While we have been into Ecclesiastical 2024 for about a month now, let's admit it... secular New Year's hits a bit different, and it is still what most of us think of when it comes to things like new directions, resolutions, or (for those of us working in a calendar-year business environment) budgets. Whatever this January is beginning for you, I pray that it is a blessing.
The year 2024 is filled with many opportunities and challenges for us. This is true on an individual level as well as on a communal level. I know that each of you can speak to the individual challenges you face, decisions that are awaiting a next step, or opportunities that you are looking to really understand. Whatever they are or may be, please know that I will be praying for you through it all, and am available to you as you discern your path on the journey.
As we begin the journey ahead into 2024, I have three things that I would like to share as reminders:
First, please don't forget your parish/ministry reports for Calendar Year 2023. These are due by Ash Wednesday. Please reach out if you have any questions concerning the formatting of this report.
Second, please be in prayer and preparation for our Convergence Retreat in North Carolina in June. I am looking forward to this time together.
Finally, I want to take a moment to address a matter that will be in the collective face of all of us who are American citizens moving throughout 2024...
As we all know, this is a presidential election year. As is typical, the rhetoric of our political system is in full steam... yet it feels (at times) like we haven't had a break from the rhetoric since the last election, if not longer. I know that each of you have your own political sensibilities, and I respect that each of us has the freedom to hold to them. However, I want to make sure to speak to an important point as we enter into this year: the Church is not a party to the election cycle, and must never become one.
As clergy of the Church, therefore, your words, phrases, and statements with regard to political matters must be carefully considered, and should be few. There are two reasons for this. First, the Church is a house that is open to all people. The more determined we are as individuals to champion a particular political position, the more clearly we telegraph to those who do not share a view with us that they are unwelcome in our midst. I can assure you that the vast majority of us have people of every political stripe coming to our Churches and communing at our altars. Taking public positions that might in any way be construed as an official Church position must be avoided. To that end, I deeply encourage each of us to double check our social media postings (including what we are sharing from other sources) in the coming months.
It also bears repeating that no official statements may be made on any parish website or Facebook page, from any pulpit, etc... in support of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office. To do so simply ratchets up the angst generated by the entire topic to begin with, and it can cause individual ministries and the Communion as whole to have its tax status called into question. The Church is free to educate her people on the morals and values she holds, and to encourage her people to participate (if they choose) in a manner that is in keeping with a formed Christian conscience, but the Church is not to tell her people how to cast a ballot.
There is no political party in the United States that is a 1:1 standard-bearer for Christian values and ethics. We (us as clergy, and the people we serve) if we choose to participate in the political process, must do so with this recognition. If we choose not to participate, that choice also must be a principled one, based on a formed Christian conscience. In either state, we must consistently seek for the best for all people, proclaim the Gospel with clarity and truth, and showing the depths of the Divine Mercy of Jesus to all we encounter.
In this times where peace seems sorely lacking, may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep your hearts and minds secure in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
