Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

By the time you read this, the elections will be over and our government representatives will be chosen. We pray for these individuals. They have a great deal of responsibility riding on their shoulders. And even if those elected were not the ones that you voted for, we still need to pray for them. Our country has so many serious decisions before it right now. We need God’s help and guidance more than ever.

Unfortunately, one thing that the fall elections of 2004 will be remembered for is all the negative political ads. I mentioned this last weekend in my homily. The 2004 campaign was a literal mudslinging -fest of bitter, negative ads, both in print and on television, on all sides. I don’t have time to watch a lot of television. And even if I did, my opinion of what is on is pretty well known. My TV viewing habits consists primarily of the news and a very few sporting events, mostly NASCAR. But I have to tell you, all the negative ads that I saw in such brief periods of time, really convinced me to turn the television off all together. It was sickening. And did you notice how carefully crafted the ads were to mislead and exaggerate. Words like “almost” and “might” were carefully used to get us to think the worst. It was sad. It was one of the worst campaign seasons ever for cheap shots and mudslinging. I hope and pray that the next time we have elections, that the candidates then will stay focused on the issues, and not resort to false and misleading negative ads. We can be a lot better than that.

Coming out of the experience of the last several weeks, perhaps its time that all of us were reminded of just how much damage our words can do. So many times recently, I was reminded of those words that our parents said to us when we were children: “If you can’t say anything nice about a person, then don’t say anything at all.” How much better would our world be if we all lived by those simple childhood words of wisdom? Our words can build up a person. And our words can tear down a person. I read a commentary recently about the Ten Commandments and it was equating the tearing down of a person’s reputation as a sin against the Fifth Commandment, “Thou shall not kill”. According to the author, to maliciously speak negatively against another, is not just “Bearing false witness against another”, but in actuality is killing that person’s reputation and good name. That certainly makes you think, doesn’t it? How many of us would never kill anybody, but we don’t have any problem at all ripping their reputation to shreds. And so many times we employ the exact same methods as the creators of the negative political ads. We know half the story, we get half the facts, and then we use exaggerated terms and suggestions to destroy someone else’s honor or good name. It’s time not only that our political candidates stop these tactics, it is also time that all of us stop doing this to one another.

Especially within the Catholic Christian community, this should not be the way that we deal with our problems. If you have a problem with someone or their actions, we should go to them. We should try and work it out. If we can’t work it out, then we should take it to the next level, but always with the goal of working out the problem and doing what Jesus expects of us. St. Paul implores us to speak the truth with the greatest charity. That’s how we are to solve our problems, not by talking about someone behind their back, as is common in our culture and society today. This infects a lot more of us today than we want to admit. We can all work at being a lot better.

Next Saturday night is our “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”. If you have not signed up yet, you can still do so. This is a really fun evening and a great chance to get to know your fellow parishioners. You do not have to come as a couple. Singles are not only welcome, but are expected at this event. Let me assure you that neither Fr. Dale nor myself will be bringing dates for the event. Everyone is welcome and I am sure that we are going to have a great time.

Today marks 31 days until the Dedication of our new church, one month. Pray for lots of dry, warmer than usual weather for the next 31 days. Actually, with all the celebration activities, you’d better make that the next 40 days. See the list of activities on the calendar page of this bulletin!

In Christ,
Fr. Kevin