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Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.”
The readings chosen during the Easter season allow us to reflect and meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. We are doing what the Apostles did. We are re-examining and reflecting on what the Lord said and did. We are examining the evidence for Christ. We are going through it with a fine-tooth comb.
Whoever believes in me believes in the one who sent me. The Father gave His authority to His Son. The Son gave His authority to His Apostles. The Apostles gave their authority to their disciples forever.
Throughout my life as a priest I have run into people who have questioned my authority to preach in the Lord’s name. They don’t ever question my authority to forgive in His name. Nor do they ever question my authority to consecrate the Eucharist in His name. But just the other day a priest-friend of mine told me about an unfortunate conversation he had with an elderly woman. To make a long story short, she didn’t like his message; namely, that IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) was morally wrong. The issue came up and this priest spoke about it to his flock because there is a Catholic School teacher that is suing the Church for having fired her after having personally undergone this procedure. Here is the irony. I don’t think anyone would protest if she was fired due to an extramarital affair. For some reason, that’s a more acceptable reason than IVF. Again, I don’t think anyone would question the Church’s authority to get rid of her if she began to deny the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. I don’t anyone would come to her defense if she admitted to being a priestess in some Catholic sect. So, what exactly is the criterion for the Church speaking in Christ’s name? Is it that I must agree with her???
The woman told my friend, “How dare you tell us that we cannot do this? My grand-daughter recently gave birth to two beautiful baby boys using IVF and now you are saying that they are evil? When will the Church catch up to science? Science takes precedence over whatever the Church says.”
I told my friend, “You should have told her, ‘No, God takes precedence over whatever science says. God is the giver of life, not scientists. It is an abomination to take ten human embryos [unique individuals] and destroy eight of them so that you can have two babies! How sick can you get? How selfish can you be? Individuals are not spare parts. Individuals do not exist to serve my wants. Individuals are subjects. Never should they be turned into objects. Individuals can never be used as a means to an end.’”
“How old is she?” I asked my friend. He replied, “Around seventy”. I then calculated that if she was seventy-five years old, then it would mean she was in her twenties in the 1960’s. HIPPY MOVEMENT! Free love movement! Free sex movement! Free-for-all movement!!! Well, no one back then liked authority. Authority was “evil”. But come to think of it, we have always had a problem with authority, starting with Adam and Eve.
Christ wants us to imitate him. He imitates the Father and now the Son wants us to imitate Him in obedience and love. To be another Christ should be our ultimate end. We should desire to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Now the pressing question is this: When others see you, who do they see? Do they see the Father of mercies? Do they see the God of love, the God of Truth? Do they see the Son of God? Do they see the one who sent you? Created you? The One who loves you to death? Do they see light breaking darkness? Is this not how others will know that you belong to Him?
Christ’s authority does not come from His Words. Nor do they come from our acceptance. Christ’s authority ultimate comes from His Father. “The word that I spoke, it will condemn on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
If a priest is to be criticized, then he should be criticized for making a mockery of his vows or for not defending the teachings of the Church. If I go to Church, then I should expect the priest to tell me exactly what Jesus would tell me, what His Bride would tell me and what the Bible tells me; not what I want to hear.
“I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.” Let’s not blow it out!
When I read about the Catholic School teacher getting fired for going through IVF, questions came to my mind. Why did she disclose to everybody she was going through IVF? (This is definitely a private matter between a married couple. She could've just said they were planning for a child.) Did she know it was considered morally wrong by the Church? Makes me wonder if the pastor counseled with the woman regarding the church's teachings on IVF. Maybe he did and the couple didn't listen? Interesting to see how the lawsuit turns out.
ReplyDeleteI support the clergy's responsibility (authority) to preach in defense of the Church's teachings. I expect people to agree and disagree with the words from the pulpit. But, when is the Church meddling too much in the private lives of people? When is it ok for the Church to "punish" those who do not adhere to the strict teachings in ways that are often embarrassing? I think of the priest denying Holy Communion to a gay activist at her mom's funeral, or another Catholic School firing a single teacher who became pregnant out of wedlock. When does the Church cross the line between pastoral ministering and policing?
Blessings,
-Jennifer
The responsibility of every catholic is to be a Surprise to the world, the salt that gives the right seasoning to the wonderful society we live in. With that said, if someone is publicly admitting to a mortal sin, it is the duty of the pastor to defend the most Holy Body of Christ from being desecrated by the consumption of one that is publicly denying Christ's teachings. With regard of the teacher, it is very clear that if one accepts a position with a religious institution one should abide by the rules of the institution, specially true if the individual claims to follow the same faith. I'm sure this is true with any company, not just religious. We are examples to others, especially to the little ones. Whatever we do they look up to us. Therefore, wet ought to be very careful with our actions if we want to defend our claim to be truly catholics. God has a perfect plan for everyone of us and by destroying embryos in each IVF, we are cutting short the plans God had for those souls. Cause, yes, every embryo has a precious soul and is a person with the same right to live a full life, like you and me.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility of every catholic is to be a Surprise to the world, the salt that gives the right seasoning to the wonderful society we live in. With that said, if someone is publicly admitting to a mortal sin, it is the duty of the pastor to defend the most Holy Body of Christ from being desecrated by the consumption of one that is publicly denying Christ's teachings. With regard of the teacher, it is very clear that if one accepts a position with a religious institution one should abide by the rules of the institution, specially true if the individual claims to follow the same faith. I'm sure this is true with any company, not just religious. We are examples to others, especially to the little ones. Whatever we do they look up to us. Therefore, wet ought to be very careful with our actions if we want to defend our claim to be truly catholics. God has a perfect plan for everyone of us and by destroying embryos in each IVF, we are cutting short the plans God had for those souls. Cause, yes, every embryo has a precious soul and is a person with the same right to live a full life, like you and me.
ReplyDeleteThe Church is waaay behind on the IVF issue and all of its moral pitfalls. Thank you Fr. Alfonse for bringing up such a morally relevant issue and standing firm upon the Church's teachings. I've known so many infertile Catholic couples who are completely unaware of the slippery slope with IVF. Most people don't realize how many abortions are being conducted through "selective reduction" and/or by the outright destruction of "leftover" embryos or through the process of eugenics; the numbers must be staggering. When the random destruction of life is being practiced as a "reproductive technology," the Church must speak out on behalf of those with no voice, the unborn. My husband and I, both Catholics, suffered with infertility for several years. I had resigned to the fact that it wasn't God's plan for me, and adoption would be a wonderful alternative. My husband, however, did not support that route and was furious with me not wanting to try everything and anything to have children. He, too, used the argument that "God gave the science to the doctors." After contacting the Catholic Board of Bioethics, I knew I could not compromise my Faith and my relationship to God even if it meant putting my marriage on the line. Ironically, after years of telling me not to rush into getting pregnant, my doctors couldn't understand why I wasn't rushing to do everything possible to get pregnant thus feeding my husband's fury towards me. At the end of our last meeting with the fertility specialist when the doctor asked me what my decision would be, I was so fed up and declared, "You have no power to create life. Only God has that power." I wonder if somehow that profession of Faith among others throughout my ordeal is what God needed to hear from me. Soon there afterwards, while on a trip to London, (along with a lager or three and some Indian food), I got pregnant! Coincidentally, a few months later, my husband confessed to having gone to confession (first time in years) while we were in London...hmmm, God works in mysterious ways. Today, we are blessed with beautiful healthy children (au natural), we're still married and two of the fertility specialists went into early retirement. Praise be to God!
ReplyDeleteThere are very few members of the secular mass media who are friends of the Church, much less priests. I think I'd read at one point that many are agnostic or atheist. (Can anyone help me out with stats/sources here? I need to keep looking.) I've found it helpful to take whatever's published in the secular sources about the Church with a HUGE grain of salt, if I read the stories at all (sometimes the headlines themselves are just so insulting).
ReplyDeleteAs Bishop Emeritus Rene Henry Gracida put it so well in his recent blog post about the priest to whom you're referring, our priests tend to be villified in the media. The woman in the situation at the funeral blatantly provoked the priest before the funeral even began, but you won't find those details in the Dallas Morning News. See His Excellency's report of the confrontation here: http://abyssum.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/the-only-remedy-for-a-crisis-of-fidelity-is-fidelity/
Sources that I've found very useful are the National Catholic Register, Catholic Answers Magazine, Our Sunday Visitor, and Catholic World Report.
The media, local or national, is no friend of the Catholic Church. Any "scandal" linked to the Catholic Church is the same as offering raw meat to rabid dogs. It would be nice to think the news networks were run by a bunch of agnostics and atheists, but truthfully, and I can tell you from personal experience, there are many Catholics along with Orthodox, Reformed Jews, and Protestants who are in high level positions dictating the news of the day and how stories will be presented. Priests and Bishops should always be leary of talking to the media for it's almost a certainty, more often than not, that they and the Church will be featured in a negative way. From the media executives' viewpoint, Catholic bashing brings in good ratings. One needs to be highly trained before stepping into the quagmire of the media, whether it be print or television. The current challenge for the Bishops is getting their message into the national media so as to help inform fallen Catholics, but they have to do so with great dexterity. Check out The Pilot which is another solid Catholic newspaper and support EWTN.
ReplyDeleteGood sermon, though you may wish to be careful as to which photos you use for the presentation. The photo you used of the candles is originally from Thinkgeek.com advertising their Bi-Color blow on/off candles, and they still retain the rights to its use.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait for the day when the majority of priests will not be ashamed or afraid to speak the truth from the pulpit. Until that day, we must all publicly support the ones who do and encourage them and thank them for being the mouth of Jesus on earth.
ReplyDeleteThank you Father for being one of them.