Welcome Letter
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Bell Tower Blog
SVDP NEED YOUR HELP
St. Vincent de Paul is in need of the following items for their pantry. If you can assist in some small way with any or all of these, please drop them off at the pantry on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or after any of the weekend masses. Thank you for your generosity
Toilet Paper
Paper towels
Toothpaste
Face soap
July 4, 2009
Brothers and Sisters
The concept of patriotism can be a sticky one for me. I believe we live in a wonderful country, founded on inspiring ideals. Many of my extended family have served our nation in the military, and I am keenly aware of the possibilities our nation offers for growth and self-improvement. Still, I sense that the concept of patriotism (which sounds so simple) can mean so many different things to different people. Sometimes, patriotism feels like a "love it or leave it" proposition. At other times, it seems that we get stuck trying to reduce love of one's country to not being willing to critique it-or strangely, at other times, being all too willing to critique everything about it. Love of country, like love of Church, can become less commitment to work and more a litmus test of similar ideas
But today, we celebrate more than that.Whenever we speak of love in a Christian context, we speak neither primarily of agreeing nor of getting along. Rather, when we speak of love, we speak of a willingness to sacrifice for the good of the whole. As Christians, love indicates a willingness to give our lives for others. And so patriotism-love of country-is not about taking pride in our sports teams (although that's fine), not about trying to make others look more like us (not that it's such a bad thing), and not even about agreeing with all or some of our policies (even though so many are good and beneficial). Patriotism for us is inevitably about a willingness to improve our nation by our work, our actions and our attitudes I think that is something we can all agree on
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