There has been a lot of attention lately given to the role of the government and its dictates that affect the free practice of our faith. The first amendment of the constitution is frequently misunderstood and believed to have a clause that states there shall be a separation of church and state. Nowhere in the Constitution does it state that. The first amendment is as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So, as far as religion is concerned, the amendment is restricting the government from making laws that would require the people to follow a particular religion. The second part is also interesting in that it prohibits the government from interfering with the free exercise of whatever religion the people choose. So, the government can’t choose a religion for us and it can’t interfere with how we practice the religion we choose for ourselves.

The recent HHS mandate has clearly violated the second part of the first amendment. It requires all employers, including the Catholic Church to provide contraceptive services, sterility procedures and abortion services to its employees. That is definitely interfering with a person’s right to free exercise of their religion. Catholics would be forced to provide these services even though they are against the faith.  President Obama later issued a clause that said the Catholic Church wouldn’t have to provide them, but the insurance company they contracted with would have to provide the services.  I guess in their mind that makes it OK. “I won’t do something, but I will pay someone else to do it, so it doesn’t really count.”  Sounds like playground logic.

 Furthermore, it makes it impossible for Catholics who are true to their faith to own or work for insurance companies, since they will be required to provide services for others for sterilizations, abortions and contraceptives.

 Where does this end? Religious liberty is at stake. Other Catholic views are already being identified as bigotry or “hate crimes”. Will we be not only persecuted, but prosecuted for our beliefs?  Are you ready to really stand up for your beliefs?

 In one of my first blogs, I wrote about prayer in public schools. I am not in favor of it. I sure it would make students and school more prayerful, but I don’t want the government in any way involved with my faith. I may sound cynical, but I don’t trust the politicians to do what’s right.

 Here are two recent examples of situations that have involved faith and public schools:

 A high school choir from Grand Junction, CO was practicing for a program that included an Islamic song entitled “Zikr” that has a phrase that translates as “There is no truth except Allah”. When one of students objected, he was told the song was approved because the program included other religious songs from other faiths. Rather than sing that acclamation he choose to quit the choir. I wonder if there would have been a similar response if the song had been, “To Jesus Christ, Our Sovereign King” and a non-Christian student had objected?

In another instance, a second grade student from a Sheboygan, Wisconsin elementary school was prohibited from distributing valentines because they contained a religious message. The message said Jesus Loves You and included the verse from John 3:16. The school had a policy against distributing religious materials. I guess the school really saved those students from such a dangerous message.

The government must not be allowed to restrict or control our religious liberty whether it is in the work place, our schools or our daily lives. We must be vigilant in the defense of our faith.

What does it mean to be Catholic? Simply put, a Catholic believes and follows the teachings of the Catholic Church; all of the teachings. We don’t have to fully understand all of them and will never know the full meaning of all the mysteries of the church on this side of heaven. We believe on faith. Knowing, believing and accepting something without proof is faith.

Do you believe in the Holy Trinity? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity that was born of the Virgin Mary and became true man and true God? Do you believe that He came and established the Church on earth through his apostles who continued his mission through their teachings, the Eucharist, confession and the other sacraments? Do you believe that they were given the supernatural power to do this by Jesus and through the infusion of the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? Hopefully, if you consider yourself a Catholic you completely accept all of this as true.

The Church teaches that the first apostles taught and preserved the faith as Jesus intended. They passed this on to their successors who became the first popes, bishops and priests. The faith has been preserved throughout the past two thousand years. The Lord Himself said the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

If you have agreed to all of the above, then you are saying you believe the Catholic Church is the church of Christ, who established it to guide and lead us to Him. You have to accept all the Church teaches if you believe in the faithfulness of apostolic succession that was established with the first apostles. If you reject the teachings of the Church, then you are denying the faith has been preserved truthfully through time. If you disagree with the Church’s teachings on one area, why believe it is right in any other area? Did the truth just fail to be maintained in the areas in which you disagree? With God, there is no past, present or future. I remember learning in CCD that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. It’s not like He is heaven thinking, “Wow, if I knew things were going to turn out this way, I would have written different commandments.” That is ludicrous.

One of the Church’s true examples of wisdom is its ability to preserve the truth no matter what the world believes. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Truth does not change because society has changed its values on sin and morality.

When we profess the Our Father, we proclaim, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done”. If we are faithful Catholics, we are proclaiming that we look for, accept and yearn for the “will” of the Father to be done. We are not imposing our own will on God. We don’t know God’s plan for our lives, the ones we love or the world. We don’t have an inkling of the master plan. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of the earth from outer space that shows a large sphere covered with blue water and swirling clouds. We can imagine our own existence in the large scheme of the universe as a tiny speck that appears for a few moments and then is gone. Yet, somehow, when we move away from the Church, our pride leads us to think that we know better than God what we need, what we believe and how we should live our lives.

As Catholics, we seek the will of God and then with the grace of God work to fulfill it.

It seems that no one wants to be a child, least of all, children. If you’ve raised children, you have experienced their need to be “big”. They long to become independent and do things by themselves. That is part of the normal process of growing up.

What I’m referring to is the way society has changed its view of children as being grown up in the sense that they can make their own decisions at an early age and know all about the adult world when they are still very young. Innocence, it seems, is lost at an early age.

Children as young as eight or nine make family decisions. They are consulted on whether or not they want to go and visit relatives. I remember going to my Grandmother’s house on Sunday afternoons as a regular ritual. I’m sure no one consulted me to see if I felt like going. At mass, I have seen the ushers ask a family if they would be willing to take up the gifts before communion and it is not rare that the parent turns to the children and asks if they want to do so. Is that really the child’s decision? Why don’t the parents see themselves as the spiritual leaders of the family and see it is an opportunity for their family to assist at the mass? I know a couple who have asked their daughter from the time she was six years old where she wanted to go on vacation. Their rationale is that they go on vacation for the child so she should have the say in where they go. Since the child has no idea about vacation days, travel arrangements, hotels, and cost, I’m pretty sure her decision shouldn’t carry any weight, but so it goes.

From twelve years old, many kids watch “R” rated movies. It is not uncommon. I have seen many examples where young teens know all the details about their parents’ financial problems, marital conflicts and arguments with neighbors and relatives. The parents are using these young people as a sounding board or even confidantes in personal situations.

Are our kids really ready for this? I don’t think there is anyone who has given this serious thought who would agree. I don’t propose to give anyone advice about raising children. I am no expert. I have made plenty of my own mistakes. I guess I am disheartened when I see young kids miss their childhood because they go straight from being a little kid to a teenager and think of themselves as adults.  First and second graders are “going out” with one another, sixth graders go on “double dates” with their parents and teenagers have boy/girl sleepovers. I’m not naïve to think the past was all rosy with no problems. But, I do think we need to go back to a place where we protected the innocence of childhood, taught them to become independent within the safety of the family unit and built their self-worth on their being a child of God. The world will latch on to our kids soon enough, it’s our job to build them up so they can cope and stay strong to resist the temptations and empty promises of the world.

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 6:20 My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s teaching.

Ephesians 6:2 “Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth”