ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  STATEMENT BY ARCHBISHOP NELSON PEREZ ON THE RULING AGAINST ROE VS WADE I am grateful to the Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States for their willingness to hear  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , and for their opinion, which affirms the deep value inherent to every human life.­ As Catholics, we believe that life is God’s most precious gift and that we share a responsibility to uphold its beauty and sanctity from conception to natural death. In addition to being strong advocates for the unborn, this responsibility extends to caring for the hungry, the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the elderly, the oppressed, and any of our brothers and sisters who are marginalized. In short, to be truly pro-life means to recognize the presence of God in everyone and to care for them accordingly. The Church’s strong commitment to protecting and preserving human life is a holistic one. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is one of the largest private providers of social servi

  THE COMMON GOOD AND RULE OF LAW The Catholic Church teaches that “It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society.”  (I rely in this article on teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1897-1917.)  There are three necessary elements which must exist for the promotion of the common good: 1 – Respect for the fundamental, inalienable rights of human persons; 2 – Access to culture and what is needed for social well-being (i.e., food, clothing, education, the right to establish a family, etc.); 3 – Peace and security.        The authority of the state exists to promote the common good.  It is necessary because of the nature of human beings, who cannot create a society without it.  A society falls into chaos when there is no legitimate authority to which the people owe respect and obedience.  This authority must be rightly constituted and use morally licit means to enforce just laws and ordinances.  In the organization of powers, “

  DIVINE AND HUMAN PATERNITY Jesus told his disciples, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father who is in heaven” (Matt 23:9).  Just like when he said that if your hand causes you to sin, “cut it off,” here Jesus is exaggerating to make a point (cf. Matt 5:30).  All fatherhood is from God.  Human fatherhood is grounded in God’s Fatherhood.  The First Person of the Holy Trinity has always been Father, the Second Person has always been the Father’s Son, and the Third Person has always been the bond of love between the Father and the Son, a bond so great that the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father and the Son.  God is One, and at the same time relational, which is why human beings who are created in his image and likeness are born into families. The Holy Trinity is an eternal procession of divine Persons.  Jesus said to a crowd, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God” (Jn 8:42).  Later, he spoke of the Counselor “whom I s

  WHAT SHOULD WE DO? (PART I) In my article last week I proposed that there is something that all of us can do in the battle to protect our children and our society from violence.  We can fight this work of the devil by living holy lives.  Rather than throwing up our hands and surrendering to helplessness, we can stretch out our hands to God, or clasp them together in humble prayer, and be what God has made us to be.  Jesus said, “You are the light of the world…Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:14,16).   The best thing we can do for our children and our society is to be authentic witnesses to the truth of God’s love and forgiveness of sins.   The purpose of the Enemy is the lead the world to hell.  He wants company in his misery.  We are blessed, however, that God “desires all people to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) .   For this purpose, God sent his Son