I am blessed in so many ways, including the opportunity to get to know people who are present both in Mass and outside of Mass in the various activities and ministries that are offered here at Sacred Heart Church. Our V.I.P. (Very Important Parishioner) for the month of October, Cathy Raney is one of those. In addition to being a regular daily and weekend Mass participant (including lector duties when scheduled) she comes early to participate with a few others and myself in morning prayer (starting around 8:35). She and I and others would be happy to have more people join us. Cathy and any of the others will sit with you and show you how to follow along on the "Shorter Book of Christian Prayer". I appreciate and benefit from Cathy's participation in the "Seven Sisters Ministry" as she is the "spiritual sister" who offers Holy Hour for me every Thursday (and has done so since May of 2021! Cathy is a strong member of our Eucharistic Adoration team of adorers. She has stepped up to now take more than one Holy Hour a week and appreciates the ongoing blessings and peace it brings to her life! She joins me in inviting those of you who are not involved in this ministry to consider doing so and those who are currently doing it to add an hour or hours to your commitment and life "in the Lord." Look to the right of this column to find hours that need adorers. Cathy has taken the lead to get some members of her guild (St. Monica's Guild) to take turns covering a particular hour each week. She's someone who thinks beyond what she is doing to encourage and welcome others to join her! Not surprisingly, Cathy stepped up at some point to help out with our liturgical ministry scheduler online, and eventually took it over. She is diligent in seeing that liturgical ministry positions are covered. She was recently responsible forinitiating an I-pad sign in for liturgical ministers who are scheduled to serve at one of our Masses. Cathy is on the liturgy commission and took over as chairperson for the commission from Renee Steinpreis. Through her participation in St. Monica's Guild and the Ladies of the Sacred Heart in general she has "enjoyed" volunteering at the Loan Closet, Jackson House, and delivering food baskets for needy families at holiday times. She is a regular at Linda Broome's 10:00 a.m. exercise class and would encourage more of you to join her and others who try to stay in shape through this and other exercise programs. Cathy is blessed to have the support and love of her husband, Ken and is a proud mother, who counts it a blessing that her son Bryce is now a Capuchin Monk. (Look for Bryce's picture on the "Religious" poster along the administration hallway wing of our building). Cathy has attended and grown through her participation in the religious study opportunities that our parish is blessed to offer (and once again would encourage all of you to do the same). To say Cathy is "fully invested" in the ministries and activities of our parish and community is obviously clear from what I've shared with you and it's just as clear (especially to me) that she deeply loves our Lord, Jesus Christ, his Church and her parish! God bless you, Cathy.

After providing last weekend, an insert from our United States Bishops about the dignity of the human person, which is the first of four principles of Catholic Social Teaching, this week's insert touches on the principle of the "Common Good". PLEASE take time to read and reflect on it! Going back to the first insert we provided a number of weeks ago, the bishops talked about the many threats to human dignity that exist in our time. Knowing what these are and then seeing where our candidates for elected office stand on these issues and the way or ways they have acted or failed to act on these issues, is important for us to consider BEFORE making our choices at election time. The bishops say, "The threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority because it directly attacks our most vulnerable and voiceless brothers and sisters and destroys more than a million lives per year in our country alone." They go on to teach us that there are other grave threats to the life and dignity of the human person. These include euthanasia, gun violence, terrorism, the death penalty and human trafficking. They also speak of the threat of those who would redefine marriage and gender, those who threaten religious freedom at home and abroad, the lack of justice for the poor, the suffering of migrants and refugees, wars and famines around the world, racism, the need for greater access to healthcare and education, the care for our common home and more. There is no doubt it takes time to find out where candidates for public office stand on these issues and to what extent these are a much of a priority for them now and in the future if they are elected. I realize and I hope you do, that it is quite a challenge to get an honest answer to these questions given the deceptiveness and bias of so much of our media outlets today. Even some "religious based" forms of information do not in ways present "just the facts" on where all candidates stand on these issues. A real problem exists as well whenever candidates fail to address where they stand on issues and/or when they have priorities that are not in the list that the bishops have given for us to strongly consider. While the temptation is there for us to "strongly consider" which candidate, when elected, will do the most to help me (and my family) to prosper economically and in other ways, we are called to keep our attention at election time and ALWAYS on what is best for the "common good" which I hope we would all agree is the Christ-like way to think and act, (while obviously not ignoring our own basic needs). My concern (and even fear) at this point is that too many have already made up their minds about who to vote for or who not to vote for without taking the time and real effort to ultimately make the best decision when going to the polls. I would suggest taking the time and bringing all this to prayer about who will do the most good for those most people in our country and throughout the world, recognizing that some of our elected officials can and hopefully will be attentive to what will establish and keep peace between peoples in other parts of our world. One thing is for sure, there is MUCH for us to bring to prayer!

Recently, Pope Francis made some "comments" when asked by reporters on a plane back from his 4 nation missionary journey in Asia, that sound blunt when it comes to our current presidential election here in the United States. Since what I (and some of you) read about his comments, was reported through the filter of particular journalists' bias on subjects and candidates, one has to be careful about reflecting on what the pope said. One quote from the pope has him say in regards to the two main presidential candidates that "Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants or be it the one who kills babies." There are some, of course who might conclude or want to argue that since he spoke of migrants first, that according to its place in what he said, it is the first and most important issue that should be considered before going to the polls to vote. That, of course, should not be concluded. Instead, it should be pointed out that the pope has not mixed words when it comes to the intrinsic evil" of abortion since it kills a human being. "Performing an abortion is killing a human being. Whether you like the word or not, this is killing." "The Church does not allow abortion because it is killing. It is murder" This is backed by the bishops of the United States that the issue of abortion is the "preeminent priority" for American Catholics in general and in those who are hopefully planning to exercise their right and duty to vote. This is stated clearly in its published teaching "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" which I urge you to pull up online and read or re-read before making choices of what and who to vote for in the upcoming election. Asked what voters of the United States should do at the polls, Pope Francis firstly recalled the civic duty to vote. He said "One should vote, and choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil, the woman or the gentleman? I don't know. Everyone in their conscience should think and do it" I assume he's referring to voting and voting not from a "feeling" but from a properly formed conscience that seeks "THE TRUTH" from God that we have through divine revelation (the bible) and the Tradition of the Church. It is not up to the pope, our bishops, priests, and deacons who teach and preach in public to tell the Catholic (or the whole electorate) who to vote for! It is important that the Church's leaders make it clear that the right to life and dignity of the human person from conception until natural death comes first and only after this, other issues that promote the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity as presented by our Church's teachers and teachings. PLEASE take the time to read these inserts which will continue over the next four weeks in our bulletin.

I believe, if given the chance to clarify or expand on what he said, that the pope would refer not to the candidates as evil, but rather the positions they hold and/or act on which are against life as being evil and bringing harm (in one instance death) to human beings. I hope and pray we all discern what is the greater evil and speak out at the polls and long after the election is over and the winners are sworn into office.