Homily for October 26, 2008

October 26, 2008
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
The readings today took me on a nostalgia trip back to the 60s and 70s. How many of you remember those days? Well, what I remember is, Wow! We discovered the commandment to love. And we said, "It's all about love, and so we don't need to worry about rules. And it's about love and people, and we don't need institutions." And so we set up a division. Do you remember those times? They were heady times.
Well, I want to revisit those today, because over the years when I ask myself, "Who are the people I've met who love God and our neighbor," they end up with deep connections to institutions and structures. Let me ask you, how many of you work in education? Would you stand? How many work in social work? How many work in some form of service that is supported by tax dollars? How many of you work in institutions or organizations that are supported by charitable giving? Okay. [More than half the congregation stood.]
So, let's put a face on institutions and tax dollars and contributions to charity. You see where I'm going? When I think of this, then I'm glad to pay my taxes, because I'm glad to be supporting teachers and social workers and police officers and firemen and all sorts of people. By the way, those of you who are sitting down, I don't mean to imply that just because you work for organizations that make money you're somehow less caring or less loving. So you can all sit down now.
We are approaching that time when we are being asked to give to the United Catholic Appeal and I wanted to put a face on that today. You're not being asked to give to the Archbishop or the archdiocese, but to people who embody love in action. To help put a face on what you're being asked to give to, I've asked Ruth Tinsley our principal  to share her perspective on what the United Catholic Appeal supports. [See comments by Ruth Tinsley]
Ruth Tinsley, October 26, 2008

Good morning, everyone.
Putting a face on what you're being asked to do is one of my favorite parts. The Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, of which Holy Cross School is one, receive a major portion of the money that's raised by the annual appeal. In the document "On the Threshold of the Third Millennium," Pope John Paul II said that the school is at the heart of the Church. And with so many of our schools struggling to survive, it makes you wonder sometimes if maybe the Church needs some heart surgery.
And that's part of what this appeal helps. It helps children like Lana, who was three when I first met her. And she was in school one day in a threeyearold class, and she was learning to pray for the first time. And as teachers do with little ones, the teacher's making grand gestures, "In the name of the Father, and the Son," and Lana wiggled and wiggled and had her hand up, and she needed the attention. But the teacher is teaching the children how to make the sign of the cross, so the teacher continues, "In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, amen." And Lana is wiggling and wiggling and wiggling because she needs that teacher's attention. There is a problem.
So finally, Miss Allen looks at Lana and she says, "Lana, just what is it?"
And Lana says, "My father's name is Ryan, not Holy Spirit Amen." This is just one beautiful child that I've been able to work with because of the Academies.
Many of our children in the Academies are not Catholic, but evangelization has always been part of our job. And when kids come to any of our schools, every day they get to hear about God; they get to hear about the reason that we are here; they get to learn about morals; they get to sing about God; and they get to learn how to interact the way God wants us to interact. That doesn't mean they can't learn that other places, but they can't talk about God in the open in other places.
This year I have a student from Russia who's joined Holy Cross School and, again, had never been in a Catholic church. But because we are able to exist, we are able to give this child a wonderful education in a Catholic setting. And every day there's something new that we have to let this child know, something different about the way he has practiced things, or something different in beliefs, not that one is right or that one is wrong, but we are able to serve this child. We are able to strengthen this child's heart.
The schools are at the heart of the Church, and if we want our churches to continue to be strong, it is very important that we continue to support our schools. It's not easy, especially in these times when  well, actually gas prices are down this week, so we're looking a little bit better  but when gas prices are crazy, when our jobs are unsure.
The longer a child is in a Catholic school, the greater their chance of going to college is. That is statistically proven. Also, the longer they're in a Catholic school, the better their chances of being a lifelong Catholic. Again, that doesn't mean that other children will not continue to be lifelong Catholics or that their faith is not strong. But when we can touch the lives of children who are not Catholic and who are Catholic every day and help to strengthen their belief in God and improve their education and improve their tomorrow, then we are making the heart of the Church stronger, and we're making a better tomorrow for each of the children.
I could give you stories of hundreds of children that I have gotten to work with, all of which have touched me differently, and children who I've lost along the way because, for one reason or another, their parents could not continue to support them  and we've been creative in how we can try keep them in our schools  and those we haven't lost touch with, just because they're no longer in our schools. So when you think about whether or not to give, think about the children and think about the heart of the Church.