Bishop Peter Jugis is asking all of us in the diocese to “reach out to U.S. Senators about the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a Catholic, to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.”
The point of this outreach is for us to apply pressure to North Carolina Senators Burr and Tillis to approve this nomination because Kavanaugh (almost certainly) does not support Roe v. Wade.
If we step back a minute and look at the bigger picture, however, no Supreme Court Justice nomination should be considered until the Special Counsel’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and related matters is finished. This is especially true regarding Judge Kavanaugh, as it has been reported that he believes a sitting president should not be held accountable for any unethical activities or crimes he commits.
To approve Judge Kavanaugh, one must agree that the president is above the law. I hope that we all disagree with that view.
Larry Heyl lives in Asheville.
We are living in a very “testing” time. As we read the history of our world, this has been going on since God created Adam and Eve. I feel as though so many people are angry, and this is what is causing so much discord. This is my reason for writing in our Catholic newspaper.
Do you know where the devotion to Archangel Michael originated? He is referenced in the Bible. Pope Leo XIII encourated devotion to Archangel Michael. Realizing by divine enlightenment the present and future struggles of the Church against the powers of hell, the pope felt convinced that through the intervention of Archangel Michael, hell would be conquered and the Church restored to peace and liberty. He therefore composed a prayer in honor of the warrior archangel, and ordered it to be recited after low Masses each day in all the churches throughout the Christian world, according to the website www.saintmichaelusa.org. Now I ask: Why and when did this stop?
As St. John Paul II said 1994, “Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.”
On July 4, 2013, Pope Francis was joined by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Vatican for a ceremony during which the Holy Father blessed a statue of Archangel Michael and consecrated the Vatican to the archangel’s protection. Following a brief ceremony, Pope Francis addressed those present, noting how St. Michael defends the People of God from the devil. He said even if the devil attempts to disfigure the face of the archangel and thus the face of humanity, St Michael wins, because God acts in him and is stronger. (Source: www.catholic.org)
Linda Behr is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Franklin.
Editor's note: The decision to recite the St. Michael Prayer is made in each parish.