Pastoral Message aired on KNXT-TV during December 2006
My dear people of God,
The Bishops of the United States gathered in Baltimore for their fall meeting. The agenda dealt mainly with pastoral and liturgical issues. Three documents were approved by the bishops. One document is presented mainly for young couples and presents the teaching of the Church on married love and the gift of life, promoting respect for the gift of fertility and respect for the gift of human life.
Another document presented pastoral guidelines for the Bishops themselves for ministry in their Dioceses for the pastoral care of persons with a homosexual inclination. It speaks of the intrinsic human dignity of every person and God’s love for every person, and it points out that an inclination that is disordered, in whatever form it takes, does not in any way diminish one’s dignity as a human person.
The third document is addressed to all the faithful and is designed to aid everyone to personally prepare themselves for the worthy reception of Holy Communion. It is not written to judge who is and who is not worthy to receive Communion.
The Bishops also dealt with the continuing revision of the Lectionary of the Mass and approved the project for eventually forming an approved hymnal for the United States, which will be about three years in coming.
The Bishops also gave approval for a statement by the President of the Conference on the need for dialogue on Iraq, calling for prayer for our military personnel, their families and the suffering Iraqis. The statement reiterated the Bishops “grave moral concerns” about the war. You may find that statement on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: www.usccb.org.
The day before the meeting began, on November 12, there was a Mass for the bicentennial celebration of the newly restored Baltimore Cathedral, known as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Construction began in 1806. The architect for this first Cathedral in the United States was Henry Latrobe the same architect who designed the Capitol building in Washington D. C. for President Thomas Jefferson. John Carroll, the country’s first Bishop and his cousin Charles Carroll, who signed the Declaration of Independence, collaborated with the architect in designing the Cathedral. It is a symbol of the role that Catholics played in the founding of our Nation, and is a symbol of the newly found religious freedom we received. We Catholics have much to be proud of from the very founding of our nation.
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