How goes our politics – As a faith community, whether parish or U.S. Catholic Church, I believe our best approach to politics and religion can be phrased “political-yes”, “partisan never”. In the Catholic tradition, participation in the political process is a moral obligation. No one has any problem with that when it’s translated to mean each private citizen should be sure to vote; but as a responsible community with common gospel values and a tradition of Catholic social teaching, it must mean considerably more than that. For one thing we want to hear our U.S. Bishops speak on value laden policy positions, even in the form of specific legislation. Their public positions on the death penalty, physician assisted suicide, immigration and refugees, the execution of Timothy McVeigh, and U.S. sanctions against Cuba are current examples. The silence of Church leadership and bishops in the Germany of the 1930’s clearly reminds us that separation of Church and state must not imply separation of moral values and society; and it remains a stark example that “silence” on politics by church leaders can prove to be both wrong and shameful. As I’ve outlined before in this bulletin, in homilies and in adult education, I recommend five steps in our “political/religious” thinking: 1) to ground ourselves again and again in the values and wisdom of the gospel; 2) to get the actual facts as best we can; 3) to insist that our bishops and spiritual leaders speak out on crucial public issues; 4) to study carefully and prayerfully not just their position but their arguments; 5) to vote our conscience, and if we differ, to remain open to further discussion and revision in the light of Church teaching and leadership. A slightly tougher but more practical question comes with public or political advocacy at the local level, like diocese or parish. Here at Christ the King for the past six years parishioners have invited support for and against government action on issues that were studied by our Social Justice Committee and viewed as of crucial impact and either in fairly clear harmony or disharmony with Catholic Social teaching, for example: discontinuing aid to families with dependent children, food stamps for legal immigrants, hospice for AIDS victims, closure of the School of the Americas, emergency shelter and transitional housing for working families and petitions to abolish the death penalty.

Three footnotes need to be added. (1) our Social Justice Task force needs to do its homework as thoroughly, objectively and conscientiously as possible; 2) their recommendations are only that, an invitation for those who agree to petition, vote or inform themselves further; 3) partisan positions, partisan comments and support or opposition to specific candidates are never appropriate. Of course another thing we celebrate with the 4th of July is freedom of speech – so please feel free to give me your own opinion and reaction to my comments by letter or conversation.

How goes our worship – With the shift to English in the Mass, the liturgy of the Word (scripture and homilies) has become more prominent, which is great. But the Eucharistic prayer that distinguishes us as Catholics, which makes all the difference between a communion service and a “real mass”, and which has been passed down since the Last Supper as central to our worship seems to be getting reduced to the less important and more boring part of the mass! So for the next few weekends I’ll borrow thoughts from a national article * to share some ideas on what that central eucharistic prayer should mean to us and how we can all best share in it. Check today’s fold out for more.

One special way to celebrate the 4th of July is with our own Pleasant Hill community and its parade. We have a special Christ the King carriage in the parade. Come along for the fun and to cheer us on!

Your Pastor,
Brian T. Joyce