{"id":6977,"date":"2004-06-30T21:23:23","date_gmt":"2004-07-01T02:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/2004\/06\/30\/affirmation-of-faith\/"},"modified":"2004-06-30T21:23:23","modified_gmt":"2004-07-01T02:23:23","slug":"affirmation-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2004\/06\/affirmation-of-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Affirmation of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ad
\nMajorem Dei Gloriam links<\/a> to a Pastoral
\nLetter<\/a> by Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Baker in Oregon which was
\nissued in April. This refers to an Affirmation of Personal faith that is required
\nto be signed by those in ministry ( Catechist , Reader, Extraordinary Minister
\nof Holy Communion, etc).<\/p>\n

The summary statements which I have collected in the Affirmation of Personal
\nFaith are all taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. They represent
\nthe authentic and authoritative teaching of the Catholic Church and acceptance
\nof these tenets is expected of every Catholic. While it is sufficient for me
\nto ‘presume’ that Catholics who attend Mass and receive communion
\nadhere to these teachings (unless the contrary is clearly evident) such a presumption
\nis not sufficient for those whom I commission to teach and act in some official
\ncapacity.<\/p>\n

The whole thing is excellent and is kind of a mandatum for those in ministry.
\nHe will probably be labeled a grand inquisitor for this, but I think this is
\njust great. On the Diocese site there is also a letter in the Bishop’s Corner<\/a> dated June 25, 2004 that says in part.<\/p>\n

…It seems to me that the most effective way to end abortion is to vote
\nfor Pro-Life candidates. This is not a function of the Bishops, we have only
\none
\nvote each, but rather a function of the laity who must be convinced of the
\npower of their own vote and of their ability through the ballot box to effect
\na good or to perpetuate an evil. Unfortunately that vote has always been split
\nbetween a multiplicity of ‘goods’, and with good reason, there are many ‘goods’
\nfor our society which need to be politically pursued. We see such things as
\ncare for the poor, adequate housing, healthcare, education, economic prosperity,
\nforeign policy and we hear the various political promises of how effectively
\nthese things are going to be managed by the members of one party or the other.
\nThese are tremendously significant human rights and human dignity issues about
\nwhich we must certainly be conscientious. It would be evil and wrong to omit
\nor to significantly neglect them. The persons who are the recipients of this
\nassistance, however, already have that right upon which the other inalienable
\nrights, liberty and pursuit of happiness, are based. They already have life.
\nThe quality of that life certainly needs to be upgraded and improved and as
\nChristians we have a responsibility to work for those improvements. It seems
\nthere are many in our society, religious and non-religious alike, Democrat
\nand Republican, who work and act on behalf of these persons. To some extent,
\nhowever limited, these persons are even able to vote and speak and seek assistance
\nfor themselves. This is not true of the pre-born. They have no voice but yours
\nand mine, they have no vote but yours and mine. If we do not vote for those
\nwho will act on their behalf, they have no other recourse. The Courts routinely
\nrecognize those who suffer but the Courts have refused to even recognize the
\nexistence of these most vulnerable of the neglected in our society. We need
\nlegislators who will propose and confirm justices who recognize with us the
\ninviolable dignity of the pre-born human person. These have no voice but ours,
\nthey have no vote but ours. I, for one, will speak on behalf of all the needy
\nand especially the pre-born for I have access to many words, but I will always
\nvote for those who pledge to defend pre-born human life because I have only
\none vote and I need to cast it for those who have no vote but mine.\n<\/p>\n

When my father was diagnosed with cancer he also needed open heart surgery.
\nThe question arose, which do we treat, the heart or the cancer. The doctors
\nassured him that the cancer was slow growing and that he would die of lots
\nof other things before he died of cancer. Thus the heart surgery was done and
\nhe was allowed a goodly number of years of extended life, all the while living
\nwith cancer. He could have chosen to treat the cancer but then he would have
\ndied many years earlier. He would have died cancer free but he would have died
\nmuch earlier. Hardly a consolation for him or the family. He chose an immediate
\nlife saving operation and recognized that the cancer would still be there to
\nbe treated later.
\nIn our society we have both a heart problem and a cancer problem. The heart
\nproblem continues to allow innocent human persons to be killed at will. The
\ncancer problem continues to put the poor and needy at risk. I think we need,
\nas in my father’s case, to focus on the heart problem for it concerns life
\nitself and not only the quality of that life. You have one vote. Use it for
\nthe greatest good.<\/p>\n

Update: I had sent an email to Bishop Vasa thanking him for the clarity of his writing and I have already received a reply. Bpvasa@dioceseofbaker.org<\/p>\n

Jeff: Thank you for taking the time to comment on “Giving Testimony”. Isn’t it remarkable that it is considered remarkable when a Bishop upholds the simple truth. Thank you +RFV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam links to a Pastoral Letter by Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Baker in Oregon which was issued in April. This refers to an Affirmation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}