From the Pastor’s Desk
[Instead of 
my own words, here is a part of the United States Bishops’ 2012 Statement on Religious Liberty. On the Independence Day weekend, I trust that it speaks to our hearts as Catholic Americans.]
“We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud of both, grateful for the gift which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should mean not having to choose one over the other. Our allegiances are distinct, but they need not be contradictory. That is the teaching of our Catholic faith, which obliges us to work together with fellow citizens for the common good of all who live in this land. That is the vision of our founding and our Constitution, which guarantees citizens of al religious faiths to contribute to our common life together.
“Freedom is not only for Americans, but we think of it as something of our special inheritance, fought for at a great price, and a heritage to be guarded now. We are stewards of this gift, not only for ourselves but for all nations and peoples who yearn to be free. Catholics in America have discharged this duty of guarding freedom admirably for many generations.
“In 1887, when the Archbishop of Baltimore, James Gibbons, was made the second American cardinal, he defended the American heritage of religious liberty during his visit to Rome to receive the red hat. Speaking of the great progress the Catholic Church had made in the United States, he attributed it to the “civil liberty we enjoy in an enlightened republic.” Indeed, he made the bolder claim namely that “in the genial atmosphere of liberty [the Church] blossoms like a rose.”
Love,
Father Tom