The McCarrick report remains in the news and probably will remain in the news for some time as we absorb some of things that have been related in it. Greg Erlandson, director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service, commented that that were heroes in this sad story. One such hero was the late Cardinal John J. O’Connor who tried unsuccessfully to stop our former archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s appointment to the Archdiocese of Washington where often the Archbishop receives the red hat. Even more courageous were the victim survivors who tried to speak up, the mother who sought to protect her children, the counselors who warned of the allegations that they were hearing. Sadly, the impression that we receive is that those who wanted to raise concerns were not given an attentive listening and rumors were dismissed rather than investigated thoroughly.

Even though we have waited for nearly two years for the McCarrick Report and knew that the news in it wouldn’t be good, at least I am still dealing with the shock of some of the details in it. One detail from the Vatican’s report on our former archbishop that saddens me is the following. Repeatedly senior officials were warned that something was unsuitable and inappropriate with promoting McCarrick and that charges from serious people needed to be considered. On each occasion a Vatican official disregarded the testimony of lay people, priests, and religious and based decisions exclusively on the advice of other bishops.

This week we will go over the answers to the last ten questions in the Faithful Citizenship Quiz.

As you read this, Election Day has come and gone. The call to be informed and faithful citizens remains. To that end let’s go over the answers to the first ten questions in the Faithful Citizenship Quiz that I put in last week’s bulletin. We’ll go over the answers to the remaining questions in next week’s column.

The Faithful Citizenship section of the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) contains lots of interesting and useful information. As the next election will be in just a couple of days, I think that I would present here twenty questions for faithful citizens. I invite you to take the quiz today, which I got from the USCCB website.

If he were alive right now, Blessed Carlo Acutis would be twenty-nine years old. But Carlo died when he was just fifteen years old. Carlo was the oldest son of Andrea Acutis and Antonia Salzano, who were not particularly religious. Although born in London, his family moved to Milan when he was about four months old. He was a normal boy who was a natural jokester who enjoyed making his classmates and teachers laugh. At the same time he defended disabled peers at school when bullies mocked them. Outside of school he did voluntary work with the homeless and destitute.

The month of October is domestic violence month, a time when we can share more openly about an epidemic of violence in our own families. Indeed, domestic violence affects every parish and every community in our country.

Today I want to conclude a presentation of the Message of Pope Francis for the 106th World Day for Migrants and Refugees. Last week I mentioned that he wanted to reflect on six pairs of verbs in the 2020 Message. Here are the six pairs of verbs: To know in order to understand To be close in order to serve To listen in order to be reconciled To share in order to grow To be involved in order to promote To cooperate in order to build

Sunday, September 27, 2020, marks the 106th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. Pope Francis delivered a message for this occasion which was dated May 13, 2020. I want to present some points from his message for our consideration today and next week.

On Sunday, September 20 we celebrated Catechetical Sunday. On the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Most Reverend Robert E. Barron, Chairperson, Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis invited everyone who is involved in the work of catechesis to consider earnestly the importance of catechist formation. He mentioned that they had produced a variety of articles, videos, and podcasts exploring our baptismal call to be active participants in the evangelizing mission of the Church, as well as the unique role of catechesis in the whole process of evangelization.

When I first heard reports about the corona virus affecting so many people in China, I wasn’t sure what to think about this news. Then I heard about cases breaking out in various parts of our country. I think that the seriousness of our situation really hit home on Sunday, March 8, when a parishioner who was a physician warned me about the seriousness of the pandemic that would soon be upon us. Before that week was out we were instructed to close down. In the first few days and weeks I was concerned about how we would function as a parish. By Easter time we decided to have live-streamed Mass. We had no idea how well that it would be received. Soon it became clear that we should do it every week until we would be able to open again. In the meantime I have learned to use an internet tool about which I had never heard: Zoom. Over the next six months I have become somewhat adept at hosting Zoom conferences. While meetings in person would be much better, most of us have learned to live with Zoom. Because of it, life can carry on.

August 26, 2020 marked the one hundredth anniversary of the passage of the nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. This amendment was the result of decades of steadfast advocacy by women from all walks of life throughout our nation. One woman who was jubilant at the passing of this amendment that gave women the right to vote was my paternal grandmother: Anna Dougherty Dillon. My father would tell me that Grandma often would say women should have been granted the right to vote long before 1920, but that she was grateful to have that right. And exercise it she did! My grandmother wasted no time in registering to vote and never missed an opportunity to vote right up to her death in 1964. Another thing my father told me was that she would never tell my grandfather or her children for whom she voted. When asked she was just smile and say that she wasn’t going to say. This annoyed my grandfather who wanted to know how she voted, but he or her children never found out.