I wrote the following for the parish bulletin this weekend. On Monday, we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. His father was a very well-to-do merchant who wished his son would go into the family business. Everyone liked Francis because he was always happy. He sought glory by becoming a soldier. He was …
In the United States, on Monday, we will be celebrating Labor Day. In celebrating Labor Day, we celebrate the achievements we have made through our work (The history of Labor Day goes back over 100 years.). Some people look at work as a bad thing, something we do only to make money so we can …
Our Catholic Teaching calls us to stand up for the poor and the vulnerable. The fourth of the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching speaks of this. Jesus calls us to help the hungry, thirsty, and those without shelter or clothing (Matthew 25:31-46). Our care for the poor and the vulnerable can take two forms, …
Continue reading ‘Standing Up For the Poor and the Vulnerable’ »
Immigration Reform continues to be a hot topic. Some believe that the United States Bishops want to open our borders to everyone who wants to come and to make all illegal immigrants already in the country citizens without question. That is not the case. Here are two links that I received this week to articles …
Continue reading ‘Two Articles on the USCCB’s Position on Immigration Reform’ »
With the upcoming vote in Congress, health care is at the forefront in the news again. It is also a “hot topic” within Catholic Conversations ranging from the Facebook page of the NYS Catholic Conference to the United States Bishops’ website at http://www.usccb.org/healthcare/ and I am sure in many other places. The current bill to be …
Each year, on the second Tuesday of March, the New York State Catholic Conference holds Public Policy Day. NYS Catholics are encouraged to come to Albany to advocate for our Catholic Principles. The Conference selects issues to encourage us to speak about to our legislators. This year’s issues included funding for Catholic Schools, Health Care …
This year’s issue for the Diocese of Rochester Public Policy Weekend (February 13th/14th) is Comprehensive Immigration Reform. In preparation for the weekend I have attended a presentation on Immigration Reform and doing some research on my own. From this work, I just added a new article to my website entitled “Seeking a Just Immigration Law.” …
Continue reading ‘A New Article at www.renewaloffaith.org’ »
In my previous blogs on the parish website, I have talked about some of our social ministry efforts at St. Mary’s but I am not sure I have ever talked about why we have a social ministry program. To answer why we need to understand what social ministry is. Social ministry is not just charity. …
