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LETTERS

Thank you from Bishop DiLorenzo

Dear Friends in Our Lord,

Thank you to all who participated with dedication and openness to the creativity of the Holy Spirit at the three successful Vicariate Inter-Parish Leadership meetings held this fall. We had over 160 in attendance in the West on September 29, over 220 in the East on October 20, and over 260 in the Central Vicariate on November 3. And we all extend a special thank you to the host parishes and many others in the diocese who provided hospitality and facilitation assistance.

All of the ideas and input will now be reviewed by the Diocesan Pastoral Planning Commission and forwarded to the Local Planning Committees. The Local Planning Committees include two representatives from each parish as well as the pastor, pastoral coordinator and/or parish administrator and campus ministers. These committees will prepare drafts of plans for each Local Planning Area that will be reviewed by each parish in town hall meetings sometime between February and April 2008.

Let us continue to work together, led by the Holy Spirit, to determine how best to meet the needs of the people of God in the Diocese of Richmond. May the Lord’s gracious mercy continue to bless you and your service to the Church and to all God’s people.

Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo
Bishop of Richmond

Offertory is time to thank God

Catholics often have an odd relationship to money. Too often we are ashamed that we have money. We are suspicious of people who ask us for money, and we do not have a good appreciation of the Offertory as a time to give symbols of our prosperity to God.

So I am not surprised at the letter from Mr. Miller in (CV, Nov. 19 issue) Hampton and its cold response to fundraising and “funding fundraising.”

If we continue to see our Offertory at Mass as fundraising by the Church, we will lose a spiritual opportunity and end up resenting the Bishop’s appeals, the priests who talk about money (does anyone do that anymore?), and even the ushers who pass that basket in front of us each week.

The problem is the way we think about our giving. Within Mass it should, it seems to me, always be an offering that represents my prosperity. Outside of Mass, it can be fundraising, based on the needs of a particular ministry rather than our desire to return to God the prosperity that has originated in God.

I hate the idea of second collections during Mass. The first collection is my offertory, my conscious giving back to God. All second collections should be after Mass, in my way of thinking.

But what about increasing the offering, you say? People really are not that spiritual with their money, are they?

I really do think that the offering totals would be increased if we encouraged each other to give intentionally, to put it in our budget, and to give with a grateful heart. More than that, it would increase the spiritual meaning of the Offertory at Mass if we gave intentionally (whatever the amount), and gave with a grateful heart.

Let’s be honest, many times we just give what is in our billfold (holding out enough for breakfast afterward). In an increasingly cash-less society that type of giving is more nostalgia than it is offering my current prosperity back to the source of all good things.

So we need to be encouraged to give, but to give with the right intentions. Within the Mass, it should be an offering. After Mass, let the fundraising begin.

Larry Fischbach
Roanoke

read the letter »

Bishops said to err in statement

In their final statement (at the recent meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), the Bishops seemed to be clear that support of matters of “intrinsic” nature are sufficient to disqualify a candidate of support but they proceed to confuse the matter when they added “a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil such as support of legal abortion or the promotion of racism MAY legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.”

That MAY leads me to believe that in some cases a voter is able to vote for such a candidate. MAY implies permission. In doing so, the Bishops ruined the entire statement. Under what circumstances is a Catholic voter allowed to support a candidate on an intrinsically evil matter such as abortion?

Abortion is murder and when I went to Catholic schools, the sixth Commandment stated that “Thou shalt not commit murder.” Or has it been changed to “Thou may not commit murder.”

I also question the linking of abortion with racism. Certainly, racism is an evil but it does not entail the murder of an innocent human life. Therefore, racism cannot be an intrinsic evil on the par with abortion.

To prove this I went to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In all of its over 800 pages, I could not find a single word “RACISM” mentioned. Not even under the heading of SIN.

I believe that a clarification is urgently needed in order to correct this gross error.

James Holland
Lexington

Readers upset with CV, Church stands

Please remove us from distribution of the Catholic Virginian paper. We are extremely displeased with the anti-American, liberal, and extreme left wing political views expressed by the Catholic leadership and promoted in your paper.

The regular support for illegal aliens threatening our country’s security, and putting the safety of all Americans at risk is but one example of the wrong-headed political positions espoused in your paper.

The priest sex abuse scandals, fiscal malfeasance, and lack of support for our brave fighting men and women have made it clear to us that the Catholic Church is not an institution we can have faith in, or use as an example for good in the world.

Unfortunately, we’ve had to spend much time with our child explaining how incorrect the Church’s positions are, and why she should question carefully every pronouncement from a member of the clergy, since the chances are they are supporting questionable political positions, opposing just war against terrorism, supporting law breakers, promoting the myth of man-made global warming, or treating women as second class citizens.

Mr. & Mrs. John F. O’Brien
Norfolk

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