Pastor's Weekly Update: Sunday, July 4th

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Independence day! Since the holiday will be officially observed tomorrow (Monday), there will be one Mass in English at 9 a.m. preceded by confessions from 8:30 – 8:50 a.m. (our normal holiday schedule).

Today we are thankful for all those who won the rights of freedom for our country. I think of my 5x great grandfather who fought in the Revolutionary War, and all those who continue serving our country in the military and civil service. The greatness of this country cannot be preserved, though, solely by military might and efficient government. It is the virtue and moral quality of our citizens that will make or break American greatness in the third millennium.

This was known to the Founding Fathers of the United States. John Adams wrote: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Another founding father, Patrick Henry, says it in greater detail: “Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.”

None of us can assume that anyone else will do the hard work necessary of ensuring our country’s future as a moral, virtuous, and just people. Our sacred responsibility before God this day is to commit ourselves to cultivating virtue and public morality in our families, communities, and the entire nation. May God bless the United States of America on this day.

Recent read: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (on audiobook via the Libby app through the Goshen Public Library). I figured I ought finally to listen to this classic before it is no longer available.

St. John the Evangelist, pray for us!

Yours in Christ,

Father Royce Gregerson