I would like to write a revised blog post about ONE Project
and my involvement in the preparation of food for the needy in Mercer County
last Saturday, in response to just a couple comments/questions from
parishioners. I could have taken the
easy road here and just deleted my posts altogether and moved on to another
topic, but this is a good opportunity to share some of our Church’s teachings
more clearly. And I also have a
responsibility to clarify my statements if I believe that I have
mischaracterized Church teachings in any way.
This past Saturday July 26 I joined hundreds of volunteers
from Robbinsville to take part in a new community start up organization called
“One Project.” I was so impressed with
the number of young people present. Altogether
over the course of over three hours the volunteers present packed and prepared
over 15,000 healthy meals for children in the Mercer County area. Those who participated were able to help the
unfortunate in such a direct way. There was a tremendous sense of fulfillment in being able to do that.
I thank the leaders and co-founders of ONE Project for
coordinating this particular event; I want to thank them for giving all of us
present the opportunity to carry out acts of charity; I want to thank them for facilitating
that.
I realize now however that the story is just a bit more
complicated.
As I walked through the doors of Robbinsville High School, I
believed that this organization had the sole purpose of providing an
opportunity for people of different backgrounds, points of view and faith
traditions to strive together for a goal that everyone shares, in this case
feeding the hungry. I thought that that
was the only purpose of the organization: social service, helping the
unfortunate. If that were true, then everything would have
been fine; the Catholic Church is all about serving the poor and the needy.
Two days after I attended this event, however, a former
parishioner pointed out to me that on the “Mercer Me” blog site from July 18,
2014, there was the following statement that surprised me greatly:
“The ONE Project plans to host community education programs
that will focus on either equality (issues involving racial, religious, LGBT),
education, or drug abuse.”
The Catholic Church and St. Gregory the Great Parish have
clear, well defined teachings in the area of marriage, human sexuality and
sexual identity. These are all good,
true teachings: marriage as a permanent,
exclusive bond between a husband and wife, the goodness of children and
openness to life. There are many
others; I cannot list them all now in this particular posting. I adhere to all those teachings and do not
intend to promote any other type of teachings in those areas.
I do not know exactly what the leader of ONE Project means
when he refers to LGBT community education programs, but I must infer that
those programs will involve promotion of same sex ‘marriage’ and the spread of
teachings on human sexuality that are antithetical to Catholic Christian teachings. If I am wrong about that, I ask the leaders
of ONE Project please to correct my erroneous thinking as quickly as possible.
As the administrator of a Catholic parish, I do need to be
conscious of how my actions are interpreted by others to some degree, because
there is a teaching role in those actions.
In our culture at this time we are so confused and conflicted about what
human sexuality and marriage mean, and there are so many evil, erroneous and
deceptive messages out there. I must
reiterate that I can neither endorse ONE Project in any way nor participate in
any more of their events, so long as they promote false teachings. As President Ronald Reagan once said, at
times we must raise a banner not of “pale pastels” but rather of “bold colors
which make it unmistakably clear where we stand.” This is an instance in which such “bold
colors” are called for.
