I don’t know if you have been anything like me this last week watching the Titan submersible they were trying to rescue. I couldn’t get enough of it. I just kept watching and watching my phone, looking at news apps, trying to figure out when they would get it, or if they would get this thing, how they would find it.
It was interesting because when it first happened, I learned that they lost communication about two-thirds of the way down on their trip, and then there was no more communication.
I thought, ‘If there was no communication and it didn’t float back to the surface, something bad happened, but there was a part of me that wanted to hope and pray that they would survive.’ I wondered, too, why there was so much attention on that. Why would there be so much attention paid to these five people when we all know that people are dying all over our country, people that are dying all over our world?
I think it’s because of that sense of adventure, that sense of discovering something new, and I also think that it’s a wonder of, ‘Why would someone put themselves into that situation?’ I kept wondering, too, why James Cameron did not speak out. He’s the one that directed Titanic, and he’d been down there over 33 times to the Titanic. He even said he spent more time on that ship than the original captain.
James Cameron said, “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship, and yet, he steamed up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, and many people died as a result.” He would go on to say, “For a very similar tragedy with the Titan, there were warnings that went unheeded, to take place at the same exact site, with all the diving that’s going on all around the world, I think it’s just astonishing; it’s really quite astonishing that would happen at the same place as the Titanic.”
He said, “I knew that’s where they were going to find it. OceanGate should never have gone down. It was pretty clear, and I wish I would have been more vocal about it.” He wishes he would have been more vocal.
He said, “It was Father’s Day, and a father and son were one of the pairs that went down, that paid half a million dollars to go down into the sea.” He said, “It’s just tragic and unnecessary,” Cameron said. “And by the way, it’s not lost on me as somebody who’s studied the meaning of Titanic, its greater meaning to us historically in society, that it’s about warnings that were ignored.” So, warnings are being ignored.
There was a letter sent to Titan’s company, OceanGate, on March 27, 2018, where they told them about their concern about how they were building the ship. David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director, brought up the same concerns and said that he was very concerned about how the ship was being built, and when he spoke out, they fired him.
Just as the Titanic sank when there was a warning, and the Titan submersible sank when there was a warning, these warnings were being ignored.
We tend to ignore warnings, which have happened throughout our history.
The scriptures talk about warnings today. In the first reading, Jeremiah the prophet describes what it is like for someone who does speak out. What it’s like for someone who gives a warning. He says you will experience “terror on every side! Let us denounce him!” He says, “All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail and take vengeance on him.” He worries that he will be attacked for it when he speaks the truth.
If we speak the truth, we will be attacked for it. We live in such a polarized society that no matter what we say, someone is bound to pounce on us. It’s terrifying sometimes to speak out for the truth, especially to a society that doesn’t want to hear it. Yet, Jesus tells us, “Fear no one.”
Just like the Titan and the Titanic, all things will be revealed. We will look back and understand and think, “Why didn’t I say something about things that are happening in our day?” Then He warns us. He says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body.”
Jesus is telling us not to fear people killing us for our faith. But be afraid of those that can destroy “both soul and body in Gehenna.” Satan is the destroyer. He is the one that wants to see us all dragged into hell in his own insidious ways.
Today what are the warnings of our life? What are the warnings in our time that we tend to ignore? How are our bodies and souls being destroyed? What are the issues that we need to speak about?
The United States Bishops recently met to discuss some of the issues that are going on today. And this past Friday, our Bishop met with all the priests. He commanded that we all come to this meeting to hear this important message. They said that they’ve concluded that if we don’t talk about these issues and if we don’t talk soon and strongly and powerfully about them if we don’t follow through with these, something catastrophic can happen in our country.
Before I mention these issues, I want to acknowledge a couple of things.
First of all, we live in a cancel culture. If we don’t like what somebody says, we can cancel them. We tend to write people off whenever we don’t like what we hear, but we don’t have to be that way. We do not have to be a cancel culture, and we do not have to leave if we don’t agree with something, but we need to speak the truth.
In the Gospel today, Jesus says, “Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.”
I want you to know that I am slightly trembling right now. I tremble about speaking these words because I love you, and I wouldn’t want anyone to leave our faith or church because of something I might say. I beg and pray that God uses me as His instrument.
I make a Holy Hour every day, pray with the upcoming readings, and beg God, “Please speak the words your people long to hear and let me stay out of the way.” I hope I can trust you enough as friends and love you enough as Father to help speak the truth.
So, in the coming months, there will be difficult issues that I need to preach about. Many say, “Keep politics out of the church” and separation of the church and the state, but the Church is supposed to speak about these issues. The church is supposed to shape our morals.
I think that I can speak for all of us that we say many issues are dividing us. There is an increased polarization. I’ve thought many times, and others have shared the insight that in America, people tend to identify themselves first with a political party and then with their Catholic faith. We usually identify ourselves with a party, and we put that on top of our faith, and it’s got to be the opposite way. Our faith has to be first and influence our party.
I was reading something from the American Journal of Political Science, and researchers found that our ideologies our political ideologies shape our morals. It was very clear that politics would shape what we believe, and it is supposed to be the opposite. Our morals should shape how we interact with politics.
To simplify this… we are not called to follow the donkey or the elephant. We are called to follow Christ, the Lamb! We are not called to follow the donkey or the elephant; we are called to follow the lamb.
Do we want politics to shape our morality, or do we want our morality to shape our politics? I wonder if it’s people that think they don’t want politics preached when they hear a truth that doesn’t resonate with their political party. I believe if we follow Jesus, who is the way and the truth and the life, He will lead us to everlasting life. He will help us not to enter into something that would be catastrophic for our country.
Pope Francis says, “An authentic faith always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it. We love this magnificent planet on which God has put us, and we love the human family which dwells here, with all its tragedies and struggles, hopes and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses. The earth is our common home, and all of us are brothers and sisters. The just ordering of society and the state is a central responsibility of politics; the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines.” (Evangelii Gaudium, no. 183)
Let me be a father to you. Listen to the messages so that we don’t find ourselves in another catastrophic loss of life.
In the upcoming weeks, I will write this stuff in the bulletin so that it’s clear what the Bishops are asking of us in black and white. We do tend to let warnings go unheeded. We can avoid a catastrophic event in our diocese if we stick together and proclaim the Gospel.
So, the two issues that we will be dealing with in the months of August and then November are facing children, and they both face these things happening without a parent’s consent. One is the mutilation of children, and the other is the sanctity of life in the womb. We need to come together as a Church and protect these lives, both the mother and the child.
Remember, we don’t have to let politics divide us; we are not following the donkey or the elephant … we are following the Lamb.
