Fr. Mike's Message - 01/17/2021

Last week with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we ended the liturgical season of Christmas.  The Church once again was beautifully decorated for our Christmas celebrations.  A huge thank you to Nancy Struckhoff and the many volunteers who helped to put up and take down the decorations.  Thanks to Joe Holtmeier, James Straatmann, Bryan McDonald and to our maintenance volunteers for helping.  Also a special word of thanks to our church cleaners who so faithfully keep our church looking good each week as they volunteer to clean our worship space.  I’d also like to thank our office staff and volunteers for the extra work they put in during the holidays.  I am grateful, too, to Fr. Tony and our Deacons for their extra efforts during the Christmas holidays.  We are blessed with a great team here at SFB!
 
This Friday, January 22nd, is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court.  We are all too well aware of the number of victims of abortion - including unborn children along with the mothers, fathers, and family members who suffer in an ongoing way because of it mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  While there won’t be the same large gatherings this year due to the pandemic, there will still be some local gatherings.

These are great opportunities to voice our support for the protection of life.  Let us continue to pray for a greater appreciation of the gift of life, for the protection of it, and let us commit to doing what we can to encourage our legislators to protect the gift of life, the fundamental right we all have as human beings made in God’s image and likeness.
 
As we prepare for Inauguration Day in the United States, wherever we stand on the political spectrum, I encourage us to pray for our new President and Vice-President and for all elected officials.  Let’s also pray and work for peace in our country and for an end to violence.
 
I wrote last week about the pending vaccines and offered some resources that help us to understand the ethics of receiving them.  This is important and on the minds of many so I thought I would offer this information again.  As you consider the vaccine for yourself, you may use these resources for your own reflection: I draw your attention to the statement of the Missouri Catholic Conference, signed by the Bishops of Missouri,  regarding the reception of this vaccine.  The following is from the Missouri Catholic Conference website (www.mocatholic.org) and I hope you find it helpful:
 

“The Missouri Catholic Conference has issued a statement to briefly address ethical concerns about vaccines and the use of aborted fetal stem cells in vaccine research. The bishops stated that if safe and effective vaccines are available that don't rely on aborted fetal cell lines, they "should clearly be the preferred option" for Catholics. "The vaccines currently in development which utilize problematic cell lines, however, should not keep Catholics from seeking vaccination," they stated. "Preserving one's health and that of others outweighs the remote association with past abortions which were neither desired nor intended by those now using the vaccines." To read the complete statement, click here.”

 
On a different note, our new livestream equipment is up and running and looks great!  Again, thanks to Fr. Tony for spearheading this effort and working through many details with the company that installed the equipment.  We have been encountering a few technical issues and we are working through those.  Thank you for your patience with this.
 
Thank you again for your support of our Parish.  Let’s continue to work to keep each other safe and healthy by washing hands, keeping a safe distance, and wearing masks.