13th Sunday

in Ordinary Time

 

Presiding Today: 

Fr. Loren Connell

 

In Today’s Mass We Pray For:

Aline Stritch

 

Proclaimers of the Word:

Mike & Teresa Bickett

 

This Week’s Readings 

June 27

1 Kings 19:15,16,19-21

Galatians 5:1,13-18

Luke 9:51-62

 

Next Week’s Readings 

July 4

Isaiah 66:10-14

Galatians 6:14-18

Luke 10:1-12,17-20

 

Upcoming Events

 

Peter’s Pence Collection

June 27

 

Dayton Dragon’s Outing

June 29

 

Senior Living Center’s  5K Run/Walk

July 10

 

 

 

St. Leonard Faith Community

Loren T. Connell, OFM

chaplain/moderator

937-436-6440

brolocon@sbcglobal.net

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

For the past six to eight months I have been participating with other members of our community in our social justice program. Last month we experienced a challenging five-week session called Salt and Light sponsored by the archdiocese. Social justice is a largely forgotten area of Catholic teaching. In recent centuries Catholic morality has focused much more on the responsibilities of individuals rather than on the responsibilities of groups or institutions. Such an approach fits hand in glove with our American psyche. We are used to making moral decisions, however good or bad, about our own behavior. We tend to be uncomfortable making moral decisions about group behavior. We don’t like to tell other people what to do, and we certainly don’t want others telling us what to do. Yet, there are times when collective action is appropriate to redress an injustice.

 

Catholic social teaching does not exist in a vacuum. It is biblically based. As children of God, we have an obligation toward those who suffer. Catholic social teaching has developed over the centuries, especially over the past 125 years, as Catholic teachers and leaders have become increasingly aware of how interdependent our world is. To take just one example, most of us care about homeless people; and most of us support efforts to help the homeless. Social justice asks why people are homeless and asks us what we can do to address the root causes of homelessness. That may involve looking at governmental and corporate practices and advocating changes in some of those practices. Social justice is more than an annual donation to a charity such as Habitat, however worthwhile that charity may be.

 

Good Catholics, based on the information available to them, may reach different conclusions as to the most practical and effective way to address social injustices in a pluralistic society. Social justice does not demand that we march in lock step on any specific issue. It does demand that we always consider the most vulnerable in our society before we make any decisions. Social justice is not an option for Catholics; it is an integral part of our baptismal call to a new heaven and a new earth.

 

                                                Peace and every blessing,

Loren, OFM