Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

News and Notes: Here is an excerpt of Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s comment on Pope Francis’ recent encyclical entitled Laudato Si:  “The Holy Father has given us a powerful, careful, prayerful analysis of two great ideas.  The first idea, ‘Our Common Home,’ the phrase he uses to describe the environment, the ‘home’ for the human family, is in severe danger and needs immediate protection and healing at the global, national and local levels of life.  The second idea is that while the threatened state of the environment is a universal challenge affecting us all, those most in danger in the present and future are those already poor and vulnerable, within states and across the globe.”  On a different topic, here is a portion of Cardinal Sean’s Statement regarding the recent Supreme Court decision on same sex marriage:  “Certainly every citizen of this land, regardless of their sexual orientation, deserves to be respected in their personal and civic life.  But enshrining same sex marriage in our constitutional system of governance has dangers that may become fully evident only over time.  I can only express my disappointment with the decision and invite members of my own religious community to remember and reaffirm the fundamental truths of our faith about marriage.  At the same time, faced with a decision that embodies a quite different understanding of the meaning of marriage than held by the Church, we should as citizens and Catholics both protect our own deeply held values and participate with civility and charity in the continuing national discussion about this decision.”  You can read more about the Cardinal’s remarks by going to the Archdiocesan website at www.bostoncatholic.org.  Here is the latest update on the 2015 Catholic Appeal.   As of June 30, 210 OLA parishioners had pledged $54,418, which is 98% of the OLA goal of $55, 512; and 104 SMG parishioners had pledged $23,870, which is 85% of the SMG goal of $28,078.  We are nearing the finish line in both parishes.  Please make a pledge if you have not done so already, and put us over the top of our parishes’ respective Catholic Appeal  goals.  Summer blessings to all of you!