{"id":1547,"date":"2015-02-08T13:30:49","date_gmt":"2015-02-08T18:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2015-02-08T13:30:49","modified_gmt":"2015-02-08T18:30:49","slug":"supporting-women-public-policy-weekend-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/supporting-women-public-policy-weekend-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Women – Public Policy Weekend Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

5th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nJob 7:1-4, 6-7
\n1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
\nMark 1:29-39
\nFebruary 8, 2015<\/p>\n

Public Policy – Supporting Women<\/p>\n

Are women important?<\/p>\n

Apparently Mark thought so when he wrote this gospel.\u00a0 Often we are not told much about the people that Jesus heals.\u00a0 Here the story is written in a way to clearly indicate it is a woman that Jesus heals.\u00a0 We should also note that this is among the first of Jesus\u2019 healings, again emphasizing the important of a woman being healed.<\/p>\n

We must see women as important.\u00a0 Women are our mothers, wives, and daughters.\u00a0 It is from the womb of women that life emerges.\u00a0 Even in the Old Testament in the midst of a very patriarchal culture, we hear of great women like Deborah in the Book of Judges.\u00a0 There are books in the Bible like Ruth and Judith named after women.\u00a0 Matthew\u2019s genealogy of Jesus makes a point to include women even though in those days genealogy was tracked through the male side.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, even today some women are treated poorly.\u00a0 Women can be treated as mere objects for slavery or for lustful acts in human trafficking where they are bought and sold like goods in a store.\u00a0 Today is actually the memorial of St. Josephine Bakhita who herself was a slave for many years.\u00a0 Pope Francis has called for today to be a day of prayer for the end of human trafficking.<\/p>\n

All life is a precious gift but yet pregnant women can face discrimination at work.\u00a0 Women (and men) can be treated unfairly when they ask for time off for their children.<\/p>\n

Women (and men) can missed out on advancement opportunities when some employers see their children as hindrances to the parent giving \u201ctheir all\u201d to their job.<\/p>\n

Women don\u2019t always get paid equal wages for equal work.\u00a0 Women can be discriminated against for housing when they are the victims of domestic violence.\u00a0 When seeking orders of protection, they have to stand before their abuser in court.<\/p>\n

We need to speak up for women (and men) who face drudgery and misery and simple unfairness.\u00a0 It is part of our baptismal call to speak up for the disadvantaged.<\/p>\n

This year our diocese has chosen as its public policy issue to support women.\u00a0 Hopefully you have seen the articles and insert in the bulletin in recent weeks.\u00a0 For the last couple of years the governor has put forth legislature with ten points supporting some of the issues I have mentioned.\u00a0 Nine of the ten points are important and in keeping with our Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

Point ten would expand<\/em><\/strong> abortion and allow non-medical personnel to perform abortions.\u00a0 So the Catholic Church has stood opposed to it and asked for the other nine points to be voted on separately.<\/p>\n

This year bills have been presented doing this.\u00a0 The State Senate has actually already passed a bill with the nine points in it.\u00a0 It is now up to the Assembly to deliberate and vote.\u00a0 So our petitions are geared to the assembly this year, asking them to vote for the nine points.<\/p>\n

This is important.\u00a0 I hope you have read the material in the bulletin.\u00a0 The same material is also available on our diocesan website.\u00a0 This week, Suzanne Stack from our diocese will be speaking at St. Catherine\u2019s (information in the bulletin) about these issues.<\/p>\n

After Mass today, members of our Service Team are here to direct you to the petitions.\u00a0 We will have tables on both sides up front and one in back.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it just seems simpler to not get involved.\u00a0 We like to avoid controversy but if we don\u2019t stand up and speak out, how can we expect anything to change.<\/p>\n

God has given us the gift of life and with it an inherent dignity for all men and <\/em>women.\u00a0 Do we do what we can so that others have not just life but a good life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Job 7:1-4, 6-7 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 Mark 1:29-39 February 8, 2015 Public Policy – Supporting Women Are women important? Apparently Mark thought so when he wrote this gospel.\u00a0 Often we are not told much about the people that Jesus heals.\u00a0 Here the story is written in a …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Supporting Women – Public Policy Weekend Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-oX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1548,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions\/1548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}