Pastor's notes for September 23

Dear Parishioners,
I forgot to congratulate Marki Casey and Adam Goblirsch last weekend in the Bulletin on their marriage. Congratulations, and may you have a long life of marital bliss.
Congratulations to Kain Daniel Knott, son of Dan and Brianna, who will be baptized this weekend.
My deepest apologies to Jack Fischer on my unfortunate brain glitch last week, too. In my prayer that morning, I found myself thankful for having known Jack Price's mother, and that lead to being thankful for knowing a few other long-deceased parishioners, one of whom was Rosie Fischer, and so I had Jack in mind, too. In this case, knowing the families as well as I do got me in trouble.
This weekend, we are viewing the first of two videos on Marriage that the USCCB has produced, and we have been asked to show. While this has a timely element to it because of the marriage amendment on our ballot in November (more on that in a bit), it is really a timeless teaching. These next weeks, we should do everything we can, from reading the discussion of Marriage in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (¶1601-1666), to visiting the USCCB's marriage website http://www.foryourmarriage.com, to reviewing the information around the amendment in the state of Minnesota at http://www.minnesotaformarriage.com (they have great short videos discussing the issues around the amendment, which I have also linked on the blog at http://lotwafc.blogspot.com). Some have asked about the exact text of the item on the ballot. It is: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota?" Note that it is not about taking rights away from anyone, nor is it saying that others are bad people. It is merely about defining marriage as between one man and one woman, as it has been understood in every culture across all religious traditions until recently. We have been reminded that there is no violation of the political process for me as your pastor to state that the Church Teaching on this matter is clear that we must vote yes on this issue. Also, please note and spread the word, if you leave this item blank on your ballot, it will be counted as a "No" vote. We cannot sit on the fence with this issue - we must vote, and to remember that just like the HHS mandate, our religious liberties may be on the line with this issue, too.
In Christ,
Fr. Todd