29 OT A: Even Caesar had dignity.

Friends

Peace be with you. 

One of the books I read to prepare my homilies each week is called, “Food for the Soul” by the philosopher Peter Kreeft. I found something he wrote in his commentary on today’s readings particularly insightful. He says

“The English Catholic Philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe had a sixteen-year-old daughter who was arrested and hauled into court for publicly protesting abortion too close to a “bubble zone” near an abortion clinic. She rejected the offer of a public defender and defended herself in court. The judge lectured her: “I know you are a Catholic. You are here in court because you have forgotten one of the things that your teacher Jesus said about the relations between religion and politics: ‘Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.’” Miss Anscombe replied: “The bodies of our unborn children do not belong to Caesar.”

October is designated as respect life month and our readings today speak rather eloquently of the need for us to have a holistic approach to this problem, defending all threats to human life that affect people from natural conception to natural death. Starting with the first reading, we hear from the Prophet Isaiah about a future event in which a pagan king named Cyrus would be the agent that freed the people of Judah from slavery. The people of the Old Testament would have thought God would use one of their kings to free them from slavery but, instead, God worked through someone who would have been seen as an “other” to free them. 

Similarly, in the gospel, there is an oddity right from the start that we may easily miss. It says that some Herodians and Pharisees came to trap Jesus in his speech. The Pharisees are religious ultra traditionalists. They know and keep every law and want to overthrow Rome at all costs. The Herodians, on the other hand, were religiously lax because being in league with Rome had made them very rich. So, as one commentary I heard said, this is like hearing President Trump and the members of his administration got Vice-President Harris and the former members of the Biden administration and approached Jesus to trap him. The Pharisees want nothing to do with Roman coins. It had a graven image on it and it boldly proclaimed “Caesar is god” on it. The Herodians, on the other hand, loved that coin because it made them rich and powerful. It appears that someone will be angry however Jesus answers them. However, Jesus does two things that are absolutely brilliant. First, this is taking place on the Temple Mount, the place where both Pharisees and Herodians have agreed to exchange the coin of Caesar with a Jewish coin through money changers. When Jesus asked for one of them to show him the coin, he is showing that he has followed rules they have chosen not to follow by having graven images on the Temple Mount. Second, he asks whose image is on the coin. Everyone would have known it had Caesar’s image on it even if they didn’t physically have one. But in whose image and likeness is Caesar made? He may think he is God but they know he is not but that, like all humanity, Caesar is made in God’s image and likeness. So, Jesus’ response of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s becomes a challenge for them to recognize that all people are created in God’s image and likeness. Even when rendering something unto Caesar, you are rendering it to someone created in the image and likeness of God, granted someone who has distorted that image through sin and alienation from God, but, like Cyrus in the Old Testament, also someone God can use to fulfill his will. When you think about it, God used Herod to accomplish his will when Herod condemned Jesus to death on the cross for the salvation of the world. Herod may have thought he was simply putting down a religious revolutionary of sorts. But, in the end, his evil act of condemnation was an integral part of overthrowing the power of the devil and opening the gates of paradise for all who believe in Jesus. 

As Christians, one of the most important things we need to do right now is proclaim a message that all people are created in the image and likeness of God. Whether it’s AI technology and social media being used to radicalize the worst, most racist, misogynist, and violent behavior within society, we must continue to proclaim the unique dignity of the human person. We also must condemn our government’s recent decision to televise an upcoming act of capital punishment. Setting aside whether we need capital punishment in our country today, it must be said that a government livestreaming an act of murder opens the doors for its normalization, not only by radically evil governments and other terrorist organizations but by an ever increasingly morally bankrupt entertainment industry. We must demand our government rethink this decision because any time we diminish the dignity of the human person for one person, even a sick, awful killer, we diminish it for all people. And lastly, we can’t just rely on our courts to make the case against abortion. We have to speak out in love and truth with the same boldness as Miss Ascombe did to make the case that abortion is unthinkable, not just illegal. Part of that has to do with having places like Mary’s Inn in Dubuque and Guiding Star healthcare in Waterloo that help women who are in the difficult situation of not knowing how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. We have to be able to see the dignity, not only of the unborn child, but of the scared woman carrying that child and the woman who may think herself unwanted in our lives or our church because she, in the past, decided to have an abortion. 

As we find ourselves in the midst of this respect life month, we hear God calling us to respect all life from natural conception to natural death, even those we think are far away from him. Who have we written off as evil that may need us to recognize the dignity in them?

28 OT A: Don't wish away the pain, embrace it.

Friends

Peace be with you. 

It’s college football season and I have to admit something: I’m kind of happy that Penn State stinks this year. If you have no idea why I would say that, it’s because the coach of Iowa State left last year to take the head coaching job at Penn State. He also took almost the entire football team with him. So watching Coach Campbell struggle gives me the same joy I have when Nebraska or Wisconsin lose. This is especially true when I have to watch Iowa State struggle to compete this year.  

        I’m, once again, borrowing some ideas from the Sunday School podcast for my homily. They pointed out that, if you look at the citation for today’s first reading, you will notice that it says Isaiah chapter twenty five verses six through ten a. They cut the last verse in half because, had they completed it, it would have seemed totally incongruous with the optimism of the passage we heard. It says, “For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trodden down as straw is trodden down in the mire.” It sounds like God took a hard left-hand turn there at the end. What did Moab do to him? Actually, the passage we read is the left turn. Up until this point, we’re in the middle of the first part of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. In previous chapters, the Lord has been warning the people in the southern kingdom of the destruction of the peoples all around them. And, like me with Penn State, they’re kind of fine with that. In fact, it seems like they want their neighbors to suffer. But then, Isaiah turns to them and warns them “O LORD, you are my God, I extol you, I praise your name; For you have carried out your wonderful plans of old, faithful and true. For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin, The castle of the insolent, a city no more, not ever to be rebuilt.” Why is the prophet celebrating the destruction of Israel?

It might be explained if we look at the Responsorial Psalm for today, Psalm twenty three. This is probably the most famous of all the Psalms, especially among our Protestant brothers and sisters. It’s often used at funerals. Notice that, in order to get to the banquet that God has prepared, the writer has to go through the valley of the shadow of death. The writer of the Psalm says he is not afraid because God is with him with his crook and his staff to protect him. But why go through the valley of the shadow of death in the first place? Is it because the only way our faith grows is if it is tested? Is it because God trusts and loves us so much that he allows our faith to be tested? Is it because God has set a time when the world will come to an end and, prior to that, the evil one is trying to get as many people to abandon their faith as a way of winning a battle while the war is lost? I think there are elements of all of that and probably more in this. 

That’s the only way that the end of today’s gospel makes any sense. I understand that many who are invited don’t show up to the banquet. As Catholics, the church asks us to come to Mass every Sunday and holy day in order to remain in good standing unless we are unable to do so. But there are many people who could come to Mass who simply don’t. So God invites the willing to come and is happy with those of us who do prioritize it. Fine. However, what is going on with the guy who isn’t wearing a wedding garment? Notice that the king addresses him as his friend. Notice, too, that the man doesn’t offer an excuse such as being poor or unprepared. It says he was reduced to silence. The commentary I heard said this probably would have been seen, by the people at the time, as hostility toward the king, as though the guest feels entitled to be there and not grateful for the unmerited invitation. So the king tosses him out.

The point of these three readings, then, is that living a life of holiness isn’t meant to be easy. There are moments when it feels like we are in the shadow of death or that God is treating us just like he does all the unfaithful people around us. We can’t respond by looking around and hoping that other people are miserable just to make ourselves happy. In those times, we need to cleave even tighter to our prayer and trust that the Lord is with us in the valley of the shadow of death getting us to the banquet he has prepared for us. 

26 OT A: Letting go to bear good fruit

Friends

Peace be with you. 

Have you ever tried to do a home improvement project that ended up actually making things worse? In a previous assignment, I had the bright idea of planting grapevines. There was an ideal plot of land that would get good sun and ample moisture. I contacted a local vineyard and had them test the soil and recommend the best variety of grapes. I had them come and plant them with my maintenance person so he’d have a say how far apart to space them for mowing. The vines started growing and producing leaves. I knew it was going to be several years before we saw grapes so I sort of checked out. About two months after we planted them, my maintenance guy came to me and said the guy from the vineyard was there on Friday and all the plants were dead. A week after that, he emailed and said that he only tested the first six inches of soil, which are ideal for growing grapes. When they all died, he tested deeper soil and found it became too acidic for grapes to grow and it was basically an unusable plot. I walked out after I talked to him on the phone and saw these little sticks sticking out of the ground and realized all the investment, both financially and temporally, was a waste. 

This is a very unusual Sunday in ordinary time where there is a very consistent theme with the readings directly building upon each other. In the first reading, we heard the Prophet Isaiah use the image of a grapevine to describe God’s chosen people. God planted a vineyard, protected it, prepared for a great harvest, and, in the end, he got sour grapes or rotten grapes or stinky grapes, depending on your translation. In the end, the prophet asks the people what should be done and they seem to respond that the only thing that can be done is to knock down the fence and let the animals eat it. The last line is instructive. “he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!” In other words, God expected for people to live in a way where we respected each other’s rights but, instead, he found us determining the rights by who was most powerful. 

This theme of vineyards gets picked up in the gospel where Jesus appeared to be borrowing from the story from Isaiah but then took it in a new direction. Instead of producing bad fruit, we have bad caretakers. A landowner invests in everything he needs to grow good grapes and then moves and leaves the vineyard in the care of some caretakers. They decide that, rather than seeing themselves as caretakers, they’re going to act like it’s theirs. When the landowner sends people to collect the rewards, the caretakers beat them and kill them. Jesus used the rule of threes, increasing the importance of the visitors each time until the landowners sent his son. The caretakers realized they could claim ancestry rights if they got rid of the lone heir to the throne so they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. They’d become the stinky grapes. I love that, some of the same people who were in the crowd at his crucifixion saying “crucify him, crucify him” are condemning themselves here, when asked what should happen to the caretakers. They’re quick to condemn but slow to comprehend.

We have to be better than them. We have to see everything we have been given as a gift given to us to take care of. The tighter we hold onto it, the less focused we are on serving God and not ourselves. Bishop Barron will talk about how everything the church does needs to be at the service of the gospel. Catholic healthcare has to be at the service of the gospel, which is why Catholic hospitals  shouldn’t be compelled to provide abortion services or contraceptive services. Catholic schools have to be at the service of the gospel, which is why they have to unapologetically preach the gospel and not be afraid of offending someone or, worse yet, be forced to teach something that is opposed to the gospel such as Marxist critical theory. Certainly, our parishes have to be at the service of the gospel, which is why we can’t expect our parish to fit into our schedule or have a message that strokes our egos.

As I look back on that vineyard, I realize how often in my previous assignments, I’ve taken on projects that are not directly related to the spread of the gospel. I have a tendency to want to plant a large garden that takes time in the spring, summer, and fall that I could have spent visiting the homebound or preparing for and teaching about the gospel. Especially in this time of Journey in Faith, I can see how important it is for our parishes to remain focused on the spread of the gospel and let go of things that distract us from that. But letting go is challenging because they are often social activities for which we have a strong positive feeling or activities that used to attract a lot of new people that now seem only interesting to the same group of people that are decreasing in number each year. 

What do we have to let go in order to bear good fruit?

23 OT A: The way to get along is to talk over when we disagree

Friends

Peace be with you.

I am very conflict avoidant. If I realize I’m going to have to confront someone who I believe has wronged me, I seek any other path than to actually talk to the person about what has happened. First, I hope that the person will realize what they’ve done without me talking to them and will self correct. When I realize that’s probably not going to happen, I may talk to the person about other things in the hopes that they realize how nice of a guy I am and how mean they’ve been to me. When I realize the issue probably has nothing to do with me being a nice person, I keep the conversation going in the hopes that my grievance will just naturally come up. I’ve had to learn to be more direct if I really feel like there is a need for correction.

I think that’s why this gospel has always been so attractive to me. It spells out clearly how we are to go about confronting someone who has wronged us. What I’ve never done before is put it in context, which, I think, is important. Having listened to some Bible scholars, I think there’s a deeper meaning to this passage. I think it actually started a few weeks ago when Jesus and the disciples were at a place called Caesarea Phillippi. At that town, filled with temples to Greek gods and named after two Roman men, Caesar who declared himself a god, and Herod Phillip, who renamed the town in an attempt to curry favor with Caesar, Jesus essentially named St. Peter his vicar. This happened because Peter’s faith was so strong that he was the first to name Jesus as the messiah, the Son of God. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom and declared that whatever he bound on earth would be bound in heaven and vice versa.

Whenever there are these types of designations, there is also room for dissension, especially when the vicar Jesus chose was almost immediately reprimanded for trying to stop Jesus from saying that he would be killed by the Romans. The disciples had to see that Peter was not a great leader so they probably also started trying to figure out how to take his place. Jesus could see the discord developing so he immediately started talking about how personal sacrifice was going to be constitutive of being a disciple. We have to take up our cross to follow him.

There are a few other things that happened in chapter 17 where it seems like Jesus was trying to act like everything was normal but, eventually, at the beginning of Chapter 18, the disciples approached Jesus and asked who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven was. The answer should be obvious, Jesus is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If they want to know, aside from him, who is the greatest, Jesus already appointed Peter as his vicar so, again, it should be obvious. When Jesus called over some random child and said that whoever humbles himself like a little child would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, he wasn’t just saying that we should be sweet and kind like little children. Parents know that little kids aren’t always sweet and kind. They can be real jerks sometimes. But, as any parent also knows, even when they’re jerks you still love them because they’re your jerks.

It makes sense to me that, in most of chapter 19, Jesus had to give out practical advice on what to do when there are disagreements in the church because there were already disagreements among his followers. He was trying to recognize that dissension and disagreements in the church are different than anywhere else because we are meant to love each other the same way a parent loves his or her child. So, when your brother or sister sins against you, you approach them one-on-one and talk to them. Only if that doesn’t work do you bring one or two more members of the family to try and resolve the problem and eventually, the whole family that is the church.

Now I have to admit, if these scholars are correct, and I think they are, I’ve been wrong in my application of this passage in the past. Jesus says, if that doesn’t work, treat him like a Gentile or Tax collector. I used to think that meant to treat the person like an outsider, to ignore them and even shun them like they are public sinners. But remember that, St. Matthew was a tax collector and Jesus has been healing and eating with gentiles for the last several chapters. So the point isn’t that we can cut them off and ignore them like they are strangers. The point is that they need to be evangelized.

Being a Christian isn’t about living a life where everyone just gets along and there is no conflict. Instead, it’s about making mistakes and letting iron sharpen iron. In other words, it’s about helping each other grow in holiness by correction and being corrected. Sometimes that happens in the confessional by a type of self correction. But oftentimes it happens by allowing our fellow Christians to point out our weaknesses and mistakes and not getting dismissive, defensive, or afraid. St. John, in his first letter, said it best when he said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”



Have you ever been afraid to confront a fellow Christian? How can we let perfect love drive out that fear?

14 OT A: God gives the little ones rest.

Friends

Peace be with you. 

In the northern part of Israel, there is a place called Mount Arbel. It is located close to one of Jesus’ often visited towns called Capernaum, which is also the hometown of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Along with Capernaum, there were two other towns closeby named Chorazin and Bethsaida. They are in ruins, though you can still see the archaeological remains from Mt. Arbel. Archaeologists have explored Mt. Arbel and have found caves that were expanded to be dwellings for Jews from about 700 BC onward. They found an ancient synagogue. They know that battles were fought on and for Mt. Arbel. It is believed that the Zealot movement used Mt. Arbel as a training ground for new recruits. The Zealot movement was a violent Jewish movement seeking to overthrow the Roman government. They would have gone to local villages, such as Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida, to recruit people and, in turn, these three villages would have also been filled with members of the Zealot movement who would have moved there to be close to Mt. Arbel. 

This explanation helped to make sense of Matthew Chapter 11. Jesus begins his address today by saying “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” What things were revealed to the childlike but hidden from the wise and the learned? Immediately prior to that passage, it says that Jesus reproached the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done. The towns Jesus listed, of course, were Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. And what is it that unites these three towns? On the one hand, they are the places where Jesus has done the majority of his miracles. On the other hand, they’re towns that seek to solve their problems through a violent overthrow of the government. They’re people who have been waiting for the messiah to appear for so long that they’ve given up. They’ve developed a plan of their own and they’re going to implement that plan even if the real messiah shows up because they believe their plan is better. That’s why Jesus invites, not the powerful ones or the ones with the perfect plans to be part of his movement, but those who are labor and are burdened who are seeking rest. These are the little ones who have intimacy between Father and Son. They deeply desire a relationship with God and are, therefore, invited into the mystery of the trinity through the relationship of the Father and son, a relationship of love built on humility and peace. 

Two weeks from today, the Archdiocese of Dubuque is going to go through the largest change it has had since the time Bishop Matthias Loras arrived in Dubuque with four other priests ready to minister to all the faithful living in Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and parts West. It will not be perfect. Mistakes will be made I guarantee. Some will be mistakes on the part of priests and church staff and we ask for your help in lovingly and patiently identifying those so we can learn. Some will be mistakes we either can’t anticipate or had to put off to focus on things more pressing and we ask for your patience with those. But sometimes it will be a mistake on your part. Chances are, at some point in the future, you will arrive at St. Patrick’s at 9:59 for the 10:00 Sunday Mass and only then realize that Mass started at 9:30. Part of the message I hear from Jesus today is that we all need to have a sense of humility as we grow into this new Journey in Faith. There will be challenges and hurt feelings but God is calling us to tackle this in unity in his Holy Spirit. 

This weekend also marks the 250th anniversary of our country. We are a country founded on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These three principles, when honored, are some of the most important things that make this country one of the greatest on earth.  However, we are also a country, in many ways, founded on violence. There have been more years of our existence when we have been involved in wars than years where we were at peace. We removed native peoples from their lands, subjugated African-Americans as slaves, and forbid women the right to vote. Even in our advanced state of existence, we find the scourge of abortion and euthanasia diminishing the right to life so fundamental to our being.

Today, Mt. Arbel is a favorite vacation spot for Israelis and tourists. It has rock climbing areas and hiking and biking trails. To think that this place that was where people trained for war has now become a playground gives us hope. Let us pray for our country, our leaders, and ourselves, that God turn the violent mountain of our hearts into the playground of the Holy Spirit inviting us into a relationship with the Father and the Son built on humility and peace. 

13 OT A: The Real Ordo Amoris

Friends

Peace be with you. 

Some of you may remember, shortly after the election of Pope Leo XIV, there was a disagreement between Vice President J.D. Vance and the Holy Father with regard to the treatment of immigrants. The Vice President cited a principle from theology called the Ordo Amoris, or the order of love. Most of us had no idea what he was talking about, even people like me who study theology. The principle, which comes from St. Augustine but was refined by St. Thomas Aquinas, says that, with limited resources, we take care of those closest to us before we take care of strangers. Bishop Barron, in explaining the principle, used an example built upon the California wildfires. Imagine arriving home after work to find your entire city block on fire. If you’re a part of a family, you would be obliged to make sure your family is safe and out of the house before you worry about your neighbors, let alone that annoying neighbor that you don’t get along with. That’s the Ordo Amoris: we first care for those we are obliged to take care of before we care for strangers.

As that debate was going on, I couldn’t help but think of this particular passage of scripture, where Jesus seems to contradict the very nature of the Ordo Amoris. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me…” St. Matthew is deprioritizing love of father, mother, son and daughter, which doesn’t seem very Ordo Amoris to me. Were St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine ignorant of scripture and too reliant on Plato and Aristotle when they developed this theory? Or were they keenly aware of what Jesus was trying to get across?

Immediately prior to this passage of scripture, Jesus warns his disciples that his message will not be a message of unity but a message of division. He tells them that, if you believe in him, it will cause divisions in your household. He says, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’ Now that doesn’t sound very Ordo Amoris to me. This sets the stage for today’s Gospel. When we believe in Jesus, it will mean that people we love will hate us or think less of us. It’s one thing when it is parents or grandparents and we are rebellious youths drawing our own paths in life. It’s completely different when it is our spouse who is meant to be our equal, our partner in flesh, or our children, our grandchildren, or our godchildren, people we are meant to mentor in the faith. I know people who have left the faith because they feel like they are failures because their children left the faith. 

Jesus does something really important in the next part of today’s gospel. He says, “...whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This is the first time Jesus mentioned his cross in the Gospel of Matthew. It will, obviously, play a central role from here on out until Jesus dies on it. It plays a central role in our life as well. It is the goal of the Christian, the ordo, if you will, of our life. Jesus is the one we love first because he put us and them first. Without his death on the cross, not only would we not be able to love those around us but love itself would not exist. His death is the supreme act of selfless love for the world. That’s the Ordo Amoris, not that we need to sacrifice our life to jump into a fiery building to save our family and neighbors, but that we must take up our cross and follow Jesus every day in every act we do. We do it, not because we need rewards but because we are his little ones who feel so grateful for this act of sacrifice that we are willing to sacrifice our comforts, our will, and even our very selves for him. 

How is Jesus calling you today to order your love by taking up his cross?

Easter 2026: We can do great things if we work together!

 Friends

Alleluia! He is Risen. He is truly risen. Alleluia!

There are a lot of news stories about how there is a boom in people joining the Catholic Church this year. Five years ago, there were 70,000 people who joined the church in the US and, this year, that number has gone up to over 90,000. Part of that has to do with getting farther and farther away from fears of being in crowds that happened during Covid. I would think part of this has to do with those people I would call media clerics like Bishop Barron, Cardinal Dolan, and Fr. Mike Schmitz who are showing the world a compassionate, kind, and humorous side of priesthood instead of the insidious side so often portrayed in the media. It also helps having the first ever American Pope who speaks with a Chicago accent...though different than the accent I'm used to hearing on Saturday Night Live. However, I think we priests have also finally recognized how important it is to empower you all, the laity in the church, in the work of evangelization. I think about how priests were threatened by the prospect of Catholic radio and television because we couldn’t control what the lay people were going to say. Oftentimes, those same priests would brag about how they were good at empowering the laity until the laity asked to start some form of apologetical or catechetical media movement. 

All the gospels say that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the empty tomb. Some list other women there but they are all in agreement that Mary Magdalene was there. What’s the significance of this person? Contrary to Dan Brown, it was not a wink toward some kind of romantic relationship between Jesus and her. Jesus loved her just like he loves all people who show faith in him. I think Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene specifically because she was NOT one of the twelve apostles. In other words, I think he wanted his first post-resurrection contact not to be with those he had ordained as leaders, but specifically among one who was, in a sense, the disciple of disciples, St. Mary Magdalene. He appeared to Mary because, unlike the Apostles who will have to get busy organizing churches and spreading the gospel far and wide, she can stay in one place and work behind the scenes building up the faith of a particular community. It’s why I’m not only not in favor of women’s ordination or widespread ordination of married men and not worried about declining numbers of priests. I feel like we are just now seeing priests recognize we can’t micromanage everything that happens in our parish and I’ve seen lay people feeling empowered to start catechetical and evangelical initiatives. I have seen lay people take on the responsibility of starting small group Bible studies. I’ve seen lay people reach out to invite people to Mass or confession with them. I’ve experienced lay people leading prayer over people for healing. When this happens and lay people feel like they have an important place in the church that isn’t dependent on the priest’s involvement nor in competition with the our responsibilities, we start to work together and our love for the church grows.

One week from today, I will stand at this ambo and read a letter from our Archbishop announcing the next step in our Journey in Faith. I will finally be able to tell you what parishes you will be working with as a pastorate and who will be the local leaders starting in July. I know this has been a very difficult process for some people and I wish I could say it’s about done but, the truth is that this is just beginning. Next we’ll have to figure out Mass times and roles for staff and how centralized to make the offices. Please keep two people in mind as all of this is going on. The first is Jesus. He is our hope and our strength. He wants to appear to us daily, hourly, to give us hope and lead us to the Father. Keep Jesus always in our heart. 

But also think of Mary Magdalene. She may have started off scared and confused on that Easter morning but she ran to the apostles with the kind of joy that allowed Jesus to appear to her on the way. We may not have Mass in as many churches as we used to but that doesn’t stop us from telling everyone He is risen. Indeed, even as great as 90,000 new Catholics are this year, in the year 2000, 174,000 new Catholics joined the church in the United States. Almost twice as many! There’s too much work to do to sit around licking our wounds. Too many of our family have the left the church and too many people have no hope because they do not know Christ. He has arisen and has appeared to Mary Magdalene. Can you be like her and spread the gospel message to those most in need of hearing it?