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This Fr. Gerry Creedon homily was delivered at St. Charles on August 31, 2003
"IN VAIN do they worship me, teaching as doctrine mere human precepts" (Mark 7:7)
Today I wear my stole with the celtic cross. Usually I am proud of my Irish heritage. Recently I saw The Magdalene Sisters and was ashamed of a chapter in Ireland's church and culture of the 50's and 60's. Angela's Ashes had previously held up the city of Limerick of the same epoch and its clergy for review. In the name of sexual repression and morality, physical and emotional abuse were tolerated. It is too easy to dismiss the artists and the writers, denying these realities, even if they present the extreme cases. Perhaps they represent the same prophetic voice we find in today's gospel.
Jesus denounces the scribes and the Pharisees for preferring legalism and formalistic religion to the weightier demands of God's law of love and justice. "This people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me". Fasting laws and obsession with ritual purity have replaced compassion. These kinds of criticisms of the religious institutions of his day are what led to his crucifixion.
This message is not one restricted to Ireland of the fifties.
Recently I heard of a family here in Northern Virginia who were mourning their mother's death. They wished to participate in the Prayers of the Faithful at the Mass and offer a remembrance. In the name of liturgical correctness and assertion of the clergy role, they were reduced to sharing their remembrance on the roadside outside the church.
St James asserts; "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction". Jesus summarized the law and the prophets with the command; love your neighbor as yourself. In the Gospel of John he sums up his message; love one another as I have loved you. The psalmist cries out; "The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord".
The purification and renewal of our church did not end with death of John the 23rd. It is an ongoing task for our church and our time, if we are to be faithful to the prophetic tradition of Jesus.