Fr. John's Blog

I want to devote this column to a statement recently made by Cardinal Wuerl in light of the decision by the Trump administration to end the Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals program in its current form. Cardinal Wuerl issued the following statement on September 15, 2017 and addressed it to the priests of the Archdiocese:

On May 4, 2017 Pope Francis announced that Father Solanus Casey, a beloved Capuchin friar who had ministered for many years in Detroit would be named “blessed.” The beatification will take place during a Mass in Detroit on November 18, 2017.

During the latter part of this year we will see two men born in the United States declared Blessed by the Church. The first one to be beatified will be Fr. Stanley Rother (1935-81). His beatification will take place in Oklahoma City on September 23, 2017. I will write about Fr. Rother in this week’s column. The second American to be beatified this year is Fr. Solanus Casey, O.F.M. Cap. He will be beatified in Detroit on November 18, 2017. I will write about him in next week’s column.

I am back at my desk after having been away for ten days on vacation. This little break gave me the opportunity to visit with several old friends and family members whom I only get to see when I am in Western Pennsylvania. A highlight for me was attending a dinner on Saturday night (August 26) with about 200 classmates from the 1967 Senior Class of Butler Area Senior High School.

On August 12, 2017, a young man from Ohio slammed his car into a crowd of protestors and onlookers at Charlottesville, VA. A young woman died and many more people suffered serious injuries. On the same day two state troopers were killed when their helicopter accidentally crashed while assisting in law enforcement efforts.

Today I conclude my reporting of an address to the Napa Institute that Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles gave earlier this year. Archbishop Gomez encouraged his audience to recognize the great mission to America that was inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe and to realize that mission was still continuing. To this purpose Archbishop presented a spiritual interpretation of the Guadalupe story in light of the present situation in our country.

We will celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption on Tuesday of this week. I saw a report of a talk that Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles recently gave at the Napa Institute. His remarks are very timely as we prepare to gather for Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption.

In last week’s column I proposed that we look at practicing the works of mercy as way to answer the following question. In a world divided by economics and education, social status and political opinions, race and religion, what can I do this week to bring people together? I want to continue that conversation in this week’s column. Let’s look at some works of mercy and some concrete ways to practice them as suggested by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

We regularly feature a question of the week in the bulletin. The question for this week is this: In a world divided by economics and education, social status and political opinions, race and religion, what can I do this week to bring people together? An answer that I want to propose today for all of us is to be attentive to practicing the works of mercy.

The recent death of my mother has led to conversations in which a number of people asked me about the church’s position on the burial of deceased. Some of these people asked questions because they heard about a recent document from the Holy See.

In my column today I want to draw attention to another issue of great concern to the Catholic Bishops of Maryland. This is the issue of human trafficking. On April 3, 2017, our Bishops issued a statement in which they remind us that human trafficking is an international, national, and local scourge and a grave violation of the dignity and freedom of all its victims. Human trafficking includes both labor and sex trafficking, and rivals the global drug industry in its scope and profits. Human trafficking affects the lives of countless victims from all over the world.

Recently I read an interview on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop (USCCB) with the Most Reverend Frank J. Dewane, Bishop of Venice, Florida who is also chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. He was asked to comment on “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” the recently released presidential budget proposal that would increase defense spending by $54 billion and then offset that by stripping money from many agencies that serve millions of people, including the poor.