(For a history of Taps)Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar drawing nigh,
Falls the night.
Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the skies
All is well, safely rest;
God is nigh.
Then goodnight, peaceful night;
Till the light of the dawn shineth bright.
God is near, do not fear,
Friend, goodnight.
St. Augustine devoted no small amount of time and effort to expounding on the mystery of the Trinity. There's a story told that one day, walking on the shore, he encountered a child who had dug a hole in the sand and was about the business of going down to the water, scooping some water from the ocean in a shell and carrying it back to the hole he'd dug where he would empty the contents of his shell. St. Augustine asked the child what he was doing and the boy replied that he had set himself the task of emptying the ocean into the hole he'd dug.From The Pilot:I'm pleased to note that at 3:12 in the video above there's a shot of my parish website: HolyFamilyConcord.org !
Embracing new and state-of-the-art forms of digital communication to reach the faithful has been a top priority of Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley. As part of that effort, effective July 1, the secretariat for Catholic Media will be added to Cardinal O’Malley’s cabinet. Scot Landry, the current secretary for Institutional Advancement, will become the secretary for Catholic Media and oversee all of the archdiocese’s print and digital media including The Pilot’s print edition and its website, CatholicTV, the Boston Catholic Directory, Cardinal O’Malley’s weekly email, the archdiocese’s website, the archdiocese’s new media accounts including Facebook, Twitter and photo sharing.
“The new Catholic media secretariat is an attempt by Cardinal Seán to locate all the Catholic media entities, broadcast, print, and new media in one group so we can collaborate more effectively with each other, share our faith and communicate with the parishes in the archdiocese in a way that inspires people to love the Lord,” Landry said.
(Read the complete story here and a companion piece by Scott Landry here)
What Mike wrote about each blade of grass reminds me of some lyrics I posted last spring, including the lines:But then, it happened…
I walked out of the Basilica on the Notre Dame Campus and there it was…
God’s grandeur. The grass was not only a deep, deep green but each blade seemed distinct and unique. The behemoth trees were filled with a vibrancy of bark and leaves and the veins that ran through each individual leaf.
In the distance the setting sun called to me… don’t miss this… don’t miss this.
May 19, 2010
Dear Member of Congress:
We write to you regarding the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), H.R. 3017, and Senate (S. 1584). Our purpose is to outline the serious concerns we have with these bills in their current form and why we cannot maintain the position of neutrality we held in 2007.
For the sake of clarity, permit us first to state two basic tenets of Catholic Church teaching on this issue. First, persons with a homosexual inclination “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and second “[u]nder no circumstances can [homosexual acts] be approved.” Catechism of the Catholic Church (“CCC”), nos. 2357-58.
Catholic teaching states that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and thus possess an innate human dignity that must be acknowledged and respected, by other persons and by law. We recognize that no one should be an object of scorn, hatred, or violence for any reason, including sexual inclination. The Church affords special concern and pastoral attention to those who experience a homosexual inclination and stands committed to avoid “[e]very sign of unjust discrimination in their regard.” CCC, no. 2358.
The Catholic Church makes an important distinction between actions and inclination. While the Church is ardently opposed to all unjust discrimination on the grounds of sexual inclination, whether homosexual or heterosexual, it does teach that all sexual acts outside of a marriage between one man and one woman are morally wrong. The Catholic Church’s teaching cannot, therefore, be equated with “unjust discrimination,” because it is based on fundamental truths about the human person and personal conduct. Homosexual conduct is categorically closed to the transmission of life, and does not reflect or respect the personal complementarity of man and woman. In contrast to sexual conduct within marriage between one man and one woman—which does serve both the good of each married person and the good of society— heterosexual and homosexual conduct outside of marriage has no claim to special protection bythe state.
Just as every other group in our society, the Catholic Church enjoys the same rights to hold to its beliefs, organize itself around them, and argue for them in the public square. This is guaranteed by our Constitution. This includes the right to teach what it holds to be the truth concerning homosexual conduct—and to act as an employer consistent with that truth—without the threat of government sanction.
The USCCB continues to oppose “unjust discrimination” against people with a homosexual inclination, but we cannot support a bill – such as ENDA in its current form – that would legally affirm and specially protect any sexual conduct outside of marriage.
Moreover, because the passage of such a bill could be used to punish as discrimination what the Catholic Church teaches, the USCCB has always sought as comprehensive a religious exemption as is achievable, in order to protect the religious freedom of the Church, and of all others who hold similar views. One partial solution to this problem is to apply Title VII’s prohibition on religious discrimination, which is already incorporated in the current version of the bill.
But this is insufficient alone, as the Title VII protection does not cover all religious employers, and recent experience teaches that even covered institutions may face government retaliation for relying on such exemptions. Without such additional protection, ENDA would be applied to jeopardize our religious freedom to live our faith and moral tenets in today’s society.
The movement to redefine marriage to include two persons of the same sex (a.k.a. same-sex “marriage”) has changed the law substantially toward that end, at both the state and federal level, and it has become increasingly clear that laws like ENDA have been instrumental to those changes.
For example, we have seen state Supreme Courts repeatedly rely on state-level ENDAs as a basis for creating a state constitutional right to same-sex “marriage.” We consider it very likely that ENDA, despite referencing DOMA, could be used for similar purposes at the federal level. The highest courts of California, Connecticut, and Iowa have declared that the traditional definition of marriage is “discriminatory” and lacking any “rational basis,” and so violates the constitutions of their respective states. Cases are now being brought in order to create a federal constitutional right to same-sex “marriage”—whether by striking down federal DOMA, or by striking down California’s Proposition 8 in federal court. If ENDA were to pass, we would expect lawyers to invoke it in federal court under the federal constitution, just as they invoked analogous state laws in state constitutional litigation. If this strategy were to succeed, it would represent a legal and moral disaster comparable in many ways to Roe v. Wade. As leaders of the Catholic Church, we have a moral obligation to oppose any law that would clearly contribute to this outcome.
These rulings also reflect a legal strategy that gay rights advocates have repeatedly andpublicly explained in scholarly articles and other media—first, secure the passage of sexual orientation antidiscrimination laws, such as ENDA, and then invoke the principle embedded within those laws as a basis for same-sex “marriage.”
In addition to ENDA’s protection of same-sex conduct, its threat to religious liberty, and its contribution to the cause of same-sex “marriage,” there are other obstacles to its passage. The bill’s treatment of “gender identity,” which was not in the 2007 bill, would have an adverse effect on privacy and associational rights of others. The bill also lacks an exemption for a “bona fide occupational qualification” (BFOQ), for those cases where it is neither unjust nor inappropriate to consider an applicant’s sexual inclination.
While we regret we cannot support ENDA for the above stated reasons, the Conference would, however, be interested in discussing legislation that would protect persons with a homosexual inclination from unjust discrimination, without protecting homosexual conduct. We therefore invite further discussion with you and your staff on how ENDA might be amended to correct the various flaws discussed in this letter.
Sincerely,
[Signed]
Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville
Chairman, Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage
Most Reverend William F. Murphy
Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington
Chairman, Committee on Doctrine
Discipleship involves imitating the pattern of Jesus' life by openness to God's will in the service of others . Disciples are also called to follow him on the way of the cross, and to heed his call that those who lose their lives for the sake of the Gospel will save them. Jesus' death is an example of that greater love which lays down one's life for others. It is a model for those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice. The death of Jesus was not the end of his power and presence, for he was raised up by the power of God. Nor did it mark the end of the disciples' union with him. After Jesus had appeared to them and when they received the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:1-12), they became apostles of the good news to the ends of the earth. In the face of poverty and persecution they transformed human lives and formed communities which became signs of the power and presence of God. Sharing in this same resurrection faith, contemporary followers of Christ can face the struggles and challenges that await those who bring the gospel vision to bear on our complex economic and social world.
-Economic Justice for All, no. 47, US Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Dear Parishioners:
Today is Pentecost Sunday and I ask you to pray that the same Holy Spirit, the Advocate who was poured forth upon Jesus’ disciples, will be poured forth anew on each and every one of us so that we can live and proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I am aware of the notoriety that has come to St. Paul Parish as the result of a recent rescinding of a recent decision of a student not to enroll a child in our parish school. I write to you now to address this controversy while continuing to respect the privacy of the family involved.
Our enrollment process for all prospective students includes discussions with their families to ascertain if our school can meet the educational and spiritual needs of each individual child. I want you to know that, in this instance, the principal and I believe our decision was made in the best interests of the child based upon our discernment that in our Catholic environment, with its teaching on marriage as a covenant relationship between a man and a woman, a child from a same sex family might feel discomfort, frustration or confusion. Additionally, in our small school, without support services, we were concerned whether we could help a child of this age reconcile an inherent conflict between our teachings and his home life. This does not mean that we have made the right decision. Only God in His wisdom can determine the answer to that question.
I do not want this matter to be a source of division and I ask that we continue to pray for one another and for all involved. The Archdiocesan School Office has taken an important step in announcing that it will develop a policy to assist in the resolution of these types of issues. We welcome this development and we hope that the Archdiocese involves many pastors, principals and parents in open discussions.
May God bless us all with a renewed outpouring of grace from the Holy Spirit this Pentecost Sunday.
Sincerely,
Fr. James Rafferty, Pastor
