The Pastor's Pen

October 16, 2022, Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Organ Delivery Scheduled: Thanks to the great generosity of our parishioners, we have been able to make the final payment on the new organ and it is now being scheduled to be delivered and installed by the end of this month! Many thanks to all those who contributed and so have made this essential purchase possible!

Politics From the Pulpit Or the Pews?: From time to time, complaints are received that a homily was political, and not surprisingly these are usually lodged because the preacher dared to mention or make example of a current social issue as an illustration of the message of the scriptures. Yet issues like abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, immigration, race relations, the definition of marriage or gender fluidity while all political in that each of the major parties in this country has taken positions or established platform policies on such issues, yet fundamentally they are all matters of morality or social justice on which the Church does and should take a stand. The job of the preacher is to enable us to more clearly understand the Gospel as it relates to our real lives so that we are enabled to be better disciples of Jesus Christ, prepared to help advance his kingdom in this world. So we are challenged to discern then with what mindset we may be listening when we hear a homily being preached. Surely we would have every right to complain if from the pulpit we hear a preacher name a specific political party or a candidate for office and advise whether or not we should support that party or person. Also, we would have every right to complain if regardless of the scriptures assigned for proclamation on the Sundays of its three-year cycle the homilist simply waxes on week after week about pet issues that are not clearly connected to the message found in those readings. Indeed since the reforms of the Second Vatican Council sermons are out and homilies are in, such that the preacher is always under the scriptures rather than above them when creating a homily to be preached to God’s people. Yet should the message of the scriptures and the gospel, in particular, lend itself to teaching about a moral or social justice issue then we need to suspend our political preferences and partisan identities in order to listen with open minds and hearts. Truly, the only identity with which we should enter the assembly of the faithful each Sunday is the identity that should matter above all others and that is our sense of ourselves primarily as Christian disciples, learners at the feet of the Lord. As has been said at least once if not more before in this very column, the platforms of the two major parties in our nation are unlikely to ever conform completely to Catholic moral and social teachings and therefore belonging to either of them and voting for their candidates always requires some uncomfortable compromise with what each in his or her own conscience must determine to be the lesser of evils! So our partisanship needs to be left at the door when we enter the church so that we can hear the message of the scriptures and homily not from our standpoint as self-identified liberals or conservatives, republicans or democrats, but rather as Christian disciples eager to learn anew the implications of the gospel for our lives both personal and communal. If we think that the gospel and the scriptures should not have any bearing on our lives and life in general beyond the church doors then we are not yet fully grasping the mission of Jesus Christ who came to proclaim God’s kingdom such that His Father’s will would be done on earth just as it is in heaven. If heard correctly and explained clearly the Gospel is bound to make us uncomfortable at times with our own opinions and attitudes based on our political and other preferences, but this is actually an essential aspect of the ongoing work of conversion which is the very work of the Holy Spirit. So be prepared at times to hear from the pulpit that the Church is pro-life and so must oppose abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment, while also questioning the morality of any war being waged and condemning guns and any other form of deadly violence, The Church must promote the superiority of traditional marriage and question the rightness of declaring more than two genders when the scriptures state from the very start that God created human beings as either male or female. As a matter of justice, the Church must promote the dignity of all people and challenge discrimination based on race and any other natural or accidental attribute. The Church must advocate for the fundamental right of all human beings to relocate in search of a life with a promise of greater prosperity or freedom from oppression and the threat of violence. So if any of these positions or others taken with solid moral reasoning by the Church makes you angry or uncomfortable, before criticizing the homilist who dares to speak of these as related to or rooted in the message of the scriptures that day, ask yourself with what mindset and from what identity are you reacting; political or Christian? So as the Gospel continues to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable as Jesus himself intends it to do, should we find ourselves afflicted at times, let that be an opportunity to embrace the ongoing conversion of mind and heart that such discomfort is meant to inspire.