Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 22 June 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

We look around today and are bewildered by the intolerance that people have for one another. It would be naive to expect everyone to agree, but is it naive to expect people to at least try to agree?

And we’ve seen a lot of protests in recent years and now, more than ever. I believe that people are seeking a true and better reality and believe the path we are on needs to change. Being free to speak out in a peaceful and respectful way is a hallmark of democratic culture. We also know there are those who would want to subvert this right into something disrespectful and violent, even dangerous and destructive.

I think the world needs to have a sincere conversation about the nature of dissent. Dissent, or the act of disagreeing and expressing that disagreement, is often considered a virtue in democratic societies. It can be crucial for social progress, holding power accountable, and fostering a more just and equitable society. While dissent can be disruptive, it also plays a vital role in informing public opinion, driving policy changes, protecting fundamental rights.

Many have said if reporters and photo-graphers were allowed to show what is actually happening in places like Ukraine or Gaza to the world, that the world would demand an end to these conflicts immediately. It is well-known that the catalyst that finally brought the inhumanity of racism (which resulted in the civil rights movement) to public attention was video footage that was suddenly on everyone’s living room television, of people being attacked by dogs and hit with water cannons.

People might be content with “out of sight, out of mind,” but only until they see it and can’t get it out of their minds.

For too many people today dissent is seen as a chasm that cannot be crossed. You’re in, or your out. Somebody has decided the tent isn’t big enough for all of us. This happens even in our Church with devastating consequences. All of us are on a path coming to truth and to faith, and all of us are going to shift our understandings of faith and prayer, of service and mission with time and life experience. It is by this process that we, the Church, can shape society. Otherwise, society shapes the Church, which we can see is not working. Dissent does not mean excommunication -- it never has, but we still excommunicate each other in our minds.

In our “Spiritual but not Religious” gatherings there was a lot of conversation about what drives or keeps people away from the Church. Often it is based on a person’s agreement with what the Church offers as teaching or even a misunderstanding. One does not have to agree completely to seek faith: God calls us where we are to become who he made us to be and faith seeks understanding. Perfection is not prerequisite. Likewise, one can grapple with what they are called to be and seek God in the manner of faithfulness that they are able to muster at the present time. Life is not a level, uncurving road. It has its valleys and its potholes and it doesn’t do anyone any good to pretend that it doesn’t.

I guess the question I’m working with today is: In the life of the Church, where is the meeting place of critical obedience and faithful dissent? Where can this conversation take place without refusal and rejection? The only safe place I know is in the heart of the Church community, where we can lead the conversation to the wider world with the compassion and self-emptying love that is unique to Jesus Christ. Here should be the place where this kind of civil exchange should be safe and honored. Today’s Gospel (Tuesday) was “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It is not moral perfection that Jesus is talking about, however. He is not demanding the impossible - nor can we even define what God’s perfection might be. Rather, be like your Father whose sun shines on the bad and the good; whose rain falls on the just and the unjust. Love your enemies. Do not greet your friends only: even tax collectors and pagans do that, Jesus says. Do not allow judgement to divide before you even know who you are judging. You never know what kind of burden someone is carrying around.

Maybe our example will inspire many others to carry forward a desire to understand with waves of sincere concern for all God’s creation.

The Lord be with you.