Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 25, 2024 Column Father De Celles News
Thanks be to God for Our Picnic. Once again, the Lord gave us a beautiful day for our annual parish picnic last Sunday, and a large and happy crowd seemed to really enjoy themselves. I always enjoy seeing all of you get together and enjoy yourselves in good Christian fellowship, especially all the children.
Thanks to everyone who did so much to make it such a success. Special thanks to Anthony Hansen who volunteered to coordinate everything—he did an excellent and exhaustive job. Thanks also to all our other volunteers, especially Phil Betwy, Mark Lawson and the Knights of Columbus. Finally thanks to our parish staff for their hard work and dedication to serving God and us.
And thanks be to God for all he does for our parish!
Labor Day. This weekend our nation celebrates “Labor Day,” a day celebrating the hard work of so many Americans that has made our nation so successful in so many ways. We should rightly celebrate this, as “work” is one of the original gifts given to Man by God, as He gave Adam and Eve dominion (“lordship”) over all the earth and commanded them: “fill the earth and subdue it.” That “subduing” of the earth is the work/labor of Man, who was created in the image of the Creator, and shares in God’s creative work by his labor, and when he works in ways consistent with God’s will, he grows in holiness.
Often, however, we don’t work in ways consistent with God’s will. Too often our work is motivated by envy or greed. Sometimes we deceive or cheat our customers, co-workers, employers or employees. We don’t give an honest day’s work for our wages, or we don’t pay just wages to our workers. We work too much and neglect our family and God, and sometimes we force our employees to do that. Some neglect work to engage in criminal activities or simple dependence on governments. Of course, some are retired after years of hard work, and some can’t work for good reason—God bless them, and may they work in whatever way they can (volunteering, assisting friends, etc.) so that they may always participate in God’s creative work!
The Church has a long history of defending the dignity of work and workers, but with the rise of Marxism (which includes Socialism and Communism) in the 19th century, the Popes began to speak vociferously against these inherently unjust ideologies. All this came to a head in 1891, when Pope Leo XIII issued his monumental encyclical, Rerum Novarum (“Of the New Things”), which is the foundational document of modern Catholic teaching on “social justice.” Sadly, many Catholics misunderstand this teaching. Some Catholics even believe that Socialism is the way to social justice. But as Pope Pius XI wrote in his 1931 encyclical Quadragesimo Anno: “Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.”
One of the errors/sins of Marxism is to promote class warfare—to pit different groups in society against each other. How is this consistent with the Christian command to “love your neighbor as yourself”? So the Church particularly condemns this aspect of Marxism, whether it manifests in the supposed struggle
between the “proletariat” vs. the “bourgeoisie,” capitalists vs. labor, rich vs. poor, male vs. female, or minority race(s) vs. majority race(s).
Yet there is a movement in our country, and on the November ballot, that embraces this Marxist class warfare approach in its often-violent struggle to reshape our country’s values. Many Catholics have fallen into the snares of this movement, even though it is directly contrary to basic Catholic principles.
Moreover, the dignity of work, especially as a participation in divine creativity, is particularly promoted in what we now commonly call “Capitalism.” Sadly, the term “capitalism” is actually a term coined as a pejorative in the lexicon of the earliest Marxists, particularly Karl Marx himself (c.1867). But the great Pope St. John Paul II, who lived under the repressive evil of a Marxist regime for over 33 years in Poland and was a crucial force in the fall of Soviet-Communism, had a different view about this economic view of “Capitalism.”
In his classic encyclical, Centesimus Annus (1991) John Paul wrote: “…can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this the model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path to true economic and civil progress?…The answer is obviously complex. If by “capitalism” is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a “business economy”, “market economy” or simply “free economy”.
“Free human creativity”— is the basis of the American economy, government and culture. Not the oppressive chains of Marxism, Communism, Socialism.
Changes at 9AM Sunday Mass. Remember, next Sunday, September 8, we will introduce the additional Latin prayers at the 9am Mass: all the prayers and responses from the “Sanctus” until the “Prayer after Communion” (“Let us pray”) will be in Latin. Practically speaking, you will only have to learn 2 new responses in Latin replacing the English: 1) “For the kingdom, the power …,” and 2) “Lord, I am not worthy….” Next Sunday we will chant all whole Communion Rite except for the Ecce Agnus Dei, with its response “Domine non sum dignus…,” which we will recite. Please see the short tutorial on our website that includes instructions and audio to help you. The English/Latin cards in the pews will also be updated.
Is IVF a Good thing or a Bad Thing? On Saturday, September 14, Fr. Tad Pacholczyk returns to St. Raymond’s to address this and other questions in his conference entitled: “Beginning of Life Issues: In Vitro Fertilization, Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Human Embryos.” His conference will begin after the 9am Mass at 9:45 a.m. and conclude at about Noon.
Fr. Tad’s conferences are always very well attended and extremely helpful in understanding the complicated questions related to medicine and biology. He holds a doctorate (PhD) in Neuroscience from Yale University and did post-doctoral work at Harvard, and now serves as Senior Ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. All are invited!
Reminders. Religious Education/ CCD classes start next Sunday, September 8. Our new Bible Study with Dominic Casella begins next Tuesday, September 10, with a morning session and an evening session. See below and the parish website for more details on both.
Ushers Needed. We need folks to volunteer to serve as ushers at Sunday and Holy Day Masses. Even if you can only serve once or twice a month or occasionally, please contact Patrick O’Brien at headusher@straymonds.org to volunteer. We need your help to make things go smoothly and safely at Holy Mass!
Oremus pro invicem. Fr. De Celles