The Gospel reading for today is from St. Luke 21:1-4. We all know the story: the rich giving their gifts and the poor widow who puts in only two copper coins into the treasury. After witnessing this Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."

Until recently, when I had one of those "Aha!" moments, I always assumed that part of the lesson in what Jesus is teaching us in this Gospel reading was that those who were rich were in some way doing something wrong: that they were bad for not giving more. I think I always assumed this because Jesus had many hard things to say against the rich and the ruling class of His day. But, if we take the story as it is, we see that He isn't saying anything of the sort. Instead of tearing down the rich He is actually commending the actions of the poor widow. The rich were doing what they were required to do by giving back to God from what He had first given to them. And this is a good thing. But, the widow went a step further and gave all she had. It may not amount to much in the eyes of man but to God it is of great value.

When we give everything that we have and everything we are back to God then we are emulating our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus gave everything for us by becoming a man, teaching us the Truth, dying for our sins and conquering death for us by rising from the grave. We can do good by giving back to Him from what He has given us; like those who are rich in the Gospel story. But, we can do so much more for Him if we, like the poor widow, give Him everything. Therefore, the next time you are at Mass and about to receive Our Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist, remember that through that Sacrament Jesus is once again giving you all of Himself. And then ask yourself, shouldn't you do the same for Him?

This post is in response to comments on one of my sermons. You can find the entire comments under the Sermons tab and scroll down to the 'Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity'. I will address what I feel are the most important concerns in chronological order. When I first read his comments I must admit I was a little suprised because he doesn't seem to be addressing what I actually say in my sermon but instead seems to be jumping to his own conclusions of what he thinks that I meant. I will quote directly from the comment and include all typos.

He states that I am "violating us law by talking about issues that conflict between church and state." Here he must be referring to the supposed separation of church and state that various people want to claim is the law of the land. But, according to what I have been taught, the US has no such law that says I cannot let my religious faith influence how I think in regards to politics. And, as a Catholic priest, I am obligated to preach the Truth on teachings of the Church, which is what I tried to do in this sermon and in all of my sermons.

He states that I "judge and then condemn people because they don't think like" me. He seems to be inferring something that I did not say. Nevertheless, I was doing no such thing in my sermon. Instead, I was trying to explain the Truth of the Church's teaching so that people did not commit a serious sin in how the voted.

He states "christ said first remove the beam in your eye" but I am not sure which beam he wants me to remove. Perhaps he does not like what I had to say in the sermon and therefore thinks that I sinned in saying it. But, I was not expounding my own opinion in the sermon but the teachings of the Church so how did I sin in what I said?

He states, "you condemn gay people because they want some form of union" but again, I didn't say anything that is out of line with the teaching of the Catholic Church. Also, to say that I condemned anyone in my sermon would be a stretch.

Next, he asks a question, "what would you say if your child is gay"? This question is so loaded that it really requires a separate post but let me try to answer briefly. If one of my children were to think they were homosexual and tell me about it I would love them just like I do now. But, (and I cannot stress this enough) I would not support them in their behavior if they acted on those misguided homosexual feelings. The teaching of the Catholic Church is quite clear in regards to homosexual acts: "Under no circumstances can they be approved." (Catechism of the Catholic Church §2357)

He then goes on to state, "you condemn pro choice people". Yet again, I simply spoke the Truth of what the Church teaches. The Church teaches in a definitive manner that abortion is wrong! Look it up in the Catechism: §2270-2275.

Then, in regards to the sin of abortion he writes, "in any case it is just a sin and god forgives all sins." Yes, God does forgive all sins, as long as we repent of them. But you should never deliberately sin while thinking to yourself, "God will forgive me. I can just go to confession." To do so is to commit the serious sin of presumption.

In speaking of Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the country, he says that it is the "will of the people". Well, so what! Just because abortion is the "will of the people" (which is debatable) does not make it moral or acceptable. And, as I have said before in this post, as a Catholic priest I must stand up for the lives of the unborn. So his apparent desire for me to be silent on this point boggles the mind.

Lastly, he writes, "think of all the parishoners feelings you hurt because of your belief and political party preaching". First of all let me address his comment of "your belief". My belief, sir, is in the fullness of the teachings of Jesus Christ that He has entrusted to His Holy Catholic Church. And my duty as a Catholic priest is to protect those teachings by giving my very life if I have to do so. At no point in my sermon that you disagree with have I contradicted Catholic teaching. And yes, because of my willingness to proclaim the Truth of the Gospel someone might get their feelings hurt, as you say. Hurting someone's feelings isn't my goal in my sermons but instead preaching the Truth. And I will not withhold the Truth just because someone might disagree with it. In fact, that is all the more reason to proclaim it. If I don't proclaim the Truth to them and they go on sinning then their sin falls on my head and the sinner my be eternally lost. (See Ezekiel 33:8). Whereas, if I preach the Truth and the sinner repents then I have saved his life and my own. (See James 5:19-20)

In closing, it seems to me that the person who left these comments doesn't really want to hear the Truth, at least not the parts that he happens to disagree with. In a second set of comments he states that he will now be attending another parish, but why? Is it just to hear what he wants to hear? Whether or not another priest preaches against abortion or homosexuality does not change the fact that the Church teaches that both of these things are completely and always wrong. Out of concern for his salvation I hope he reads this post and asks himself these questions: am I Catholic; if so, do I believe everything the Church teaches as the Truth of Jesus Christ; if I do then well and good but if I do not, then why am I Catholic?

Dear sir, you closed your initial comments by saying "may god forgive you because i will not." Why are you so angry with me? I do not feel sinned against in what you have said but if there is anything done against me by you then I forgive it. My only concern for you, and for all I meet, is your eternal salvation. I pray that if I have done you any real wrong you will forgive me as well, remembering that Christ Himself taught us to say, "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trepass against us." (Matthew 6:12)

By Denise M. Burke, Esq.

Like so many, I am praying, reflecting, and trying to come to terms with the results of last week's election.   As a Catholic and a senior attorney with a national pro-life group, I certainly see many challenges and difficulties on the horizon.

George Weigel, of whom I am a huge fan, has published an article at First Things laying out what he views as the impending "crisis" -- both in terms of a "grave threat" and a "great moment of opportunity" -- for the American Catholic Church.

I wholeheartedly agree with his conclusion:

"As for the opportunity embedded in this crisis, it is nothing less than to be the Church of the New Evangelization, full-throttle. Shallow, tribal, institutional-maintenance Catholicism is utterly incapable of meeting the challenges that will now come at the Catholic Church from the most aggressively secular administration in American history. Only a robustly, unapologetically evangelical Catholicism, winsomely proposing and nobly living the truths about the human condition the Church teaches, will see us through the next four years.
Radically converted Christian disciples, not one-hour-a-week Catholics whipsawed by an ever more toxic culture, are what this hour of crisis, in both senses of the term, demands."

You can read the remainder of the article at The Crisis of a Second Obama Administration.

"Knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one's own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes." (Porta Fidei §10.5) By writing this is the Pope saying that we need to understand the entire deposit of the Faith before we can give our assent to it? Not at all. He goes on to say, "The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals himself and allows us to know the mystery of love." (Ibid.) What this means is that when we give our own assent of faith, of believing in the Truth revealed to us by the Son of God, we can do so because God Himself guarantees that the Faith we have received through the Church is true. We don't have to understand it completely we simply have to trust in God.

On the other hand, there are those parts of the Faith that people can't accept because of their own ignorance or won't accept because of their own sinful stubbornness and pride. Therefore, all Catholics must strive to understand the content of their Faith in a more complete manner, especially if there is something that they do not agree with. To say that we don't agree with a part of the Truth that the Church teaches us is to say that we don't trust God, because it is God Himself who guarantees the Truth that we question.

To correct this problem we need to understand our Faith in a more perfect manner and therefore, we must study our Faith. The Pope points out, "In order to arrive at a systematic knowledge of the content of the faith, all can find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church a precious and indispensable tool." (§11.1) And he goes on to say, "...the Year of Faith will have to see a concerted effort to rediscover and study the fundamental content of the faith that receives its systematic and organic synthesis in the Cathechism of the Catholic Church." (§11.2)

No matter where a given Catholic may be on his journey of faith we could all benefit from studying the content of our Faith because we can never competely exhaust what it has to teach us. We can most certainly give our assent of faith  but the deeper our knowledge of the Faith goes the deeper will be our faith in it. 

The Most Reverend Daniel R. Jenky, CSC, the Bishop of Peoria, has issued a very strong letter to his flock and has also required that it be read at all Masses for this coming Sunday by each celebrating priest. The letter is very succinct and would not take very long to read the whole thing by clicking the link above. Nevertheless I include here in this blog the Bishop's strongest point.

Today, Catholic politicians, bureaucrats, and their electoral supporters who callously enable the destruction of innocent human life in the womb also thereby reject Jesus as their Lord. They are objectively guilty of grave sin. For those who hope for salvation, no political loyalty can ever take precedence over loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Gospel of Life. God is not mocked, and as the Bible clearly teaches, after this passing instant of life on earth, God’s great mercy in time will give way to God’s perfect judgment in eternity.

So here we have yet another Bishop who is most certainly not namby-pamby. God willing, this courageousness will continue to spread like wildfire to all the Bishops of the United States and the world. May none of them fear death or the condemnation of this world for speaking the Truth, but only fear God and His judgment if they do not speak the Truth with boldness.

By this point what I am posting is already old news in the realm of the internet, but it merits repeating just in case anyone who reads this blog hasn't heard of it. The Bishop of Green Bay, The Most Reverend David L. Ricken, has sent a wonderful letter out to his diocese. You should click the link and read the whole letter but I have posted an excerpt below. After reading it I think you will agree that Bishop Ricken is most certainly not namby-pamby.

I would like to review some of the principles to keep in mind as you approach the voting booth to complete your ballot. The first is the set of non-negotiables. These are areas that are “intrinsically evil” and cannot be supported by anyone who is a believer in God or the common good or the dignity of the human person. They are:
1. abortion
2. euthanasia
3. embryonic stem cell research
4. human cloning
5. homosexual “marriage”
These are intrinsically evil. “A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program that contradicts fundamental contents of faith and morals.” Intrinsically evil actions are those which have an evil object. In other words, an act is evil by its very nature and to choose an action of this type puts one in grave moral danger.

May God bless this good bishop and the work he is doing for the Church in Green Bay. And may God bless all the bishops of the United States as they stand up for the Truth and defend it with their teaching, with their actions and with their lives. And may the assaults of the devil not prevail against them.

By Denise M. Burke, Esq.

As a committed Catholic and as an attorney who has dedicated her legal career to the on-going legal and cultural battles to protect the sanctity of all human life, I have -- not surprisingly -- been following election-year politics very closely.  Much of what I have seen and heard from the candidates and the campaigns has not been particularly noteworthy or surprising.  What was unexpected was the Obama Administration's full-frontal assault on the Catholic Church and our right to faithfully practice and pronounce our faith in the public square. 

Make no mistake -- the results of this election will have profound implications for the Church and for the faithful.  George Weigel, the biographer of Blessed John Paul II and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has written an excellent piece for National Review that concludes:

"Whatever happens on November 6, though, the Catholic Church in America has been changed, likely in irreversible ways, by the experience of this campaign year.

 A critical mass of U.S. bishops now understands the challenge of this
cultural moment, and these bishops are prepared to exercise their pastoral office in the prophetic way that the challenge of the culture requires.

The utter incoherence of the Pelosi/Biden/Sebelius form of Catholicism has created a situation that those prophetic bishops will not likely fail to address. For while it is true that the Catholic Church is big enough for Paul Ryan and Joe Biden (and Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius), it is also true, and far more urgently true from a pastoral point of view, that there are different pews within Big Church Catholicism. Many of those in the more distant pews are grievously uncatechized, which causes them to lead lives of spiritual
and moral incoherence. That situation will not be tolerated indefinitely.

As the Catholic Church once became the lead Christian community in
intellectually formulating the pro-life position, it has now become the lead church in articulating, through the arts of public reason, the defense of America’s first freedom, religious liberty. In both of these exercises, Catholics have found common cause with evangelical Protestants; and in the religious-freedom battle (and the battle to defend marriage rightly understood), Catholics have found new allies among Mormons. And as the Catholic-Evangelical alliance in the American culture war led unexpectedly to new and rich theological exchanges, so, it may be expected, will the partnership in battle
alongside Latter-day Saints. The ecumenical landscape in the 21st century will thus look nothing like the ecumenical landscape when the Second Vatican Council opened 50 years ago.

'Progressive' Catholicism in America once claimed the Church’s Vatican II defense of religious freedom as its proudest accomplishment — as well it might.  Yet that, too, has changed. The abandonment of the religious-freedom issue by far too much of the Catholic Left in 2012 was a further indicator of what Francis Cardinal George announced years ago: the death of liberal Catholicism from what had become, in the post–Vatican II decades, its spiraling intellectual implausibility.

Should the Republican ticket prevail, Vice President Paul Ryan will be the new face of public Catholicism in America, and a bracing new debate will unfold about embodying the principles of Catholic social doctrine in American public policy, and in joint work by the public and private sectors, to empower the poor, reform health care and education, and build a cultural and legal architecture of life. This debate will set the intellectual pace for the Catholic Church throughout the Western world.

Should the Democratic ticket prevail, the Catholic Church in the United States will be compelled to confront the federal government as it has never done before in the history of the Republic. The Church will do that to defend its own. But it will also do that for the sake of American constitutionalism. For what prickly John Adams once facetiously referred to as 'Grandmother Church' has, in 2012, become the lead church in the defense of the constitutional order for which Adams and his contemporaries argued, fought, and bled."

Read the entire column at "Catholic Reflections on the Endgame of
2012" .

In my last post on the Pope's letter, Porta Fidei, my focus was on the commitment that all Catholics should have for their faith in Jesus Christ. Today I want to discuss what that commitment entails.

To be committed to the Truth of the Catholic Faith means that we truly believe what has  been revealed to us through the Holy Catholic Church. But that brings up the following question: what has been revealed to us?

In answering this question, the word 'revealed' is of no small importance. For something to be revealed signifies to us that we could not have come to know it on our own efforts. Therefore, if something is to be revealed to us it must be done by someone other than ourselves. And this same rule applies for the revelation of ultimate Truth. Mankind could not have come to know the Truth of the Catholic Faith through his own efforts. It had to be revealed from outside. And that is exactly what happened. God came to us from Heaven, from outside our realm of understanding, and came into the midst of mankind by becoming incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both God and man. And it is Jesus who has revealed to us God's divine and ultimate Truth.  This Truth is the salvation and also the path that leads us to the salvation that we so desperately need. This Truth is safeguarded for all time by the only Church that Christ founded, the Catholic Church. And each person baptized in the Catholic Church, or those baptized outside the Catholic Church who have converted and become full members of the same, has a commitment to uphold the full Catholic Faith that has been delievered to them through that baptism. That means we must fully adhere to the teachings of Christ as taught to us by the Catholic Church, if we truly want to be Catholic.

Sorry I haven't posted recently. Last week was fall break at the Atonement Academy and my family and I were at the beach in South Padre. Above is a picture my wife took while we were away. Now that I am back I am going to continue my commentary on Porta Fidei and possibly post something in regards to the coming election.

By Denise M. Burke, Esq.

Thomas Peters of CatholicVote.org has a thought-provoking post this morning, entitled “10 Reasons Why Obama’s Next 4 Years Would Be Worse Than the Past 4 Years.” He deftly summarizes the current
Administration’s unflinching support for abortion, Planned Parenthood, and same-sex marriage, and the threats it poses to religious freedom and our nation and families’ futures.  Two weeks
away from the election, his analysis is worthy of our consideration.

The 10 Reasons:

1) Barack Obama has been the most pro-abortion president in history. He has not signed a single piece of pro-life legislation since taking office. If given four more years, he will continue to veto pro-life legislation and nominate pro-abortion supreme court justices and judges.

 2) Barack Obama now supports same-sex marriage, despite promising in 2008 that he supported traditional marriage. Many of his top donors are radical pro-gay marriage activists. If given a second term, Obama will continue to unilaterally stop defending laws protecting marriage (like DOMA), will actively aid efforts to repeal laws protecting marriage at the state level (he has already opposed every effort to protect marriage at the state level since taking office) and will nominate supreme court justices and judges who are in favor of redefining marriage.

3) Barack Obama is an enemy of religious freedom. The view put forward by his administration in the courts (and all the way up to the Supreme Court) is that religious freedom is a purely private matter that has no right to exist in the public square. The HHS mandate forces religious individuals and institutions to violate their conscience. If given four more years, President Obama will oversee the implementation of the full set of Obamacare’s mandates, and we will witness even more violations of religious freedom and conscience.

4) Barack Obama’s foreign policy has supported taxpayer-funded abortions abroad, has done nothing to address China’s heinous one-child policy, has promoted LGBT rights abroad and has undermined religious liberty –particularly the religious liberty of Christians– around the world and in the Middle East.  The U.S. delegation at the United Nations will be emboldened to impose the Obama  administration’s position on abortion, religious freedom, and same-sex marriage on developing countries around the world.

5) Barack Obama is an enemy of the Catholic Church. Even beyond Obama’s flawed view of the First Amendment, the President has intentionally surrounded himself with Catholics who proudly tout their dissent from the Church’s teaching. He has employed truly anti-Catholic figures in his administration and has personally been disingenuous in his dealings with the Catholic Church and Cardinal Dolan. If he wins four more years he will attribute part of that victory to taking on the Catholic Church and (in his mind) beating it. He will
search out other ways to oppose it.

6) Barack Obama is an unflinching ally of Planned Parenthood. In addition to personally seeing to it that Planned Parenthood is funded with federal money whenever states have attempted to defund its millions of dollars in subsidies, Obamacare and other federal programs he has championed will collaborate with
Planned Parenthood towards an ultimate goal of making America’s largest abortion  provider synonymous with “women’s healthcare.” If Obama wins reelection he will attribute it in part to Planned Parenthood and massively expand its already significant influence and political footprint.

7) Barack Obama’s policies disproportionately hurt the underprivileged. Despite all the talk this cycle about the middle class and small businesses, the reality is that over the past four years America has witnessed a surge in poverty and unemployment, which has disproportionately affected the underprivileged. If Obama could do anything to fix this situation he would have already done so, instead he has massively expanded dysfunctional welfare programs which are not a solution to America’s poverty crisis, and has demonized Catholic and religious charities that do more on the ground to serve these communities. Four more years will only add to the hurt they are experiencing.

8) Barack Obama’s policies are impoverishing all Americans and reducing all of our prospects. The President has shown himself incapable of reigning in spendings and reducing our deficits. The trickle-down effect of this massive government waste is less opportunity and fewer resources for the private sector to invest and grow. Americans are already adapting to this “new normal” and four
more years will further entrench this growing sense that our best days are behind us. This is not the legacy our children and grandchildren deserve, and it is not why our parents and grandparents came to this land. We can do better and the President has shown that he does not know how to accomplish this.

9) Barack Obama’s rhetoric is aimed to divide and foster animosity. Remember “Occupy Wall Street” and how the President never condemned its excesses? Have you noticed that the centerpiece of Obama’s plan to tackle our debt and deficit is to soak the rich with more taxes and to promote envy among the rest of us?  Have you noticed how Obama’s reelection campaign has focused almost exclusively on painting Mitt Romney in as negative a light as possible? All of these decisions are deeply, deeply harmful to our public discourse and to our democratic compact. They are UnAmerican. If Obama wins reelection this way it will teach the dangerous lesson to future politicians that divide and conquer is the path to victory and power.

10) Obama will no longer care about being reelected. Obama has tempered his goals in his first term because he desperately wants to be reelected. If given four more years without having to be accountable to the American people, we can only imagine what’s in store for us. Obama clearly thinks a great deal about himself and wants to create a legacy for himself. He clearly believes he knows better than everyone else. He will also have his sense of inevitability restored if America gives him a second shot after having a close call in this election. Obama, like a good liberal, believes that some things are inevitable,
  including same-sex marriage, state-subsidized abortions, reduced religious freedom, a privatized and atomistic faith community, the rise of centralized government, a post-American world and forced equality — and he will see it as his confirmed mission to hasten the coming of these things if he is given four more years to deliver his version of hope and his idea of change like he promised four years ago.

You can read the entire post at "10 Reasons Why Obama's Next 4 Years Would Be Worse Than The Past 4 Years."