Fr. John's Blog

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019, I received the sad news that Sr. Marcella Marie Missar, SND, who turned 92 on April 7, 2019, had died at the Notre Dame Health Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 9, 2019. Sr. Marcella had been in religious life for seventy-six years.

I am writing this column after having returned from my brief visit to Butler, Pennsylvania to visit family and friends. While I was in Butler I saw clear evidence of the opioid epidemic that has plagued various parts of the country, particularly Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. A priest ministering in Pennsylvania said that he saw the impact of the opioid crisis in people walking the streets, high all day, and being so blatant to the point that they are shooting up in public and not even trying to hide it. When I was in Butler, I talked with a long-standing acquaintance about the impact of the opioid crisis in my hometown. He expressed the frustration of many who want to be compassionate but become angry and frustrated when they see addicts passed out or stealing from people to get money to purchase more drugs.

On August 13, 2019 bishops from two committees at the United States Conference at Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed their strong opposition to a final rule on public charge put forth by the Department of Homeland Security. A rule on public charge would deny green cards to immigrants who receive public assistance, including food stamps, Medicaid, and housing vouchers. The rule was published on August 12, 2019 and would take effect sixty days after publication.

On August 8, 2019, Bishops from three committees at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) expressed deep concern about racism and xenophobia has apparently motivated the massacre in El Paso and that have motivated numerous other mass shootings in the United States. The Chairmen called on our elected officials to exert leadership in seeking to heal the wounds that these shootings have caused and to deal with the scourges of racism, xenophobia, and religious bigotry, including refraining from hurtful, painful, and divisive rhetoric that dehumanizes and polarizes people on the basis of their race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.

I often write my column for the bulletin at least a week before it appears in the bulletin. I am sitting on a computer on Sunday afternoon (August 4) very sad because of the outbreak of violence that has happened in the last week or so. The sadness is compounded by the shootings that occurred yesterday (August 3) in El Paso, Texas and very early this morning (August 4) in Dayton, Ohio.

On Tuesday, July 23, 2019, the Holy See announced that the Most Reverend Mark E. Brennan, an auxiliary bishop in Baltimore, had been named the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia. Bishop Brennan is well known to many in the parish, particularly since he was the Pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Gaithersburg, when he was named to be an auxiliary bishop in Baltimore.

I have been watching the activities of Bishop Edward Malesic, fifth bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg, PA, since his installation as the Bishop of Greensburg in 2015. Some of this would be hometown interest. The county immediately to the East of Butler County is Armstrong County, which is located in the Greensburg Diocese.

Recently someone asked me when our parish church was dedicated. I actually have the answer to that question hanging on one of the walls in my office in the rectory: a letter from William Cardinal Baum, former Archbishop of Washington, to our founding pastor, the Reverend John P. Stack. Let me quote from this important letter for our parish history.

Our beloved Fr. Ralph Kuehner was a tireless advocate for affordable housing for vulnerable populations. He advocated for this in the various Maryland counties in which the Archdiocese of Washington is located as well as before the DC government and in Annapolis whenever the need for this arose. I think that he would heartily endorse statements by two Bishops on a proposed rule that would lead to family separation and housing instability.

Both Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, Bishop of Austin and Chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, issued a joint statement in which they called on the federal government to hear the cry of the poor and vulnerable. I am transcribing their statement here. It can be found online at http://www.usccb.org/news/2019/19-125.cfm.

When I was reading through the news on the Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) website, I was pleased to see that several MCC legislative priorities were signed into law by Governor Hogan. Let me summarize what these priorities were.

During their recent annual Spring General Assembly in Baltimore, the U.S. Catholic Bishops approved three additional measures to address abuse and accountability by bishops. The measures expand upon Pope Francis’s Motu proprio (“Vos estis lux mundi” [“You are the light of the world”]) and the U.S. Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The term Motu proprio in Canon Law refers to a document issued by the Pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him.