SCCR Parish Blog

  The following is a letter to the faithful from Archbishop Schnurr regarding the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Yesterday’s horrific news of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas shakes us to our core and reminds us once again of the fragility of human life. This senseless, heartbreaking tragedy reinforces the desperate need for conversion to a culture of life in our country, one that respects the inherent dignity and sacredness of every human being from conception to natural death. I join my fellow U.S. Catholic bishops in sharing the following statement: “There have been too many school shootings, too much killing of the innocent. Our  Catholic faith calls us to pray for those who have died and to bind the wounds of others, and we join our prayers along with the community in Uvalde and Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller. As we do so...

We are busy getting ready to move offices in the parish. But in between moving, I will try to add a few things about the Church and racism, as that continues to be in the news.  Please check back later for updates. The first thing to note is that the Catholic Church is not a "Johnny come lately" to this issue.  She has always taught that there is one human family, descendants of Adam and Eve, and that the common bond of being brothers and sisters in Christ by divine adoption means that our ethnic differences should not be a source of division.  She has also taught that each person has a right to be  treated in accord with his or her inherent dignity, being made in the image and likeness of God. As just one example, the Popes have condemned the institution of slavery since before the Europeans arrived in the New World.   Long before there were politically organized abolitionist movements, for instance, the Church had been on the forefront of insisting that ...

As many people know, the topic of racism has become a very hot topic in the light of recent events. So it is good to know what the Church has always taught about this topic, from the beginning, since this is not a new problem.  The Church has had 2,000 years of experience in dealing with all of the problems that have plagued sinful mankind since the first sin of Adam and Eve. That teaching is summed up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The relevant section is copied below and at this link ). This includes some Scripture references and various writings of the saints and church documents, such as those written in the 1960s at the Second Vatican Council. The Church does NOT take a stand on particular political solutions to the problem.  That is something that Christians can disagree on but should work out together harmoniously in accord with the common good, guided by these universal truths. However, the principles and guidelines are not negotiable, since they come from th...