February 19, 2006
Isaiah 43: 18-25 + 2Corinthians 1:18-22 + Mark 2:1-12
On Wednesday February 22 at noon there will be a meeting of religious leaders and a press conference at the State Capitol. I will be away from Oklahoma attending a different meeting of priests for the week; but I want to call this meeting to your attention in the hope that some of you can be there to represent this community along with the Archbishop and other Roman Catholics. At that meeting, the Archbishop will present a Declaration already signed by thousands of Catholic people from across the state. The Declaration will be a statement from faithful Catholic people that we believe violence against women to be clearly wrong and indeed sinful.
There is more to this effort than simply signing a piece of paper. It is a signal that we have awakened to some startling facts that cannot be denied; that we have embraced the Gospel as the revealed word and will of God for us; and that wish to live in a society without such violence where respect, love, and security for the most weak and vulnerable is the cause of everyone.
The Archbishop has written a pastoral letter which was published in the February 12 issues of the SOONER CATHOLIC. I urge to read it carefully. I want to quote from it for just a moment. “Violence against women is never an accident. It takes the form of physical, psychological or emotional abuse. This includes rape, date rape, sexual assault and other exploitation that reduces women into sex objects. Around the world, one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. Within the United States, one out of every four American women will experience violence by an intimate partner sometime during her lifetime. One out of six will be raped……To assert that violence against women is unacceptable is in harmony with our religious tradition and Sacred Scriptures…….The root cause of the problem lies in the ever-present inequality of and discrimination against women that exists in the world today. A basic refusal to see women as inherently equal with men, as mandated by our religious tradition, creates the environment for violence against women to flourish. As a Church and as a culture, we must take the elimination of violence against women seriously……We cannot and we must not remain silent any longer (says the Archbishop) Accordingly, I call on all Catholics and people of faith to raise their voices, renouncing all forms of violence against women and, further to commit to teach their children to reject this violence in all its forms. To ignore the call mandated by our Church tradition and the Sacred Scriptures, or to assert otherwise diminishes God’s love, care and compassion for some of the most vulnerable of our times.”
As your pastor I want to add some facts that might motivate you to pay attention to the Archbishop’s letter. Domestic Abuse reports in Oklahoma have increased 31% between 1994 and 2003. There were 23,773 domestic abuse reports in 2003. In this country, 4 million American women experience a serious assault by a partner during an average 12 month period. On average, three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. 1 in 5 female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. 1 in 3 teens reports knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, slapped, choked, or physically hurt by his or her dating partner. Parents cannot afford to think that this will not happen to their child.
The declaration as been placed in each pew. There are more in the narthex. Please pass them along the pew and add your name if you “condemn unequivocally all violence against women both inside and outside of marriage.” Add your name if you “support legislation to eliminate domestic violence in all its forms”, and if you “believe that violence against women is a grievous sin with no biblical or theological justification, and you want it eliminated from our society.” You may do it now and leave it in the pew. It will be added to the names already presented to the Archbishop on Monday.
As you do this, sharing pens or pencils you may have with you or find around you, give some thought to the scene of today’s Gospel, and as I often suggest, there are different positions or role within it. It is not only about Jesus. It is also a story about those who stand around, criticize, and do nothing except scoff. There is someone helpless and vulnerable, but not without friends willing to help. There are people on the roof, tearing a whole and carrying the paralytic. And, there are those who go away giving glory to God. We would do well today to choose carefully what role we shall play in this on-going, life giving, sin-forgiving, healing word. For us in Oklahoma today individually it is time to let our faith get us up on the roof and do something for the helpless. For us Catholics, it is time to collectively continue the work of Jesus, who as risen Christ still looks into the eyes of those who long for help to see their need, and respond with the power of love regardless of what some may say about us or about what we do.