Opinion

In 1984, a frightening future faced me; I found myself responsible for an unforeseen reality squarely staring me in the face and just waiting for my response.

As a priest, each Ash Wednesday I have the opportunity to exercise my artistic abilities as I trace the cross with ashes on the forehead of each person who comes before me. Not this year. Because of the pandemic, the minister will sprinkle the ashes onto the top of our heads. Though this may be foreign to us, it is actually the practice in much of the Church.

Last year, the 2020 theme for Black History Month, “African Americans and the Vote,” marked the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment – which gave women, (including Black women) the right to vote – and the sesquicentennial of the Fifteenth Amendment which established the right of Black men to vote after the Civil War.

When someone mentions February, immediately you think of hearts and flowers… symbols of romantic love. Yet there are other kinds of love expressed during the month of February: the love of a parent for a child, a child for their parents, or love for good friends. Why stop there?

Once upon a time there was a man named Joseph. He was betrothed to the (literally) perfect woman, Mary, who was suddenly pregnant. An angel appeared to Joseph and explained that Mary’s child was the Son of God, and Joseph was being entrusted with His care.

Zoom was a word that just about a year ago, I had not even heard of, or if I did, I was just not paying attention. Everything was going fine gathering in person for years. Reluctantly though, and just like many other ministries, I have befriended Zoom, the video conferencing platform. It has now become a welcomed companion, a tool to be used to communicate, connect, pray and share the Gospel with others.

For most people, the COVID-19 era has brought a rollercoaster of emotions. The weight of uncertainty, a global sense of loss, and the daily count of rising cases has caused added stress for many of us.

Each year, as part of the Diocese of Owensboro’s Disciples Response Fund annual appeal, people from across the diocese send prayer petitions to the McRaith Catholic Center (the central offices/pastoral center of the diocese).

Next time that you travel a county road or a highway, take notice of the crosses. You know the ones, the roadside memorials. Every cross represents a life that was lost, lost very near that spot where the cross was erected. Someone wanted that life lost to be remembered, to keep a reminder of that life visible to all who passed by. It’s a tender tribute, even melancholy, in its quiet way of remembering.

Black lives matter! Blacks have fought for America’s freedom in every war since the Revolutionary War. We have proudly built and contributed in many ways, on every level, to the excellence of the United States of America and to the Catholic Church – as slaves and eventually as citizens. It is time for an acknowledgement that we are inferior to no one and that we are truly full-fledged members of the family of God.