Religion and Politics

Recently I have received several e-mails and been in direct face to face discussion as well with folks who ask why the Church speaks out on issues such as immigration, the environment, health care,etc. People object to the Church doing this using remarks such as, "What about the separation of Church and state?" or "The clergy should talk about God, help people to pray better but keep politics out of the pulpit." I would like to offer comments on remarks such as these.

First of all there is some myth busting to do. One of the greatest myths used today in everyday language and even on many talk shows and newscasts is the notion that the US constitution establishes separation of Church and state. It does not quite do that and never uses the expression "separation of Church and state". The beginning of the first amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The purpose of this part of the amendment was to prevent the establishment of a state church or religion or the favoring of one over the other and to allow people of all creeds to assemble in their respective places of worship without harassment and also to freely live out publicly the tenets of their faith. This amendment does not prohibit clergy and other religious leaders from trying to influence society on matters that they believe are in the public interest or public morality. In the 1800's it was the churches, especially some of the protestant churches in the north, who led the campaign against slavery. Today religious leaders speak out on the rights of immigrants, the availability of health care, the injustice of certain wars not by way of trying to impose their religious beliefs on society but because they believe that these things are true for all people. Likewise when they speak out on abortion. Now some people my disagree and sometimes religious leaders may be wrong, but it is their right to speak, the right of free speech, granted later in the same first amendment.

On the other side people get upset when a priest or other clergy person brings some of these issues to the pulpit. They say things like' "Father shouldn't talk about politics. He should stick to the Bible, or Church teaching, etc." The problem here is that the very same Bible speaks on some of these issues that are political. Your priest, minister rabbi has an obligation to address these issues from the pulpit. What cannot be done from the pulpit is to direct people to vote for a certain individual or to belong to a certain party. The general idea is that clergy should speak about political issues when they touch on matters of social morality but not enter into partisan politics.

What the constitution leaves room for from the various religions is that they serve as the conscience, or at least, a conscience for society. Complete separation of Church and state would not allow for that. For those of us who are people of faith we need to do some soul searching when addressing some of these hot button issues and ask whether the Democratic party, the Republican Party, the Tea Party or any particular talk show host or media outlet influences me more on such matters than does my faith.

Pentecost: A Reflection

As a sit here on the day before Pentecost Sunday, celebrating 39 years of priestly ministry, my thoughts go to an event that took place at the beginning of my sophomore year of high school when in 1959 Pope John XXIII called for a council, the council that became known to us as Vatican II. In making this call he asked the Church to pray for a new Pentecost, a new outpouring of the Spirit, on the Church and on the world. The council began three years later in 1962 when this writer was a freshman at the Franciscan College Seminary in Troy, NY, certainly did provide for that outpouring. The Pope's prayer was answered with renewed enthusiasm for liturgy, especially the change to vernacular language, Scripture, the role of the laity in the Church, and ecumenism.

Every year we celebrate Pentecost and recall the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and ask for an outpouring of the Spirit. This year though, most especially I think, calls on us to cry out loudly for an outpouring of the Spirit. We need to call on the Spirit to heal the wounds caused by sexual abuse, it's cover-up, and exploitation of it by many in the media. We need to call on the Spirit to heal the wounds within the Church between factions who call themselves liberal or conservative and who forget that the idea is not to win out against the opposition as we do in political elections, but to call on the Spirit to lead us to what is best for the Church which is usually a mixture of change and tradition. The Church above all must be a win-win place and not one with winners and losers. We need to call on the Spirit to blow on us anew that we might realize that the Church is not the institution, but the vibrant living community of faithful members, clergy, religious and laity alike, throughout the world. The institution is needed, to be sure, but the institution is not an end in itself, but at the service of this great communion of believers.

When this new breath of the Spirit upon us takes place there will be fewer people saying things like, "I like Jesus, but not organized religion or the institutional Church," because they will see living witness to Him in the visible, institutional Church. When that happens the Church's wonderful social teachings touching areas like the economy, peace, justice, concern for the environment will be heeded because we will once again be credible. People won't be able to say, "Don't speak to us about justice until you clean your own house."

As youngsters preparing for Confirmation many of us had to memorize the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit. I must admit that though I am a friar and priest I still had to check the catechism to be sure I had them all down. Let us ask the Spirit this Pentecost to pour out on us these gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel (or right judgment) knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. These last two deserve some comment. Piety does not mean walking around with our hands folded and carrying our rosary. It means a strong devotion and loyalty to God and the things of God. Fear of the Lord means a sense of awe and wonder towards the Creator, not a fear of punishment by God. That awe and wonder is certainly created in me by viewing the video clip attached to my last posting.

Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit and pour out your gifts on all of us.

PS You might look to the column on the left on click on the blog of our bishop here in St. Petersburg (For His Friends)for a nice reflection on Pentecost.

Immigration Reform and Some Other Issues: A faith Perspective.

The Wandering Friar is not wandering this month and is enjoying some quality time at home. I've been able to work on mission talks, prepare more for the upcoming retreat for priests in Syracuse, NY as well as my summer adult education series in Eagle River.

I have also been giving thought to several important issues such as the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico--No, it has not hit Florida and there is a good likelihood that it won't. Nonetheless the fishing industry here still is getting hit and you can smell the oil at times when standing on a beach. It certainly tells this writer that we have to pursue other energy sources and that just saying drill, drill, drill is not the answer. The sex abuse crisis seems never to go away and while I'm certain that many in the media love piling it on the Church, we as Church still need to move towards a policy of transparency in everything. It's time for Vatican secrecy to go.

And last but not least among the issues is immigration reform. I believe that a challenge for Catholics is to step out of the slant of your particular political party and look at this issue from a faith perspective. If you click on the site below you will find a very fine interview from Our Sunday Visitor from Bishop Wester. He expresses some of the main concerns on people's minds, especially that of legality. After getting to the Sunday Visitor Web site click on the May 16 issue. I hope you read it and I welcome your comments.Bishop Wester on Immigration

The Grandeur of God, A View From The Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D

Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D

I just came across a wonderful video taken from the Hubble telescope. Just click on the line above to see it. The relationship between religion and science has always been important to me. Many people of faith fear science and many scientists eschew religion. Francis of Assisi was known at one time to have gone before God in prayer and repeated these two questions, Who are you O God, And who am I?" For him, who lived at a time when people believed the earth to be the center of the universe, he was bowled over by the grandeur of God and his own littleness, yet belovedness, in the face of God.

For those of us today who do believe in God and see in videos such as this and other pictures sent to us by the Hubble telescope, we can only be awed and stop in wonderment at a Creator who created still creating such as vast universe. We can realize our own smallness as well. Our earth, solar system and even our Milky Way Galaxy are just specks of dust compared with all that is. Yet science tells us that we are one with all that is, that the same atoms and molecules formed at the beginning of the universe are the ones that we are made of. I hope that viewing this video helps us realize that the God who created all of this is a God that none of us can totally figure out. Yet we believe that He loves all that He made, including us, and that really is totally awesome.

Some Thoughts at Season's End

Another season of preaching parish missions has come to an end. After attending a gathering of friars in Raleigh, NC I'll be heading home, taking a week of vacation and then settle down for a whole month with my community at St. Anthony Friary.

These past few months have been hectic. They have included travel to eleven states and one Canadian province, but they have also been quite enriching and filled with wonderful and unique encounters with a variety of peoples, something which I consider to be on of the real blessings of twenty two and a half years on the road.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that back in October I experienced an afternoon on the grounds of a monastery of nuns who lived a life of hermitage and who produced wonderful liturgical art. I have continued to preach in Spanish and am always enriched by the faith and the variety of cultures of the Hispanic people. Keep in mind that the word Hispanic is misleading because it lumps people together by a common language, but each country has its own culture. I am always experiencing that in new ways. This year I worked in Spanish in western Kentucky, North Carolina, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Many of the folks I work with in Spanish are undocumented and have many painful stories that reflect the injustice of our immigration laws. These must be changed and certainly not in the shameful way that Arizona has just gone. You can click on my links to the right to the Franciscan Action Network and the US Bishop's Immigration reform to see more on this topic. In spite of poverty and pain they have great faith, and not the passive resigned type of faith, but an active one that seeks to correct injustice.

Faith is not limited to Hispanics of course. Whether in Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida or the Carolinas I am always deeply moved by the strength of faith in people touched by sickness, injustice, the bad economy or the crisis of credibilty due to the continuing sexual abuse crisis and the cover-up engaged in by too many of our Church's leaders.

Another enriching experience came in February in Sanibel, Florida where the church there had been destroyed several years ago by hurricane Charlie. Many people told me how rebuilding not only the Church, but many of their own homes, brought them together and made them stronger.

Just last week I was in Miramichi, NB, Canada and for the first time in over 22 years of preaching missions joined with a community of native peoples,or as the Canadians say, First Nation people, as I celebrated Mass at the chapel of St. Joachim on the Eel Ground reserve. The Church had some very nice stained glass windows which integrated Christian saints and symbols with symbols from their culture. The brochure describing the windows was entitled, "One Supreme Being, Two Unique Cultures. Salmon fishing was a key part of this people's life and the local pastor and I were treated several days later to a nice grilled salmon, prepared by one of the Eel Ground natives. We enjoyed the meal and appreciated it more for the genuine gift that it was.

In closing this entry I'd mention that I'm often asked how I can live out of a suitcase. The answer to that is because of experiences such as the ones I've mentioned here, and that is only one year, of more than twenty two.

A Loving Embrace

Perhaps you're thinking that this is a strange title for the blog entry of a Franciscan friar. Many of you know that I am a sports fan. I just witnessed the end of the Masters Golf Tournament and the impressive victory of Phil Mickelson.

Even the non golf fans are aware of the coverage that has been given to Tiger Woods over the past few months as a result of his multiple marital infidelities. I have constantly challenged so many who have self-righteously pontificated about his failures and those of other public figures because I believe that in his case anyway he has taken all the right initial steps to correct his wrongdoing. Only time will tell where it all goes. I was glad that he performed well, though inconsistently, in the tournament, and I wish him the best in the future, in his own personal life, as well as in golf.

The above having been said I must say that I was on the brink of tears when Phil won. The emotion came not from his birdie putt on the 18th green, but in the loving embrace from his wife Amy who has been struggling from breast cancer. You see Phil took time off last year to be at her side as she began treatment.The following quote, taken from the ESPN website, says it all. "We've been through a lot this year. It means a lot to share some joy together," Mickelson said, his voice cracking has he struggled to keep control. "It's been such an incredible week, an emotional week. And to cap it off with a victory is something I can't put into words.

"It's something we'll share for the rest of our lives." Today was a victory for him, for her and for his family. I congratulate Phil and his family and pray that his wife's recovery be complete, and that he too has much success on the golf course.

A Change of Seasons--a bit of personal news,

Every once in a while I like to use this blog just to let folks know a bit more of what my life is like. This is one of those timesAs you can tell from my schedule posted above I'm heading into a more relaxed time of the year. I head north to Canada via the Auto Train to Washington DC. I used this wonderful mode of transportation last year and it nourished my general love for trains.After that I get to stop and visit friends in New Jersey and then family in Boston. On the way back home I stop at our friary in Raleigh, NC for a springtime gathering of friars. The month of May will see me taking a week of vacation and then spending some good quality time with my community in St. Petersburg as well as a chance to indulge one of my favorite pastimes--following the Boston Red Sox, especially when they come here to play the Tampa Bay Rays.

I hope during this time to work on some more video and have just completed a reflection on the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Easter. You can check it out by clicking on Fr.John's YouTube Videos

Also, I have added a link under My Blog List to a blog done by Steve DeWitt, OFM, one of our friars in formation. You can look at that by clicking here--A Franciscan Abroad