In the pulpit, we're supposed to present the teaching with all of its unvarnished clarity, but when you step out of the pulpit, you have to meet people where they are and try to walk with them.
I can say with total conviction that it was the Holy Spirit that chose, guided the election of Pope Francis.
Confession is something we will never outgrow, even if we become the saints God made us to be. Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta were revered even during their lifetime; but both made frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
We sometimes get so caught up in one or another aspect of the teaching, we forget that if a person hasn't been introduced to Christ, if a person hasn't embraced the risen Lord and the church that's an expression of that experience, what we're saying just sounds like a bunch of rules or negative statements limiting their personal freedom.
At the parish level, where the church lives and moves and breathes, that's where we need to be engaging our people much more in understanding the Word of God... the Word of God reflected in the traditional teaching of the church, the Word of God reflected in the scriptures, is as much a part of their lives as anything else.
You were part of a parish life. It was a great community to grow up in. I just was impressed by our parish priests. After a while, I began to think maybe I could do that.
Children need to have a home. I don't mean a physical four walls and a room. There needs to be an emotional and spiritual and loving place in life. That's what a family is.
Our God who created all of us is the God who calls all of us to care for one another. I think that's going to be one of the big, big challenges of the future, helping refocus on the needs of others.
The things of Catholic life are never boring because we have such a rich tradition and so many stories to tell.
Confession has been my habitual homecoming since I was a child. It is a consolation and a joy, and such joy, our faith teaches us, is meant for everyone. It is our vocation to bring it to as many people as possible.
When I was a young priest in the 1960s and 1970s, there was much experimentation and confusion in the Church. Teachers and clergy were encouraged to communicate an experience of God's love, but to do it without reference to the Creed, the sacraments, or the tradition.
The great American tradition is one of pluralism, not exclusive secularism. The strength of our country is reflected in the contributions that we all make to the common good.
People of faith should be able to have confidence in their right to freely express and live their beliefs.
The freedom to be able to offer education, human services, and health care in accordance with our own identity as a church should not be denied us simply because there may be the perception of a political majority who favors a new understanding of the American tradition of pluralism.
No one should be forced to violate one's conscience, nor should anyone be forced out of service of the common good because there are some things their conscience tells them they cannot do.
I think the strength of the Catholic church is that when it does finally identify a problem, it works to resolve it.
One of the challenges of secularism is that it's not something outside us. In too many instances, secularism has so permeated the church that sometimes it's the frame of reference even for very good people, people who have a strong allegiance to the church.
God's revelation has always been in deeds. God's interventions in history have always been in deeds, in actions. Then there are those who interpret the actions, and then there are those who write down the interpretations of the actions.
What the church is really concerned about is what endures.
Those people who think they know the Gospel, and it doesn't have any meaning for them, they're the people we have to find a way to touch, to invite once again to the embrace of Christ.
