Entries for August 2018

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are, as one family in Christ, heartsick over what we have learned in recent days and weeks from the Pennsylvania grand jury report and the accusations against Archbishop Theodore McCar- rick. These revelations have reopened the pain and sorrow of a spiritual crisis sadly not yet fully eradicated. As your Bishop and servant of our merciful Lord, I offer my deep- est apology on behalf of the Church to the victims of child abuse and their families suffering painful life-long consequences. I am grievously sorry for the horrific sins against the most vulnerable among us. We pray as o...

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"This saying is hard; who can accept it?" The words of Jesus' disciples in today's Gospel must sound familiar. At some point in our lives, you and I have said it about some article of our faith. Christianity makes firm de- mands on our ethical behavior and gives no easy an- swers for suffering. Many disciples were confused and dismayed by Jesus' words in the Bread of Life Dis- course. Not all of them, however, had the same reac- tion. When the disciples question Jesus' teaching, he con- firms its truth. "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." For some, Jesus' reassur...

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The Rodriguez family live in New London and are communicants of St Mary Star of the Sea there. Please pray for this family as they face seperation under very difficult circumstances. "In the meantime, we're asking ICE as an act of discretion to allow Julian to stay here in the United States and look after his family, as he's done. Julian has been a model citizen, he pays his taxes, he goes to work, he's asked nothing of the system," Formica (Mr. Rodriguez's lawyer) told reporters. "And all he's asking now is not to be separated from his family, which would result in his family hav...

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  Have you ever approached a hushed group and were certain they were talking about you? It's an uncom-fortable feeling to catch people murmuring about what you did, said, or didn't do. It breeds division and exclusion. In today's Gospel, Jesus invites us to just the opposite. The reading opens with the crowds "murmuring" their doubts about Jesus after he has proclaimed himself the Bread of Life. "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph ? how can he say 'I have come down from heaven'?" In his response, Jesus brings up the Israel-ites and the manna God brought them in the desert. ...

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  In an on-demand society, it's not always easy to im-agine life with less. The crowds of Jesus' day depend-ed on the weather and successful growing seasons for their livelihood. For many of Jesus' listeners, even "food that perishes" would have been a welcome re-lief. Jesus acknowledges this but tries to draw them deeper. "You are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled." For people who have just witnessed a miracle, the response is strangely marked by ingratitude. "What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert." Jes...

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