Then in the Gospel we have Jesus parable of the rich man—hoarding and greedy, and God calling him a fool,

 

Any doubt about what the theme is in our readings this weekend.

 

Greed is senseless; for nothing we own belongs to us including life itself, all comes from God. How we share God’s blessings is what matters most, and not only in the end.

 

The previous statements are simple truths, Christian codes to live by—yet complicated by our failures to live them. Example: we may think we possess God—all religions seem to believe that.

 

A while ago I attended an ecumenical workshop on peace and justice. It included a small group of people gathered from nearly every major religion, Sufi Moslem, Jewish, Baptist, chaplains from Hospice all from different faith traditions, a retired Episcopalian priest and his wife, Lutheran, Native American, and Catholics-“lapsed” and active. I was asked to address in ½ hour the “Roman Catholic religion today”—talk about a loaded topic and trying to cover in 30 minutes!

 

I started by naming what I called the obvious elephants in the room: Pope’s statement about there being only one true church—ours, the Church’s position on the ordination of women, homosexuality, and the sexual sins, multiple marriages, crimes of clergy, bishops, cardinals and the cover-up.

 

Such issues were countered with what I called the hidden secrets of the Catholic Church—the vast amount of good that Catholics have accomplished through millennia: charitable work by women and men religious and nuns in orphanages, schools, and hospitals and the secret aide to save thousands of Jews undergoing Hitler’s pogrom during the Holocaust by Nazi Germany. The tremendous good accomplished by Lay and clergy organizations such as St Vincent de Paul, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services to name a few. Our wonderful Catholic organizations have millions of volunteers and provide billions of direct annual aide and outreach to millions in need.

 

I quoted from Bill Cox, President and CEO of the Alliance of Catholic Health Care with 63 Catholic hospitals, and from Mary Jo Potter, Managing Partner: "Can you imagine what would happen to the total healthcare system in this country if Catholic Healthcare had to withdraw from the marketplace because they were being told that Catholic Values can no longer be the criterion for administering healthcare at Catholic hospitals?" ¹

 

It is estimated that between direct medical treatment and financial grants to community non-profits, the aide will reach more than 60 Billion dollars last year-20% of US medical care.

 

Then there is our sanctity of life movement—anti-abortion is fundamental to us however, so is anti-death penalty, anti-Euthanasia, anti-Assisted Suicide, just treatment of elderly, anti-War, human rights, immigration reform and migrant worker issues in the US.

There are Roman Catholic bastions of influence and aide throughout the world,

 

At the question and answer period I heard from a few people who had left the Church due to pain they experienced—women’s issues, divorce, from a priest feeling unwelcome and harshly judged and condemned after he began a support group for homosexuals and lesbians and when challenged he told his community he is a non-active homosexual. He had to leave and is now an Episcopalian priest.

 

There were other Catholics that have worked through their experiences of Church to a fuller understanding of God’s love also spoke; one of whom had recently returned to the sacrament of Reconciliation after 38 years. What is the point of all of this?

 

Vanity can take on many forms—even religious zeal and waving around the God banner. I say, poor God, what we do in the name of God—just look at the Middle East—centuries of hatred/war in the name of God.

 

However, for Catholics there have been huge changes in our Church within decades. I told the group that as a youngster I was not allowed to even cross the threshold of my friend’s Baptist church under penalty of a mortal sin. Christ cannot be possessed—that is a vanity of vanities, but Christ can shine through us by the way we live him.

 

St. Paul also tells us “for true Christians our lives are hidden with Christ in such a way that when Christ appears we appear.” The Christian life is so entwined with the personhood of Jesus Christ that we are seen as one.

 

Conversion to Jesus Christ comes through our witness to others not by force, or by self-righteousness and condemnation, those are the riches of a hollow heart. However, as we offer his hope andcare for persons in need, share gifts we have, and dialogue with all it is then that we grow rich in his love and live his good news.

 

Let me give you another statistic, there are an estimated 1.1 billion Catholics in the world, of that number nearly 40% are so called “lapsed”—not attending church. Each of us probably have family members in that group. It is by our witness and invitation that people will come back to Christ—by our love—and prayers and good deeds in him—by God’s richness shining through us in open dialogue.

 

Let us preach the Gospel of Jesus, the Good News of the Roman Catholic Church by the way we live it in deeds, not just words.

 

Blessings in witness, Fr. Gordon