As I was preparing this letter, I received the news of the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, which shocked and disheartened me. I, of course, have mixed feelings about Justice Ginsberg. On the one hand, she was a dedicated and zealous public servant, who deeply loved her country and gave much of her life in service to this nation and her fellow Americans. On the other hand, she consistently authored and endorsed opinions on the Court which upheld abortion-on-demand and other policies which perpetually put her at odds with the public policy objectives of the United States bishops.
In truth, my shock and dejection came because I knew exactly what this meant for our families and our communities over the next couple of months: increased anger, division, and hatred. We are already alienating each other over politics, and the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice, especially one that could shift the precarious ideological balance of the current Court, is just going to intensify our frustrations and our animosity.
I plan to preach on voting this weekend by briefly explaining the guidance of the U.S. Bishops in their document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” a document which is always worth reading in full. However, I would also encourage our parishioners to consider signing the U.S. Bishops’ “Civilize It” pledge, a campaign to get Catholics to agree to civil dialogue, even and especially in our disagreements. I hate seeing the Body of Christ divided, especially by civil politics, and I am not looking forward to the next few months. But I am hoping that our shared faith in Christ and love for each other can at least allow us, here at Assumption, to disagree in love, as Jesus would have us do.
Fr. Moore 