Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: May 15, 2018
Dearest Parishioners and Friends,
This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Pentecost, often known as “the birthday of the Church.” When the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of tongues of flame, they were changed from a small band of inspired but scared disciples still hiding behind locked doors. Suddenly bold, they went forth and began to preach about Jesus confidently and publicly: He who had been their teacher and friend really was the Son of God and Savior of the world! And they did this even though their fears turned out to be true: of all the Apostles, all ended up being killed for the faith except St. John.
Persecution of Christians is not something that ended during the Roman Empire. Believers are still persecuted today. Why, just last weekend suicide-bombers attacked and killed Catholics and other Christians at three churches in Indonesia! While most of us in our country are in little danger of being targeted for execution because of our religion, even in the USA today Catholics are often discriminated against. We are often ridiculed by those who do not understand our doctrines and practices, but this often descends into outright opposition and discrimination against us. It’s nothing new. The emotional outrage sometimes vented at peaceful demonstrators outside abortion providers today is similar to the hate spewed at Archbishop Joseph Rummel and other leaders in the fight against racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. The great historian Arthur Schlesinger once opined that anti-Catholicism was “the deepest bias in the history of the American people”; he hasn’t been proved wrong yet.
But let’s not consider this just a historical phenomenon. Let’s realize its spiritual dimension, too. You and I can begin by asking ourselves the question: “Is my Catholic faith strong enough to withstand opposition, even persecution?” We may already be embarrassed by the answer. If our usual response is silence when someone lies about the Church – for example, when folks allege that all priests are sexual predators and all nuns sadistic teachers – it’s hard to think we’d be much braver if a statement of our faith would endanger our money, our property or our lives. To begin to combat such a weak faith, each of us should spend some time considering and then resolving to be more strong and forthright in defending what the Church is and teaches. Purposeful faith is strong faith. In fact it’s the only kind of faith that’s real.
In my column here last week I again addressed the need for our Parish to review and reduce our weekend Mass schedule, at the behest of our diocesan Pastoral Planning Task Force. Our consideration of this a few years back arrived at no consensus, so I dropped it at the time. Still, we remain one of the smallest Parishes in the diocese, with a weekend Mass attendance that makes quality liturgy in our huge Cathedral’s worship-space difficult. Please give some thought to this: what would you do if your “favorite” Mass time here changes? Maybe I should ask “when” and not “if”? I am confident that most everyone who comes to the Cathedral values our community and its worship so much that there won’t be much of a change to attendance and participation in the Parish. But again, like our discussion about something entirely different in the preceding paragraph, a purposeful determination to face hard choices is the best way to ensure that the right decision gets made!
In the Lord,
Fr. Paul D. Counce
