4 WWW.THERECORDNEWSPAPER.ORG COMMENTARY THE RECORD JANUARY 14, 2021 How often in the last decade or more have partisanship, division and calls for unity been inked on the commentary pages of this and other newspapers? Too many, the authors could safely wager. Or maybe not enough. Extreme partisanship gave birth to the attack on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6. And each of us who have sown seeds of division in our homes, in our offices, on social media and any other place people gather have played a role. We're not talking about disagree- ments here. Disagreements are un- avoidable, not to mention healthy and important. It's how we approach them and solve them that matters. Do we call one another names? Do we ridicule one another's posi- tion? Do we dismiss the dignity of the other person? Do we delight in defeating the other side? YES. These behaviors have infected the presidency. They are often on display on cable news shows. They're all over social media - commonly causing friends to "block" one another for 30 days. And these behaviors are at the heart of the problem. If we are to succeed in securing a stronger democracy for our future, one where all of us feel represented, we have to seek unity by understand- ing one another. And that requires respectful dia- logue from every party, at every level - in our schools, in our homes, on our news shows, in the statehouses, in Congress and in the White House. We cannot afford to tolerate self righteous name-calling and jokes at the expense of the "other side." It's time to reorient ourselves as citizens and expect more from our- selves and our government. Our elected officials are too often treated more like elite athletes than public servants. And the American public is reduced to something akin to sports fans rooting for their favorite team (political party) rather than citi- zens advocating for important policy. The Catholic Church has a long history of asking its members to be active in the "public square." As this year's session of the Kentucky Gen- eral Assembly gets underway, it's a good time to put your citizenship into practice. When was the last time you wrote an original note to an elected of- ficial or called Kentucky's legislative message line? The number is:
1-800- 372-7181
Let's not let our elected officials do their own bidding. Let's practice good and faithful citizenship - with ma- turity and civility - in this new year and set an example for others. The next time we find ourselves with an opportunity to sow division, let's set an example of respectful dia- logue. MARNIE McALLISTER Editor
Stop sowing division
Sunday reading: Jan. 17, 2021: God and the body
KEVIN PERROTTA
Today, St. Paul says that God has designed our bodies for union with him and has made us parts of Christ's body. Christ is in us; we are in him. This is a closeness to God more intimate than we can comprehend. The odd thing is that in the middle of talk about God's presence in us, Paul makes reference to sexual sin. How did that get into the discussion, we might wonder. Why Paul mentions sexual sin becomes clearer if we restore the sentences that have been omitted (for under- standable reasons) by those who composed the lectionary. In what has been deleted, Paul counsels the men in the church to stop going to the brothel. He gets into speaking about our being parts of Christ's body because that helps to show what's wrong with prostitution. Guys, how can you take a part of Christ's body - which is what you are - and use it to violate the dignity of a woman who is one of his hu- man creatures? In his brief discussion of sex, Paul cites the book of Genesis. When a man and a woman have sexual re- lations, they become "one flesh." It is not just sexual organs but two whole persons that are joined together. Our sexuality, then, is a capacity to be profoundly united with another person; it is a kind of powerful ad- hesive (Genesis speaks of husband and wife "clinging" or "cleaving" to each other - the word means sticking). So, what if a man and a woman unite sexually but do not also join their lives? After an hour or a few weeks or some years, they go their sep- arate ways. What effect will that have? They have used their most powerful personal adhesive to join but have ripped apart. What happens to two boards that are glued together and are then torn apart? If I engage a woman's deepest capacity for union and then walk away, she will be hurt; her capacity for union with another person will be damaged - and so will mine. I will have harmed myself. As Paul says, "The immoral person sins against his own body." There is a positive side to this. Just as sex outside mar- riage does harm, the love- making of husband and wife is kind of Velcro that can fasten their two lives, two hearts, together. How wonderful is God's design of the human body!
Christmas remains in our hearts
DR. KAREN SHADLE
Like many suburban neighborhoods, mine is loosely governed by a home- owners' association. For an annual fee, I cheerfully sub- jugate myself to its many regulations on such things as paint colors, mailboxes, lawn maintenance and holi- day decorations. So each year on the first weekend of January, I duti- fully remove our home's ex- terior lights. All the while, I seditiously whisper, "Christ- mas isn't over," while hoard- ing rogue creches and gar- lands inside behind drawn curtains. In this neighborhood, Christmas is over a bit too soon. So too in any retail fa- cility, where it is practically Valentine's Day on Decem- ber 26. For the church, Christ- mas is not a single day, but a whole season. In fact, the commercial/secular holiday season and the liturgical Christmas season are al- most totally nonconcurrent, overlapping only briefly on Christmas Eve and Christ- mas Day. And even within the church, there is some dis- agreement about when Christmas ends. For most in the United States, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (usually the second Sunday in January) marks the end of the liturgical Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary Time. However, for many Cath- olics outside the United States, Eastern Rite Catho- lics, and those who follow the Tridentine calendar, the end of Christmas is tied to Epiphany, celebrated on its traditional date - Jan. 6. Epiphany is observed as more of a major feast in parts of Europe, often a holy day of obligation and sometimes an official state holiday. In some rites, there follows an Octave of Epiphany, or eight days of extended celebration. The Christmas season then concludes on the eighth day, Jan. 13. But wait, there's more! Some Catholics maintain that the celebration of Christmas might extend as far as the feast of the Presen- tation of the Lord (or Candle- mas) on Feb. 2. Candlemas celebrates the introduction of the Christ Child to the tem- ple, an event that occurred 40 days after his birth. It is the last time "baby Jesus" appears in the lectionary, so some suggest this is an ap- propriate scriptural endpoint to Christmastide. Including Candlemas as part of the Christmas season is less li- turgically rooted but more cultural, a domestic tradition of popular piety. So, is Christmas over? According to the Code of Elves, the guiding dictum of the movie "Elf" starring Will Ferrell, one must "treat every day like Christmas." For the elves, it means gifts and sweets and mistletoe every day. For us, it means that the birth of Jesus constantly in- forms our lives and our wor- ship. Without the Incarna- tion - the Word made Flesh - there is no Eucharist. Without the manger there is no cross. Without Christ- mas, there is no Easter. Each time the Mass is celebrated, it rests on the fundamental reality of the Incarnation. Liturgically, we return to Ordinary Time this week. My Christmas decorations are now stored away, inside and out. But this discussion is not really about decorations. The seminal truth of Christmas - that God became man to live among us - remains in our hearts throughout the dark winter and indeed every day of the year.
How are non-Catholics forgiven?
FATHER KENNETH DOYLE
A.
The Catholic Church has a long history of the con- fession of sins. In the earli- est centuries, confession was actually done in public, the thinking being that when we sin, we damage not only our own friendship with God but our relationships within the community of faith. Though most Catholics may not know this, there are types of individual confes- sion in other religious groups as well. Eastern Orthodox priests, for example, hear confessions not in a confes- sional but in the main part of the church, before a Gospel book and an icon of Jesus Christ. Lutherans have a form of confession known as "Holy Absolution," that is done pri- vately to a cleric upon re- quest. After the penitent has confessed his or her sins, the minister declares: "In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I for- give all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In the Anglican tradition, confession and absolution is usually done by an entire congregation as part of a eu- charistic service, but certain Anglicans, particularly Anglo- Catholics, do practice private auricular confession. The Catholic Church teaches that lesser sins can be forgiven by prayer and acts of charity, but it requires individual confession at least annually for grave (mortal) sins and encourages peni- tents to confess lesser (venial) sins also, as a way to grow in holiness. It's noteworthy to mention that during the pandemic, in March 2020 the Apostolic Penitentiary urged Catholic priests to remind the faithful that, when they find them- selves with "the painful im- possibility of receiving sac- ramental absolution," they can make an act of contrition directly to God in prayer. If they are sincere and promise to go to confession as soon as possible, said the Vatican tribunal, they "obtain the for- giveness of sins, even mortal sins."
Q.
Catholics are blessed to have the sacrament of recon- ciliation. But what about other faiths? How do non-Catholics have their sins forgiven?
QUESTION CORNER BETWEEN AMENS SPEAK TO ME LORD
EDITORIAL
Second Sunday of Ordinary Time 1) 1 Sm 3:3-10, 19 Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-10 2) 1 Cor 6:13-15, 17-20 Gospel: Jn 1:35-42
Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D., Archbishop of Louisville Marnie McAllister Jennifer L. Jenkins Glenn O. Rutherford President Editor Advertising Director Editor Emeritus
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THE RECORD
Archdiocese of Louisville
Next step toward financial security
BETH STEGNER PEABODY
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin Last month's introductory column identified the goal to involve readers by pro- viding actionable items to assist them with gaining fi- nancial security. By reducing the complexities of financial choices, readers will learn to make confident short and long-term decisions. The new year is often a time for reflection and as- sessing your finances is as healthy as the commitment to exercise more often. While managing finances is stress- ful in most years, it is espe- cially so today as the world is reeling from a global health crisis. However, please re- sist the urge to ignore your finances. The action identified in December was the most im- portant first step to achiev- ing financial security. We recommended that readers simply track their recur- ring monthly income and expenses. This small first step can be extended later to quarterly budgets and then ultimately to an an- nual analysis. The next step is to identify where excess monies should be placed from a practical and tactical standpoint. Con- sider establishing the follow- ing "buckets" and determine a dollar goal for each: Emergency savings - Establish a savings account, separate from your checking account, that totals three to six months' salary. A simple step is to contact your bank or brokerage firm to estab- lish the account and trans- fer the whole amount today, or set-up an automatic de- posit each month or each pay period, until your goal is achieved. The key to pro- tecting you from accessing these emergency savings is to make it functionally dif- ficult to access. Debt repayment - Be- cause the interest paid on savings accounts is currently at zero, the next actionable step to gain financial security is to use the monthly excess you have identified to pay down debt. Retirement Savings - Once the emergency sav- ings and debt repayment plans are established, ex- cess monies should be allo- cated each pay period into your employer-sponsored retirement plan, if one is offered. Many companies offer retirement plans that al- low employees to withhold money directly from their paychecks that is placed into accounts that grow tax-free. Such plans include 403(b) and 401(k)s. These compa- nies may also provide con- tributions based upon your salary on a percentage basis and many will match your contribution up to a defined amount. The terms of your em- ployer's plan are available from the company or record- keeping vendor in the form of a summary plan descrip- tion. The actionable item for January is to evaluate what you are currently contribut- ing to the plan and whether or not you are receiving the maximum match offered by your employer. If you do not know the answers, this information should be available upon request to the company or online at the record keeper. If you do not know how to access it, ask! As a final note, Congress recently passed a relief bill that will be hitting the bank account of many readers soon. Take this deposit and use it opportunistically to act on the suggestions out- lined above. Beth Stegner Peabody is CEO of Stegner Investment Associates, Inc., and a gradu- ate of Sacred Heart Academy.
CENTS & SENSIBILITY
CNS Photo/Stephanie Keith, Reuters
Supporters of President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Jan. 6.
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