Good morning and happy Saturday. Today is the commemoration of St. Frances of Rome. In a biography written about her by Mary Magdalene Anguillaria, superior of the Oblates of Tor di Specchi, it is clear that St. Frances brought Christ to others while living her everyday life:
God had not chosen her to be holy merely for her own advantage. Rather, the gifts he conferred upon her were to be for the spiritual and physical advantage of her neighbour. For this reason he made her so lovable that anyone with whom she spoke would immediately feel captivated by love for her and ready to help her in everything she wanted. Divine power was present and working in her words, so that in a few sentences she could bring consolation to the afflicted and the anxious, calm the restless, pacify the angry, reconcile enemies and extinguish long-standing hatreds and animosities. Again and again she would prevent a planned revenge from being carried out. She seemed able to subdue the passions of every type of person with a single word and lead them to do whatever she asked.
Tomorrow is the Fourth Sunday of Lent, also known as Latare Sunday. So if you see your priest wearing rose tomorrow, now you know why. The readings at Mass are 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23; Psalm 137:1-6; Ephesians 2:4-10; and John 3:14-21. If you have catechumens undergoing scrutiny, you may hear these readings instead: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13; Psalm 23:1-6; Ephesians 5:8-14; and John 9:1-41.
In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are beginning Psalter Week IV and in the Office of Readings we will continue to read about Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites but now from the books of Leviticus and Numbers.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
John 3:16
In the news:
The United States
For those who need some blue: Six Catholic takeaways from Biden’s State of the Union - America Magazine
For those who need some red: “Biden and France now promote abortion as a positive good” - Fr. Raymond de Souza in the National Catholic Register
Pope Francis appoints Scranton, PA priest to Vatican high court - Catholic News Agency
Opinion: Is Catholic feminism working? - Carrie Gress in the Catholic Thing
Twelve reasons for ministry burnout and how to prevent it - Catholic Missionary Disciples
The Vatican
Pope makes ‘minor’ changes to canonical supreme court - The Pillar
New document on human dignity coming next month - National Catholic Register
Pope Francis meets with Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors - Vatican News
The World
Bishop Fred Henry (Emeritus of Calgary, Alberta) ranked in Inside the Vatican’s 2023 list of top people in the world for questioning residential school reporting in Canada - Catholic Register
Caritas Internationalis publishes booklet on the importance of empowering women - Crux
Argentine court upholds priest’s sentence for abuse - Crux
Last week, the Archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, published a document on gender identity called “The Good News about God’s Plan.” While he isn’t the first bishop to write about this particular issue, I do think this is one of best teaching documents that has been published on the matter.
You can take a look at the document for yourself (and I hope you do) and I would also invite you to take a listen to Al Kresta’s commentary on it from his radio show Kresta in the Afternoon.
The Church, as a whole, has not come up with a very good response to gender identity confusion that we are seeing more and more of in the western world. It is far too easy for activists to point at the Church and say “you hate us” or “you don’t think we’re equal.”
Teaching documents like the Archbishop’s can help provide a base for conversing on these issues with those who disagree with us. Dare I say, it can help us be more synodal as we look to better explain the Gospel of Jesus.
As someone who knows people who identify as LGBTQ+ and is friends with those who identify that way, I know that beating them over the head with the Catechism is not the right way to evangelize to them.
We have to meet people where they are if we are going to engage with them. We have to be willing to walk the journey of life with other people. How else are they going to hear the Gospel?
Now, at the same time, I fully acknowledge that documents like Fiducia Supplicans creates more confusion and controversy on the matter. But remember that this document tries to walk the fine line of blessing people, not the union. I do admit though that that distinction may be too small to be a useful starting point.
So where do we start then? I think the Archbishop laid it out well. Start by explaining the good news about God’s plan. Explain that we all have turned away from God at some point in our lives. Acknowledge that confusion about ones identity is a form a suffering.
I won’t go into much more detail than that here simply because I don’t want to re-write the Archbishop’s document. I encourage you to read it, pray about it, and that you may find it useful as you move the way the Spirit guides you in your life.
Click here to read the document.
Have a good weekend,
Matthew