December 10, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet.

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Democracies offer citizens the right of assembly, regress, and the ability to protest issues that are not favorable to its citizens. Recently, we have seen examples of both peaceful and not so peaceful protests. In Hong Kong, far from us, we have seen in the last month, protests, especially among students, trying to get the attention of the communist leaders in Beijing to allow open and democratic elections in Hong Kong. Even the retired Cardinal in Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, is involved in these peaceful demonstrations. Recently, he and other adult leaders of this protest movement have turned themselves into the government in order to avoid any repression or bloodshed, mindful of the terrible memory of Tiananmen Square when the communist forces killed many demonstrators over two decades ago.

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

December 3, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet.

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We have begun Advent which is basically a time of waiting. Time is really important to us. We live in time – the time of our birth to our death. The time of Advent in a certain sense telescopes our life from its beginning to end. It gives us the opportunity to look back and look forward. To wait, in time, for the birth of Jesus, the Son of God Who is the author of all time.

At this time, an important question is, how do we view time in our lives? Time is not something we really like to waste. We like to make the most of our time in this life, and every day we should use the time God gives us for good purpose. As we think about how we use time, however, we recognize that sometimes we let it slip through our fingers. We do not take advantage of every day and make the best use of it. It does not mean we have to be workaholics, never stopping to take a rest or use leisure properly, but it is an opportunity to analyze the time we have, for time does not belong to us alone.

Time belongs to God. He has given us the time in our lives to find its meaning. As Christians, we find the meaning of time in Jesus Christ whose birth we prepare to celebrate during Advent. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of time.

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

November 26, 2104 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As we approached Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to prepare by attending a conference on migration in Rome and by visiting a refugee reception center in Sicily. I came away truly thankful for the gifts of our American society.

The conference held in Rome had the theme of “Cooperation and Development of the Pastoral Care of Migrants,” and over 300 people attended, representing 90 countries. About 30 bishops were present.

This World Congress takes place every five years. It assists the Holy See in developing its policy positions and its concern for the pastoral care of migrants and refugees and all itinerant people. The meeting focused on those who are economic migrants, that is, those who migrate because they are looking for a better life for themselves and their families.

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

November 19, 2104 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

In 1925, Pope Pius XI established a new feast to end the liturgical year, the Feast of Christ the King. That time in history had seen the rise of the totalitarian systems, such as communism and socialism, which infringed on the free practice of the faith. Because the dominion of Christ the King was not a political but rather a spiritual reign, it could really co-exist with any type of government, as long as religious freedom was allowed. Normally, democracy would seem to be the best system of government compatible with the Christian faith, but a monarchy or other forms of government can also allow the Christian faith to thrive, if real freedom of conscience and worship are supported.

This feast allows us to recognize the tension that exists today between faith and politics in our own land. When Jesus was asked the famous question by Pontius Pilate, “Are you a King?,” Jesus simply said, “You say so.”

But what do we say about Christ? Is He our King? Is our conscience guided by our allegiance to Christ or a political party or to some other loyalty?

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

October 29, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, New Yorkers will go to the polls to vote for our Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller as well as members of Congress and State legislators. Citizenship confers on us all many rights and also burdens and some obligations. We, who are fortunate to live in a representative democracy, have a special religious obligation to take seriously our patriotic duty to vote.

My grandfather, who came to the U.S. in 1913, did not become a citizen until 1945, a pattern followed by many old immigrants. My grandmother waited until she was 85 to become a citizen. One of the proudest days of her life was when she took the oath of citizenship with me standing by her side. She could not wait to exercise her right to vote now that she was a citizen. Both were proud to be U.S. citizens.

When I became 18, my grandfather wanted to give me a voting lesson. He said, “Go into the booth, when you see an Italian name, pull down the leaver.” In the past, voting was an exercise in ethnic loyalty or voting for party loyalty. Today, however, we need to go beyond the past and be truly discerning Catholic voters.

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

October 22, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family came to a close last Saturday, Pope Francis beatified Blessed Paul VI at the concluding Mass, praising him as a “humble and prophetic witness of love for Christ and his church.” Pope Paul VI, the writer of “Evangelii Nuntiani” and “Humanae Vitae,” confronted the great need for evangelization in the modern world, noting that the Church exists to evangelize. It is certainly not a coincidence that Pope Francis chose to beatify Blessed Paul VI on the last day of Part I of the Synod on Marriage and the Family.

The official midterm report focused on the challenges and virtues of traditional families, expressing solidarity with Christian families around the world, and offered possible new pastoral approaches to a wide-range of family and relationship situations. We must remember the process of a synod, with its final working document now presented to the Holy Father, who will review the suggestions offered to him by the synod. Pope Francis will then write a Post-Synodal document, which has the full teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff. Can the Pope use all of the suggestions that he receives, and does he agree with them? That is an unanswered question, whose answer we will not know until the Post-Synodal document is released, most probably sometime before next year’s World Meeting of Families to be held in Philadelphia in September.

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

October 15, 2014 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMario’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As we continue our reflection on family life, coinciding with the Synod of the Family, the definition of family is probably most important for us to understand. Pope Francis recently said, “There is no future without children.”

In his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, St. John Paul II said, “When they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new responsibility. Their parental love is called to become for the children the visible sign of the very love of God, ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.’”

Spouses becoming parents presents new challenges for married life. The shared responsibility for child rearing today is much different than it was in the past. Thank God that our culture has changed so that both mothers and fathers take responsibility for the care and rearing of their children.

I have two nieces and one nephew who are married, and between them there are nine children. Both of my nieces have a set of twins, one boy and one girl each. So I have been able to observe the development of these children having baptized my own five nieces and nephews and now these nine great-nieces and nephews.

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