From the Pastor
November/19/2009
Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Most of us haven’t met a real king “in the flesh” (though some have reported “Elvis sightings” and the like). Nonetheless, since we do acknowledge Jesus as our Ruler, Shepherd, Guardian and Guide, we are, essentially, making Him our King (in the fullest sense of the word), vanquishing our foes and leading us to the Kingdom. May He always be the most important figure guiding us through this life to the next.
Thank you for making and honoring your pledge to the DSA (Diocesan Services Appeal). As we draw nearer to our goal for this year, there is less likelihood that we’ll have to draw from our savings (as so many other parishes have had to do-and as we have done for the last half-dozen or so years), and will be able to come closer to balancing the parish budget. Your good stewardship of the gifts God has given us is the best way to make this possible.
The religious musical presentation of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be performed in two weeks in our church on the 2nd Sunday of Advent (December 6th), at 2:30 p.m. We invite you to invite your family and friends to attend this touching spiritual program. CAUTION: You may want to bring some extra kleenex with you!
Once again, we are privileged to host the annual Delray Beach Thanksgiving Ecumenical Prayer Service in our church. This year, it will be held on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. When you come to join us in prayer for the community, please bring along, if possible, a canned or non-perishable food good for the poor as your offering.
During the American Bishops' Fall General Assembly in Baltimore this past week, they issued an important document on married life titled: "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" The letter is another component in the bishops' National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, which began in November 2004. The bishops said they addressed this letter "first and foremost to the Catholic faithful in the United States" but also offered it to others "in the hope of inspiring them to embrace this teaching." Though there is much more to read in the letter, a summary follows: The document encourages the use of natural family planning, which the bishops say promotes "an attitude of respect and wonder ... and fosters the true intimacy that only such respect can bring." Among other things, it calls contraceptive practices "objectively wrong" and "essentially opposed to God's plan for marriage and proper human development." The letter also quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying, "Cohabitation involves the serious sin of fornication. It doesn’t conform to God's plan for marriage and is always wrong and objectively sinful." It also names divorce and same-sex unions as two other "fundamental challenges to the nature and purpose of marriage." The bishops say divorce conflicts with "God's plan for marriage," but added that in some cases, "divorce may be the only solution to a morally unacceptable situation," such as when the safety of a spouse or children is at risk." They also encourage those who have divorced and remarried civilly to "participate in parish life and attend the Sunday Eucharist, even though they cannot receive Holy Communion."
The moves to legally recognize same-sex unions pose "a multifaceted threat to the very fabric of society, striking at the source from which society and culture come and which they are meant to serve," the bishops say. "Such recognition affects all people, married and non-married, not only at the fundamental levels of the good of the spouses, the good of children, the intrinsic dignity of every human person and the common good, but also at the levels of education, cultural imagination and influence, and religious freedom.”
To oppose the legal recognition of same-sex unions is not discriminatory nor a matter of fairness. The document says. "To promote and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman is itself a matter of justice. In fact, it would be a grave injustice if the state ignored the unique and proper place of husbands and wives, the place of mothers and fathers and the rights of children, who deserve from society clear guidance as they grow to sexual maturity."
To couples facing "modern stresses upon marriage," such as "the conflict between work and home, economic hardships and social expectations," the bishops urge them to "turn to the Lord for help" and to utilize church programs and ministries "that can help save marriages, even those in serious difficulty." "The vision of married life and love that we have presented in this pastoral letter is meant to be a foundation and reference point for the many works of evangelization, catechesis, pastoral care, education and advocacy carried on in our dioceses, parishes, schools, agencies, movements and programs," says the document's closing section, called a "commitment to ministry."
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Thank you for making and honoring your pledge to the DSA (Diocesan Services Appeal). As we draw nearer to our goal for this year, there is less likelihood that we’ll have to draw from our savings (as so many other parishes have had to do-and as we have done for the last half-dozen or so years), and will be able to come closer to balancing the parish budget. Your good stewardship of the gifts God has given us is the best way to make this possible.
The religious musical presentation of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be performed in two weeks in our church on the 2nd Sunday of Advent (December 6th), at 2:30 p.m. We invite you to invite your family and friends to attend this touching spiritual program. CAUTION: You may want to bring some extra kleenex with you!
Once again, we are privileged to host the annual Delray Beach Thanksgiving Ecumenical Prayer Service in our church. This year, it will be held on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. When you come to join us in prayer for the community, please bring along, if possible, a canned or non-perishable food good for the poor as your offering.
During the American Bishops' Fall General Assembly in Baltimore this past week, they issued an important document on married life titled: "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan" The letter is another component in the bishops' National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, which began in November 2004. The bishops said they addressed this letter "first and foremost to the Catholic faithful in the United States" but also offered it to others "in the hope of inspiring them to embrace this teaching." Though there is much more to read in the letter, a summary follows: The document encourages the use of natural family planning, which the bishops say promotes "an attitude of respect and wonder ... and fosters the true intimacy that only such respect can bring." Among other things, it calls contraceptive practices "objectively wrong" and "essentially opposed to God's plan for marriage and proper human development." The letter also quotes the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying, "Cohabitation involves the serious sin of fornication. It doesn’t conform to God's plan for marriage and is always wrong and objectively sinful." It also names divorce and same-sex unions as two other "fundamental challenges to the nature and purpose of marriage." The bishops say divorce conflicts with "God's plan for marriage," but added that in some cases, "divorce may be the only solution to a morally unacceptable situation," such as when the safety of a spouse or children is at risk." They also encourage those who have divorced and remarried civilly to "participate in parish life and attend the Sunday Eucharist, even though they cannot receive Holy Communion."
The moves to legally recognize same-sex unions pose "a multifaceted threat to the very fabric of society, striking at the source from which society and culture come and which they are meant to serve," the bishops say. "Such recognition affects all people, married and non-married, not only at the fundamental levels of the good of the spouses, the good of children, the intrinsic dignity of every human person and the common good, but also at the levels of education, cultural imagination and influence, and religious freedom.”
To oppose the legal recognition of same-sex unions is not discriminatory nor a matter of fairness. The document says. "To promote and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman is itself a matter of justice. In fact, it would be a grave injustice if the state ignored the unique and proper place of husbands and wives, the place of mothers and fathers and the rights of children, who deserve from society clear guidance as they grow to sexual maturity."
To couples facing "modern stresses upon marriage," such as "the conflict between work and home, economic hardships and social expectations," the bishops urge them to "turn to the Lord for help" and to utilize church programs and ministries "that can help save marriages, even those in serious difficulty." "The vision of married life and love that we have presented in this pastoral letter is meant to be a foundation and reference point for the many works of evangelization, catechesis, pastoral care, education and advocacy carried on in our dioceses, parishes, schools, agencies, movements and programs," says the document's closing section, called a "commitment to ministry."
Very Rev. Canon Tom