Katherine
A few of you may have noticed a seemingly homeless woman named Katherine who is often at our 8:00 a.m. Mass and any event with food (e.g. coffee and donuts, Super Bowl Party). I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea how our community should properly love her, or what policies we need to put in place. On the one hand, as Christians, we should bend over backwards to accommodate those on the margins, especially the homeless and mentally troubled. I do not love that she uses our community events as a primary source of food, or that she sometimes uses our hand sanitizer to clean herself, but those are manageable things and denying them feels tantamount of denying Christ in disguise. On the other hand, her particular struggles make her easily upset, at which time she is liable to curse and yell and we begin to worry about the emotional safety of our community (I have not yet seen her get physically violent). In short, her presence is right on the edge of manageable, and she has not yet crossed my line for a permanent “no trespass”, but she sometimes gets close.
I am hesitant to talk about individuals publicly, but she is enough of a presence that I felt the need to let everyone know that, yes, I know who she is and, no, I have no idea what following Christ AND protecting our community look like here. For now, I would recommend that you greet her nicely, by name when you can, but that you also tread lightly because of her generally short fuse.
Mandatory Reporter Law
There is currently a bill in the Washington State Legislature that is of particular concern for me. House Bill 1098 and Senate Bill 5280 would add clergy to the list of mandatory reporters of abuse or neglect (Tri-City Herald article). In principle, I support this. I am already a mandatory reporter by Archdiocesan policy, if not yet state law, and I have sadly already had to call CPS because of that once in my priesthood. However, certain versions of this bill make no exemption for the confessional (Spokesman Review article; Seattle Times editorial).
“Betraying a penitent” – i.e. revealing anyone’s sin – results in automatic excommunication. And acting on something I hear in the confessional, even if it does not reveal a person’s sin, is a grave enough offense that it could result in the loss of my priesthood. I would rather be imprisoned or killed than violate the sacramental seal. But I would also prefer not to be imprisoned or killed, so if you wanted to contact your legislators about this, I would be grateful.Catechism in a Year
Some parishioners have been asking me to call everyone’s attention to the new podcast “The Catechism in a Year”. I am still only halfway through “The Bible in a Year”, but I trust Fr. Mike and happy to make this recommendation. Click here for more information. Every parishioner who has talked to me about this tells me it is excellent.
Fr. Moore 