Memory eternal, Fr Daniel. Pray to God for us. Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercies' sake. (Psa 44:22-26)
As Christians, we believe in law and we respect the authority of earthly rulers. We count it as a special privilege to live in a democratic society where the moral claims of the law on us are even stronger in virtue of the rights of all citizens to participate in the political process. Yet even in a democratic regime, laws can be unjust. And from the beginning, our faith has taught that civil disobedience is required in the face of gravely unjust laws or laws that purport to require us to do what is unjust or otherwise immoral... we will not comply with any edict that compels us or the institutions we lead to participate in or facilitate abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide, euthanasia, or any other act that violates the principle of the profound, inherent, and equal dignity of every member of the human family... we will not bend to any rule forcing us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality, marriage, and the family... we will not be intimidated into silence or acquiescence or the violation of our consciences by any power on earth... We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's...
It is so heartening to hear our leaders speak what is right when it matters and to lay themselves on the line in so doing. Oh, so refreshing! Read more here. You may also link to the declaration by scrolling down the sidebar at the right in order to sign the petition. Right on!
"I was lying in a room in the intensive care unit of a Seattle children's hospital," recalls Dean, a sixteen year-old boy, whose kidneys had stopped working. "Suddenly, I was standing upright and moving very quickly through dark space. I could not see any walls, but I thought that I was in a kind of tunnel. Although there was no wind, I felt that I was travelling with great speed. I did not understand where I was flying to or why, but I could feel that at the end of my flight something very important was waiting for me and I wanted to arrive at my destination as quickly as possible...
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