Bishop Martin from Nigeria

Fellow parishioners are in line to receive a blessing from Bishop Martin.



(I know, I'm wearing a Cherry Pop Tart t-shirt to church. I dress a little more casually for Saturday morning Mass than I do for Sunday. I say, as long as I'm covered up, I'm excused. Plus my name is Cherry...double excused.)

Saturday, Bishop Martin from Nigeria visited our church and served Mass and it was beeeyueteeful!!! We are so blessed in our church to have so many terrific guests. And as a Catholic, it is great to hear someone from the other side of the world celebrate Mass here. It reinforces my profound respect for the priesthood. The fact that the same Mass is celebrated throughout the world...and this celebration has been passed down for over 2000 years...humbles me greatly.

Us Catholics are constantly bombarded with the negative press of the scandals that have occurred in our Church. Not only that, people try to use that to justify changing the Church by altering the priesthood. For someone who can be hotheaded like me, my first reaction is to say "hey hey hey hey HEY! Leave my Church alone, will ya???" But I know that's not very charitable of me. I can be a hawk...I think that comes with being a mother. I want to protect my loved ones. And I love Jesus and His Church. And I know that some priests have not been faithful to their vows. But as Jesus says, "whoever is without sin, cast the first stone." Those who aren't faithful to their vows do not take away from the validity of the institution. That's like saying they should take away schools because teachers hit on teenagers. Or marriage because people cheat. Yes, those who have fallen should be punished and those they have affected should be healed...blah blah blah. But like the millions of teachers who do good work, and the millions of marriages that do well, there are still millions of priests who are faithful to their vows, who are strong men, and who do amazing work in their communities around the world. No one should be allowed to change them or take them away.

So, please help me pray...for our priests and for those who try to attack them.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." Jesus in Matthew 16:18

"Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it." Jesus in Matthew 19:12

"To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. . . . I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman or girl is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about worldly affairs, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord. . . . he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better" St. Paul in 1 Cor. 7:8, 32-35, 38