Cathedral Club of Brooklyn
New York Hilton
January 29, 2009
Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Ph.D., D.D.
Bishop of Brooklyn
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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