It is a fallacy that separation of Church and state means that the Church can no longer teach moral truths when any of those moral truths have clear and direct implications on anything that may be in a political party’s platform. This would clearly result in the state’s ability to snatch up every toy on the floor (every issue they can think of), effectively neutering the Church’s voice on any issue of consequence— the effect being “The Ten Commandments” turning into “The Four Commandments...As Long As The State Doesn’t Have Something To Say About Them.”

Now that we’ve covered that, I’d love to zoom in a bit.

When I served at an orphanage in southern Mexico, I was initially surprised to learn the most of the orphans’ parents were still alive. They had either abandoned their children or were just not able to adequately care for them. I then found a definition for the term “orphan” that further explained this situation: a child who does not have parents because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents.

Psalm 68 has perhaps my favorite description of God in all of Sacred Scripture: “Father to the fatherless.” Today’s first reading states clearly: “You shall not wrong any...orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.”

Hey. Listen. I get it. Some things are so vast, our brains struggle to comprehend them. When have to zoom in further. For me, the Grand Canyon is much more beautiful when you hike through it than when you stand at the edge and snap a picture.

When we hear the number of children slaughtered is DOWN to OVER 600,000 PER YEAR—nearly 60,000,000 since the year I was conceived (the same year as Row v. Wade)...or we hear a presidential candidate wants to reinstate our tax dollars going directly toward the slaughter (by removing The Hyde Amendment)...the evil is so great, we cannot comprehend it. So some of us ignore the genocide. But all of those 60,000,000 voices cry out for justice. They were all supposed to be given a chance...and a name.

Four years ago, people were encouraging a local woman to kill her baby, but she was brave. She gave birth to a baby girl. She let my wife and I adopt her and name her Georgiana. And she is the happiest little girl I’ve ever known.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org.

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