Florida AOH – Catholic Action and Pro-Life
Posted by Jim on April 4, 2019
Good day Brothers,
I pray that this email finds you well and that this Lent has been a season of grace.
If not, there are still 2 weeks until Holy Week, and it is never too late with the Lord.
This email is meant to cover a few things in regards to being your chairman of these two committees.
I wish to begin with Pro-Life.
We have seen over the past several months, since the beginning of the new year, an abhorrent increase in the attack on life.
The legislation signed into law by the so-called Catholic governor of New York and the attempted legislation in Virginia, as well as laws that were quietly, might one say secretly, passed in states like New Jersey, have put at risk even more babies’ lives.
This new wave of attack allowing the killing of children in the third trimester of a woman’s pregnancy should sicken us all.
But if one is still unmoved, the willingness to allow a child to die outside the mother’s womb following an attempted abortion is abominable.
In the state of Florida at this current time, our laws are more respectful of life. However, until abortion is no more, we have work to be done.
And we always need to remember the following saying from Sir Edmund Burke.
And although I am not a man who cares to go around quoting members of the British parliament, Burke had several incredible things to say.
He stated in a letter the following: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
So I encourage you to make sure you reach out to our representatives and senators.
For those who are registered in Florida, the following is a resource from the Florida Catholic Bishops;
On this site, you are able to reach out to your elected officials and communicate with them your desire to make sure that our state does not embrace the culture of death that these other legislatures have in these terrible laws.
For those who are part-time residents and are registered in other states, there should be resources from the Catholic Bishops of your state for you to use.
If you have a specific question about another state, I would be happy to try and find information for you. Just email me your request.
Also a new movie came out highlighting the activities of Planned Parenthood and their abortion mills.
It is called Unplanned. I would encourage each division to look at organizing a movie activity in their parishes and to attend this movie as a group.
It is not only educational but it will change hearts. And unless it is supported by Pro-lifers like us, other truthful movies about the effects of abortion might not be made.
We need the Truth about the sanctity of all human life and the horrible threats that are in our world to get out and be understood.
Now for Catholic Action, here is just a simple insight regarding the week before Easter, that might become for you one of the most extraordinary weeks of your life.
Our Church provides so many wonderful opportunities for us, her children, to grow in grace. One of the most wonderful is the fact that our Church Year, what we call the Liturgical Year, has seasons. The seasons mark not only the passage of time, as our secular seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall do, but they reflect the Paschal Mystery. The week that falls between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is a transition time between the two seasons of Lent and Easter, and it is the Holiest of Weeks – hence its name Holy Week.
This week makes present to Catholics in a most profound way the reality of the Paschal Mystery: Jesus’ Life, Death and Resurrection. We are invited to participate in liturgies, the public worship of the Church, more profoundly with devotion that focuses on each of the steps our Savior took to Calvary. We share in His joyous entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem by waving branches and proclaiming Hosanna in the Highest. On Holy Thursday we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist at the Mass of the Last Supper and also the institution of the ministerial Priesthood. As Christ washed the feet of His disciples, the foundation of a priesthood of service was confirmed and it is remembered by the Priest-Celebrant’s actions of love, mirroring our Lord. During Good Friday we cry out for Jesus’ blood as we joined the angry crowds before Pilate.
Beside Mary Magdalen and the faithful women who ministered to Jesus, we sit outside the tomb as the Tabernacle is emptied and the Eucharistic Presence of Christ is removed. We wait in hope for a New Dawn. And finally, on Saturday at the Easter Vigil, we gathered in darkness and began our worship by sharing in the story of Salvation History told through readings of the Old Testament and the igniting of the Easter Fire.
This holy light signals the fulfillment of all of God’s prophesies. The night is set ablaze and the Light of Christ is manifested once more through the illumination of the Easter Fire and the hearts of the faithful.
Holy Week is a time to embrace our faith more fully: in our families, in our churches, in our divisions. We are an Easter People. Death has no victory over us. We live in Christ and so we face our crosses, but we also know we have the promise of eternal life. I encourage and challenge you to not let this Holy Week pass without partaking in the liturgies of the Triduum. Do not go simply from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without the Grace of Holy Week. You will cheat yourself of an experience that might transform your very faith.
God Bless and Keep You,
Fr Timothy…
Chairman Florida State Board – Catholic Action / Pro-Life
Reverend Timothy J Harris, T.O.R.
Parochial Vicar – Our Lady Queen of Martyrs
President – St Finnian of Clonard Division
Ancient Order of Hibernians
“We seem to have lost. We have not lost.
To refuse to fight would have been to lose; to fight is to win.
We have kept faith with the past, and handed on a tradition to the future.”
Padraig Pearse at his court-martial on the day before his execution: May 2, 1916.