Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Pope Francis drew criticism from some when on February 4 of last year he met in Abu Dhabi with the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Alzhar, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, and co-signed a declaration condemning the polarizing attitudes which would criticize the "Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together."  Religion has been weaponized by individuals and nations for centuries, all over the globe, as the justification for gaining power and committing crimes.

On October 4 Francis presented his new encyclical, Fratelli tutti, to the world.  Don’t be daunted by its length - 1/6 of it is footnotes!  In this document he repeats the text of the Abu Dhabi declaration.  He explains, "We resolutely declared that religions must never incite war, hateful attitudes, hostility and extremism, nor must they incite violence or the shedding of blood. These tragic realities are the consequence of a deviation from religious teachings. They result from a political manipulation of religions and from interpretations made by religious groups who, in the course of history, have taken advantage of the power of religious sentiment in the hearts of men and women… God, the Almighty, has no need to be defended by anyone and does not want his name to be used to terrorize people.  For this reason I would like to reiterate here the appeal for peace, justice and fraternity that we made together:

“In the name of God, who has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and who has called them to live together as brothers and sisters, to fill the earth and make known the values of goodness, love and peace;

“In the name of innocent human life that God has forbidden to kill, affirming that whoever kills a person is like one who kills the whole of humanity, and that whoever saves a person is like one who saves the whole of humanity;

“In the name of the poor, the destitute, the marginalized and those most in need, whom God has commanded us to help as a duty required of all persons, especially the wealthy and those of means;

“In the name of orphans, widows, refugees and those exiled from their homes and their countries; in the name of all victims of wars, persecution and injustice; in the name of the weak, those who live in fear, prisoners of war and those tortured in any part of the world, without distinction;

“In the name of peoples who have lost their security, peace and the possibility of living together, becoming victims of destruction, calamity and war;

“In the name of human fraternity, that embraces all human beings, unites them and renders them equal;

“In the name of this fraternity torn apart by policies of extremism and division, by systems of unrestrained profit or by hateful ideological tendencies that manipulate the actions and the future of men and women;

“In the name of freedom, that God has given to all human beings, creating them free and setting them apart by this gift;

“In the name of justice and mercy, the foundations of prosperity and the cornerstone of faith;

“In the name of all persons of goodwill present in every part of the world;

“In the name of God and of everything stated thus far, [we] declare the adoption of a culture of dialogue as the path; mutual cooperation as the code of conduct; reciprocal understanding as the method and standard.”

I invite you to consider reading this encyclical from the perspective of what we see when we look around today, and start conversations, zoom calls, whatever.  I include one paragraph here for today’s reflection as Francis speaks about a culture of encounter:

“All this calls for the ability to recognize other people’s right to be themselves and to be different. This recognition, as it becomes a culture, makes possible the creation of a social covenant. Without it, subtle ways can be found to make others insignificant, irrelevant, of no value to society. While rejecting certain visible forms of violence, another more insidious kind of violence can take root: the violence of those who despise people who are different, especially when others' demands in any way compromise their own particular interests" (218).

God bless you. 

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

On this Pro-Life Sunday let's renew our consciences that all human life is sacred, in particular the lives of those who cannot defend themselves.  What happened in this past year in our state of Virginia is, to my mind, unthinkable, to take the decision of saving or disposing of a child and placing it into the hands of minors who now have the option of choosing to abort their child right up to the moment of live birth.  Unthinkable.  Everybody knows abortion is wrong on some level, otherwise why would people be so irrational in defending their actions?  Well, it has been, generally, an unthinkable year.

Since 1974, 18 million children in the U.S. have been denied the right to be born.  Consider that we are now reaching one million deaths in the world due to COVID-19 in just seven months.  18.8 million people were displaced within their countries, losing home and employment, due to natural disasters and collapse of economic and environmental support.  Countless have been forced to cross borders because of political persecutions, genocide and violence.  Pandemic, for sure.  A pandemic of selfishness, on the one-hand, when the choice is made for convenience, but also a pandemic of a lack of support.

In 1968 when Humanae vitae was being promulgated by Saint Pope Paul VI, there was discussion about the morality of contraception, it seemed that the Church as well as the world was pretty divided over the issue.  Paul VI was said to have remarked that, if we allow contraception, we would embark on a slippery slope to elective abortion.  Everyone recoiled in horror:  certainly that could never be!  People forget that everyone knew this was wrong the generation before mine, not just the Catholics.  

In this case Paul VI was a prophet.  He knew how easy it is for us human beings to have our sensitivities to moral issues become anesthetized.  An anesthetic's purpose is to induce a loss of consciousness, to deprive one of a feeling of awareness.  In this case, minds are numbed, consciences are in a coma.  The more we sin, the more easy it is to sin.  The more we look the other way, the greater the evil grows where we are not paying attention.  Suddenly it is okay to euthanize those who are no longer productive contributors to society, or those whose quality of life we have decided is inadequate.  It is okay to just eliminate criminals who are a threat to our society.  Unthinkable.

In counseling people who have had an abortion, I have only rarely encountered people who, when considering it, thought they had a choice.  They have always been people who believed they had no choice.  And, most times they did not.  The man was nowhere to be found, or threatened violence unless the child was aborted.  Or the woman had hopes of survival but alone, was convinced the economic reality would not allow a child to come into the world.  Helplessness leads to hopelessness and homelessness.  Most of us have no idea what it feels like to flee and have nowhere to go, to hope for mercy and find none.  This past week I became angrier than I have been in in a long time when the stories came out of Georgia and Texas of forced sterilizations of migrant and immigrant women who were being held in containment camps...in our country.  Unthinkable.

When in Fredericksburg on Pro-Life Sunday, I gave a homily much like this letter, saying that if we are going to say NO to abortion we have to say YES to being part of a solution.  To provide a context for people who find themselves in a hopeless-helpless-homeless situation in which they could make the right choice for life when confronted with pregnancy.  The week after, I had a meeting with a wonderful lady named Kathleen Wilson who, responding to that homily, asked if St. Mary might be interested in helping her start Mary's Shelter with a monthly contribution.  Something finally happened.  She started with a two-room apartment in 2006.  Today their program provides women and their children, both born and unborn, with the unique opportunity of living there for up to three years in order to further their education and/or secure a career, while also attending in-house parenting and life-skills classes. Each woman has a mentor who provides hands-on guidance, compassion and support. This foundation ensures women have time to work toward their goals and provide for their children, making the possibility of independent, stable living a reality.

Since, more than 400 women have participated in the Mary’s Shelter program's gift of unconditional love.  Now this is thinkable.

God bless you.