Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: July 05, 2020
Going into last weekend I was a bit worried that Mass attendance here at the Cathedral would go “down.” There are surging numbers of new coronavirus victims and deaths in so many other Southern States like Texas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida which “re-opened” too quickly – or never even “shut down” properly, as Louisiana did. I had wondered if our parishioners and friends might be a bit scared off by this. But no: our numbers continue to increase cautiously! (At the 10:30 am Sunday Mass, we had 86 wonderful worshippers, all safely-distanced but smiling under their masks! True, at a certain point it will be challenging for increasing numbers to sit six feet apart, but we’re not at that point yet!)
The last full week of June I was able to get away with a priest friend to a beachfront camp at Grand Isle. We spent the week relaxing, reading, snoozing, and praying, all mostly indoors (the weather wasn’t very rainy, ’though we rarely saw the sun, just very breezy). We also spent hours and hours just conversing, talking religion and politics and history, and trying to explore the foreseeable future together, which is one of our favorite things to do. We didn’t solve all the world’s problems, but we did pretty much agree on what those problems really are! The only real work I did was cooking dinner every evening, which wasn’t a chore at all! (My travelling companion had an even easier job: he was in charge of putting ice-cubes into glasses whenever needed!)
One of the things we talked a great deal about, of course, was the current state of the country. In particular we anguished together about the ongoing, difficult problems America has with its racism, past and present. Neither of us was in favor of violence in righting wrongs, of course, but neither were we in favor of pretending wrongs are right! To do either – Christian moral teachings insist – would be sinful.
Too many people think that the truth of history justifies whatever occurred. Wrong! The truth of history is often ugly, revealing what ought never to have happened. Historical evil never becomes our “heritage” or legacy: it always remains evil and while it deserves to be remembered it must be remembered as such, something to be repudiated and never given honor.
The reality of historical evil is also sometimes used to justify vengeance. But no, it does not. Here again, Christianity’s moral insistence on mercy offers the way forward, so that impulses toward retaliation instead give way to cooperation, to achieve real progress.
Finally, the reality of historical evil is sometimes downplayed just because it’s past. “That was then, this is now” is one false catchphrase that suggests this. Some, for example, think that since slavery and segregation are no longer legal, no further steps to combat prejudice and discrimination need to be mandated by government. Yet faith demands that Christian disciples actively build up God’s Kingdom on earth now. I recommend reading the Letter of St. James in the Bible, chapter 2, verses 1-18: there the mandate of avoiding present discrimination is rather plainly set forth.
Those are just some of the musings I’ve had time to think and pray about over the past weeks. I hope they’re helpful to you.
As our nation celebrates its independence on the Fourth of July, I wish we could celebrate even better. It would be great if we really could have equal opportunity for all, and discrimination against none. In its “Prayers of the Faithful” last weekend, the Cathedral community prayed for “an end to individual and institutional racism, that the peace and justice we’ve never really enjoyed in our nation come to pass.” This ought to be not just a prayer but a social and political priority.
Yours in the Lord Jesus,
Fr. Paul Counce
