Gospel Reflections for September 30 2018
….They are not one of us!
Once again, today’s Gospel has a perfectly timed message for the Church today.
Recently, our own Archbishop Gomez and others travelled to Rome to meet Pope Francis on the abuse crisis. They recommended that the Pope adopt the very successful American program that all US Catholic dioceses have used since 2002 to make our parishes and schools safe for children. We have aligned ourselves with law enforcement in a close partnership to make sure reporting and prosecuting crimes against children go forward in a timely and just manner.
This has made American Catholic parishes and schools the safest place for children, and more than any other institution in America today. However, most other areas of the world have much lower standards for safeguarding children and often chaotic law enforcement systems.
These countries might look at us like the disciples looked at others in today’s Gospel. The disciples saw other people doing really good things that they were not aware of and question Jesus about it. “We saw people doing great things …but they are not one of us! What should we do?”
Today, Our Lord would affirm that if the USA Church is doing good things then the whole world should support them! Who could argue with that? We hope these other countries will soon adopt our programs for protecting children.
The Gospel also affirms we should cut out anything that prevents us from caring for others. Whoever has been lax in safeguarding children must resign, or face justice if needed.
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9: 42) This should certainly motivate Church leaders everywhere to take these safeguards seriously!
The world is a very big place with many different cultures and huge differences in law enforcement capabilities. Still, it is worth the long journey to bring all Church and State polices together worldwide in a unified system of protection, just as we have here.
This weekend I am at the Annual Meeting of the Southwest USA Chapter of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, an international Vatican organization that sponsors charitable works in the Holy Land. All of our Southwest USA Bishops will be there.
This is a great Gospel for them and the whole world to hear this Sunday!
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
Will be praying for the meeting you are attending.
Good to see our church is leading in cleaning house. I have been praying for evangelization of our children. They are getting so much thrown out to them these days. I pray for wisdom for the church in how we train our children to follow the Lord and not the world.
Let us pray that the meeting in Rome that Pope Francis convened precisely to discuss how to reach our youth will be productive!
The whole question of celebathy should be addressed….priest should have the option to
marry meaning a marriage between a man and a woman…
This may happen. It has been discussed for a long time. There are many excellent reasons both pro and con. I think it may happen sometime.
Amen. Sweet Jesus
God Bless
Amen!
well said: both in 2002 and on to current times. If the policy in 2002 had been judiciously adhered to, the current crisis could have been prevented.
Prayers are with you this weekend – and beyond.
Bob and RoseMary
Thank you. I can say that Church efforts in the Holy Land are truly heroic! I am honored to help in a small way here.
Dear Father Dave,
Prayers for you and our church. The policy of police interaction and strength to weed out and keep out the perpetrators is excellent.
With Jesus anything is possible.
God bless you.
Kathleen
Thank you!
Fr Dave,
My prayers are with Archbishop Gomez, the others , and your group that you’ll be successful in spearheading the necessary changes that need to be made in order to , not only make the church a safe place physically, but also & more importantly spiritually. God only know how many souls have been turned away from God & from the church because of this far reaching scandal!
God Bless You & Thank You,,
Sherrie
Thank you!
I have been thinking about this for a while Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve apostles …but he was a fraud
He betrayed Jesus pretending to be a true follower The priests who harmed the children are Judas Priests They came to prentend to be teachers of
God but did the devils work and should be treated as any other criminal… There are many wonderful
Priests but these men should be kicked out Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these I tell you the truth anyone who will not receive the
Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.Luke 18:16-17
Matthew 18:6
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and and to be drowned in the depth of the sea…
Yes, your quote of the Gospel passage says it all so well!
Dear Fr. Dave,
St. Michael the Archangel is one of our Sts for the month, may he protect you and all Holy Sepulcher members as you continue to do wonderful work for the Holy Land (I am rebuilding my funds for this year to be able to accompany you there).
I had a fairly long conversation with Archbishop Cordeleone – considering we were in the church parking lot of the parish where he spoke to so many of us and accepted questions. He was trying to leave the event. Security kept telling him it was time for him to go but even as he got in the car after awhile, he rolled down the window to continue our conversation I talked to him about how our University Series he;re had a vision of how to go about Adult Education that could bolster the message he was trying to give but seemed to allude those who were just plain angry and frustrated with Rome. He was delighted in my suggestions and looks forward to the parishes we are already engaging to follow through.
The evening before, I had been blessed to be guest of the Rector of St. Parick’s Seminary Gala in Menlo Park honoring the Archdiocese of Military Chaplains. Fr. George Schultze S.J is the most wonderful priest to be apptd to run the Seminary\University that anyone could choose.. You are so very right to remind us all that the US Catholic Church is the safest place for children in the world. So much has been done to advance the churches vigilance in this age of public debauchery it actually hurts the hearts of all of us who love and admire our dear faithful priests of which you are one who is very special.
We must all remember – Do not turn our backs on Jesus (the Church) because of Judas,
,
Thank you!