September 7, 2016 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet: 

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As we approach the 15th anniversary of September 11th, the terrible terrorist attack on the twin towers in New York; the State Department in Washington, D.C.; in Shanksville, Pa.; and, in fact, all of our Nation, we recall the lingering pains of those horrific events. The fact is, we never will forget, nor never can we forget what happened on that day. This is because in a real sense this brought us to understand the conflict between good and evil in our world.

Recently, we have seen the pain that natural disasters cause, with floods in Louisiana and the earthquake in Italy, as well as many other man-made disasters. This forces us to think about our relationship to God, who we know is all good. How can God allow evil to happen in the world that He has created for His beloved creatures? It is the price of freedom that allows evil to flourish. God created us as free human beings; our choice is to either do good or to pursue evil.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s column on The Tablet website.