Guided by the Holy Spirit, Our Lady of Loreto Catholic Parish is a Eucharistic community that seeks to live the Word of God, instill the legacy of faith, and proclaim the love of Christ through service to all.

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"An Evening at Bella Loreto" 
Saturday Feb. 11, 2012  6pm - 10pm
Valentines Dinner & Dance  Download Flyer
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January 22, 2012

​My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 
     As many others I very much enjoy watching the PBS Masterpiece Theater series Downton Abbey. If you are not familiar with it, it is a fictionalized portrayal of a gentried English family and its household at the time of World War I. A good number of commentators and opinionists have written about the production. I too add my own two cents to the discussion.
     Many things about the series recommend it. It is well written; the cinematography and editing are outstanding; the costuming stunning; it is very well acted. But what grabs me most about the series is its subject matter: not so much the actual plot lines and foibles of the characters, but rather their seeking, or not seeking as the case may be, to be persons and to live lives of integrity. Some characters will do nothing that violates their conscience and code of integrity, even if it comes at the price of great sacrifice and loss. Some will do anything to get their way, to get out of trouble, and to get ahead, even if it comes at the price of their conscience and integrity. Downton Abbey portrays the fundamental moral proposition of every human being and every one of our lives. Are we persons of integrity or are we not? Are we living double lives, and so living lives that are less than human, or do we seek to be truly integrated, men and women of integrity, in a word men and women of their word, faithful to what we believe and honest to ourselves and to one another? Are we willing to compromise what we believe when it is too difficult to believe it or when it suits us in order to get out of trouble, get more, get ahead?
     The great quest of life is this: Jesus taught: “In a word you must be holy as your heavenly Father is holy” (Mt. 5:48). In a word, Jesus calls each of us, created in the image and likeness of God to be one, united, whole, a person that is integrated and lives a life of integrity, as our heavenly Father is one, integrated, a God of integrity. That is why, in part, I love the teachings of the Catholic Church. They make sense, they are integrated and whole. They have only one purpose—to teach what Jesus taught so as to make our lives and the lives of our communities more human, more integrated, more and more reflective of our heavenly Father, who is holy. They are, each and every one of them, rooted in Sacred Scripture and expressive of more than 3500 years of actual experience of living human life. Who knows the human person more than Christ himself and his Bride, the Church? Christ’s teachings and those of his Church may be tough, we may not like them, we may think them outdated, we may be willing to compromise when everyone around us is living a different life. But we must remember what Jesus himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6) and “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:32). 
     Today (Sunday), the 49th anniversary of Roe V Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized the killing of a human being at any moment in his/her first nine months of life, I ask us all to recommit to life, to respecting everyone’s life, to leading truly human lives—lives of integrity, honesty, honor, and love, and striving to be faithful to Christ and to his Church.