For The Bulletin Of suffer. Instead, that economic condition, November 15, 2020 which characterized the time of Jesus (and perhaps even our own) becomes the folk wisdom reinforced by the parable.
The lesson from the parable has to do with the intervening time between the resurrection and the coming of Christ. How will the disciples (the servants) invest their own talents in service of the master? One must risk oneself to earn a reward. The investment of talent, skills, and gifts will generate returns. The miserable disciple THE 33RD SUNDAY IN who invests nothing of himself, but instead ORDINARY TIME uses the time prior to the coming of the Lord merely to loaf around, will be punished. He From Father Robert is hardly worthy of the name servant The parable in today’s gospel follows (disciple). Interestingly, the reward for the immediately upon the parable we heard last first two is the same, “Come, share your Sunday. Both the parable of the wise and master’s joy.” But the third is exiled. foolish virgins and the parable of the talents speak to the coming of the Lord on the last Like last week’s parable, and many before, day. In each case there is a delay or an today’s story is an echo of the Matthean intervening time during which different church, which had both weeds and wheat in characters in the story respond and react its midst. There were industrious Christians, differently. In today’s story, the master investing their talents and skills in the entrusts money with three servants service of the Lord, and there were according to their ability. One receives five, freeloaders, who risked nothing of another two, and the last, one. The first two themselves for God. It would be a mistake invest the funds in a variety of activities and to read this parable in economic terms, they both double the money entrusted to endorsing a particular system or class of them. The third, however, buries the sole people. Instead, this parable is speaking to talent in the ground, depriving the master of life in the church prior to the coming of the simple interest it would have earned if it Jesus: am I a disciple who invests myself, had been deposited in a bank. Not my skills, and my talents for God? Or am I surprisingly, the master is furious with the content to let others do that work? To those third servant. who invest themselves, Jesus says, “Come, share your master’s joy.” Jesus concludes the parable with some folk wisdom, reflecting common attitudes of the
day (and even today), with a phrase akin to “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” It would be a mistake to read this parable as somehow endorsing a political and economic system whereby the wealthy receive a majority of benefits while the poor
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again some questions to help you in your reflection and meditation:
The first reading describes a woman who “works with loving hands.” How do you work with your hands to serve others?
St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, “You are children of the light.” How do you strive to be light in places or times of darkness? Living The Paschal Mystery Life in a community can be a gift. We join The servant who buries his talent cites fear others who share a common purpose. We as the reason he hid it. Have you had to combine effort to achieve a common goal. battle fear in using your God-given talent? But in these cases, much like “group work” assigned to schoolchildren, there can be What is one gift or talent that you have freeloaders who live off the largesse of received from the hand of God and are using others’ efforts while contributing little to no to serve God’s people? effort of their own. The parable today reminds us that there will come a time when God will take stock of each person’s efforts. This is not our work to do, but God’s.
When we hear this parable and others like it, we can be moved to action, investing ourselves more fully in the Christian life. And for the Gospel of Matthew that means service of others, especially the less fortunate. May this gospel motivate us to About Liturgy: You Have More Power continue serving without counting the cost, Than You Think investing full of ourselves and our talents. Shortly after the sex abuse crisis in the There will be an accounting, and when there church re-emerged in 2018, many called for is, we want to hear the words, “Come, share more participation by laypersons, especially your master’s joy.” women, in the reforms of the church and in
its management. This call is absolutely As we come to the second to the last Sunday necessary, not because there is a crisis, but and week of this Liturgical Year, it is an because it is the rightful duty of all the appropriate time, especially given today’s baptized. gospel, to begin reviewing 2020 and how each of us has lived our lives as disciples of For far too long, we have equated leadership Jesus, how well we have used our gifts, and authority with ordination, making those talents, and resources in the service of God “in the pews” second-class citizens less and the kingdom. This reflection should responsible for sanctifying the world to reflect great gratitude and thanksgiving, not Christ because they did not have the gifts fear or dread, especially of the time of given by ordination. In other words, we’ve “accounting” that is to come. Here are once
2 left “real discipleship” to clergy while need to be made on Flocknote with a layperson merely “help Father.” maximum capacity of 100. Social Distancing and masks will be required. This does a disservice to laypersons and to Please watch for the Flocknote notification clergy because it minimizes the dignity, and reservation opportunity. mission, and gifts given by our common baptism. Baptism gives us gifts, and we each are mandated and authorized to use them in service of the reign of God. The members of the common priesthood of Christ cannot leave all the work of growing the kingdom to those who share in Christ’s ministerial priesthood. That would be like burying our talents.
When we each recognize that baptism in Our Thanksgiving Outreach this year is Christ Jesus is the source of our power, we going “virtual.” Rather than purchasing the will have a chance – both women and men, ingredients for a Thanksgiving Basket and lay and ordained to reform and reshape the bringing it to church next weekend, we are church, where all belong, all are needed, and inviting you to make a contribution to this all are called to use their gifts. year’s effort, marking the memo line on your check to “Thanksgiving Outreach.” Please make out your check to St. Ignatius of Antioch Church. The monies received will be donated to our local St. Vincent de Paul Society which will in turn purchase vouchers for thanksgiving groceries. On Monday, November 23rd, St. Vincent de Paul and our Knights of Columbus will distribute the vouchers along with a turkey to the families who have registered for this help. Many thanks to all those who have already contributed as well as to all those who will join us today and in the days ahead. The last day to make your Once again, this year we will gather for a contribution is next Sunday, November 22nd. Festive Celebration of Holy Eucharist on
Thanksgiving Morning, November 26th, at 9:00 a.m. Both Father Moses and I will be present and, following our long-standing tradition, the homily this year will be given by several of our Confirmation Students. The liturgy will be taped by Lisa Lombardo for those who cannot be with us and will be available for viewing on our You Tube channel later in the day. Reservations will
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The New Liturgical Year: Advent Sunday, November 29th, is the beginning of our new Liturgical Year and the First Sunday of Advent. The principal symbol of this brief four-week season in preparation for the Christmas Feast is the Advent Wreath. The wreath is made of fresh evergreens and is decorated with three St. Nicholas Festival Dinner purple candles and one Antique Rose This year, because of the pandemic, our candle. Each week, a candle is lighted to St. Nicholas Festival Dinner will also go symbolize the thousands of years that “virtual” with a “Drive Up, Drive Through” humanity waited for the Savior to be born in dinner catered by Zandonella Catering. time. The Antique Rose Candle on the third week reminds us that the season is now half- Each dinner will be individually boxed and way through and the Christmas Feast draws ready to place in your car when you drive near. up. The cost is $30.00 per person. There will also be raffle prizes. Please see the My hope is that you will bring the Spirit of article in the bulletin or flyer attached to my Advent into your home by creating an Insert for all the details and the reservation Advent Wreath and placing it either in the form. This event takes place on Saturday center of your dining room table or on a evening, December 5th, from 6:15 to table in your family or living room. Fresh 7:00 p.m. in our parking lot. St. Nicholas evergreen wreaths are readily available from will be present to bless you and wish you the Costco or from a Christmas Tree lot. “Peace of Christmas.” Candles can be placed within or around the outer part of the wreath. Ornaments and Many thanks to Marla Plurkowski and the ribbons in the colors of the season can be Members of our Social Events Committee added to adorn the wreath. Advent prayers for making this year’s observance and are available on line and can be prayed celebration possible. before your evening meal, lighting the appropriate candle(s). At Christmas, many families add a fifth candle, all white, in the center of the wreath at Christmas and then all candles continue to be lighted through the Christmas Season.
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director of Fordham University's Center on Can Joe Biden heal a Religion and Culture. divided nation — and his Throughout the campaign, Biden — whose own Catholic Church? support for legal abortion puts him at odds Nov 7, 2020 with church teaching — was subject to by Christopher White criticism about his faith, with some church figures suggesting he is not a real Catholic. Yet some church observers are warning that such hostility could backfire and further alienate Catholics who support the president-elect.
Further, they believe that church leaders would be wise to seize on Biden's eagerness to bridge national divides and seek to emulate that approach within the church. "Many partisans on the right will continue to try to use Biden's faith as a cudgel to smack him with at every chance," Gibson told NCR. "But Joe Biden is really 'Joe Catholic.' He looks and acts and talks like the vast majority of practicing Catholics in this country. Trying to use his Catholicism against him for partisan ends could backfire Supporters of President Donald Trump and once he is president." Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden shout at one another in Philadelphia during the "The campaign will be over, and Donald vote count Nov. 5. (CNS/Reuters/Eduardo Trump will be offstage. Further attacks on Munoz) Biden's faith might — just might — prompt
some soul-searching among Catholics about During the final week of his presidential how their faith is deployed in the public campaign, Joe Biden said, "Pope Francis has asked questions that anyone who seeks to arena," he continued. lead this great nation should answer." Now, According to as Biden is set to become the second exit polling from the Catholic president in the history of the Associated Press, Trump won 50% of the United States, some Catholics are wondering Catholic vote with Biden winning 49% of it. Yet Trump's support among white Catholics if the candidate who regularly talks about declined from four years ago, where he won his own faith and ran on a platform of 64% of the white Catholic vote compared to bringing together the nation can also manage Hillary Clinton's 31%. In 2020, 57% of to help heal his own deeply divided church? white Catholics backed Trump and 42 %
supported Biden. "The Catholic Church in the United States is as divided as the country's politics, and often because of politics," said David Gibson, Meanwhile, Hispanic Catholics supported Biden by 67% to 32% for Trump, although
5 in Florida and Texas Trump improved his told NCR via email. "The election of Biden performance among Latino voters by 6 and offers a chance for a reset." 11 points respectively. "A Biden administration, despite the "Biden's win is in large part thanks to important differences it will have with the Latinas, particularly in the West and conference on abortion, offers a reliable Southwest but also in urban centers partner for the bishops on a host of social everywhere," said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, justice, Creation care, and peace issues that who is a professor of religious studies at have been highlighted by Pope Francis," Manhattan College. "Latinas do the heavy said Schneck, executive director of lifting in the church and in the world, as we Franciscan Action Network. see again and again." Schneck called Biden "a centrist Democrat" She told NCR, "For Latinx Catholics, and "a Catholic who loves his church," specifically, this victory is important adding that "we can expect that the Biden because Biden cares about the issues they administration will not fan the divisions care about: compassion for immigrants and among America's bishops like we saw under asylum seekers, a desire to rectify the evils Trump." committed specifically against migrant children in the Trump administration." "I'm not expecting an era of good feelings, "Biden also cares about climate, which is but I am expecting a restoration of normalcy incredibly important to the Latinx Catholic between the presidency and the bishops, communities across the country," marked by professionalism, respect, and Imperatori-Lee added. openness to practical cooperation on both sides," Schneck said. If John F. Kennedy was the youngest candidate to be elected U.S. president in Steven Millies, director of the Bernardin 1960, Biden will be 78 years old when he Center at the Catholic Theological Union, takes the presidential oath in January, believes the church has lost trust and needs making him the oldest candidate to take to try a different approach to the world. office. Yet in the same way Pope Francis, “And young people have shown us they now 83 years old, has helped reenergize want something better, a vision startlingly many Catholics across the country and the close to Pope Francis and Catholic social world, some believe that Biden would do thought." well to appeal to churchgoers who are attracted to the octogenarian pope's vision "The opportunity for a second Catholic for society. president of the U.S. to draw those pieces all into conversation, for his own public faith in Stephen Schneck, a co-chair for Catholics the church and our free republic to be the for Biden and a public policy expert, said lens that focuses a better picture of our best Trump's presidency was "divisive" for the selves is unprecedented," he told NCR in an U.S. bishops' conference. "The polarization email. "It will not be easy and it won't the president brought to American politics happen automatically. We know there is a played into the divisions of the conference lot of opposition. But there are reasons to and reinforced the tensions between the hope, and we all need hope and help for it to American episcopacy and Pope Francis," he happen."
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supposed to do is make them feel uncomfortable" said Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt, a sociologist specializing in systemic racism in the Catholic Church and how that racism impacts African American Catholic identity.
"That mindset is part of what's gotten us as a society and a church to the place we are in,"
Joe Biden makes a statement on the presidential she told NCR. "It is in being uncomfortable election results during a brief appearance before that we can learn and grow." reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 5. (CNS/Reuters/Kevin Lamarque) Looking ahead to a Biden administration, she said that will require more than rhetoric. Such opposition has been on display in the "What's needed now is continuing to move days following the election, with some forward in smashing systemic racism and Catholic leaders repeating false claims that white supremacy in order to build a world, a Biden's victory was due to fraudulent voting society and a church that is just and activity. equitable," said Pratt.
Raymond Arroyo, a host of the Trump- Imperatori-Lee concurred, saying that as a friendly and anti-Francis Catholic media member of the Cuban American community, conglomerate EWTN, tweeted, "We may she hopes this election "closes the door" on never know the extent of voter fraud in this viewing the Latinx community as a monolith election or if those activities altered the and that "just because the dominant culture eventual outcome." in the U.S. views Latinxs as objects of racism does not mean that Latinx The fringe right-wing group Catholic Vote communities do n ot participate, historically echoed Arroyo, tweeting out, "The cloud of and in the present, in anti-Black and anti- illegitimacy over Joe Biden will be far indigenous racism." greater than any alleged Russian interference." "Biden will lead at a time when Catholics in our church and in politics are deeply Yet beyond Biden's entrenched Catholic divided," said John Gehring, Catholic critics, if there is a singular issue that has program director at Faith in Public Life come into the fore for both the country and Action. "There is no encyclical or executive the church as an immediate challenge, it's order that can change that reality. But I that of racial justice. For the Biden expect he will take the bully out of the bully campaign, one of its closing arguments to pulpit, and speak with humility and grace. people of faith was that racism was the He will look to build bridges." defining religious issue in the election. Gibson agreed saying, "Biden is a common Too often, the phrase "healing a divided ground, common good Catholic." church and nation" is "coded language for saying we need to make those who enable "If his faith is seen as integral to his efforts and perpetuate white supremacy feel better to heal the country, then that will be a good since the last thing the rest of us are look for a Catholic Church that has had little
7 to show for all the years of culture warring by the institutional leadership," he Open letter to the US continued. Catholic bishops: It's over Nov 9, 2018 "Joe Biden has a chance to show the kind of by NCR Editorial Staff Catholic leadership that the church's ordained leaders too often haven't been able Accountability to provide."
[Christopher White is NCR national correspondent. His email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @CWWhite212.]
From Werner Hoch What a change another month has made! Last time it was hot; today we had to wear long pants and a warm jacket. Dear brothers in Christ, shepherds, fellow pilgrims, Surprisingly, 12 helpers showed up to serve the not so fortunate families in our We address you as you approach this community. Can you believe it? 51 year's national meeting in Baltimore because families came to receive the free food that we know there is nowhere left to hide. the food bank supplied and out of all those It's over. families, 12 had never come to St. Ignatius of Antioch before. This was truly a record All the manipulations and contortions of the Friday for everyone and like always, the past 33 years, all the attempts to deflect and food available was excellent. equivocate — all of it has brought the church, but especially you, to this moment. Thank you, Father Robert, for letting us help It's over. the needy in the church parking lot. I am sure all the families that came for the food Even the feds are now on the trail. really appreciated our generosity. We They've ordered that you not destroy any certainly do! Here is hoping the weather documents. The Department of Justice is holds out a bit longer for us to serve fruit conducting a national criminal investigation and vegetables to the needy families. of how you've handled the clergy sex abuse scandal. It is a point in our history without Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who precedent. We want you to know that you come out to help, regardless of whether it is aren't alone in this moment, you've not been 90 degrees or 50 degrees! Thank you to all! abandoned. But this time it must be different. This time it won't be easy. Werner 💒💒
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From fable to sacred text, we know how this lot of young priests and a lot of money goes. The point is reached where all realize around the Vatican. the king wears no clothes, the righteous accusers read the writing in the sand and This is about a rot at the heart fade away, the religious authorities receive the Master's most stinging rebukes. As a of the culture entrusted with class of religious rulers, the loudest among leadership of the Catholic you have become quite good at applying the law and claiming divine authority in community. marginalizing those who transgress the statutes. The prolonged abuse scandal would The point beyond dispute is that we are at a suggest, however, that you've not done very moment in U.S. church history — and well taking stock of yourselves. perhaps in the history of the global church — without precedent. This is not about We have no special insight into why this debatable matters — celibacy or the filioque moment — the Pennsylvania grand jury clause, or the primacy of Scripture or report, the downfall of Theodore McCarrick whether the Earth is the center of the — has so captured the public imagination universe or whether women should be and pushed the church to this outer limit of allowed ordination or any of the hot button exposure and vulnerability. There are issues that have kept us roiling and at each theories, not least of which is that the others' throats these past decades. This, opportunists among us are attempting to use instead, is about a rot at the heart of the this moment to bring down the only pope culture entrusted with leadership of the who has actually dethroned bishops and a Catholic community. A rot so pervasive that cardinal for their crimes and indiscretions. it has touched every aspect of the community's life, disrupting all of the But that's an issue for another time. certainties and presumptions about who we The reality, we all know, is that it has been are and who you are that helped hold this going on for a long time. The first national community together. story appeared across four pages of this publication in the summer of 1985. The Those who worked so ardently in the past to worst of it occurred during the pontificate of enable you — the faithful, so betrayed, who the hastily sainted John Paul II, a giant on just couldn't believe you would engage in the world stage, but a pastor who let wolves such a deliberate cover up; the likes of roam his own flock. His idealized concept of George Weigel and his blind, uncritical heroic priesthood apparently left him hagiography of Pope John Paul II; Dr. Mary incapable of hearing the truth from credible Ann Glendon and the late Fr. Richard John witnesses, including the few bishops who Neuhaus and their naive celebration and dared disturb that idealized world with defense of Maciel; the rest of the chorus at troubling reports. He promoted to the First Things and like publications; the telling end Marciel Maciel Degollado, founder of silence of so many other Catholic outlets; the Legion of Christ, and a person who came the absurdity of charlatan William Donohue to represent the worst of the abuse scandal. and his silly "Catholic" League — they Maciel, an accomplished sycophant, kept helped sustain your weak narrative as many scrutiny at bay with his ability to spread a of them denigrated those who raised the tough questions and pursued the truth.
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It's over. Orientation is not a determining factor in abuse of children. If it were, we'd have to be None of them any longer has a persuasive investigating heterosexual orientation as a case to make. Some of them now try to cause because a lot of abuse is perpetrated blame the crisis on gay priests. You might by heterosexual men upon boys and girls. be tempted to latch onto that diversion, but it So, take that path if you'd like, but be will only prolong the already intolerably prepared to lose whatever bit of credibility long agony. might be left in the tank.
Gay priests and bishops are certainly among It's over. us — probably a greater percentage of gays in the Catholic clergy, if anecdotal evidence You've been ensconced in a culture that has and the private chatter of seminary rectors for too long protected you from the and heads of orders is to be believed, than consequences of your worst instincts. The one would find in the general population. boundaries that once kept your culture safe from scrutiny have become as irrelevant The clergy culture is in deep need of serious today as the moats and walls of previous conversation and education about that issue centuries. There is no hiding any longer. and much more regarding sexuality. That You've been imbibing the excesses of discussion is unlikely on any significant power, authority and privilege that have scale because too many bishops and too accrued over centuries and, like the addict many priests, if they were honest, would who hits bottom, a fundamental decision for have to admit to an orientation that the recovery is essential to your survival. church still calls "disordered." Unless the preponderance of credible experts has It's over. suddenly flipped its understanding of things, however, sexual orientation is not one of the You've hit bottom not because the latest topics that match with sexual abuse. gush of bad news resulted from a resolve to come clean and tell the truth. It resulted from yet another investigation. In short, you were moved to words of contrition because you were, once again, caught. Yes, most of it is old news. Yes, the coverup was engineered mostly by bishops who are no longer in office or have died. News organizations once reluctant to take you on for fear of being labeled anti-Catholic are no longer reticent.
You've become certain clickbait. And you will continue to be as, in diocese after diocese, more documents are released and revealed and more grand juries look into the Detail of Page 20 of National Catholic Reporter inner workings of this institution over the issue date June 7, 1985, jump page of Jason past 50 years or so. It is self-inflicted pain. Berry's article "Pedophile priest: study in inept church response."
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Bishops, you were certain tradition requires: a deep personal examination, telling the truth, begging enough about what was going forgiveness and a resolve to amend. on and its potential The examination begins with the question consequences that you that only you can answer, individually and employed individually and as a group: How did we and our brothers in the past, as leaders of this clerical culture, corporately legions of reach the point where we could rationalize lawyers. turning our backs on children who had been sexually tortured by our priests to protect
those priests and our culture? One of your And please stop asserting that you did not brothers, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, know what was going on before 2002. If the has already laid out some appropriate steps. scandal exploded in 2002, it was because a Bishops must "cede authority," he said, to long fuse had already set off explosions in allow for greater accountability to outside city after city and state after state and been authority. He also said that "privilege, power chronicled widely for 17 years before the and protection of a clerical culture" have to spark hit Boston. In the aftermath of those be "eradicated from the life of the church" or explosions, you were certain enough about "everything else is a sideshow." what was going on and its potential consequences that you employed Those are worthy points to consider. individually and corporately legions of The retreat you've scheduled for January lawyers. You knew enough to keep secret would be the perfect place to do just that as files under lock and key. You knew it was a body. A suggestion: attend in mufti and evil enough that you had to hide it. leave all the trappings, the collars and black
suits, all the silk and lace and pectoral It's over. crosses at home. God will recognize you.
Take that little step in humility and actually There is no denying you've done a lot of meet as brothers. Seek out those among you adjusting to the bad news. You put together who have suffered, who have known what it a charter to protect youth. (Fair to note that means to come through pain or addiction or it's taken you 16 years to get around illness. Ask them to help lead you out of this to considering including yourselves among dark moment. They would know the way. those to be held accountable.) You've instituted a national office, paid for When it is over, and here we make a elaborate studies, instituted national and suggestion that runs contrary to journalistic local review boards, held reconciliation interest: Be quiet. No grand services and required child protection pronouncements. training and background checks, and paid billions in settlements. The church is In the months to follow, as the federal indisputably a safer place for kids for all of investigation likely forces out more that effort. But it was all done in reaction to documents and that burning fuse continues outside forces. to set off explosions, some of you may pay
dearly for what you have or have not done in The only thing you can't be forced to do is what you would say our sacramental
11 the past. We'll know how your retreat went When New York Gov. Al Smith, the first by how you act in those moments. Catholic to be nominated by a major American party, and John F. Kennedy, the We'll know whether you've really hit bottom first Catholic president, ran in 1928 and and are on the mend with the best interests 1960, respectively, many Americans feared of the community at heart or whether you're that, if elected, the two would pursue a still in search of cheap grace and the easy hidden Catholic agenda. These days, few way out. fear the influence of the pope on a Biden administration. Indeed, in this time of It's over. division, pandemic, racism and global
In the name of the child victims, the families warming, we could do worse than torn apart, the parents who know no end to implementing a truly Catholic agenda. their agony, the body of Christ subjected to relentless humiliation for decades, it has to Here are six Catholic principles that our be over. This time has to be different. country could benefit from right now.
We pray for you, Reconciliation Your sisters and brothers, your fellow Our country is divided, Republicans from pilgrims, the church. Democrats, conservatives from liberals and whites from Blacks. In such a divided nation, we need reconciliation — the feeling Once feared as Vatican of forgiveness, and that we are right with meddling, Catholic ideas each other. Reconciliation is so important to Catholics that it is a sacrament, the one could help America move formerly referred to as Confession.
forward What this looks like in practice is the Nov 10, 2020 affirmation of the election by Los Angeles by Thomas Reese, Religion News Archbishop José H. Gomez, president of the Service U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who set aside the bishops’ differences with the president-elect and called for national unity on Saturday (Nov. 7), when the networks projected Biden as the winner.
“The American people have spoken in this election,” he said, without waiting for the president to concede. “Now is the time for our leaders to come together in a spirit of national unity and to commit themselves to dialogue and compromise for the common good.”
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a community The Republicans don't seem to be quite there event at Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, yet, as few have come forward to Wisconsin, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. (AP congratulate Biden on his win. It will be Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
12 seen whether the fact of Biden's presence in International cooperation the White House will convince them to Supporting multilateralism has been a invest in bipartisanship over divisiveness. central focus of Catholic teaching and Vatican foreign policy for more than a Reconciliation means finding common century. The Trump administration’s “go it ground, not ceding territory. Even as the alone” policy has alienated friends and hurt Democrats should reach out in our nation. Biden needs to turn this around reconciliation, they should also do as quickly as possible. everything they can to win two more Senate seats in Georgia. The can also reverse the We must return to the Paris Climate executive orders of President Trump and Agreement, settle our trade wars and unite restore earlier regulations that were gutted our allies in the face of Chinese and Russian by the administration. threats. America must once again stand for human rights. This will have to be done carefully since a Republican judiciary will be waiting to Because he has so many domestic problems strike down regulations that did not go to deal with, Biden needs a strong secretary through the proper procedural hurdles. of state, like former President Barack Obama, who will immediately have Heal the sick international respect and credibility. In imitation of Jesus, the Catholic community has always felt an obligation to Protect the earth care for the sick. The first hospitals were in Time is running out before global warming monasteries and convents where the sick brings apocalyptic disaster on the world. came for care. Today, with greater scientific This has been a top concern of Pope Francis, understanding, there is much more we can beginning with his 2015 encyclical Laudato do to heal the sick and to prevent disease. Si’. Rejoining the Paris climate accord will help, but the Green New Deal as currently At the top of Biden’s agenda is dealing with drafted will get nowhere in the Republican the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a Senate. president who respects science and supports efforts to reduce infections will help, but it The only way to get environmental will not be easy to convince Trump legislation through the Senate is to package supporters that he is really trying to save it so that lots of money goes to rural states. their lives. Greenbacks can beget green policies. While purists may object to such logrolling, it is as Chances of expanding healthcare in any American as apple pie. significant way are slim, but that does not mean that the administration cannot join Scientists are discovering ways to reduce with Republicans in implementing reforms agriculture’s contribution to global that reduce the cost of healthcare. It will be warming. They have also found ways that easier to expand healthcare in the future if agriculture can take carbon out of the air and we reduce its costs now. permanently lock it away. The government needs to pay farmers to adopt these practices. If farmers like the programs,
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Republican senators will not be able to be childcare, adoption and healthcare for obstructionist. mothers and children. If the commission can reach consensus, then it can help sell the Meanwhile, the new administration must do programs to Congress. everything it can through government regulations and executive orders to fight Americans used to fear Catholics the way global warming and environmental they currently fear Muslims, but I think this degradation. is a Catholic agenda that most Americans could get behind. We need reconciliation, Respond to racism healing, international cooperation, an end to The Catholic Church, a global institution, is global warming and racism and fewer the ultimate big tent. It includes people from abortions. Despite the likelihood of every race, nation and culture. That has not congressional gridlock, President Biden can stopped it from being racist, but the Church do much to move forward this agenda. It sees racism inside or outside the church as a would be very Catholic. sin.
In the U.S., more needs to be done in November is Black Catholic fighting racism in immigration, law History Month enforcement, housing and employment. A lot can be done by the Justice Department A time to celebrate all the and other federal agencies even if the contribution that Black Catholics Republican Senate stands in the way of new bring to the church. As Sister legislation. Bad executive orders and Thea Bowman stated in her regulations need to be reversed. Laws need to be enforced. Domestic terrorism from message to the USCCB in June white supremacists must be fought. 1989. What does it mean to be Black and Catholic? “It means Reducing abortion that I bring my whole history, my The Catholic Church has come to be defined traditions, my experience, my by its opposition to abortion, while Biden culture, my African –American was elected despite the efforts of pro-life song and dance and gesture and groups. But Biden has an opportunity to look for common ground even here. He movement and teaching and should appoint a presidential commission to preaching and healing and come up with ways to reduce the number of responsibility as a GIFT TO THE abortions without touching the legal CHURCH. It means that I come question. to my church fully functioning. I bring myself, my black self, all The commission should contain pro-life that I am, all that I have , all that Republicans and Democrats, including those who were defeated for reelection to I hope to become.” Congress. Their mandate would be to come up with programs that can reduce abortions, Our church needs healing from a goal they should all support. This may the racism that has occurred over include programs like parental leave,
14 the years. Now more than ever Institute for Black Catholic we need to appreciate the gift for Studies, The Josephites, The our diverse Knights and Ladies of Peter communities. Racism is a sin Claver, The National Association and has no place in our of Black Catholic communities nor our Administrators, The National church. There are numerous Black Catholic Apostolate for writings on the contributions of Life, The National Black Black Catholics that will enhance Catholic Clergy Caucus, The your understanding of racial National Black Seminarians inequities. Engaging and Association, The National Black creating spaces that share Sisters’’ Conference, and The US opportunities of understanding Conference of Catholic our celebrations of being black Bishops. These organizations Catholics is important to our are committed to the freedom history and everyday life. This is and growth of African a time for understanding the Americans as full participants ugliness and hatred of racism and in church and society. to work to remedy that hatred by opening our hearts and ears and For more information about the minds. history of African American Discover the beauty of Black Catholics, please see the article Catholic History Month by in the Smithsonian Magazine visiting the National Black at https://www.smithsonianmag.c Congress www.nbccongress.org om/history/history-black- , founded by Bishop John Ricard catholics-in-america- to learn about the various 180969271/.
affiliated organizations and their
contributions to the church. The organization is comprised of member organizations, representing African American Roman Catholics, working, and collaborating with National Roman Catholic organizations.
They include the Black Catholic Theological Symposium, The
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A flash of lightning Pencil Preaching for Thursday, November 12, 2020 Nov 11, 2020 by Pat Marrin
Spirituality
The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed” (Luke 17:20).
Philemon 7-20; Luke 17:20-25 Today’s first reading from St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon is both a private pastoral appeal and a remarkable statement revealing just how revolutionary the Gospel was for first century believers. Paul writes to a man he had converted in Colossae, the owner of a runaway slave who later joined Paul as his helper. The names Philemon (loving) and Onesimus (useful) suggest that Paul’s private letter had become a broader statement in circulation on the question of slavery.
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Paul uses all his powers of persuasion to get Universe took his place among the poor, Philemon to forgive Onesimus and take him enslaved, neglected and abused members of back into his household, no longer a slave the human community, surrendering all but his brother in Christ. It was a life or divine prerogatives and accepting death on a death appeal, since escape was punishable cross in order to reveal that the hidden glory by death in order to set an example for other of God is Absolute Love. slaves thinking of running away. Ancient Rome and Greece both used slave labor to Christian eschatology, “last things,” holds build and serve their cultured worlds. One of accountability as essential for history. The their greatest fears was a widespread slave church proclaims Jesus’ suffering and death revolt like the one Spartacus inspired, which as redemptive, the inauguration of the new was put down in 71 BCE, when 6,000 Creation. Jesus’ resurrection confirms God’s survivors were crucified along the Appian mercy for a sinful world and promises a Way as a warning. Beloved Community as our destiny. How and when judgment will come for us is “Philemon” is one of Paul’s authentic unknown, but what we do know is that love letters, yet it receded in importance and its is the first Commandment and that when we message did not change a brutal practice that love one another, God’s Kingdom is already was even supported using the Bible well into here. the 19th Century, with racist reverberations in world culture today, one of the most glaring anomalies in the history of 'Fratelli Tutti' offers a new Christianity. language for Muslim-
In today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses the Catholic solidarity question of when the Kingdom of God is to Nov 12, 2020 appear. It is not a visible breakthrough or by Asad Dandia announced event but an ongoing wave of conversion overtaking each generation from within. Jesus compares it to lightning flashing across the entire horizon, lighting up the night sky with awesome and foreboding power. So will judgment come upon the world when it least expects it, like a thief in the night, another image Jesus uses.
What is most shocking is the revelation that will judge history. The world of hierarchies of wealth and power, privileged societies built on the servile labor and suffering of the majority, what Liberation theologians have A Catholic woman and nun exchange holy named “the crucified of history,” will be books with Muslim women leaders Dec. 13, turned upside down. What they and the 2019, in Garissa, Kenya. Catholics and Muslims “nations” will realize in a lightning flash of collectively account for roughly one-third of all accountability is that the Master of the people, and the well-being of the world is
17 dependent not just upon our relationships with by drawing from the shared idiom of the each other, but upon our relationships with Quran. humanity as a whole. (CNS/Courtesy of Fr. Nicholas Mutua) When I read Pope Francis' new encyclical on solidarity, I saw a passionate clarion call "O humanity! Indeed, We created you from from the leader of the only other religious a male and a female, and made you into community with comparable diversity and peoples and tribes so that you may get to numbers, similarly exhorting his followers know one another. Surely the most noble of to higher moral-ethical ideals in a shared you in the sight of Allah is the most idiom. But it was within righteous among you. Allah is truly All- the particularities of that idiom that Knowing, All-Aware." paradoxically made it resonate universally. —Quran 49:13 Too often does interfaith engagement center commonality at the expense of difference, This Quranic verse is emblematic of the but it is precisely in embracing the latter that Islamic tradition's embrace of plurality and true solidarity is affirmed. its call to goodness. The first part affirms that human difference is neither an accident As my colleague Jordan Denari nor a deviation to be fixed, but an Duffner has written, though the encyclical intentional manifestation of the divine plan itself doesn't mention "Islam" or "Muslims," for human beings to "get to know one its message is clearly animated by Muslim- another" in their plurality. The second part, Catholic encounters — St. Francis of following from an affirmation of that Assisi's meeting with Sultan Malik al-Kamil plurality, confers nobility not to nationality in 1219 and Pope Francis' meeting with the or tribalism, but to righteousness. One might Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in 2019 — that call it a Fratelli Tutti verse. serve as models for social solidarity across our traditions. For Muslims, the Quran is the divine speech of God, articulated in the Arabic language Catholics and Muslims collectively account and revealed to the Prophet Muhammad for roughly one-third of all people, and the through the Archangel Gabriel over a period well-being of the world is dependent not just of 23 years. It has served as a moral-ethical upon our relationships with each other, but guide for societies stretching from the upon our relationships with humanity as a Balkans to Indonesia to — as recent whole. It is not merely that our respective scholarship has shown — the Americas for traditions teach us to be good and just, but centuries. that they offer us a language that can expand the horizons of what social solidarity can That the sacred text has informed the lives look like as the world grapples with crisis of more than 1 billion believers across time after crisis. and space without homogenizing them into a monochrome singularity has been hailed as To use a shared idiom between us, one can one of the hallmark qualities of Muslim say we are living in the age of pharaohs. civilization. And since the age of Muslims are under siege prophethood has ended with Muhammad, it in France, India, Myanmar and China, and becomes the prerogative of all believers to centuries-old Christian communities in forge a prophetic paradigm of righteousness the Middle East and Asia endure
18 unprecedented persecution. Amid this indicates as much by rejecting both "a trauma, Pope Francis begins his encyclical populism that exploits [the vulnerable] with a paradigm of friendship that draws demagogically for its own purposes" and "a from Muslim-Catholic encounters to liberalism that serves the economic interests underscore the possibility of human of the powerful." fraternity. Muslims are part of the human family, neither as competitors nor as subordinates, but as equals.
The historical encounters between Islam and Catholicism contain both conflict and communion, and believers in both traditions must grapple with the weight of their history, but the fact that there is a history points to a potentiality of what is yet to be.
What might a new language of Muslim- Catholic solidarity look like in this moment? One of the central concepts of social solidarity in the Islamic tradition is the command to "enjoin the good and forbid the evil" (amr bi'l-ma'ruf wa'l nahy 'an il- Pope Francis and Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand munkar), which the Muslim sage Imam al- imam of Egypt's al-Azhar mosque and Ghazali (died 1111) referred to as "the university, leave an interreligious meeting in greatest axis in the religion and the primary Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 4, 2019. concern for which God sent all the (CNS/Paul Haring) Prophets." At the same time, he reaffirms, as he did While there is a rich discussion within the with the grand imam (I should point out that Islamic tradition as to the concept's there is no analogue to the pope in Islam. categories, practices and implementation, its The grand imam is rector of the world's centrality as a guiding force for believers is most respected Sunni institution, but he affirmed within the Quran itself. holds no unique theological stature as such), that "we do not ignore the positive advances The scholar Talal Asad writes that Islam's made in the areas of science, technology, tradition of enjoining good and forbidding medicine, industry and welfare" but that all evil can potentially forge a paradigm of of these advances are only as good as the friendship and mutual responsibility outside human beings advancing them. of the state and capitalism, and help us "unthink our language of sovereign power, Neither consigning economic inequality, with its calculative, logical obsessions and armed conflict, populist xenophobia and the race to progress that that language environmental destruction to fatalism nor invites us to join." describing them as the natural state of affairs, Francis recognizes the role of human I suspect that the pope recognizes the agency in bringing them about and in urgency for a new paradigm, too. He challenging them.
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By channeling the radical Latin American tradition that has inflected his persona, Richard Rohr's Daily Francis forcefully takes aim at the material Meditation conditions that have robbed the world's From the Center for Action and masses of the capacity to live dignified lives. Contemplation In a world that is exhausted by empty speech, the encyclical avoids indulging in vague, self-serving platitudes. Religious discourse often becomes so entangled in otherwise scholastic theological debates or paternalistic sermonizing that attending to human welfare often takes a backseat. Our theologies must not merely be stated, but embodied, and our praxes must not be anthropocentric, but anthropological. We
have a duty to show how God can and must Week Forty-five be present in attending to our immanent needs. The Transforming Power of Love
The pope's encyclical — articulated in a Revolutionary Love shared idiom — attends to our global crises Thursday, November 12, 2020 and pushes us to forge a new paradigm of social solidarity. Muslims and Catholics find Is this the darkness of the tomb, or of the themselves at a critical juncture where the womb? I don’t know. All I know is that the possibilities of inaugurating this paradigm only way we will endure is if each of us are ripe. We are nations and tribes, different, shows up to the labor. —Valarie Kaur and yet, precisely because of that difference, In this liminal space we find ourselves in we are meant to protect one another as now, Sikh activist, civil rights attorney, and witnesses on behalf of God. author Valarie Kaur believes that “revolutionary love is the call of our times.” As the Quran says, "If God did not repel She brings the fullness of her faith and her some people by means of others, many humanity to answer the questions so many of monasteries, churches, synagogues, and us are asking. I think you will find her mosques, where God's name is much insights quite compelling: invoked, would have been destroyed" (Quran 22:40). To do the work of enjoining If you cringe when people say that love is good and forbidding evil is to do the work of the answer, I do, too. The problem is not prophets in an age of pharaohs. But the with love but with the way we talk about it. prophethood has ended, so it is our job to We mostly talk about love as a flood of take up the mantle and forge a prophetic emotion. But feelings alone are too fickle paradigm. and fluid [RR—too based in the false self, I would also say] to sustain political action. [Asad Dandia is an educator, organizer and Social reformers through history led entire graduate student of Islamic Studies at nonviolent movements anchored in love as Columbia University.] an ethic. Time and again, people gave their bodies and breath for one another, not only in the face of fire hoses and firing squads,
20 but also in the quieter venues of their daily Richard again: Perhaps a nondual response lives. Black feminists like bell hooks have to Kaur’s question above is that moments of long envisioned a world where the love ethic felt darkness are both a tomb and a womb. is a foundation for all arenas of our society. I We must die to the old before the truly new believe we can reclaim love as a force for can be born. justice for a new time.
Gateway to Action & Contemplation: Here is my offering: What word or phrase resonates with or “Love” is more than a feeling. Love is a challenges me? What sensations do I notice form of sweet labor: fierce, bloody, in my body? What is mine to do? imperfect, and life-giving—a choice we make over and over again. If love is sweet Prayer for Our Community: labor, love can be taught, modeled, and O Great Love, thank you for living and practiced. This labor engages all our loving in us and through us. May all that we emotions. Joy is the gift of love. Grief is the do flow from our deep connection with you price of love. Anger protects that which is and all beings. Help us become a community loved. And when we think we have reached that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ love. longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . “Revolutionary love” is the choice to enter Knowing you are hearing us better than we into wonder and labor for others, for are speaking, we offer these prayers in all our opponents, and for ourselves in order to the holy names of God, amen. transform the world around us. It is not a formal code or prescription but an Story from Our Community: orientation to life that is personal and I have been walking these hills and woods political and rooted in joy. Loving only for 35+ years, seeking knowledge and ourselves is escapism; loving only our enlightenment. Little did I 'know' that what I opponents is self-loathing; loving only sought, that end point, space, was always others is ineffective. All three practices walking along with me. Yep, right there in together make love revolutionary, and the empty spaces between my striding feet. I revolutionary love can only be practiced in was not 'going' somewhere, rather, I had community. already arrived. What radical awe and wonder when I realized that I already 'knew' Revolutions do not happen only in grand what I was seeking to 'know.' Rather than moments in public view but also in small hiking along the ridge line expecting to find pockets of people coming together to inhabit a destination, I simply sat down where I was a new way of being. We birth the beloved and enjoyed the view having already found community by becoming the beloved it. —William K. community. . . . When a critical mass of people practice together, in community and as part of movements for justice, I believe we can begin to create the world we want, here and now.
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US bishops need to recalibrate their stance toward the culture Nov 13, 2020 by Michael Sean Winters
Accountability
Bishop’s Appeal Message from Diocese of Oakland Office of Mission Advancement: On behalf of everyone at the chancery, we extend our sincere thanks to all parishioners who have supported the 2020 Bishop’s Appeal with a gift or pledge. Of course, we understand that, for many, charitable giving has been Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, now adversely impacted by financial hardship president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic due to the Coronavirus pandemic. During Bishops, holds his rosary Nov. 10, 2019, in a Baltimore hotel where he attended the U.S. such challenging times, a gift of any amount bishops' fall general assembly last year. is appreciated more than ever. (CNS/Chaz Muth)
Thank you to everyone who has been able to Next Monday, the U.S. bishops will begin support this year’s Bishop’s Appeal. As of their annual plenary meeting with a big October 31, 2020, two hundred ten difference: Due to COVID-19, they will not St. Ignatius of Antioch families raised be gathering as they have in recent years at $19,222 (55%) towards our goal of the Marriott Waterfront hotel in Baltimore, $34,900. but will hold a virtual meeting spread over two days. If you in a position to support the Bishop’s Appeal but have not yet done so, please COVID-19 is not only changing the manner prayerfully consider a gift of any amount. of their convocation, it should also inform Make your check payable to “Bishop’s the recalibration of the bishops' stance Appeal” and place in the collection basket at toward the culture, a recalibration that the weekend liturgies or walk up Holy should be the central focus of this year's Communion. meeting.
The parish office is open Monday - Friday, Last spring, the bishops — like most 8:30am until 12:30pm. You may also mail Americans — did what was asked of them. your donation to the rectory, We suspended in-person liturgies. We went 209 Tanganyika Ct., Antioch, CA 94509. without the solemn celebrations of Holy
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Week. We closed our schools. In many Biden is a man of decency who is wrong, cities, bishops and other clergy developed not an indecent man, and if the bishops better relations with their civic leaders as all welcome his presidency in the same nasty, saw the clamant necessity of combating this combative way they welcomed that of horrific threat to the common good. When President Barack Obama, they will live to we all started reopening our society, we did regret it. They need to abandon the zero- so cautiously and in concert with public sum, legalistic approach they have followed health requirements. in recent years, as if the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is an arm of the Becket In short, the bishops learned something Fund. about the common good, about what we owe to one another, and how, in a pluralistic They should look to lower the temperature society, the common good can be sought in the culture wars and reach some even while enormous differences on issues accommodations with the Biden remain. administration on the issues where they disagree with the president and work As the bishops prepare to welcome a new together on the many, many issues about administration in Washington, they need to which a Democratic administration is much be guided by that concern for the common closer to the teachings of the church than the good and abandon the culture-warrior outgoing administration was, starting with approach that has plagued their public immigration and climate change policy. If posture for too long. they don't, many of the next generation of Democrats will continue to put the words President-elect Joe Biden is now the most religious liberty in scare quotes and prominent Catholic in the country. He prioritize abortion rights above those rights speaks powerfully about how important his enumerated in the First Amendment. faith is to him, usually in the context of the Of course, no issue will hang over this monstrous suffering he endured, losing his meeting like the McCarrick report. Some of wife and daughter in a car accident, and then their brethren were not candid when they his adult son to brain cancer. He also ran a were consulted about Theodore McCarrick's campaign that highlighted some of the misdeeds by the nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel pillars of Catholic social teaching — human Montalvo, in the spring of 2000. It was dignity, the common good, solidarity — and ridiculous to think an inquiry of McCarrick's he did so explicitly. He is not coming at the protégés constitutes an investigation, but bishops looking for a fight. that does not let those bishops, now deceased, off the hook in terms of assigning Yes, from a Catholic perspective, the moral responsibility for McCarrick's rise. president-elect is grievously wrong in his support for liberal abortion laws. We The system failure the report catalogues was Catholics are rightly horrified whenever any comprehensive but, like all such failures, group of people, no matter how powerless, needed only one or two brave, fiercely is denied legal protection. The taking of honest bishops to stand up and say, "No." innocent human life is wrong no matter the All the bishops need to pledge themselves to circumstance. But how a politician act responsibly in the implementation of sex approaches the issue of abortion is not the abuse policies, no matter who gets ensnared only thing to know about them. in any allegations and investigations.
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One of the issues that the report minimizes diocese, who gathered and compiled a terna is money. We may never know if there of three names that was sent to the were bustarellas involved in the McCarrick metropolitan. He, in turn, convoked a episode: The reason crooks use cash is meeting of all the bishops of the province because you can't trace it. and they also prepared a terna. Both lists were sent to the Propaganda Fide office in But we know that McCarrick was the Rome where the final terna was crafted for principal actor at the Papal Foundation, presentation to the pope. which raises money from big donors for papal charities. The entrance fee is $100,000 Why not bring back this process, and to become a member, but you get to go to include a terna from the nuncio? There is no Rome every year and meet the pope. Before guarantee it would have prevented someone his downfall, McCarrick accompanied the like McCarrick from being named a bishop, group each year. You can guess whether it but it might have. Besides, wider was the access or the charity that animated consultation might prevent other types of McCarrick the most. The Papal Foundation disastrous appointments: McCarrick is not should be shut down. McCarrick may be the only bishop to have ruined a diocese, gone, but the modus operandi remains the and sexual crimes are not the only form of same. episcopal malfeasance.
Another aspect of the money issue is that The conference of bishops is deeply divided, McCarrick took large checks from people as is the nation. But they also share uniquely and deposited them in accounts he alone powerful bonds upon which to draw if they controlled. Bishops should only, repeat only, get serious about rebuilding communion, a accept checks for the diocese or a legal communion to which they are pledged by nonprofit with a board of directors like their oath of office and the church's theology Catholic Charities. All such boards should about the office of bishop. That oath and have laypeople as well. that office, as well as the facts that they are all men of a certain age, all received similar McCarrick was never one to spend money training, all spend their days saying the same on fancy food or clothes. He only craved prayers and reading the same Scriptures, all power. The ability to spread money around these should make it somewhat easier for Rome or Poland was surely done with an them to find a basis for renewed eye toward his ecclesial advancement. communion. They could provide a model for the rest of the country. The bishops might also discuss with the nuncio how we could improve the If the bishops sincerely wish to try to build consultation process that determines whether communion one with another, they will also or not a candidate is suitable to become a need a shared goal. The experiences of 2020 bishop or be promoted to a larger see. point toward the obvious candidate.
Before 1893, there was no apostolic delegate COVID-19 has exposed the way poverty and in the U.S. to compile ternas (lists of race afflict our health care delivery system. candidates) for vacant sees. The process of The summer of protests highlighted the naming a new bishop began with a first systemic racism that continues to afflict our consultation that involved the priests of a culture and our society, denying Black
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Americans opportunities the rest of us take for granted. Poverty remains the greatest Richard Rohr's Daily abortifacient in our society. The election Meditation pointed to the limits of politics at this From the Center for Action and moment of time. What can unite these Contemplation different experiences?
Just last month, Fr. Michael McGivney, founder of the country's most famous mutual aid society, the Knights of Columbus, was beatified. The bishops should commit the entire church in the U.S. to addressing poverty and racism for the next few years, not only by lobbying for certain policies from the government, although that is essential. Not only through statements that invite reflection and conversion, although those can help. Week Forty-five
The Transforming Power of Love
No, the bishops need to start by examining our own institutions, from parishes to God, the Lover of Life schools to hospitals, to see how they can be Friday, November 13, 2020 used to provide a hand up to those on the margins of society, using the 19th-century Love is who you are. When you don’t live mutual aid societies as a model. Such an according to love, you are outside of being. effort would not only align the church in the You’re not being real. When you love, you U.S. more closely with the Gospel, but it are acting according to your deepest being, might help bishops, the church and the your deepest truth. You are operating society overcome the divisions that plague according to your dignity. —Richard Rohr us. Drawing from my many years of teaching, I can honestly say that the most powerful, [Michael Sean Winters covers the nexus of most needed, and most essential teaching is religion and politics for NCR.] always about love. Love is our foundation and our destiny. It is where we come from and where we’re headed. As St. Paul famously says, “So faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13).
My hope, whenever I speak or write, is to help clear away the impediments to receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in a foundational love. God’s love is planted inside each of us as the Holy Spirit who, according to Jesus, “will teach you everything and remind you of all that I
25 told you” (John 14:26). Love is who you May we never doubt this love. are. All I can do is remind you of what you May we know that we are love, already know deep within your True Self That we were created for love, and invite you to live connected to this That we are a reflection of you, Source. That you love yourself in us and therefore we are perfectly lovable. The first letter of John reminds us “God is love, and whoever remains in love, remains May we never doubt this deep and abiding in God and God in her or him” (1 John and perfect goodness. 4:16). The creation story in Genesis says that we were created in the very “image and We are because you are. likeness” of God—who is love (Genesis 1:26; see also Genesis 9:6). Out of the Justice Corner by Carolyn Krantz, Trinity’s generative, loving relationship, Pastoral Associate creation takes form, mirroring its Creator. Today's Gospel reminds us that we have a responsibility to use the talents and gifts that If we are truly created in the “image and God has given us. If we are good at likeness of God”—then our family of origin cooking, we cook for others. If we are good is divine. We were created by a loving God at organizing, we help others keep their lives to be love in the world. Our core is original in order, and so on. Everyone has gifts and blessing, not original sin. Our starting point weaknesses. We all make up the whole of is positive and, as it is written in the first the community. chapter of the Bible, it is “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We do have a good place to Fr. Richard Rohr says, “There is no such go home. If the beginning is right, the rest is thing as being non-political. Everything we made considerably easier, because we know say or do affirms or critiques the status quo. and can trust the clear direction of our life’s Even to say nothing is to say something.” tangent. We have just been through a difficult election that has shown us our differences We must all overcome the illusion of and divisions. I am so grateful for all the separateness. It is the primary task of “little people” who stayed at it to count and religion to communicate not worthiness but recount all the millions of votes cast. I am union, to reconnect people to their original grateful to the millions who showed up to identity “hidden with Christ in God” cast their votes proving that democracy (Colossians 3:3). God’s job description is to works, even in times of disagreement. Our draw us back into primal and intimate goal should be to “promote a full range and relationship. demands of authentic unity, acceptable diversity and respectful dialogue.” (Fr. May we pray together: James Bacik) We must strive to make our God, lover of life, lover of these lives, conflicts constructive. God, lover of our souls, lover of our bodies, lover of all that exists… Now we move forward to try to heal the In fact, it is your love that keeps it all divisions. We must use our gifts to unite the alive… country in these times of COVID and natural disasters. We are a generous church. May we live in this love. We contribute to many who are in need.
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Giving THINGS is one way to show love, questions, she would pause for about five but listening to another's pain is a special seconds before she responded. She did not gift. Now we have the hard task to invite jump in with her opinion, but listened to the people to speak and to listen to them. Our Spirit in her heart before speaking. Try that political views come from our personal in the midst of an argument! experiences. When you disagree with someone, listen to the experience that lead If we want the democracy to work, all of us them to hold that opinion. God saves by must take on the responsibility of making it loving and including, not by excluding and a place of freedom. Ask yourself, “In what ostracizing. concrete way could I help overcome the polarization in my circle of influence?” A When we turn to the Gospel, we find that person of faith sees God's image in the Jesus' political views were based in His “other” and offers God's love in the midst of understanding of the Trinity. He often conflict. We have a lot of work to do to help condemned the Pharisees for promoting law unify the democracy. Try using your talent over love. He refers to His unity with the of listening this week. It is all of our Father and to the Spirit. He spoke of the responsibility to help bring the country oneness in God and the flow of love together. between Persons. Just as love flows from Father to Son in the Spirit, we must let our Parish Perspective by love flow between friends and relatives of Peter Degl’Innocenti, Pastoral Associate differing opinions. Ask them about their Saying Goodbye to Jose experience. Listen with love. Put listening This Monday and Tuesday we say goodbye above getting your own point across. Pray to Jose Palomino. He was one of the few silently in your heart in the midst of the who walked the extra mile for the Lord. By discussion. “Our engagement in politics that I mean that he dedicated the latter part should be rooted in the Trinitarian flow of of his life to doing whatever he could for the God's love. (Rev. Wes Granberg- parish of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The church Michaelson) became his home away from home. He could be seen shoulder to shoulder with Don I am asking you to develop the talent of Benson and Rich Confetti working on listening. That is one of the greatest gifts of building maintenance, technology upgrades love we can offer to others. Even in today's to our facilities, and setting-up and tearing parable, we find that the person who got the down tables and chairs at our major events. one talent did not really listen to the Though definitely a team player, Jose could message beneath the instructions. “Wicked also be seen working away by himself while servant. You knew that I harvest where I did tending to the plants and grounds around the not plant and gather where I did not scatter! parking lot. Those three dedicated men Should you not have put the money in the became known by the first letter of their first bank where it could gather interest?” In names, the team of RDJ. other words, we must listen in prayer with our hearts to get the total message before we Jose gave us more than the skills of his respond to others. hands in service. He also had an immense heart. His care and dedication to his family I remember a speaker who taught me this. and friends was beyond the ordinary. He had When the audience asked her dicey a great sense of humor too if you were quick
27 enough to catch it! He had a very insightful sense of humor that was subtle and drier than a James Bond martini. More than once it took me a few seconds to register one of his comments for the humor it was. I’d smile and look at Jose and he’d give a little smile back with an expression of “Ah, he gets it!” on his face. He was a joy to be around. If the RDJ trio could be compared to the Three Stooges, Jose would be Curly; the one everybody loved. One of the gifts God gave to Jose was to be affable, to be as likable as he liked everyone around him. He just made life better for you when he was there.
Jose will be dearly missed. When our new parish hall expansion is complete Jose will not be here to help out. The plans we have, and the plans Jose had to help out have been superseded by the plans God has for him now in the company of the saints in heaven. We have but a short time on this earth, but we have an eternity in heaven. Jose is no doubt diving headlong into whatever God has set for him to do. In all his undertakings Jose showed patience, respect for others, and his wonderful sense of humor. Perhaps even now God has already smiled at one of Jose’s subtle comments of humor. I know we would.
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Catholic Campaign for Human Development Working on the Margins • LEARN about those living in poverty. • ACT and spread the word about poverty by sharing this flier. • CONNECT with the work of CCHD by supporting the collection. • PRAY for those who benefit from this collection.
regnant women and struggling families with not only assist vulnerable young children require assistance with their mate- families but do so in a con- The Catholic Campaign Prial and spiritual needs, regardless of their back- text of respect for the unique for Human Development ground. For low-income Hispanic women, this is espe- cultural needs of Hispanic (CCHD) allocates cially true, because linguistic and cultural differences families. With your contri- funds to community pose unique challenges for pregnancy volunteers and butions, Spanish-speaking projects that promote pastoral ministers. families are strengthened the mission and vision of In the Dioceses of Yakima and Spokane in central and nourished at the parish CCHD while adhering and eastern Washington, for example, your generos- level in these dioceses. to the moral and social ity to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development To learn more about the teachings of the Catholic helps a group called PREPARES en español to minister collection for the Catholic Church. Please visit to large and vibrant Hispanic communities. By training Campaign for Human Spanish-speaking and bilingual volunteers and coordina- Development, visit www. www.usccb.org/cchd to tors, and through developing Spanish-language materials, usccb.org/cchd/collection. view funding criteria and PREPARES en español offers support groups, family com- see a detailed list of our panions, and parent/child learning and playgroups that most recent grants and annual report.
2018-2019 Grants Community and Economic Development Programs
Category Dollars Number of Category % of Funding Grants • Economic Empowerment: New • Community and Businesses, Jobs, and Economic Financial Opportunity 31.2% Development Creating Resilient Communities, Grants $11,470,439 218 • Access to Housing, and • Strategic Strong Schools 27.5% National and • Defending the Rights of Immigrants 16.5% Regional Grants $6,183,437 16 • Reforming the Criminal Justice System 10.6% Technical • Building a Just Economy and Assistance • Protecting Worker Rights 8.7% Grants $147,129 12 • Expanding Access to Health Care and Empowering Persons with Disabilities 4.6% Total $17,801,005 • Protecting the Environment .9%
Office of National Collections 3211 Fourth Street NE • Washington, DC 20017-1194 • 202-541-3346 • www.usccb.org/cchd • www.povertyusa.org
Copyright © 2019, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Photos: Getty Images, Brian Payne, No Boundaries Coalition of Central West Baltimore, Dana Dillehunt and Willa K. Johnson, Opportunity Threads, CCHD archives. 40200400 Campaña Católica para el Desarrollo Humano Trabajando desde la periferia • APRENDAN acerca de aquellos que viven en la pobreza. • ACTÚEN y diseminen información sobre la pobreza compartiendo este folleto. • CONÉCTENSE con la labor de CCHD brindando su apoyo a la colecta. • OREN por los beneficiarios de esta colecta. as mujeres embarazadas y las familias con niños solo ayudan a las familias pequeños que luchan por salir adelante requieren vulnerables sino que lo La Campaña Católica para Lasistencia para sus necesidades materiales y espiritu- hacen dentro de un contexto el Desarrollo Humano ales, independientemente de su procedencia. Esto es muy de respeto por las singulares (CCHD) asigna fondos real para las mujeres hispanas de bajos recursos ya que las necesidades culturales de las a proyectos comunitarios diferencias lingüísticas y culturales les plantean dificul- familias hispanas. Con sus que promueven la misión tades singulares a los voluntarios y ministros pastorales que contribuciones, las familias y la visión de CCHD a trabajan con embarazadas. hispanas se fortalecen y se la vez que se adhiere a En las Diócesis de Yakima y de Spokane en la zona nutren a nivel parroquial en las enseñanzas morales centro y este de Washington, por ejemplo, su generosidad esas diócesis. y sociales de la Iglesia hacia la Campaña Católica para el Desarrollo Humano Para informarse más Católica. Por favor, ayuda a un grupo llamado PREPARES en español, que acerca de esta colecta para realiza su ministerio en esas grandes y entusiastas comu- la Campaña Católica para visiten www.usccb.org/cchd nidades hispanas. Al capacitar a voluntarios y a coordina- el Desarrollo Humano, para ver los criterios para dores que hablan español o son bilingües, y a través de la visiten www.usccb.org/cchd/ la adjudicación de fondos creación de materiales en español, PREPARES en español collection. y ver una lista detallada ofrece grupos de apoyo, acompañantes para las familias y de nuestras más recientes aprendizaje y grupos de juegos para padres e hijos que no donaciones y nuestro informe anual.
Donaciones 2018-2019 Programas para el Desarrollo Económico y de la Comunidad Categoría Dólares Número de donaciones Categoría % de financiamiento • Donaciones • Empoderamiento económico: para el desarrollo nuevos negocios, trabajos y de la comunidad oportunidades financieras 31.2% y económico $11,470,439 218 • Creando comunidades sólidas, acceso • Donaciones a viviendas y a mejores escuelas 27.5% estratégicas a • Defendiendo los derechos nivel nacional de los Inmigrantes 16.5% y regional $6,183,437 16 • Reformando el sistema de justicia penal 10.6% Desarrollando una economía justa Donaciones • • y proteg iendo los derechos de para asistencia los trabajadores 8.7% técnica $147,129 12 • Ampliando el acceso a los cuidados de la salud y empoderando a personas Total $17,801,005 con discapacidades 4.6% • Protegiendo el medio ambiente .9% Oficina de Colectas Nacionales 3211 Fourth Street NE • Washington, DC 20017-1194 • 202-541-3346 • www.usccb.org/cchd • www.pobrezausa.org Copyright © 2019, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. Todos los derechos reservados Fotos: Getty Images, Brian Payne, No Boundaries Coalition of Central West Baltimore, Dana Dillehunt y Willa K. Johnson, Opportunity Threads, CCHD archivos. 40200400
Antioch YLI #101 Sharing Sisterly Love Since 1922!
Our Annual YLI Holiday Boutique is happening by way of a virtual auction this year! It will begin on November 17, and the lucky winners will be announced on November 25, 2020.
We will be auctioning beautiful themed baskets to raise funds for YLI. We have received donations from vendors who previously participated in our Holiday Boutique, including a quilt and some beautiful craft items. We are excited to offer a game night basket including delectable snacks, dinner for four (4) made at your home by your YLI Sisters includes wine, place setting and two platters; beautiful basket full of wonderful Amway products; Christmas Wrap package that includes gift wrapping services by your YLI Sisters! We are also offering two (2) baskets full of Avon products and a his and her basket includes “The Art of Shaving” grooming kit for him and spa items for her.
We are in immediate need of items and especially cash donations to help finish up our baskets! If you, a friend, or a local business can make a donation, we are happy to accept crafts, handmade items, gifts, candles, wine, accessories, jewelry, homewares, kitchen accessories, pampering products, store or restaurant gift cards, board games or puzzles, children's items, religious items, arts and crafts, lottery tickets, or monetary donations so we can buy items for the baskets. If you have a special talent, hobby, or skill that you could donate, like gardening, organizing, cleaning, hanging Christmas lights, yard clean up, or anything else, we're happy to auction your time or services, too! Only new, in-package or handmade items will be accepted for these baskets. As a benefit to donors, their business contact information will be included in the description for all baskets containing items they have donated.
Each item will have a minimum starting bid as well as minimum increments to raise the bids. For the week the auction is running it will be updated frequently. More details will be available at the next meeting. We will also send a separate set of instructional emails once the auction begins. For questions or donations, please contact Shelli Daviess 925.584.0843 or Teresa Glenn 925.286.8221.