Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

Our state's elected lawmakers will soon consider a bill called The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act. A more fraudulent title for this dangerous measure could not be imagined. The proposed law is, in truth, a grave assault upon both religious liberty and marriage. All people of goodwill, and especially Christ's faithful committed to my pastoral care in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, should resolutely oppose this bill and make their opinions known to their representatives.

As a hockey fan, I feel disappointed that there have been no National Hockey League games played this season due to the labor dispute following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement last September. Negotiations between league officials, owners, players and their union have been going on now for months with no sign of agreement in sight.

"No matter what happens in the election on Tuesday, I know I'll wake up happy on Wednesday." That was the confident assertion of a person with whom I was speaking after our recent Diocesan Adult Enrichment Conference, held in Decatur. I was intrigued, so I asked, "Why do you say that?" She answered, "Because no matter what happens in the election, Jesus Christ will still be Lord!"

Due to the volume of calls, letters and e-mails, it has been impossible to respond to most of them personally. But to those with whom I have spoken, like the football fan mentioned earlier, my first question is usually to ask if they have read the whole column or watched the entire video recording of it. The answer is usually no. They read a few excerpted sentences out of context, watched a pirated video with a brief clip accompanied by someone else’s spin on what they thought I said, or saw an editorial in the local secular newspaper that distorted and misrepresented my words. So it would help for people to read the whole column or watch the entire video recording of it before reacting.

Much attention was given at the Democratic National Convention held recently in Charlotte, N.C., to the fact that all references to God had been purged from the draft version of the party platform. After outcries of protest from outside as well as within the Democratic Party, the sentence with the same reference to God used in 2008 was restored to read, "We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential."