Call to Prayer: October 31

Call to Prayer: October 24

Archbishop Kurtz Blogs from the Synod

From Rome, Archbishop Kurtz, President of the USCCB, reports on how the last two weeks at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family have been for him, and the hope he has.

Archbishop Kurtz also addresses two of the common questions regarding the working document: the missionary outlook and the law of gradualness.

Call to Prayer: October 17, 2014

We pray that the beautiful Gospel of the Family may continue to be proclaimed throughout the world, and that the faithful are supported in their efforts to live it.  http://bit.ly/1jVtvKN

Call to Prayer: October 10, 2014

USCCB Chairmen express grave disappointment toward Supreme Court’s Action

Today the Chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, New York, and the chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage released a statement about the Supreme Court’s action.

Read the whole statement here.

Also, the Virginia Bishops together responded with their own statement. Virginia’s appeal was one of the many that the Court denied.

UPDATE: Archbishop Cordileone also released a statement on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision on October 7.  He characterized the decision as “astonishingly dismissive” of the rights of children and the democratic process.

Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Freedom: A statement of Bishop James V. Johnston

In the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Southern Missouri, Bishop Johnston released a statement on September 30th regarding the Springfield City Council’s consideration of altering their “non-discrimination” ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the statement, Bishop Johnston points out that an alternative “creed” is being forced on people of faith, who are being persecuted for their beliefs about marriage:

“The rejection of inherent dignity is frequently accompanied by, or results from, a world view that replaces faith in God with faith in ‘progress,’ or ‘history,’ which is to say, blind faith in human technological power to recreate the world according to one’s own desires. Our cultural elites claim that, even in the context of marriage and parenthood, men and women, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, are interchangeable—even though our basic biology makes obvious that this is not the case in forming a family or bringing new life into the world. Judges, politicians, and some activists suggest that accepting this new secular doctrine, really a competing government-supported secular ‘religion,’ is the price we must pay for our membership in the American political community. Already some persons, who refuse to pledge full allegiance to this new creed, have lost their jobs, been driven out of business, or fined for living their convictions, what they believe—something many of us never thought would happen in America.”

And he poignantly notes: “In the name of preventing discrimination against some, they would impose it on others.”

Read the full statement here and support the bishop with your prayers.

The USCCB, when faced with similar situations at the federal level, has explained its opposition against the “Employee Non-Discrimination Act”.

Call to Prayer: October 3, 2014

This week we celebrated the feast of St. Therese, the saint of the “little way.”  St. Therese reminds us that love is expressed powerfully in the little things that might not even be noticed. We pray that married couples look for simple ways of expressing their love and commitment to each other.