The Gospel this Sunday contains the famous scene that is commemorated in the mosaic at our Cathedral (newly named a Basilica!) when Our Lord hands over the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter, symbolically giving him authority over the Church, the people of God. It is a moving scene, and I have always found great solace in the life and transformation of St. Peter. Throughout the Gospel, we see him making many mistakes, almost always with his mouth about ten steps out in front of his brain. Even after his bitter failure and regret in denying Jesus three times, he still finds his way back to Our Lord to receive forgiveness and be given great responsibility in leading others to salvation.  As a foolhardy pastor, I take great comfort in St. Peter as my patron and confirmation saint.

As touching a story as it may be, there is also a great challenge contained in Jesus’ granting of authority to the first pope. We live in an age that highly values individualism and our own subjective experience. Growing up, I was torn between the experience of my home, where truth mattered and it was our relationship with God, our creator, that gave meaning to our lives, and my experience in the broader culture that told us to “live our truth” and that what is true for us might not be true for others. This creeping relativism came to be the predominant worldview of multiple generations, and unless one has been fortunate enough to be formed otherwise, it is likely a part of how one sees the world.
 
Jesus’ entrusting of this authority to Peter necessarily means that we must find a way to make an assent of the will to the teaching of the Church, if we are to truly call ourselves followers of Christ. For perhaps our entire lives we have been raised on the idea that being individual and thinking for ourselves makes us strong, free, and truly alive. But Jesus grants the power of the magisterium and authority to Peter to protect us from error and the passing fads of the ages.

St. Paul speaks to the necessity of preaching the Gospel in season and out of season, and never tiring of proclaiming the Gospel. For too long we have grown comfortable in avoiding and even denying the difficult teachings of the Church, teachings that do not dovetail perfectly with the values of the age in which we live. In the name of tolerance, we refuse to wrestle with and accept the truth that Jesus entrusts to Peter and the Church. This is a false charity, one that rejects our responsibility to speak the truth to our neighbor in love. It is both imprudent and against the respect we should have for others to spend life on a soapbox, condemning people with whom we have no relationship and about whose lives we know nothing. But one of the spiritual works of mercy is to admonish the sinner, and we must be willing to confront ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ when we are in conflict with the teachings of Christ, handed down to us through the ages.
 
As we muddle through another election season, it is necessary to remember that it is our duty as American Catholics to form our consciences in accord with the moral law given to us by God, through His Church, and then to carry out our  responsibility to vote as Catholic Americans, not just Americans who happen to be Catholic. There is no political party that perfectly encapsulates the social and moral teachings of the Church, but it is our responsibility to do everything in our power to protect the dignity and integrity of human life, and to uphold what we believe about the value of every human person. As we navigate these divisive times as a nation, know of my prayers for all of you as you seek to hear, understand, and assent to God’s teachings, always guided by the Holy Spirit.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC