Lex Cordis Caritas - The law of the heart is Love

The Bible points us to the truth of what lies at the heart of every moral teaching of Jesus Christ and his church. In the Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, we hear him warn the people to “[w]atch carefully how you live” (Ephesians 5:15). He does this not because he wants to control their lives, dictating what they can and cannot do. Rather, he provides this guidance to them so that they can experience the joy of living a Gospel-centered life.

Recently, the Center for Medical Progress released undercover videos and documentation showing how people at the highest levels of Planned Parenthood are negotiating the sale of body parts and adjusting the way they perform abortions so that the body parts are more accessible. New undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood's Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted fetuses, and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts. In the video, Nucatola is at a business lunch casually sipping a glass of red wine with actors posing as buyers from a human biologics company. As head of Planned Parenthood's Medical Services Department, Nucatola has overseen medical practice at all Planned Parenthood locations since 2009. She also trains new Planned Parenthood abortion doctors and performs abortions herself at Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles.

Monday, June 22, marked the fifth anniversary of my installation as the ninth Bishop of Springfield in Illinois. Anytime we look back at a period of time in our lives, it is natural to look for highlights and accomplishments, as well as to take note of things that did not go as well as anticipated. Starting with the latter, it was a real disappointment that the civil unions act was passed and signed into law during my first year as Bishop in Springfield, resulting in the state of Illinois canceling our contract for foster care and adoption services because we would not place children with couples living contrary to the teachings of our faith. This misfortune was exacerbated in 2013 with the State attempting to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. I say “attempt” because the State has no moral authority to change a natural institution created by God. It certainly has the legal power in civil law to coerce its definition, but that does not make it morally valid in the higher realm of supernatural realities.

Sunday, June 7, is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known by its Latin name of Corpus Christi. Last year to mark this occasion I published my first Pastoral Letter, Ars Celebrandi et Adorandi (On the Art of Celebrating the Eucharistic Liturgy Properly and Adoring the Lord in the Eucharist Devoutly). The Eucharist is essentially God’s efficacious action, but we can either cooperate with God’s grace by celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy properly or hinder its effects by failing to do so. Celebrating Holy Mass properly, with a welcoming and caring community, good music, inspiring preaching, heartfelt prayer and an environment conducive to prayer, will attract people to participate and deepen their connection to God and the church. An unfriendly and uncaring community, bad music, poor preaching, insincere prayer and an environment distracting from prayer will turn people away.

Shortly after I was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago by Pope John Paul II in 2003, I received a packet in the mail from a man whose hobby was tracing the genealogy of bishops, not in the sense of family ancestry, but in the terms of episcopal lineage. The fact that every Catholic bishop follows in an unbroken chain by the imposition of hands going back to the times of the apostles is called apostolic succession. Since I was ordained a bishop by Francis Cardinal George, this means that my lineage as a bishop traces back through him. Cardinal George was ordained a bishop by the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, who in turn was ordained by Cardinal Jean Villot, Vatican Secretary of State, from 1969 to 1979. The fact that Cardinal Villot was French means that my episcopal lineage traces back through France. Although the records hit a dead-end after several centuries, there is no doubt in my mind that my apostolic succession goes back to the original apostles. It only means that meticulous records were not kept from the outset, but the early church relied heavily on oral tradition for handing down the faith from generation to generation.