North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump meet at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore June 12. Signing a joint statement, President Trump agreed to provide security guarantees to North Korea and Chairman Kim reaffirmed his commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. (CNS photo/Kevin Lim, The Straits Times via Reuters)
QUESTION CORNER
Q: How do we change those Catholic Church leaders who have political bias and anger toward our president? Mr. Trump needed our prayers and support for his dialogue with North Korean President Kim Jong Un. But neither at the Sunday Mass I attended nor in our diocesan paper was there any mention of praying for the success of this important effort to denuclearize Korea and to bring peace to the region. I thought we believed that “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Central Ohio)
A: It surprises me that at the Mass you attended on Sunday, June 10, no mention would have been made in the prayer of the faithful about the critical summit scheduled two days later in Singapore.
In the Masses at our own parish that weekend, one of the petitions was, “For the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, that it may help to bring peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula.” I think that most Catholic parishes probably did something similar.
Pope Francis, in his Angelus address that same Sunday to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, asked the crowd to pray the Hail Mary in order that the talks in Singapore might “contribute to the development of a positive path that assures a future of peace for the Korean Peninsula and the whole world.”
Earlier, on April 29, the pontiff told pilgrims that Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in had made a “courageous commitment” to ongoing dialogue in order to achieve “a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons,” and Pope Francis urged Catholics to pray the rosary for peace during the month of May.
I feel certain that most diocesan newspapers covered one or both of those papal pleas.
Where to draw the line?
Q: We are a Catholic family and have sent all of our children to Catholic schools. Our daughter, who is now in high school, has a friend in her class who lives with two women, one of whom is her adoptive mother. The women are in a homosexual partnership.
Recently that family was going to the beach on an overnight trip, and my daughter was invited to go with them. My husband and I refused (and said that she was busy that weekend). We do let our daughter go on play dates with this friend and hang out with her, but we draw the line on sleepovers with this family.
We were truthful with our daughter and told her that we don’t want her to start seeing that family’s way of life as natural and proper. While we are tolerant of other people’s sexual orientation, we do not approve of gay marriage. Was it wrong for us to refuse to let her go with them? (Roanoke, Virginia)
A: No, what you did was not wrong. On the contrary, I think you handled the situation pretty well. I would agree that it’s OK for your daughter to “hang out” with that friend; in fact, it’s probably healthy and helpful for the girl to see that a heterosexual union like your own is the norm.
But I, too, would draw the line at an overnight. You were right to explain honestly to your daughter the reason for your disapproval; now a purist, I suppose, would say that you should have been just as frank in speaking with the gay couple, but I know how awkward that might have been.
Had you wanted to do so, you might have found helpful the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Nos. 2357-59), which offers a Scriptural basis for disapproving of homosexual activity.
Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@gmail.com and 30 Columbia Circle Dr., Albany, New York 12203.
