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Pastor's Desk Archive (January 2008)Building a Healthy Tomorrow at All Saints (1/6/2008) Building a Healthy Tomorrow at All Saints (1/6/2008)While most Catholic schools are associated with a particular parish (i.e. St. James, Sacred Heart, St. Philip Neri, etc.), All Saints Catholic School has been established as an “inter-parochial” school to serve the four parishes of Cleveland County: St. Andrew, St. Mark, St. Joseph, and St. Thomas More. All Saints Catholic School (ASCS) is located near the intersection of Tecumseh Road and 36th St. (Telephone Rd) in Norman. It is actually closer to St. Andrew’s than it is to St. Joseph’s and St. Thomas More. It’s barely a stone’s throw from St. Mark’s, but has its own distinct campus. Like all Catholic schools it is fully accredited and all its teachers are certified by the State Department of Education. ASCS was built ten years ago to accommodate more than 400 students in Pre-School thru 8th grade. The present enrollment is 425 and growing. A few years ago, portable buildings were acquired to provide additional classrooms. The only space for recreation is outdoors, which is suitable on a great many days for mostly unorganized activities, but does not suffice for basketball and other forms of physical education which require a gymnasium. Virtually all elementary schools these days have such facilities, so a gym can hardly be considered a luxury by any stretch of the imagination. Over the last couple of years, I have been part of a group looking into the construction of a school gym. A plan has been devised for a simple but functional facility. The Archbishop has given his blessing to the project, but has stipulated that it must be paid for in cash. “Building a Healthy Tomorrow” has been chosen as the theme for the campaign to turn this project from a dream into reality. Obviously, school patrons will be the primary contributors, but we will not be able to succeed without help from members in all the sponsoring parishes. I have personally pledged $5,000 to this campaign and I invite all members of the parish who have the means to do so to make a generous commitment. Colorful brochures have been attached to this week's parish bulletin providing you with a means to make your gift. You may send it directly to the school or bring it back next Sunday and place it in the offering basket along with your gift for the parish. You might bear in mind that since Catholic school parents help support public schools through their property taxes, it would certainly be appropriate for public school parents to lend a helping hand to our own parish school. Vocations Awareness Week (1/13/2008)The word vocation comes from a Latin word meaning a calling. For centuries this term was almost exclusively associated with those who have a calling to be priests or religious. Over the last 40 years or so, many Catholics have come to recognize callings to other forms of church service like that of permanent deacons, or music ministers, to name a couple. The application of the terms has expanded along with our notion of ministry. Catholics used to think that the only people who were rightly called ministers were the clergy of Protestant churches. We had priests while they had ministers. But we have come to understand that this word simply means one who serves God in one manner or another. We have witnessed a flourishing of lay ministries in the church over the last two generations: ministers of music, education, youth, senior and family services, administration, health and healing. Add to these those who minister to the poor and needy. So what do the bishops have in mind in asking Catholics to be more aware of vocations this coming week? They certainly have in mind that we intensify our prayers that more people will respond to the call of God to serve the church as priests and religious. But they also have something in mind that goes way beyond that particularly important need. They want all Catholics to realize more deeply The Vocation that underlies all others, the one we all received through the grace of baptism. This focus poses a considerable challenge to most Catholics since nearly all of us were baptized as infants. In order to realize this Calling and to respond to it we need to grow up in families where what the church teaches and believes is of the greatest importance; where we can see our parents and other family members serving the church in a host of different ways. As our Catholic vocabulary grows we are able to express in words our baptismal calling. As we grow in wisdom and grace, we are able to express this calling through our own service to God, the church, and others. But what if you didn’t grow up in such a family and have only come to know Christ and to seek a place in his Church later in life? If such is the case, you are in good company. This means a lot of “remedial” religious education so as to expand one’s “faith” vocabulary. Here’s the bottom line: God called each of us at baptism to live in the world as His sons and daughters, bearing witness through our words and deeds to His presence and power in our lives. While each responds according to his/her particular gifts and abilities, responding to this call is NOT optional. It is a VOCATION. January 22, 1973: A Day of Infamy (1/20/2008)This coming Tuesday will mark the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision—Roe v. Wade—which declared that the constitution offers a “right of privacy” which permits women to obtain legal abortions. Seven of the nine Justices invented from whole cloth a “trimester” system which regulated state restrictions on abortion in a progressive way. During the first three months, the decision to conduct an abortion was to be left to the decision of the “attending physician”. This made it sound as if pregnancy was some kind of disease or affliction that could be resolved only through the termination of the pregnancy in a way that would benefit the “health” of the women. In one fell swoop, the God-given “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” spoken of so eloquently in the Declaration of Independence was declared null and void for an unborn child. In the second trimester, states were permitted to make regulations on abortion provided they respected the “health” of the mother. In the third semester, the court conceded a right of the state to protect life but only after what it called the time of “viability”. Since human babies depend completely on others throughout their childhood, it is a wonder that this provision didn’t end up legalizing infanticide. What all this devolved into was abortion on demand as a substitute for responsible behavior. Make no mistake about it, the Roe v. Wade decision was all about giving women the sexual liberty which had until that time been the exclusive province of men. Men could go about impregnating women and shirking any responsibility. After Roe v. Wade, women could engage in sexual activity with the knowledge that they did not have to live with the consequences of a pregnancy resulting in childbirth. The extremists among the feminist movement achieved what they regarded as a victory which provided women with what they euphemistically termed “reproductive rights”. Sadly, the same libertarian argument which led to legalized abortion, also led to a transformation of the meaning of marriage. Until the 20th century, people married when they were ready to have a family. Sexual activity outside of marriage was universally frowned upon, impelling people who were ready to accept responsibility for being sexually intimate to enter marriage. Beginning in the 60’s and accelerating after Roe v. Wade, sexual activity became increasingly disconnected from both marriage and procreation. It came to be regarded as what “people in love” do that requires neither marriage nor pregnancy. 35 years later, we find ourselves with less than half of all co-habiting couples who are married. 50% fewer Catholics (than 30 years ago) plan their marriages in the church. Birth control is regarded as a fundamental right as family size and the birth rate dip to historic lows. Divorce is rampant. Promiscuity and pornography have grown to epic proportions. Is anybody ready to cry “uncle” and begin restoring sanity? Stewardship Of Time For Spiritual Growth (1/27/2008)Each year on Ash Wednesday, we conduct our annual Stewardship of Time for Spiritual Growth campaign. Well, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ll be gathering for ashes on a week from Wednesday, Feb. 6th. The commitment form will be attached to next week’s bulletin so that we can look it over carefully and determine what kind of priority we wish to give this Lent to growing in our faith. The goal, of course, is to be able to live our faith more fully seven days a week. This is impossible to do without a strong connection to God. Spiritual growth is all about developing this connection. Many people speak about having a stronger connection with God than with the Church. This would include the many people who are seldom present when the church gathers on Sundays to give thanks and praise to the true and living God. While God is fully able to operate outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church, He is always at work within the Church. We may hope to find God in many places under many circumstances, but we will always find Him when the Church is gathered for the Eucharist. Lent provides us with the opportunity to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church—His body on earth. We accomplish this through personal and public prayer. We accomplish this through the reading and study of the scriptures and by other forms of spiritual reading. Many may wonder, “where will we find the time, we’re already overwhelmed by the many things we have to do.” I say the reason that many people feel overwhelmed is because they are not in a fit spiritual condition. They’re trying to do everything on their own and it’s just too much. Lent gives us all a chance to review our priorities especially with regard to time. If we set aside 56 hours for sleep and even 50 hours for work, that still leaves more than 60 hours each week for whatever else we regard as important. I encourage, even urge you to make the best use of Lent to strengthen your connection with God and His Church. This involves making hard decisions, but with God’s help we can do it. |
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