One Catholic Deacon's View and Musings on the World
My homilies from Sunday, September 25th (26th Sunday in Ordinary Time and November 6th (32nd Sunday in Ordinary Timeare now available at: Deacon Steve’s Homilies and Talks. The homily for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary time is in both video and audio format. As always, your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
My homily from Sunday, August 1, 2021 – The 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available at: Deacon Steve’s Homilies. As always, your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
My homily from Sunday, February 2, 2020 – The Presentation of the Lord is now available at: Deacon Steve’s Homilies. As always, your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
I have been asked to conduct a two part session on Christian, specifically Catholic Christian morality. Many people feel that the Catholic Church has an extensive set of rules – the do this and don’t do that list – that governs morality. That is not the case. I will post an audio of the two sessions once they are finished. Below is an overview of what will be covered in the class: Continue reading “Morality – A Complex Matter”
My homily from Sunday, February 10, 2019 is now available at: Deacon Steve’s Homilies. As always, your feedback is welcomed and appreciated.
As a Roman Catholic and an ordained Deacon of the Church I am appalled by the enormity of the abuse done to innocent children and young people revealed in the Grand Jury report from Pennsylvania. I am outraged that the Bishops were complicit in this evil by covering up the abuse and allowing it to continue. Certainly these eight dioceses are not the only ones with this abhorrent behavior.
It is clear that the attempt at reforms done in 2002 are not enough. There are still too many men who perpetrated these immoral and criminal actions in active ministry. I addressed this topic in my homily yesterday. It is clear to me that the laity must force reform and take an active role in directing it. The abuse, coverups and lack of transparency cannot and should not be tolerated. My homily is below and on my Homilies and Talks page:
Last evening I gave a talk to the Atlanta Southside Ultreya gathering. I was asked by several members of that group to post my remarks so that others in their group could hear them. The talk can be found here: Southside Ultreya Talk. It was an honor to be asked to address this wonderful group.
Speak Up! Congress is dithering as usual and your voice is needed. DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals expires soon.
Polling in the United States consistently shows that an astounding 87% of all American citizens support bi-partisan action in Congress to protect the nearly 1.8 million Dreamers, young people who were brought into the United States by their parents as children. There is no other issue in our country where such a huge majority of Americans are in agreement. The problem is that Congress, as usual, cannot get its act together. We can change that and each of us should speak up.
Please participate in the DACA Call-in Day to Congress on Monday, February 26, 2018! Continue reading “#Dreamers – Congress Call in Day”
On Wednesday, Pope Francis led an inspiring launch of #SharetheJourney, a global, two-year campaign in support of migrants and refugees. He opened his arms wide in a loving gesture and said, “Christ urges us to welcome our brothers and sisters with our arms truly open, ready for a sincere embrace, a loving and enveloping embrace.”
Migrants and refugees are not after our jobs, our lives or our culture. They are looking with hope toward a brighter future for their families in collaboration and with integration into their new homeland; just as my ancestors sought the same in the mid-1700’s. Their plight is little different from those in my family who fled war, persecution and economic hardship almost three hundred years ago. Continue reading “#ShareTheJourney”
For many years I have been a big fan of TED Talks. I find that the talks generally live up to the TED slogan “Ideas Worth Sharing.” I don’t agree with every speaker and I don’t find all of the talks equally stimulating; but I usually learn something, find a unique perspective or discover a new way to think about the world that we all live in.
This week in something of a surprise, Pope Francis gave a talk to TED 2017 that was entitled The Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone. In a world that is increasingly divisive, nationalistic, partisan, and fearful, the Pope makes a strong argument that each person can be a messenger of hope and all of our individual “yous” can be come a collective “us” to address the needs of our world and time. Regardless of your faith tradition or no faith tradition his talk is compelling and worth a 17 minute investment of time. If you would prefer to read his comments rather than listen to them they may be found here: His Holiness Pope Francis at TED2017
A Deacon's View 