+ Old Roman Catholic Church + See of Cær-Glow +

Primatial See of Caer-Glow
Old Roman Catholic Church
5501 Sixty-Second Avenue
Pinellas Park, Florida 33781

 ADVENT PASTORAL LETTER, 2016

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

It would be an understatement to say that the Church and our country are in desperate need of prayer!  Our people have never been more divided in their political, social, religious and moral values.  And it is not just disagreement in these matters.  It is downright hatred and bitterness. 

Holy Church is in utter disarray.  We are witnessing cardinals, bishops and the rest of the clergy against the Pope, and the Pope against cardinals, bishops and the rest of the clergy.   Geoffrey Chaucer questioned the condition of the clergy about eight centuries ago, “If gold will rust, what will iron do?”  He was writing about BAD clergy and the need for exemplary priests in his time.  We need them in our time.  We need priests of gold, who are images of our Lord Jesus Christ, those who pray incessantly, who work tirelessly among their flocks, and are true sons of our Blessed Mother, devoted in every way to the promises they made to God at their ordination. 

We need decent, God-fearing politicians in our time.  We need virtuous men and women to guide the next generation that will inherit this earth.  We need people who are honest with their taxes, with law and order in our country, with respect for the police officers and others who attempt to keep us free and secure.  Our younger generation seems to be so misguided in trying to find their way among us – not all, of course, but entirely too many.  They seem to know not which way to turn; and too many of us have failed to teach them the way.

But, in fact, we should all know where – or to Whom – to turn.  We must turn to our God.  Our Church, our country must somehow come together upon our knees to seek God’s guidance and blessing in the months and years ahead.  We need fervent prayer, especially among those of us who call ourselves Catholics and Americans. We need to re-echo those words of Commander John J. Shea, who before he died in World War II, wrote to his toddler son, “If you are a good Catholic, you cannot help being a good American.”  He meant that we need to LIVE good Catholic lives, not simply make a pretense of it.  We need to be PRAYING Catholics and DOING Catholics.  We need to live that commandment deemed by Almighty God to be second and like unto the first commandment: to love our neighbor as ourselves.  We need to be strong spirited Americans, proud of our country and jealous for its absolute success.  We need to be proud of the Cross and of our flag.  We need to lift them high. 

We need to get rid of that awful political correctness, and to speak plainly to our friends, neighbors and those within our own households.  We need to stop playing games – within our Church and our country.

We need to inspire others to again seek God in their personal lives and in their churches.  Our churches have become too much like to the gothic temples spoken about by William Wordsworth, “Bare, ruined choirs.”  They need to become warm houses of God again, where God’s children feel the presence of God among us.  They need to be tabernacles of God, with priests and laity who attempt to imitate God Himself in everything we do.

Our cities and places of business need to be re-dedicated to the service of our citizens – clean, respectable places where the air can be filled with pleasant music and warm chatter, not hotbeds of bitterness, where there is violence and constant dissent and even rioting. 

Our homes need to be God-centered, where father and mother embrace each other, love and do for their children as so many of our parents did, and where their children look on with pride and return that love.

We do indeed need to re-educate and to re-dedicate ourselves to our God, our Church and our nation.  We need that now more than we have needed it throughout most of our lifetime.

Dare I say, that I truly believe God has just recently given our nation a second chance – a chance to pull ourselves out of the degradation which we have allowed to creep into our country – away from so much good that once inspired so many fine men and women in our history.  May we pick up where they left off.  May we cooperate with that second chance!

With every good wish and prayerful blessing to you and yours, I am faithfully yours in Christ,

s/ +John J. Humphreys

 The Most Reverend John J. Humphreys, Archbishop

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