Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Our nation and our world continue to be plagued by violent hostility and a tragic disregard for the precious life that God has given all of His children.
Just this week, we have witnessed an act of terror in Spain that claimed 13 lives and injured hundreds, and the terrible display of hatred and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia that led to one death and injury to others.
Let us pray for the eternal rest of those who lost their lives and for the loved ones they left behind. And let us petition the Holy Spirit to calm this storm. These events may invoke despair or anger. Many of us are deeply saddened by the polarized state of our society that these days and events seem to illustrate. We must acknowledge this pain and walk through it together.
At the same time, as people of faith we cannot be paralyzed by our personal feelings about these events. We are called more than ever to follow the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who faced the scorn and violence of His own passion with a message of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. We must be prophets of this message today; advocating for the human dignity of all, giving of ourselves for our brother and sister and, importantly, refusing to be pulled to one side or another of the angry divide.
At the same time, we must be firm against any group that promotes hatred toward any other group of people. All races, all creeds, all peoples are to be respected as children of God. Those who promote hate are to be denounced.
We are all part of God’s human family yet, in our fear and sinfulness, in our ignorance and misguidedness, we sow seeds of division, we erect artificial barriers and we demonize those who don’t appear to be like us. This is not what our God intends for His children.
I ask you to continue to pray for peace and to reflect on the events of these days not through the lens of your political affiliation, your socio-economic status or your ethnicity. Please look at this and respond first as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As the popular hymn goes, “and they will know we are Christians by our love…”
May God bless our world and our nation. And let us live together in peace.
From Diocese of San Bernardino website.
Thank you, Bishop Barnes. Although I love the Battle Hymn of the Republican and have quoted it on this website, I have NO desire to burn “Old Dixie” down and DO NOT recommended that others do either. The names Lee and Sherman, whether first, middle or last, run deep in my family. For those who do not know they fought each other in the U.S. Civil War. As far as I am concerned enough blood has been shed for a life time.
I agree. Leave the statue of Robert E. Lee (a historical loser!) alone. It is a part of history! The South has its own regional culture, but Southerners are good Americans! I personally do not like seeing the gay sex culture and its immoral history “heroized” in San Francisco, but I just ignore it — let them do what they will do, and so what?? Walk past a statue of someone like Harvey Milk, a very dirty and dangerous pedophile (one of his teen-age lovers committed suicide when Milk betrayed him!) HORRIBLE that Milk (and Moscone) were killed– but Milk was NOT a “hero,” he was filthy! Robert E. Lee was a valid historical figure, a part of “Old Dixie” — and a loser! So what??
P.S. I have known of some nice gentlemen from the South, who had BOTH the names of “Grant” and “Lee,” in their birth names! Many people have apparently revered BOTH generals! That’s nice!
I didn’t mean to sound like I thought that Gen. Robert E. Lee was a “loser,” in a derogatory sense, in my above post, of Aug. 21, at 3:51 p.m. I just meant that as Lee was the one who lost the Civil War, why in the world get so upset, and hurt some Southerners, and remove his statue? A big over-reaction! He is a historical figure that everyone should know about! The statue, to me, is just fine! Likewise, I think it is silly, for people to get upset and over-react, about statues of other historical figures, such as Christopher Columbus, St. Junipero Serra, etc.
Well, so far a bust of Lincoln, a statue of Christopher Columbus, St. serra, , Buddha and another statue in the South not connected to the Confederacy have all been vandalized. It seems the iconoclasts are having a “smashing” good time. I think they need to put all of them in a jail together with sledgehammers and let them pound on each other. Got to laugh or would cry!
All joking aside, it is better that the statues be broken than the people. Statues can be replaced but people cannot.
Correction: Battle Hymn of the Republic.
Linda Maria, none of my relatives actually have or had the surnames of Lee or Sherman as far as I know, but they shared names. Let me explain it. Let us say that there is a man named John Lee Ewing, and in the distant past there was a man named John Ewing Lee. They could be distantly related if John Ewing Lee’s middle name was his mother’s maiden name. That is the case with the names Sherman, Lee and others. It is also the case with those of other ethnic groups who often use maiden names as middle names.
When they start burning churches in the name of tolerance whose side will you be on your excellency?
That includes most importantly, socialists, liberationists (whatever that is), communists, history revisionists and iconoclasts and clerics who politically pander rather attempt to save souls..
Hate needs a common definition rather than being used as a weapon to demonize anyone who disagrees with one’s opinion. Anger is simply an emotion which arises to push away that which is felt to be threatening at the moment. Ire is a vice, an act of the will which plans injury against someone. Those who misuse hate as a tool to silence their opponents when no real threat of injury is present (and “I am offended” is not real injury) need to be held accountable for their attack on the ideas of others. I do not agree with many things, but I hate no one. I find much hate in those who wish to control my ideas when they would deprive me of life, liberty, work, etc because I hold to Jesus and the Catholic faith.
Let us all sing together Kumbaya.
Battle Hymn of the Republican??? Is this a new song?
Mikem, I do not know if you are joking or not, or even if you are American or not, but the Battle Hymn of the Republic was the official song of the Northern Armies during the Civil War and is still sung at some official events, especially at the deaths of U.S. Presidents. This is a Republic, by the way, not a Democracy, even though some want to change it. At school events in many areas both the Battle Hymn and Dixie were sung at sports events.
Southerners used to be staunch Democrats, and the Democratic Party favored slavery, during the Civil War era– while Lincoln’s Republicans were all abolitionists. Recently, many Southerners switched to the Republican Party, due to the anti-Christian immorality, of today’s Democrats. All the churches of America, were torn with arguments, in the Civil War era, over slavery– and whether clergy and church-goers should break the laws, and help slaves escape. Many (like our Church) ended up being hypocritical. Well, that’s history– something to learn from, though– and best to stay objective, and not get upset over something like a statue.
Sorry, mikem, my mistake. I did not realize that I had written “Republican” instead of “Republic”. A Republican, though, is one who prefers a Republic, and a Democrat prefers a Democracy. You might want to look that up if you do not already know. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.
It’s comical that these bishops think they’re relevant. As if what they say matters or makes a difference.
It is becoming more and more apparent that the Charlottesville incident was allowed to happen as the police were told to stand down and the unite the right people were actually led down to where the antifa protesters were . No one who is normal would support the neonazis ,Ku Klux Klan nor the antifa movement. Both groups should be denounced as they are equally violent , intolerant and brimming with hatred for others whom they dislike and who have different political views.
“Those who promote hate are to be denounced.” Bishop Barnes, hatred should be denonunce, not people.
Whatever happened to “All are Welcome”? What happened to being pastorally understanding, to accompanying sinners on their journeys, and to subjecting no one to anything in word or deed that might hurt their feelings or make them feel bad about who they think they are or what they believe or what they have done or persist in doing?
Oh, I see: unrepentant, unabashed illegal aliens, abortion-supporting Democrat politicians, publicly out-and-proud same-sex-married gays, and public adulterers all get the welcome and the pastoral understanding whereas others get denounced. Wait… what?
Can you imagine any bishop issuing a statement that said: “Those who promote abortion are to be denounced.”? Why not? Hmm…..
Can you imagine any bishop issuing a statement that said: “Those who promote same-sex marriage and gender ideology are to be denounced.”? Why not? Hmm…..
Hmm, indeed!
The KKK is our equivalent to ISIS. They don’t represent anything Christian. They were shouting against the Jews in C’ville. They have done it for hundreds of years in this country. Most of the people in our country are too young to remember KKK cross burning on the lawns in front of Catholic Churches, or separate water fountains depending on your color, or restrictions on where you could live. That was less than fifty years ago. The civil war, no matter how the South wishes to dress it up, (war of northern aggression) was a full out way to help keep slavery legal. The Confederacy, traitors to the nation, lost the battle. Lee and all the others should have been jailed, but weren’t. Statues should never have risen to honor…
So Bob One: you would criticize Lincoln for “malice toward none”? You would criticize Grant for the surrender terms offered Lee at Appomattax? Guess you don’t buy into Francis’ mercy thing.
Bob One with moral equivalency again, that Evil AmeriKKKa and its KKK are somehow the same as world-wide terrorist organization, ISIS.
Some numbers for Bob One: In 2015 the vaunted SPLC, the supposed expert on hate groups, said there were only 3000 KKK members nationwide—compared to millions in the 1920’s. A dubious source (Slate.com, Aug 14, 2017) “estimates” (no data cited) that white extremist groups have killed 60 people since 1995. Number of KKK rapes – none verified.
Just since Jan – June 2017, ISIS in Syria alone has murdered 5381; their own captured records reveal rapes of women AND CHILDREN, BOB ONE, in the 1000’s, and they number from 6,000 to over 20,000.
https://www.iamsyria.org/death-tolls…
Also:
https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/world/isis-fast-facts/index.html
Bob One, you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting an implied responsibility of the US for the KKK (“The KKK is our equivalent to ISIS”), as though “our ISIS”. The US uniformly has denounced the KKK—as has the current president, incidentally—over and over and over.
ISIS, by contrast, is a lethal, vicious, active world-wide murdering organization, that even kills with equal malice those who are Muslim.
Nope, I’m not backing down. The KKK is a terrorizing non-whites and Jews. Their history is one of extreme christian views of white superiority. They have a history of hanging black people for being black, burning crosses in front of synagogues, and Catholic churches. They are a terror group. They don’t represent the American spirit. They should be condemned by every religious leader of every faith. There is nothing in the Nazi party that is worth anyone’s support. Carrying Nazi flags in our streets is an insult to The Greatest Generation who liberated the world from that horrible group. Any support, no matter how slight, for the KKK is anathema to all Americans.
No one outside their own small group supports the KKK, neo-Nazi groups, or white separatists: but they are useful to some who need to claim moral superiority and moral authority that they otherwise would not have at all, and to target unrelated ideological opponents.
Neither are they “the US’ ISIS”—a direct effort to blame US society for an anomaly—but they are a useful stalking horse to cudgel and defame anyone else into cowed submission (=”You-didn’t-condemn-them-quick-enough!”-nonsense). You didn’t sing “We Shall Overcome” quick enough: either, so, ha!
Goal: Nothing less than to make everyone else a puppet to one’s strings.
Not to be picky, but while all of us humans are made in the image and likeness of God, I thought the phrase “children of God” was to be used for Catholics in a state of grace, and then those fortunate souls are still only “adopted” children of God. Is this correct? Thanks.
You are correct in one sense. The Israelites were the chosen people, but that only meant that they were chosen to teach others groups about God and have the Messiah come from their religion and bloodline. Nevertheless, some of the Jewish rabbis, probably quoting the Talmud, say that God told Moses and the Israelites not to brag too much about the death of the Egyptians who had enslaved them as the Egyptians were His children,too. St. Paul said that Gentiles (people not of Jewish or Israelite descent) are grafted into the Church..
FogBeltBoy, God created all of us, and we all are His children. Some of His children are “wayward.” All of us, actually– even the most saintly souls!– have been “wayward,” at times! Jesus loved all of God’s children, all of His “sheep!” He stated that He would leave 99 of the sheep, in His herd– to go run after the poor “wayward” sheep, lost and trapped in the brambles, perhaps– and bring that sheep back to the fold, while the other sheep patiently waited. Jesus Christ was VERY DEDICATED to save ALL of God’s children, no matter what!! That is why He gave His life for us, on the Cross!!
I am well aware of the background and importance of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I was simply chiding an earlier poster, without referring to them by name, who referred to the Battle Hymn of the Republican [sic]. Perhaps a typo, but . . .
I hope the His Excellency begins with those who murdered so many innocents in San Bernardino for reproach.
Anyone remember the knock-out game? Remember which race perpetrated those attacks against which other race? Did the bishops or the media make a big deal out of that? Nope.
The “knock-out game” continues—recently for example in July at the Richmond BART station. This only was reported because Richmond Mayor Tom Butt witnessed it and recorded it—while BART workers literally sat and watched and did nothing:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/07/21/assault-near-richmond-bart-juveniles/
Oh: the young man that was assaulted was black…also.
BART officials have decided not to report pictures of the assailants to avoid “stereotyping”:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/07/09/bart-withholding-surveillance-videos-of-crime-to-avoid-stereotypes/
Are we to condemn Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who said that He came to divide rather than unite? He said in Matthew 10:24-39 that He came to bring a sword, not peace. This means that those who do not profess Christ, are enemies of ours. Christians must live in peace with fellow Christians, and be at spiritual war with unbelievers.. It is as plain as that. If you try and deny this, you will end up denying all that Our Lord said. You cannot randomly pick and choose His words that you accept or deny. Ave Maria Purrissima !