1. I know that a lot of people have asked about the construction work in front of the church. Thanks to the generosity and zeal of benefactors, we are able to have some beautification work done on that island area. Being in front of the church, it’s an area that is very visible to people who drive by. Two main things are being done in that island area. First, a new St. Edward sign is going to replace the old one. It will be in a style similar to the old one, but fifty percent bigger. In addition, the landscaping will be redone so that the sign will be more visible to passersby. On the opposite side of the sign, a life-size statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus will stand to greet parishioners and visitors alike. It will be a beautiful complement to the statue of Our Lady of Fatima. Carlos Ayala, whose work is familiar to us at St. Edward, will make the statue. He made the monument to the Ten Commandments in front of the school as well as the statue of St. Philomena inside. The images above the tabernacle (the angels adoring the Sacred Heart) and the baptismal font (the Lamb of God) are also his work. The project should be completed next spring.
2. This weekend is Fr. Tom’s last weekend here at St. Edward before he returns to where the weather is warmer and people are still playing golf. We look forward to seeing him here next summer. I hope that you all will take a moment to thank him for his service to our parish and to stop by the reception for him in the Fr. Hogan Center immediately following the 11:30 A.M. Mass. I am grateful for his presence here. In my previous assignments, there were always other priests around. So one of the major adjustments that I’ve had to make was being by myself. Having Fr. Tom around was very helpful for me personally. Not only for the sacramental help that he provided, but also for his advice and encouragement. Thank you, Father!
3. Here are some final thoughts from me on this weekend before Election Day:
Since the current administration’s passing of the HHS mandate which threatened religious liberty, faithful Catholics have risen up to defend their Church. This is a great thing. It’s amazing how sometimes it takes an enemy for us to go back to the basics and take things seriously. But this fervor that has been experienced by Catholics throughout the country has to be there all the time, not just every four years. The campaigning will be over in a couple of days, but this Year of Faith will continue until next November, and our faith formation will last a lifetime. I hope that we can take advantage of this Year to really come to understand and grow in our faith so that we as Catholics can make sure that we can more consistently answer the threats against the Church.
This is also an opportunity to once again reflect on who we are. Catholic identity. This is a phrase that Pope Benedict likes to use often. It’s one that I like to use as well because I agree with him – we need to recover our Catholic identity. Who are we? As Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia recently put it, “We’re Catholics before we’re Democrats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republicans. We’re even Catholics before we’re Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us.” We were made by God for God, and our salvation (which is the definition of real success) comes not from a party, but in God who loves us and has known us even before we were born (cf. Jer 1:5).
This is why it strikes me as odd that one would be more faithful to a party than to God. Did a political party give us life? Can a political party show us the way to Heaven? Will a political party be there at the end of our earthly pilgrimage to judge us? Our faithfulness must lie in God alone. This is why, as the Archbishop put it, “We do believe in the separation of church and state, but we don’t believe in the separation of faith from our political life”. Our faith DOES play a role in every decision that we make, and we express our faithfulness to God by upholding what He has made.
This is why a Catholic can never vote for someone who favors absolutely the right to choice of a woman to destroy a human life in her womb or the right to have abortions made available to everyone. This is not anti-woman; it is pro-God. It is also why a Catholic cannot vote for someone who wants to redefine marriage as if it were not created by God and given to us as a gift. This is not discrimination against a group of people; it is discrimination against what is contrary to God’s plan for marriage.
One thing that election years always teach us is that we have a long way to go and a lot of work to be done as disciples. God sent us to work in His vineyard, and the work isn’t easy. But our faithfulness to His work will always be sanctified. May God bless us this week and always.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Acervo
