Next weekend, Nov. 1 & 2, we will celebrate All
Saints on Saturday and All Souls on Sunday. Catholics believe that when we die
life is changed, not ended. We also believe that all of us who form the Body of
Christ are connected in the Holy Spirit, who is stronger than death. So in
Christ our expressions of concern, care, forgiveness and asking of forgiveness
are somehow present to those who have gone before us marked with the sign of
faith. This is why we ask the Saints to pray for us and why we pray for our
beloved dead. We all support and help each other in the process of salvation.
In keeping with
these celebrations, we will have the Book of Remembrance for the deceased that
you wish to list. We will include all those names in our Masses during this
time. In addition, for the Masses of Sunday, November 2 (including the 5 p.m.
Mass on Saturday) you are invited to bring pictures of your deceased loved ones
you would like remembered at the Mass. You may place the picture during the
Mass on the steps leading up to the altar. And at the commemoration of the
deceased the presider will pause allowing you the opportunity to silently
include the deceased you wish to remember and pray for.
On Saturday we will have the All Saints Day Mass at 10:00 a.m. All are most welcome!
As I write this
we have plenty of bad news with falling stock prices, fears of deflation in
Europe, wars and terrorism all over the Middle East, and Ebola creeping over
our state. But we also have some refreshing news from the Extraordinary Synod
on the Family which just finished in Rome. There were debates about how open
and welcoming the church can/should be to the divorced and remarried, to those
who have never married but live together, and how welcoming to be to same sex
couples. It is clear the cardinals are not all of a same mind on these issues,
and that diversity is both refreshing and, I believe, healthy.
Morals do
change, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Before WWII, in the
Archdiocese of San Francisco, it was prohibited for a priest to celebrate a
marriage between an Occidental and an Oriental; that is, between a white person
and an Asian person. It was taken for granted that mixing of the races was a
bad thing. That has largely, but not entirely, changed. I remember when I was
pastor in San Francisco that a lot heart ache was caused by a Chinese father
refusing to attend the wedding of his daughter because she was marrying a white
man. It was very sad.
It has long been
taken for granted that same-sex marriages are a bad thing. However, younger
people in our country no longer accept that. In a recent Pew Research Center
survey, fully 85% of 18-29 year-old Catholics said that homosexuality should be
accepted by society. Cleary it is no longer self-evident that same-sex
marriages are bad. Therefore merely repeating the prohibition against such
marriages will do no good. In fact, it will cause harm by making the Church
just look out-of-date and intransigent.
Clear reasons
for the prohibition of same-sex marriage must be given if the opposition to it
is not to be seen as outdated prejudice. I think the debate among the bishops
and cardinals at the Extraordinary Synod in Rome helps to clarify and identify
the reasons for the Church’s stance on homosexual relations and same-sex
marriage. It is not enough to say this is the long-standing teaching of the
Church. Cogent explanations must also be given. Debate will help bring out
those reasons.
God Bless,
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