From the Pastor's Desk: October 25, 2020

  We, as a nation, are in the process of preparing for the fast approaching elections at the presidential and state level.  In response to our bishop’s letter, let me share some of my personal thoughts and experiences in regards to this matter. First of all, this election is most personal for me, since it is the first presidential election that I will vote as a new US citizen.

What I will share with you is not meant to tell you how to vote, but how your vote lines up with the teachings of the church. As I hope you know, there are certain realities about the candidates and their political parties that directly impact our Catholic faith. So, we must be aware of these realities before we cast our vote.

My message to you is not about allegiance to any particular candidate or political party but to the truth of God and His church. In the Book of the Law of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Book of Deuteronomy, God said, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)

The USCCB and the entire teaching of the Magisterium reminds us that “the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family and because of the number of lives destroyed.”

Dear friends, our nation is dangerously divided today, and I believe that the division line runs through the heart of respect and dignity of the unborn human person. It is about killing innocent people and the promise of prosperity or to defend the dignity of innocent human life and mockery that protection of life leads to the destruction and progress of society.

As your pastor for over ten years, I have gotten to know you pretty well and I know that you are all faith-filled, highly intelligent and educated people and you know the truth.  So, please, be not afraid of the truth.

Truth liberates, creates, transforms, brings peace, healing, reconciliation and makes enemies to love one another again. Please, do not be tricked into wishful thinking of empty and false promises. Do not believe that you receive anything for free and that your lives will be better because of healthcare coverage, tax breaks, free tuition, or any other wishful promise. If a human person does not matter now, it will not matter later. I lived through all such promises and my life experiences remind me that they never became true and all these promises and everything they represented collapsed into ruin and dust.

In the Gospel last Sunday (Mt 22:15-21), Jesus, too, was set up to answer a tricky question, to which His answer was profound and reminded us of who made us and what we are made for. We are made in the image of God, and each person is meant for eternal communion with God.

Our faith in Him must guide us in every area of our earthly lives, including the realm of politics and temporal power. “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  (Choose life)…then and you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you.”

Blessed Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, pray for us.
With prayers,
Fr. Andy