February 2012
Dear Friends in Christ,
As we approach the holy season of Lent, I write to invite you and your family to once again consider participating in Catholic Relief Services' Operation Rice Bowl. This Lenten program provides us with an enriching Lenten experience and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters who struggle with hunger and poverty.
By responding to the simple, yet powerful Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving through Catholic Relief Services' Operation Rice Bowl, the faithful in our diocese are making a positive difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters who are most in need. This truly is a faithful response to Jesus' teaching that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me."
Annually, Operation Rice Bowl raises close to $6 million for Catholic Relief Services development projects and an estimated $2 million that is retained by dioceses in the United States for local hunger and poverty alleviation efforts. Last year, our Grand Rapids Diocese sent over $62,000 to the national office and used 25% of the total funds collected for local relief efforts. Operation Rice Bowl local grants, managed by Catholic Charities West Michigan, were given to Degage Ministries in Grand Rapids and the Sacred Heart Food Pantry program in Muskegon. Overseas, Catholic Relief Services helps fund development projects that help increase and maintain communities' access to food.
On behalf of the poor, both overseas and here in the U.S., who benefit from Operation Rice Bowl, I thank you for your prayers and support which continue to make this program a success each year.
Sincerely yours in the Lord,
Most Reverend Walter A Hurley
Bishop of Grand Rapids
Financial Freedom 5 Week Workshop
Discover God's 7 Steps to Becoming Financially Free
7 Steps to Becoming Financially Free is the popular program that provides the direction, strategies, and practical guidance every Catholic needs to manage their God-given resources well. This one-of-a-kind program provides a step-by-step approach to guide you from concept to reality. Here is how to take the gifts God has given you - your skills, your education, your training, your income - and use them as He intended. Here is how to not just get out of debt and begin saving, but to wisely and deliberately set priorities and achieve financial goals that reflect what you believe as a Catholic.
You'll learn about:
- The critical link between faith and finance
- The advantage of setting goals
- Creating a financial plan that works
- Wealth - how to create it and how to use it
- Understanding and managing debt
- Marriage and money
- How to be a savvy consumer
- The role that generosity plays in your financial and spiritual life
- And much more
This 5 week workshop is not just for people that are struggling financially.
This workshop is also for:
- Those who feel that their money is slipping through their hands
- Anyone who wants to create an emergency fund
- People who want to save for college, retirement, etc.
When: Mondays, February 27 to March 26 from 6:30PM to 8:00PM
Where: Elizabeth Ann Seton Room
Please inquire if you need childcare during this workshop. To register please contact Greg Beasley at GregoryDBeasley@eaton.com or call 893-5833
"Responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation."
- from Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship
By our baptism, Catholics are committed to following Jesus Christ and to be "salt for the earth, light for the nations." As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us,
"It is necessary that all participate, according to his position and role, in promoting the common good. This is inherent in the dignity of the human person. As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life" (nos. 1913-1915).
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States provides a framework for Catholics in the United States.
Please visit Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship at the USCCB to read the full document. Another page to visit is the Religious Liberty / Conscience Protection area at the same web site. Visit the National Committee for a Human Life Amendment website, where you can support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act.
The Church has a unique role in the political life of society. Political issues often have moral dimensions that require vigilance on the part of Catholics in acting responsibly. Living the Gospel of Life requires attentiveness to various political issues. One way that the Church in Michigan participates in the public square is through its public policy voice, the Michigan Catholic Conference.
In operation for nearly six years, The Catholic Legislative Advocacy Network is a web-based, grassroots program that offers Michigan Catholics an opportunity to participate in the democratic process by e-mailing state and federal officials either in support of or opposition to pending legislation. To sign-up, visit the Catholic Legislative Advocacy Network web page and click the link to join.
You can find links to local, state, national and global Catholic news on our Diocesan website. We need to be informed; do our homework, study the issues, learn more about the candidates, and be educated so that when we cast our votes, we are voting with an informed mind and conscience.
Bishop Lori testifies before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
02/16/2012
The Most Reverend Bishop William Lori
Bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Committee, for the opportunity to testify today. For my testimony today, I would like to tell a story. Let's call it "The Parable of the Kosher Deli."
Once upon a time, a new law is proposed, so that any business that serves food must serve pork. There is a narrow exception for kosher catering halls attached to synagogues, since they serve mostly members of that synagogue, but kosher delicatessens are still subject to the mandate.
The Orthodox Jewish community-whose members run kosher delis and many other restaurants and grocers besides-expresses its outrage at the new government mandate. And they are joined by others who have no problem eating pork-not just the many Jews who eat pork, but people of all faiths-because these others recognize the threat to the principle of religious liberty.
They recognize as well the practical impact of the damage to that principle. They know that, if the mandate stands, they might be the next ones forced-under threat of severe government sanction -to violate their most deeply held beliefs, especially their unpopular beliefs.
Meanwhile, those who support the mandate respond "But pork is good for you. It is, after all, the other white meat." Other supporters add "So many Jews eat pork, and those who don't should just get with the times." Still others say "Those Orthodox are just trying to impose their beliefs on everyone else."
But in our hypothetical, those arguments fail in the public debate, because people widely recognize the following.
First, although people may reasonably debate whether pork is good for you, that's not the question posed by the nationwide pork mandate. Instead, the mandate generates the question whether people who believe-even if they believe in error-that pork is not good for you, should be forced by government to serve pork within their very own institutions. In a nation committed to religious liberty and diversity, the answer, of course, is no.
Second, the fact that some (or even most) Jews eat pork is simply irrelevant. The fact remains that some Jews do not-and they do not out of their most deeply held religious convictions. Does the fact that large majorities in society-even large majorities within the protesting religious community-reject a particular religious belief make it permissible for the government to weigh in on one side of that dispute? Does it allow government to punish that minority belief with its coercive power? In a nation committed to religious liberty and diversity, the answer, of course, is no.
Third, the charge that the Orthodox Jews are imposing their beliefs on others has it exactly backwards. Again, the question generated by a government mandate is whether the government will impose its belief that eating pork is good on objecting Orthodox Jews. Meanwhile, there is no imposition at all on the freedom of those who want to eat pork.
That is, they are subject to no government interference at all in their choice to eat pork, and pork is ubiquitous and cheap, available at the overwhelming majority of restaurants and grocers. Indeed, some pork producers and retailers, and even the government itself, are so eager to promote the eating of pork, that they sometimes give pork away for free.
In this context, the question is this: can a customer come to a kosher deli, demand to be served a ham sandwich, and if refused, bring down severe government sanction on the deli. In a nation committed to religious liberty and diversity, the answer, of course, is no.
So in our hypothetical story, because the hypothetical nation is indeed committed to religious liberty and diversity, these arguments carry the day. In response, those proposing the new law claim to hear and understand the concerns of kosher deli owners, and offer them a new "accommodation."
You are free to call yourself a kosher deli; you are free not to place ham sandwiches on your menu; you are free not to be the person to prepare the sandwich and hand it over the counter to the customer. But we will force your meat supplier to set up a kiosk on your premises, and to offer, prepare, and serve ham sandwiches to all of your customers, free of charge to them. And when you get your monthly bill from your meat supplier, it will include the cost of any of the "free" ham sandwiches that your customers may accept. And you will, of course, be required to pay that bill.
Some who supported the deli owners initially began to celebrate the fact that ham sandwiches didn't need to be on the menu, and didn't need to be prepared or served by the deli itself. But on closer examination, they noticed three troubling things. First, all kosher delis will still be forced to pay for the ham sandwiches.
Second, many of the kosher delis' meat suppliers, themselves, are forbidden in conscience from offering, preparing, or serving pork to anyone. Third, there are many kosher delis that are their own meat supplier, so the mandate to offer, prepare, and serve the ham sandwich still falls on them.
This story has a happy ending. The government recognized that it is absurd for someone to come into a kosher deli and demand a ham sandwich; that it is beyond absurd for that private demand to be backed with the coercive power of the state; that it is downright surreal to apply this coercive power when the customer can get the same sandwich cheaply, or even free, just a few doors down.
The question before the United States government-right now-is whether the story of our own Church institutions that serve the public, and that are threatened by the HHS mandate, will end happily too. Will our nation continue to be one committed to religious liberty and diversity? We urge, in the strongest possible terms, that the answer must be yes. We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to answer the same way.
Thank you for your attention.
CATHOLICISM: Journey Around the World and Deep into the Faith
An 11 week DVD Adult Study Series by Fr. Robert Barron and Word of Fire Ministries
Sessions begin January 10 and continue each Tuesday through March. The sessions run from 6:30PM until 8:00PM. Each session starts with a 1-hour episode of CATHOLICISM and concludes with 30 minutes of open discussion. Discover the rich heritage of the Catholic Church in an epic media experience. Fr. Robert Barron created this groundbreaking program as a thematic presentation of what Catholics believe and why, so all adults can come to a deeper understanding of the Catholic Faith. Not a video lecture, Church history or scripture study, this engaging and interesting formational program uses the art, architecture, literature, music and all the treasures of the Catholic tradition to illuminate the timeless teachings of the Church.
Sign-up now!
Look for the sign-up tables after each Mass. Hurry; space is limited for this groundbreaking series.
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