From the Desk of Fr.

Dennis Miller, Your Pastor

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~~~ June 30, 2013

Let me begin with a couple of exciting announcements. First, we will soon welcome a summer seminarian to the Archangels Catholic Cluster. Mark Murphy, a fourth-year seminarian from the North American College in Rome, will spend the months of July and August learning about what a cluster assignment entails. I think the continued willingness to assign seminarians to our cluster is a testament to the learning possibilities that the Vocation Office sees in our cluster. I look forward to having him amongst us for those months and hope he finds pulling weeds in a garden a fun activity to do in his free time. Secondly, beginning next week, we will debut our new bulletin. It will be bigger which should allow for more space for announcements and the cost will be totally covered by the donations of the advertisers whose ads will appear each week. The staff has been working very hard to ensure a smooth transition so it is my earnest hope that you will all enjoy the upgrade. I also hope to have a short column each week in the new bulletin. We are in the midst of the Fortnight for Freedom. The bishops of our country have asked us to continue to pray for respect for religious liberty from June 22nd to July 4th. I have spent time at the various holy hours reading texts that deal with the importance of religious freedom, including the Declaration on Religious Liberty of the Second Vatican Council. There was one paragraph from section three that I feel deserves special consideration. The religious acts whereby (people), in private and in public and out of a sense of personal conviction, direct their lives to God transcend by their very nature the order of terrestrial and temporal affairs. Government therefore ought indeed to take account of the religious life of the citizenry and show it favor, since the function of government is to make provision for the common welfare. However, it would clearly transgress the limits set to its power, were it to presume to command or inhibit acts that are religious. The Council Fathers were attempting to articulate the appropriateness of the separation of church and state while ensuring an equal place for each. The state has its appropriate role to play but faith and religion is fundamental to the dignity of the human person because it hits to our core. God wants a relationship with every person in order to bring them to the truth that is God himself. So, when Government impedes a persons religious expression by making unjust demands of their religion, they are impeding that which is at the very core of the human person. It is imperative that, at this time in history, people make it clear that governments foreign and domestic should not coerce religions and religious people into accepting morality which it finds objectionable through financial penalties or threats of incarceration. Please continue to contact your national and local politicians to encourage them to respect the rights of religion. Speaking of religious liberty, as I was proof reading this column, the Supreme Court was releasing two decisions regarding same-sex-marriage. I want to include here the statement of our Bishop, Archbishop Michael Jackels

In the debate about the definition of marriage, the Catholic Church takes a stand for marriage, and not against people with a same-sex attraction. The Catholic Church believes that marriage is a public contract, freely entered into by one man and one woman, characterized by permanence, fidelity and openness to children. And the Catholic Church believes that marriage is a natural institution, which predates religions and governments, and so is not subject to redefinition by them. The Catholic Church holds that this understanding of marriage should be upheld, and not redefined to include marriage between two people of the same gender. The traditional definition of marriage must be defended in the interest of promoting family life, the good of children and the true development of human society. For the sake of these interests, the Catholic Church will continue to advocate for the preservation of the traditional understanding of marriage. Let me leave you with a smile. A little boy was listening to a long and excessively boring sermon in church. Suddenly the red sanctuary lamp caught his eye. Tugging his father's sleeve, he said, "Daddy, when the light turns green can we go?"