A Recent Facebook Post from Bishop Talley…
My brother and I attended Sunday school at the First Baptist Church, in Augusta, Georgia. We lived in North Augusta, across the Savannah River, in South Carolina (more affordable housing for us). Every Sunday, we would put our “Sunday” clothes on and head to church, first to Sunday school (PSR, PRE or CCD, for Catholics)…then to the air-conditioned big church. In Sunday school, we had one subject, the Bible. And, the focus for every lesson: Jesus of Nazareth. But, in all this goodness received (and it WAS goodness), in those lessons of revelation, the mother of Jesus was never mentioned. Oh, we heard of her at Christmas time, but that was it. Her discipleship, her love, her marriage, at Cana, at the Cross, in the upper room with the Apostles…I don’t remember a word about her. Much of this comes from formation after the 16th c. earthquake of Christendom, the Reformation. My Sunday school teachers were not anti-Mary. She simply did not enter into the discussion, and had no place in the story. Here’s the thing: to remember her birth today is to remember her humanity…and…the humanity of her son. And, without a true reflection of the humanity of Jesus, we cannot fathom how Divinity is wedded to our current distress, the here-and-now world of 2020. Jesus…son of Mary, son of David, son of man, Son of God. AMDG
A Summary of the Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship…
The Bishops’ Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship is the teaching document for the faithful on the political responsibility of Catholics. It seeks to help the faithful participate in public life, prioritize faith over partisan politics, engage with civility and respond to pressing issues of our day. USCCBConsciencesWebpage
Videos from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops…
The USCCB released videos to inspire prayer and action in political life and to help Catholics apply the Church’s teaching as handed down by Pope Francis. The scripts for the videos were approved by the full body of Bishops. The videos complement Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship teaching document. Each video ends with a prayer and are in in four languages (English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese). Here are the videos: USCCBYouTubeChannel
Specific Catholic Teachings on Faithful and Civil Citizenship…
In this section, please find links to Bishops’ statements and other resources that can help you explore Church teaching on Catholic participation in political life. Here is the link: CatholicChurchTeachings
