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ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

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March 22, 2009

The Good News...

                   . . . “Our Citizenship is in Heaven”

The above quotation from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians clearly identifies the human person and our purpose here on this earth. We are creatures of God, uniquely fashioned in His own Image and Likeness. We are on this earth only temporarily.  We are pilgrims on a journey of life. We are “rooted” in God and intended to return to Him to share His life  forever.

Because of sin, the pilgrimage of life now entails suffering and sadness. We are weakened and thus we often fall into sin again. But God in His goodness and love has sent His Son Jesus to save us. He continues to forgive us. Yet, as long as we are still pilgrims on earth, we must live by faith and not by sight. For this reason, Jesus gave us the Church and through His Church, He continues to forgive us, to lead us, to guide us. Nonetheless, it is often difficult, even a struggle. But we are confident that with God’s help, we can overcome sin and temptation and walk safely on our journey to life everlasting because “our citizenship is indeed in heaven.”

Precisely because we are a people of faith and we do believe and trust in Jesus, we do not panic when bad things happen to us. We do not react negatively to our brothers and sisters who may have injured us. Neither do we withdraw from or abandon or reject those whom we may have judged unfairly or misunderstood. Rather, in faith and with love, we turn to the Lord, knowing that He will help us. But we must try. We must seek reconciliation. We must do the best we can while we trust in God.

Let me give you one concrete example and explain the efforts we are undertaking with God’s help and the guidance of our holy Catholic Church to resolve a current difficult question.

In recent days, I have had    numerous conversations regarding a movement based on the Industrial Areas Foundations (IAF). These were calls, letters or personal talks with many of you who support the IAF and many of you who condemn the IAF. Some of you have asked for my approval and support of the local IAF movement while others requested that I ban it from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

(For those of you who do not know of the IAF, it is basically a network organizing institution to unite on a particular project to benefit a specific group. In the past, IAF was rightly accused of using bad tactics and force to meet its goals. Thus, the negative reaction to it from many sides.)

During the past 30 years, interfaith groups have been formed in many dioceses and have withstood the test of time. My brother bishops have found some of them to be effective instruments for the Church’s mission. I believe this is so because members of the Catholic Church with their vibrancy of faith and sustained by the sacramental life of the Church have given leadership and inspiration to these organizations.

Our present secular society does not seek truth nor does it engender faith. The current political climate does not uphold the dignity and worth of the human person. Only those who profess faith themselves can share faith with others. Only those who believe in God can restore a true respect for the intrinsic dignity of human beings.

In these difficult, confusing and contradictory days, every Catholic person must become an authentic Christian witness who will inspire others and help form right consciences. Only when we bring others to acknowledge that God is good and gracious and that our citizenship is in heaven, will we really make this world a better place in which to live — albeit only temporary. We must never forget that our true citizenship is in heaven.

Now, to get back to our example, a number of Catholic parishes have expressed an interest in the IAF   community organization. These are good and faithful Catholic people who see a possibility to fulfill their responsibility to others. There are other good and faithful Catholic people who see collaboration with the IAF movement as a mistake, an evil, a potential threat to our Church. And so, the question is — what should we do — join or withdraw?

In view of the controversial nature of this situation, I invite all Catholics from all sides to join with me in prayer. At this stage, I will    neither recommend parishes to join nor will I ask the others to withdraw. But I do ask all to pray for God’s  guidance so that we might discern God’s Will and have the wisdom to make the proper decisions, guided by truth and reality and not by allegations or speculations.

In addition, I urge all interested people on both sides to do a new study of Pope Benedict’s encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est. In particular, the 12 sections, No. 28 to No. 39 inclusive, need to be studied, understood and applied to our current situation. A self-study is a good start but I will also see that a more formal presentation will be offered by the Archdiocese.

In the coming weeks and months, I and the Priests Council will monitor this matter so that we can be more objective and more accurate in our judgment. Just like Saint Paul and his early Christian members, we face tempests and storms daily but we never lose hope because our true citizenship is in heaven.