these important issues? These natural institutions have been given supernatural value by Christ’s institution of the sacrament of marriage. When the sacramentality of marriage is understood, then some of the real problems we face today can be avoided. It is a massive job of educating our own Catholics and witnessing to a larger society of what we believe about marriage and the family. This statement is available on the USCCB website (www.usccb.org) and is well worth reading.
Finally, the Bishops discussed the issue of healthcare and the current involvement of the USCCB in trying to influence the legislation for the better. The Bishops have had a long-standing position regarding healthcare and the basic elements of any reform. The Bishops have always stood with those who have no health insurance and also have made it clear that abortion should not be funded with public monies. The principle of subsidiary that is relegation of action to the lower level of competency is always a better way than subsuming issues to a higher level of authority. This is part of the current debate in the healthcare arena. There is the federal option, more government intervention and intrusions on the individual rights of those who pay for their own health insurance. As the final debate on this issue is yet to occur in Washington, there is much advocacy that still needs to be exercised to have a workable healthcare reform that meets all the criterion of the Bishops’ policy. Whether it is migration, healthcare reform, liturgy or the defense of marriage, we see that all of these issues urge us to go beyond the present limits and to put out into the deep. A new look at these essential factors in our faith life is necessary if we will continue to make progress in making our world and Church a better place.
It is my hope that your Thanksgiving celebration was a pleasant family occasion and one that has allowed you to strengthen the bonds within your own family.
]]>As we approach this Labor Day, we celebrate not just a civil holiday, but a true spiritual reflection on human labor. Human labor is not a curse as some might interpret it. Looking back on the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Paradise, where God’s injunction that man would earn bread by the sweat of the brow, can be for some a curse. Rather, truly understanding Genesis tells us that men and women are made the stewards of creation and that they are given the world to develop for God who is the Creator.
The responsibility of men and women to work has changed over the past two centuries. In agricultural societies, men and women worked for themselves to grow the food they needed for their family and the other necessities. Now people work for others, not for their own direct benefit, but they indirectly benefit from working for corporations, businesses and the like. Through this process of change, the dignity of labor sometimes has been lost. Communism and socialism viewed humans as tools of production, whereas the Church has constantly asserted that human beings have innate human dignity which goes beyond the work that they perform.
Jesus, in Luke’s Gospel, pronounces a sentence that is heavy with meaning. He says, “The laborer is worthy of his hire,” meaning that human labor, indeed, is something to be treated with respect and prized in all circumstances. The laborer is worthy of just compensation which leads to his or her acquisition of the basic human needs: housing, clothing, food and healthcare. Truly, these are basic human rights. The battle of assertion of rights can become a contentious one. As I mentioned in last week’s article, Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” says, “The sharing of reciprocal duties is a more powerful incentive to action than the mere assertion of rights.”
Reciprocal duty in this context is the duty of employers to provide for their employees. When the principle of subsidiary cannot be applied, that is the employers are incapable of doing this, then intervention by another level, for example government, can be appropriate. This has become the core of the current healthcare debate; who should provide healthcare? Clearly for those who are uninsured, it would seem that the government has some responsibility. For those who already receive benefits, government intervention seems unnecessary.
This year, the Bishops’ Labor Day Statement, entitled The Value of Work: The Dignity of the Human Person, under the chairmanship of Bishop William Murphy from our neighboring Diocese of Rockville Centre, is available on the USCCB website, www.usccb.org. It is well worth reading, as it speaks to the current healthcare debate and other labor-related issues.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has set forth criteria for healthcare reform: “The dignity of every human being and the integral development of human society to promote human flourishing. Pope Benedict’s reflections re-affirm the teaching of Leo XIII on labor, focuses with a special emphasis on Paul VI’s passionate commitment to the Third World and the development of peoples.”
For decades, the Catholic Bishops of the United States have incorporated continuous support of genuine national healthcare reform that meets these criteria: a truly universal healthcare policy with respect for human life and dignity; access for all with a special concern for the poor and inclusion of legal immigrants; pursuing the common good and preserving pluralism, including freedom of conscience and a variety of options; and finally controlling cost and applying them equitably across the spectrum of payers. These principles are what the bishops seek in healthcare reform. The Church seeks not to endorse any particular political party, or even any piece of legislation since that is very difficult.
The legislative process, unfortunately, has become a moving target and has been highly politicized. We are not sure what healthcare reform is all about; town hall meetings have proven that. The inability of our elected officials, even our president, to clarify what healthcare reform entails is another problem. Essentially, we know that there are two basic bills, one moving through the United States Senate and the other through the House of Representatives. The Senate bill is 600 pages and the House bill is 1,000 pages. Following passage in each chamber, the bills must be brought to a conference committee that will produce from both bills one piece of legislation which then needs to be ratified by both the Senate and the House before it is signed by the president. That is not the end, however. When the regulations are written to implement the bill, we recognize that the devil is in the details.
We are in a momentous time in our history when the basic right of healthcare could be shared by all. However, we cannot risk basic ethical principles, such as the inclusion of abortion as a healthcare benefit, or the exclusion of consciences of individual medical practioners, or even institutions, not to perform procedures that are against their conscience.
Every day reminds us of the greatness of our American civil society which always has honored the dignity of human labor. When we speak of labor, we recognize that work is always an experience of putting out into the deep. Where does our work take us? Hopefully, as Christian Catholics it takes us even closer to the Kingdom of God, to the person of Jesus Christ by whose work we have been saved.
+ Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio
]]>Today ... we come to honor you nurses who come to this Eucharist to seek a blessing upon your life’s work and vocation. You take care of others in their most vulnerable of situations. Even today in the midst of a healthcare world with so many new technologies and procedures, many things have to stand in the way of patient contact. Clearly, it was your desire and vocation to care for those in need, to assist them, especially when they are most vulnerable.
The Second Reading today from the Acts of the Apostles gives us a good example of the connection between faith and healing. St. Peter had to defend himself before a Jewish court for the good deed he had done in the healing of a cripple. You remember the story which just preceded the passage we read this morning. The cripple reaches out to St. Peter and his companion asking for alms since he had no other way of supporting himself. St. Peter stops, looks at the man with love and says, “Gold and silver I have not, but what I have I give to you; rise and walk in the name of Jesus Christ the Risen One.” And so the miracle happens. Would that too we would have that same power at times. And yet it is not miraculous cures that are most important, but the constant attention for those who feel the desperation of chronic and incurable diseases...
There is a strong connection between faith and healing and wellness. Truly, you who are involved in the works of mercy in healthcare understand that all too well because you see it on a daily basis. If only we could announce to the world the Resurrection and its benefits in the same way that medical scientists and professionals today with great fanfare publicize their latest findings.
Today, however, we are experiencing a medical emergency in the threat of the Swine Flu epidemic or possible pandemic. We know so much more about the transmission of disease today and about viruses than we did in the great pandemic of 1918. I often listened to the stories told by my grandparents of that event. My own mother was born in 1919, just after the pandemics had subsided. The stories of faith and courage of that time were something I understood to be true examples of faith. I remember a particular man who used to come and visit my grandmother frequently to thank her for preparing the bodies of his parents for burial since no one else would dare go near them. He was left an orphan and could never forget the good deed that my grandmother performed and how she took care of him for sometime afterwards. Crisis can bring the best and the worst out of us.
We take this occasion today to pray for those in charge with managing the healthcare of our Nation and our city, that they may make the right decisions, that all of our citizens will cooperate and do what is best to contain the spread of this possible pandemic.
...All of us are called to live our lives as a vocation, you who are nurses and others in various ways. And yet, we must not forget, on this Good Shepherd Sunday, and every day to pray to the Lord of the Harvest that He send us sufficient shepherds and shepherdesses to guide the flock, so that the mystery of the Resurrection can be preached in all of its glory and fullness.
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Last week, I was on my annual retreat. In the retreat house where I was, there was a unique holy water font with the inscription which read “Domene, si vis potes/me/mundar, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean,” the words of our Gospel today. What wonderful words to remember when we enter the Church and bless ourselves with holy water.
I love to watch children dipping their fingers, and sometimes hands, in holy water fonts. Children love to play with water. Perhaps that is because their Baptism was not so long ago. We need to constantly remember our own Baptism when we were made clean of original sin and became God’s very own sons and daughters.
The possibility of being made clean from leprosy and more is contracted in the Old Testament reading from Leviticus and in the Gospel of Mark.
Moses receives the command from God to expel the person with leprosy from the camp. When he sees someone coming, the leper must cry out, “unclean, unclean.” This adds only insult to injury. There seems to be no possibility of being made clean and the priests are charged with making the judgment for continued exile from the people.
By contrast, Jesus, the new Moses, is approached by a leper who in faith says, “If You will, You can make me clean.”
Jesus, moved with pity, touches him, cures him and sends him off to the priests to get a declaration of the cure, but not before the man is admonished to tell no one else of his cure. This is an almost impossible order which he does not keep. He tells everyone.
Leprosy still exists in our world today as Hanson’s Disease. In the last century there was a leper colony on the Island of Molokai in Hawaii, which still exists. Fortunately, today there are very few inhabitants on Molokai. To that leper colony was sent a young Belgian priest called Damien de Veuster, who once assigned to that colony never left.
One day as he was preaching at Mass, he said “We lepers” and the other lepers quickly understood that now he shared the fatal disease with them, a disease, without a cure at that time, which rotted limbs and extremities and disfigured faces. He will soon be canonized a Saint, not just because of the work which he did, but because of his holiness.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta one day was caring for an abandoned leper and was observed by a visitor who said, “I would not do that for all the money in the world.” To which she responded, “Neither would I.”
Where do we stand as people of faith in the face of not only the incurable diseases (eg AIDS and Cancer) of our world today, but more importantly the spiritual diseases which affect our world today? Do we believe that Jesus can still cure and make clean that which seems to be hopelessly disfigured? Are we willing to accept the conditions Jesus set for the man cured by leprosy?
Remember, he had to go to the priests and, in a sense, humble himself before them. Is this not like obligation to confess our sins to a priest?
And then be made to keep it a secret because God heals and cures whom and wherever He wills? It is not for everyone, especially for those who do not humbly ask in faith.
My dear sisters and brothers, we are invited to the banquet of the Lord which the Saints tell us is like a medicine for the soul. But do we want to become better? Do we want to become clean? The means are available for us. Penance and the Eucharist offer us the infallible means for healing and spiritual health.
May we say with faith and humility today, “Lord if you will, you can make me clean.”
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All monotheistic religions have had a problem in trying to reconcile the existence of God with the existence of evil and suffering.
In pre-Christian times, the Roman philosopher, Epicurious (Yes, Epicurean is not just about good food), in a very logical way and in the vein of natural religions. He attempted to analyze the problem of a good god with the existence of evil.
He reasons in this way:
1) If God wants to eliminate suffering from the world and cannot, then He is weak and not omnipotent.
2) If God does not want to eliminate evil, then He is more evil than weak.
3) If God wants to and can eliminate suffering and evil, then why does it exist?
Natural religion, as we, cannot negotiate between the goodness and Omnipotence of God. So what is the answer?
The Book of Job which we have heard in our first reading is God’s revelation in the Old Testament. The Book is 60 pages long in the Bible, yet this book offers no clear answer, but just raises more questions. The so called friends of Job who come to cheer him up in his misery, only really actually torment him in his misfortune, for they asked the wrong questions and drew erroneous conclusions.
But first, a little reminder of who Job was and his problems. His was rich, had a wife and 10 children. In one day wind blew down his house (a tent), and he lost his whole family. Thieves took away all his flocks, which were extensive. He is not only destitute and alone, but also covered with sores, sitting on a dung heap when he has to deal with the problem of evil.
The friends reason with him saying, “Suffering is a punishment from God for some evil done and so suffering is repayment.” But he was an innocent and good man. “Suffering is a means to make man wise and faithful to God, so it is a test willed by God.”
“Suffering is a correction, like medicine which God uses to make man better, so that suffering is part of God’s teaching for men.”
Job responds with faith saying: “If we receive good things from God, why not the evil?” “Naked, I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I will die.”
Pope Benedict XVI in Deus Caritas Est says, “Certainly Job could complain before God about the presence of the incomprehensible and apparently unjustified suffering in the world.”
In his dialogue with God, he is offered contemplation, which only makes it worse.
The Gospel today gives us a better understanding of how God views suffering and, therefore, evil. It is Jesus, the God/man who heals and saves. First, Peter’s mother-in-law, then in the town some are cured of sickness and demonic possession. Jesus went about preaching and casting out demons.
So what do we do in the face of evil and suffering? We must act like Jesus; we try to eliminate it to the best of our ability. Jesus did not cure and heal every person in the town, or in all of the Galilee or all of Israel. But, those whom He heals saw had now a different answer to the vexing question of why does God permit evil. Jesus can dispel it, so we also can dispel evil with the help of God. As St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading, “I have become all things to all, to save at least some.” We should follow St. Paul’s example and reach out to others in their need. We cannot assist everyone, but some good we can do to some people will assist in dispelling evil in the world.
Our Eucharist today gives us the opportunity we need to join our human suffering to that of Jesus for the salvation and transformation of the world. As the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, so too do our human lives with all their problems become in God’s hands a relief to the world to dispel evil.
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Homilía
V Domingo Tiempo Ordinario – B
Toda religión monoteísta ha tenido problemas tratando de reconciliar entre la existencia de Dios y la existencia de la maldad y el sufrimiento.
En tiempos PRE-Cristianos, después de que el libro de Job fuese escrito, nuestra primera lectura a la cual regresaremos, toca el tema del sufrimiento. El filosofo Romano, Epicurious, (Si, Epicúreo y no se trata solamente de buena comida) si no de una manera muy lógica y de manera en vana de una religión natural.
Me explico;
1) Si Dios quiere eliminar el sufrimiento del mundo pero no lo hace, entonces el es considerado flojo y no Omnipotente.
2) Si Dios no quiere eliminar la maldad, entonces el es mas malo que flojo.
3) Si Dios quiere y puede eliminar todo sufrimiento y maldad, entonces ¿Porque existen?
Religión natural, como la nuestra, no puede negociar lo bueno con un Dios omnipotente. Entonces; ¿Cual es la respuesta?
El libro de Job, que hemos escuchado en nuestra primera lectura de hoy es sin duda uno de los libros más controversiales del Antiguo Testamento, en el se encuentra la revelación de Dios, trata uno de los temas más discutidos y contestados: el sufrimiento humano. El libro contiene sesenta largas paginas en la biblia, sin embargo, no nos da una contestación clara, si no mas preguntas.
Los famosos llamados amigos de Job que vienen para alegrarlo en su miseria, solo terminan atormentándolo por su desgracia.
Job era un hombre rico, tenía una esposa con diez hijos. Un día un viento muy fuerte soplo sobre su tienda, la tienda se desrumbo y el no solo perdió su tienda, sino a toda su familia. Luego llegaron ladrones y le llevaron todo su rebaño. No solo estaba Job destituido y solo, si no que quedo cubierto de llagas y heridas, sentado en un montón de estierco teniendo que después negociar con el problema de la maldad.
El pueblo razono con el y dijeron; “El sufrimiento es un castigo de Dios por algo malo que hemos hecho por lo tanto el sufrimiento es el pago de nuestras deudas. A pesar de que el era un hombre inocente y bueno. El sufrimiento es un medio para hacer al hombre sabio y fiel a Dios, por lo tanto es una prueba de la voluntad de Dios.
El sufrimiento es entonces la medicina, como la medicina que Dios usa para hacer del hombre un hombre bueno, el sufrimiento es parte de la enseñanza divina para el hombre.
Job con fe responde; “Si nosotros recibimos cosas buenas de Dios, ¿Porque no las malas?” “Desnudos, venimos a este mundo del seno de nuestra madre, y desnudos moriremos.”
El Papa Benedicto XVI (dieciséis) en su carta Deus Caritas Est dijo, “Seguramente Job pudo quejarse ante Dios acerca de la presencia y de el incompresible y aparentemente escandaloso sufrimiento en el mundo.”
En su dialogo con Dios, el solo ofreció contemplación, que solo empeoro la situación.
El Evangelio hoy, nos da un mejor entendimiento de cómo Dios ve el sufrimiento y también el mal.
El Evangelio nos muestra muchas veces a Jesús aliviando el sufrimiento humano, sobre todo curando enfermedades y expulsando demonios. Y sabemos que a veces Dios sana y a veces no, y que Dios puede sanar directamente en forma milagrosa o indirectamente a través de la medicina, de los médicos y de los medicamentos. Toda sanación tiene su fuente en Dios. También puede Dios no sanar, o sanar más temprano o más tarde. Y cuando no sana o no alivia el sufrimiento, o cuando se tarda para sanar y aliviar, tenemos a nuestra disposición todas las gracias que necesitamos para llevar el sufrimiento con esperanza, para que así produzca frutos de vida eterna y de redención.
¿De redención? Así es. Nuestros sufrimientos unidos a los sufrimientos de Cristo pueden tener efecto redentor para nosotros mismos y para los demás.
Por lo tanto es Jesús, Dios y Hombre que nos sana y nos salva, primero sano a la suegra de Pedro, luego sano a muchas personas del pueblo, curándolo de las enfermedades y de las posesiones diabólicas. Si, Jesús iba predicando y expulsando demonios.
Entonces; ¿Que hacemos en cuanto al sufrimiento y la maldad? ¿Actuamos como Jesús? ¿Tratamos de eliminarlo lo mejor que podamos? Recordemos Jesús no curo a todas las personas del mundo, no sano a toda Galilea o Israel, si no las de los pueblos que el anduvo. Pero todos los que el sano, y todos los que lo vieron tenían una contestación diferente a la molesta pregunta del porque Dios permite el mal, para después desvanecerlo y luego nosotros poder disiparlo.
Hermanos; porque el sufrimiento humano es tan controversial, el Papa Juan Pablo II también tocó el tema con frecuencia, sobre todo en sus visitas a los enfermos, a quienes exhortaba a ofrecer sus sufrimientos por el bien y la santificación propia y de los demás. Y en 1984 nos escribió su Encíclica “Salvifici Doloris” sobre el tema. Allí nos dice, basado en muchos textos de la Sagrada Escritura: “Todo hombre tiene su participación en la redención. Cada uno está llamado también a participar en ese sufrimiento por medio del cual se ha llevado a cabo la redención ... Llevando a efecto la redención mediante el sufrimiento, Cristo ha elevado juntamente el sufrimiento humano a nivel de redención. Consiguientemente, todo hombre, en su sufrimiento, puede hacerse también partícipe del sufrimiento redentor de Cristo” (JP II-SD #19).
Volviendo al tema de Job, el se lamenta, reclama y llega a la desesperación, pero cree en Dios y lo invoca.
Que los seres humanos suframos, unos más otros menos, cuándo sufrimos y por qué, descansa totalmente el la Voluntad inexplicable de Dios, Dueño del mundo y Dueño nuestro. Pero sabemos, también, que Dios dirige todas sus acciones y todas sus permisiones, a nuestro mayor bien, que es la meta hacia la cual vamos: la Vida Eterna.
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In the Gospel reading at Mass this morning, St. Mark reminded us “Is a lamp brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed and not on a stand?” I am especially grateful to you in the Cathedral Club for the public demonstration of your own faith and for your efforts in highlighting the many good and charitable works of the Catholic Church in our city.
In 1988, Pope John Paul II, of happy memory, in his Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici wrote “Adversely affected by the impressive triumphs of continuing scientific and technological development and above all, fascinated by a very old and yet new temptation, namely, that of wishing to become like God (cf. Gen 3:5) through the use of a liberty without bounds, individuals cut the religious roots that are in their hearts; they forget God, or simply retain him without meaning in their lives, or out rightly reject him, and begin to adore various "idols" of the contemporary world.”
If we accept as true that our generation has “cut the religious roots that are in their hearts” the question each of us must ask is, “Will I enlist in that army that will combat the aggressive atheistic secularism that appears to be overwhelming our culture?” If we do enlist in that army, then as soldiers in this epoch battle, we ourselves must be physically, morally, and spiritually prepared.
At the outset, we must examine those areas in our own life still in need of conversion. The charge of hypocrisy can inflict a crippling wound that distracts from the real fight. Despite these charges, we must be prepared to soldier on because we are convinced that man is destined for redemption and at the depths of his soul he is drawn to what is true and good.
Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, maps out the plan of battle: an exposition of the positive vision of the Church for humankind. The great success of his Holiness’s Apostolic Visit to our nation and city last year ought to confirm to us that men and women continue to “Thirst” for the life giving waters of the Gospel and the Sacraments that only the Church can offer. The charitable endeavors to which you are committed and the radical example of our Brooklyn heoes, women like Sr. Mary Franciscus and men like Monsignor Bernie Quinn are the finest arrows in our quiver for proposing the faith.
We must boldly bring that light of Christ into the chaos and confusion of the world and be unafraid to invite others to join us in this great campaign. Like Don Quixote, it may seem to the world that we are jousting with windmills. Only God alone may know of all the good work that is being carried out in the name of Christ right here in our city, our state, nation, and the world.
At the same time, I urge you to protect our flank. Do not underestimate our enemy. We face monumental attacks that distract from the positive vision and the work we seek to accomplish. As many of your know, the State Assembly has proposed legislation that would have a devastating impact on our Church and exploit a painful chapter in our history; namely, the statue of limitation rollback for cases of sexual abuse of minors.
The Gospel this morning also said, “For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible. Nothing is secret except to come to light.”
In the last five years, we in our Church have learned much from historic failures. Thus, we have put into place safeguards that protect children from abuse or exploitation by any church employee or volunteer. Each adult must undergo a criminal background check and participate in our Virtus program, our children learn the techniques of predators through our Child Lures Program. The Diocese is voluntarily audited to ensure the processes and procedures really protect children and can stand as a model for all.
All allegations of abuse are immediately referred to the appropriate District Attorney and a vigorous investigation is headed up by an agency of retired NYPD Sex Crimes detectives. Finally, and most importantly, we seek to honor our obligations by offering therapy and assistance to those that allege abuse by a priest, church employee or church volunteer. Let me just assure you that the cost of all of these efforts is almost $2 million a year.
Despite these best efforts, the State of New York would target the Church with the passage of legislation which would retrospectively repeal the Statute of Limitation and expose the Church to litigation from as far back as 50 years ago, that would be impossible to defend against. Meanwhile, a child abused in public school still only has 90 days to file a claim suing the appropriate municipality for abuse. And consider this, in our state, over the last 50 years, there have been 300 priests accused of abuse. In the last 5 years, over 500 teachers have been accused of similar misconduct.
The Church needs advocates like you to raise your voices and say:
Pass Legislation that really protects children|
Pass Legislation that Recognizes the Pain of all Victims
Stop Targeting Our Church.
But our enemy is drive. Bogging us down in fighting this legislation means we are unable to direct our full attention to fighting for relief for the parents of children in Catholic schools and as a consequence our schools begin to close.
I ask you to consider:
The City of New York spends $14,000 per pupil a year to educate a child in the public schools. The state reimburses Charter schools at a level of $12,000 per pupil per year.
In Catholic schools, our yearly cost is $5,500 per pupil and the average tuition is about $3,500.
In the Diocese of Brooklyn, because of people like you, the Church was able to give away almost $12 million in assistance to children in our schools.
While I am grateful to Governor David Paterson for restoring mandated service funding, language, however, with not appreciation that the state even considered slashing the paltry sum they give to us for services they require is offensive.
If the situation were not so dire, it would be laughable. The people we elect to represent us propose legislation that would require us to close our churches. They fail to recognize the contribution we make to the education of Catholic and non-Catholic children in our City so they will not lift a finger even as our schools close. To top it all off, our elected officials want to force Catholic institutions to perform abortions and procedures they find immoral. No, it is not enough that your tax dollars fund procedures we deem immoral, but now advocates of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) in Washington and the Reproductive and Privacy Protection Act in New York want to force us to be complicit in what is perhaps the greatest ontic evil of our day.
So, we need soldiers in this great battle to fight back the forces that would seek to take away our churches, allow our schools to close, and require us to give up hospitals and child care services. This is why we need you, and how appropriate because this is why the Cathedral Club was founded by Father George Mundeline, later Cardinal Mundeline of Chicago, 109 years ago.
We as a Church need advocates. I wish to thank Secretary Nat Wienecki for his words tonight. They demonstrate the power of a Catholic education which truly prepares one for life. I want to make particular note of his work on immigration reform that was proposed by President Bush and opposed by many in his own party. You see our politics do not fit easily into right or left categories, conservative or liberal. I believe that undocumented immigration is not good for the immigrants or the country. We certainly need a revision of the system of legal immigration. No matter what Lou Dobbs says on CNN, the Church does not advocate for open boarders. The positions attributed to the Church are not valid. Rather, what we propose is not a political ideology but, values founded upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I mourn the events that led many Democrats to embrace policies irreconcilably opposed to the Gospel of Life. I am profoundly saddened by the hardness of hearts of those in the Republican Party who fail to heed the words of our Lord “It is mercy I desire not sacrifice.”
Our Holy Father reminds us “…to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbor or hate him altogether. Saint John's words should rather be interpreted to mean that love of neighbor is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God.” My prayer is that we who are Catholics and proud members of the Cathedral Club will be advocates for our neighbors “the unborn child, all who have been marginalized or abused, our school children and the parents, the alien in our midst, those impacted by the darkness of war, and the soldier serving in distant lands”. I am very grateful to our President George Prezioso and all our members for we can be confident that as our club grows and we engage both great political parties, together we may manifest in our lives and the policies that we espouse Deus Caritas Est, God is Love.
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]]>In our secular society, many doubt the power of prayer and the discipline needed to foster a personal spirituality. Whether people realize it or not, they hunger for a deeper relationship with God that can only grow through a daily commitment to prayer and reflection.
As Catholic Christians, our lives must be built upon such prayer. Our planning efforts cannot succeed without prayer. In this process of “Preserving the Vision,” we must put out into the deep so that from the further shore we can see the goal in greater perspective.
A Prayer for Young Students
Lord Jesus, be with me in my school today as we all work together to preserve the vision of
Catholic education and formation.
Help me to get to know you better
and put in my heart the need to be a good Christian.
Help us all to have open minds
and guide our teachers to be leaders in the faith.
Help me to serve you with great joy
and fill my mind with wisdom.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
A Prayer for Students
Holy Spirit, guide us and strengthen us.
Help us to be open to your power in our lives.
May our prayers and efforts bring renewal, hope and positive change
to all children and young people in our Diocese.
Fill us with hope, strength and joy.
Give us the courage of the saints
to accomplish Your Will and do great things for the Church.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
A Prayer for Adults
Heavenly Father, we come before you as your family united in faith and love.
Bless our efforts to renew the education and formation
of all our children and teenagers.
Open our minds and hearts to discern your will in all that we do,
so that together we may preserve the vision of Catholic education and formation in our Church.
May your Holy Spirit inspire and guide us on this hope-filled journey
toward the renewal of your Church.
We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
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]]>THE TABLET
October 18, 2008
Renewing Missionary Efforts
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This week we celebrate Mission Sunday. The Holy Father’s message for this 82nd World Mission Day follows the theme of “A New Humanity for a New World.” Humanity is continually renewed; and, as the human race changes, so does the world. In the new globalized world in which we live, mission activity takes on a wonderful new meaning. We recognize that our world is interconnected. It is important that we share the message of Christ with a world that is now much easier to reach, not only through missionaries, but also through mission activity of all kinds, including transmissions over the air waves and by the use of the Internet.
Humanity suffers, in many, many ways; the only remedy for our suffering is redemption. Our Holy Father reminds us in this message that humanity is in need of liberation. He says: “Humanity needs to be liberated and redeemed. Creation itself – as St. Paul says – suffers and nurtures the hope that it will share in the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rm 8:19-22).” These words continue to resonate in our world today.
We need to come to recognize our relationship to God. As God’s children we are not just human beings who are constantly at war with ourselves and one another. Rather, we are individuals able to contemplate our own dignity. The transformation that needs to happen in our relationships must first happen within ourselves, when we accept the Good News that Jesus Christ has died, risen and has redeemed all of humankind from its very beginning to its very end.
The mission that we speak of is always a question of love. The Holy Father writes: “So it is God, who is Love, who leads the Church towards the frontiers of humanity and calls the evangelizers to drink from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God” (Deus Caritas Est, n. 7). Yes, it is the love of Christ that tells us, as St. Paul says, that it is love which drives us and demands that we evangelize, that we make sacrifices of our lives and our resources for the cause of evangelization.
In our own Diocese, in Brooklyn and Queens, I am happy to report that the newly created Mission Office under the direction of Fr. Terence Mulkerin is doing well. The newly formed Mission Office combines several related mission activities. Besides heading the Propagation of the Faith within the diocese, Father Mulkerin is also our Catholic Relief Services representative. Additionally he also serves as the coordinator of the Immaculate Conception Mission Society instituted by Bishop Daily to enable the Diocese to coordinate mission activities, training for seminarians and assistance to diocesan missions.
Fr. Mulkerin, although he has had a long career in mission activity and serving the armed forces as a Chaplain, has come back to the Diocese not to retire, but to take up new and challenging work. This type of dedication to mission activity is the kind of example we need. His vast experience and knowledge of languages makes him a natural for this new responsibility. I take this opportunity to thank him and his staff for the wonderful service that they provide to our Diocese, so that we can participate in the worldwide mission of evangelization.
Our Diocese has a proud history of sending missionaries to the far corners of the globe. In the last century, a Brooklyn native, Francis X. Ford left America to be a missionary to the Chinese, and later went on to become a Bishop. In 1952 he was called upon to shed his blood for our faith and became a martyr. Innumerable religious women from Brooklyn and Queens also went on to serve in the missions. We must never forget the brave sacrifice of Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford (Bishop Ford’s young cousin) who laid down their lives serving the poor in El Salvador. Most recently, we were privileged to witness the great example of Fr. John Brogan, who labored to the very end making sure that his responsibilities were taken care of. On the day before Father John died I happened to be at 310 Prospect Park West. I watched in admiration and prayer as he was wheeled in on an office chair to his desk. Though he was so very ill he wanted to clean up any final lose ends. He went home to God the next day. These men and women embody the refrain of our Sacred Scriptures “Zeal for Your House Doth Consume Me O’ Lord.”
Mission Sunday will be celebrated at the Cathedral as usual, by giving awards to the children of our schools who have participated in the Holy Childhood Association. We must begin our mission awareness at a young age. In the past, this lifelong relationship with the missions has carried through that many of our older Catholics have decided to cite the Propagation of the Faith in their wills. Hopefully, this wonderful tradition will be maintained as new generations take the place of the old. Our response to Mission Sunday certainly must be one of praying for the missions, and also supporting them financially. Over the years, our Diocese has sent 120 men and women to work in the missions. Today, we are privileged that Fr. John Vesey and so many good religious and laity have taken up the call to preach the Gospel despite the many great personal sacrifices. While all of us may not be one of them, we can support them by our prayers and offerings.
As I read the Holy Father’s message, I came upon words that truly warmed my heart and they are these: “Dear Brothers and Sisters, duc in altum (put out into the deep)! Let us set sail in the vast sea of the world and, following Jesus’ invitation, let us cast our nets without fear, confident in his constant aid. St. Paul reminds us that to preach the Gospel is no reason to boast (cf. 1 Cor 9:16), but rather a duty and a joy.”
I cannot add anything to the Holy Father’s words, except to add that I promise to put the Diocese of Brooklyn out into the deep so that we can truly be supportive of the worldwide mission activity of the Church.