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The Nativity of St. John the Baptist
24 June 2012
Dear Friends in Christ,
A few items for your attention:
1. The removal of the old rectory is complete, and now the site is being prepared for the coming construction of the columbarium. Soil compaction studies have been done, and the basement of the old house is being filled up in a way that will support the great weight of the new structure that will rise next to the church. As soon as all diocesan requirements are fulfilled, I will be sending every household in the parish detailed information about the columbarium, which will be a noble and beautiful place of prayer in the heart of our campus.
2. Many thanks to those of you who have assisted Father Ikechi with gifts to help him travel to Nigeria and fulfill his family responsibilities in the burial rites of his father. Additional assistance is still needed, and you are welcome to send a check made payable to Ikechi Korie to the parish office. Thank you for your great kindness in his hour of need.
3. As in past years, the Wednesday afternoon Holy Hour and Confessions will be suspended during the month of July. Our last Holy Hour before the break will be this Wednesday 27 June, and the first Holy Hour after the break will be Wednesday 1 August.
4. Please remember that we are now in the midst of the Fortnight for Freedom called for by all of the Catholic Bishop of the United States. New legal assaults on the liberty of the Church come almost every week, and it will require constant vigilance and vigorous efforts on our part to defend the natural human right to religious freedom for ourselves and for all other Americans. Though few could have foreseen these troubles even a short time ago, it now seems clear that the defense of religious freedom will be a highest priority for Christians in this country for a generation or more. The cultural changes brought on by the dictatorship of relativism, the collapse of right reason, and the embrace of cynicism and nihilism are slowly undermining the social contract that has held our Republic together since its founding, and we must not doubt the resolve of those in this nation who hate the Gospel of Jesus Christ and most especially hate the Catholic Church and will work to see her driven from the public square in every way. Long after the Fortnight for Freedom, Catholics in the United States will be in the forefront of defending the first liberty secured by our Constitution, and this will require of us hard political choices, clear thinking about first principles, and a willingness to suffer and sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom of God. May the prophetic witness of St. John the Baptist strengthen us to bear any hardship to give witness to the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father Newman