Mother of Sorrows, Pray for Us
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Have you ever noticed that before 1968, our society was basically on the same page when it came to sexual morality? The majority of Americans were practicing Christians and in agreement on the immorality of issues like abortion and homosexuality. Disagreements between the two political parties centered largely on issues like taxation, the economy, foreign relations, etc. A person could easily vote sometimes for one party’s candidate and other times for the other party, without any real pang of conscience. Then came the sexual revolution and the world turned upside down. Suddenly, sexual morality became subjective rather than objective and the social issues became the new intrinsic wrongs. As a result of this new way of thinking, many Catholics put issues like poverty, homelessness, etc. on the same plane as issues like legalized abortion and same-sex “marriage.” The problem with doing this lies in the fact that issues dealing with murder and sexual morality like abortion and homosexuality are intrinsically wrong whereas the social issues are open to debate, discussion, compromise and varying degrees of legislative action; thus, they are not to be given equal weight in our decision-making process when casting our vote. Anything that offends God and goes directly against His Commandments, must never be allowed. Ever. If we vote in such a way as to allow these things to be done or to encourage or even champion them, we sin gravely. The following quotes about the sanctity of nascent life really bring the issue of abortion into a very strong light:
Psalm 139:13-16: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 22:10: “On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God.”
Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
A common objection in sharing such biblical quotes is: Even though I believe the Bible and think that abortion is wrong, I cannot impose my personal, religious beliefs on others! This way of thinking would be valid if you were voting on legislation to impose belief in the Holy Trinity on the nation, or you were voting to make non-Catholics attend Catechism classes, for that would indeed infringe upon the rights of others by imposing your religious beliefs on them and would be wrong to do. Abortion, on the other hand, deals with the Natural Law (i.e. murder is wrong) and with basic human rights; therefore, it is truly a human rights issue! You may ask, but what about the death penalty? How can I vote for a person who is against abortion but is for the death penalty? Are they not both the direct killing of a human being? What if an innocent person has been convicted? Hasn’t the pope changed the Catechism saying that the death penalty is now a sin? Well … yes and no. We will discuss this more in next week’s Notes.
—Fr. Epperson
Christians Taking Action
A local group of Christian Pastors (including our Diocese) will be meeting with the Supervisors of the County to request an exemption to be allowed to meet INSIDE houses of worship. We have presented Cathedral numbers regarding attendance at Mass (both daily and Sunday) for the past 13 weeks (14,213) and indicated measures taken to ensure a safe environment as well as giving them the number of parishioners who have contracted COVID19. Please pray that the Supervisors will allow us to meet indoors, giving us the same rights as Home Depot, the casinos and other stores.
Parish Finances in the Age of Covid
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August Finances
Income $54,552.00
Short fall $-7,893.60
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