CHURCH DEDICATION AND POLITICS

We are only three days past the Dedication of our new church. The entire day was a wonderful affirmation and celebration of our shared Catholic faith. Surrounded by the awesome beauty of the new church, our senses overwhelmed with the smell of incense, the pealing of bells and well-prepared music, we joined our brothers and sisters, led by our bishop, in the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass. Things, religiously speaking, simply could not have been better. Then, when the lengthy ceremony was almost over, the bishop spoiled it for some members of the congregation. All would have gone perfectly, if only he had exercised appropriate restraint and avoided any mention of the Catholic duty to live the faith even when we enter the voting booth. Can’t we have at least one nice day when the very politically incorrect issue of abortion doesn’t have to mentioned? And what of the “separation of church and state?”

Now, you are wondering if I am being serious at all or if this is entirely “tongue in cheek.” Well, the part about the beauty of the day is true. Only the most miserable people took the time to search for something to find wrong and complain. I don’t have to tell you that there are always some of those. But the part about the inappropriateness of the bishop’s closing remarks? I am not making that up. Some people opined that it was entirely “inappropriate” for him to use such an occasion to speak about how our Catholic faith must influence our politics. Imagine that some Catholics would consider the Dedication of a new church an inappropriate occasion for their bishop to teach the truth of the Gospel as it must be reflected in their lives and on which they will be judged!

What is really “inappropriate” is the attitude that allows any Catholic to make themselves the judge of the appropriateness of their bishop’s preaching. The sheep, in effect, telling the shepherd, were he ought to lead them and how they should get there. If the bishop had taken a deep breath and decided to avoid upsetting anyone, he would have left Saint Patrick’s having been unfaithful to the ministry entrusted to him. Had he satisfied himself with wishing everyone a nice day rather than mentioning the hard truth that abortion kills a developing human life, he would have been politically correct at the risk of his own salvation.

Our bishop, thanks be to God, was courageous in speaking the truth regardless of whether some found it unsettling or inappropriate. Congratulations Bishop Martino for reminding us that, above all, Jesus calls us to faithfulness. Thank you, dear Bishop, for offering us the opportunity to live in the grace we experienced in the Mass and for challenging us to make our lives and our souls as beautiful and pleasing to God as our new church. Many off us are grateful that you led us out of our newly consecrated church to live consecrated lives. We only pray that we have the courage and the grace to follow.

Comments

[Ernie]

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! And it's worth quoting, so here's the last paragraph again:
"Our bishop, thanks be to God, was courageous in speaking the truth regardless of whether some found it unsettling or inappropriate. Congratulations Bishop Martino for reminding us that, above all, Jesus calls us to faithfulness. Thank you, dear Bishop, for offering us the opportunity to live in the grace we experienced in the Mass and for challenging us to make our lives and our souls as beautiful and pleasing to God as our new church. Many off us are grateful that you led us out of our newly consecrated Church to live consecrated lives. We only pray that we have the courage and the grace to follow." Amen.

[Tom Hogan]

I did want you to
know that some of us (at least one) congratulated the Bishop on his very
last remarks, letting him know that more & more people need to hear about
God's magnanimous gift of life. And that we, as Knights of Columbus, are
spreading the word. A number of people I spoke to at the reception after
expressed unity with his remarks. Political correctness would seem to lead
only to oblivion!

[James Price]

Ahh the sweet sound of dogmatic truth.

God bless Bishops who lead well!

[karen Loeschorn]

Personally, I would have agreed with every word our Bishop spoke at the end of our celebration. I would have been one of the first ones to stand up and cheer. Personally, I think every opportunity the Bishop and our priests have to let it be known that we need to vote for life at each and every level of our elected officials should be taken. And we should be happy to be charged up, to follow the teachings of our faith. But do not be too hard on those who at first blush were surprised by the timing. I have spoken to some of the people who thought the timing was surprising but are totally PRO LIFE and passionately opposed to abortion. I know I have reacted incorrectly, many times, but when I hear the other way of thinking I realize there was a better way of seeing what wasn't so obvious to me initially. So too, for many who thought the Bishops remarks may not have "fit" into the day. The inportant thing is that the people who were surprised by the timing are in solidarity with us on the issue. They vote pro life and are in total agreement with their Bishop. Karen

[Grace]

Wow! I can't believe some people objected to what the Bishop said, and when he said it. The day of the dedication of our new church, Jesus was present. I am sure the Bishops words were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I don't think I am courageous enough to tell the Holy Spirit he was inappropriate.

[Diana Healey]

Usually the people that take offense are the ones who have had or love someone who has had an abortion. I learned that the hard way. I had a very close friend that I had emailed something to. She blasted me and preached to me about separation of religion and state and a women's right over her own body.

I told her I had just heard on the Christian station that morning that women that had an abortion 20 years ago were still suffering from the decision. I said that to my friend and her answer to me was bull -----. I had 2 and I am fine.

No wonder she was fighting. She was trying to stick up for her actions. I WAS SICK OVER IT. I STILL DON'T LIKE THINKING ABOUT HER ANSWER. COLD, UNFEELING MURDER AND SHE WAS JUSTIFYING IT!

I was so shocked I was speechless for a minute. Then I said, " Look . I struggle when it comes to incest and rape. I can also understand that people could have made a mistake and they are scared - though I don't condone abortion I do understand in a case of rape or incest why a women would want one. But.... 2 abortions is MURDER"

I think that the babies being killed might be the scientist that cures cancer or the future saint who would work tiredlessly to save children. How sad. The world we live in does not care about killing babies, or killing anything for that matter. How hurt Jesus must be. We don't care that he laid his life down for us. We just do what we want.

[Mike]

I was very of the Bishop, proud to be Catholic, proud to be a member of St. Patrick's church. When the bishop spoke the words that convicted many during the ceremony I noticed one who walked out during his speech with a look on her face that revealed her open hostility towards our Bishop and Christ. Because the words spoken by our Bishop came from the holly spirit, thus her anger was not only directed at the Bishop but mostly at Christ who's name itself convicts us.

We are, in my opinion, at the time when people who once where on the fence are now climbing down to their side of good and evil, for the time has almost come when the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

God Bless Bishop Martino, Father Mullally & God Bless St. Patrick's Church

[Norma Prigge]

Me too, what everyone else said. Amen, Amen.

[Alice Seidel]

I couldn't have said it better myself! But, you did have me worried there in that first paragraph!
Too many catholics (and I leave the word in small letters), live their lives in just such a manner. We don't come to church on Sunday, (and what a beautiful church we have!), then go home and out to work for the week, behaving like anything but Catholics.
We need to keep it before us at all times that we should be building our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the awesome theology he left us. Then, we are to take those behaviors into the world and give them away. Too often, it is the other way round.
The argument of "church v. state" is an interesting one. Usually most get it wrong. The Founders didn't want to protect the government from religion, they wished to keep the government from establishing religion on our behalf. Up to that time in history, church and state were united, and dissenters often persecuted. Thomas Jefferson put it forth that religious differences were beneficial to society. Never hostile to religion as some revisionists would like us to believe, he wished for himself, and other Americans, not freedom from religion but freedom to pursue religious truth wherever that might lead. His Enlightenment bent had him overturning every stone.
Since the year my daughter was born, 1973, abortion has been a scourge on the land. I often think of all the babies who were never born, who never had a life here, who never had a chance to grow up and be anything at all. Who knows? One of them may have stopped Sept. 11th., brought peace to the Middle East, or found a way to stop the killings in Darfur and so many other places. We will never know, because it was better that these children never be born. They were someone's inconvenience, someone's burden. I fear this country is now paying the price. We do, as John Paul once told us, live in a culture of death.
Instead we should live courageously, with faith. As Saint Methodius said, "You, O Christ, you are all in all to me.....Light of our days, undimmed at evening."
Our faith, and all that it means to us, should be before our eyes and in our hearts, every moment of our lives.