News - January 2021 RSS Feed

On January 18, 2021, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day. The Maryland Catholic Conference has posted on their website a statement from the Roman Catholic Bishops of Maryland. I want to share their statement for that occasion with you today.

Today we are celebrating many things. First of all, today is Word of God Sunday, a feast that Pope Francis introduced in 2019 that is to be celebrated on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Today is also Ecumenical Sunday, when we celebrate what God is doing through the many ecumenical agencies—local, regional, national, and international—that make up the modern ecumenical movement. We have been observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity since last Monday. The observance for 2021 will conclude tomorrow when we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.

Our late and beloved Fr. Ralph Kuehner told me a number of times over dinner how Victory Housing got started. During his time as Pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Washington, DC, an elderly parishioner lived in a nearby apartment building and would walk to church on Sundays and other times during the week. The owners of the apartment building realized that they could make a lot more money from the properties by turning the apartments into condominiums. The elderly widow like so many in the building were being forced out of their apartments without a place to live that was affordable. The stress of the situation caused the women to have a heart attack. She died in the hospital. When he would relate this story and discuss what had happened to this woman, he would shake his head and say, “We can do better than that.”

I am continuing today the reflection that I began last week on Patris Corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), the Apostolic Letter that Pope Francis released last month to announce the beginning of a Year Dedicated to Saint Joseph.