Kansas Bishops react to disappointing pro-abortion vote

 

Kansas bishops react to Value Them Both Amendment’s failure to pass | Press Release

Press Releases

Aug 3, 2022

Kansas bishops react to Value Them Both Amendment’s failure to pass

We, the Catholic bishops of Kansas, join our people in expressing our disappointment that the Value Them Both Amendment did not pass. We are sorry to see that the most vulnerable human being in our society—the unborn child—will not be protected but further treated with indifference and injustice. Please be assured that we will continue our efforts to protect and support life. We fully believe that all life is sacred and valuable by God’s design, especially the unborn. Despite the outcome, the Church will continue to help mothers in crisis pregnancy situations. We will still promote ways in which a mother may say yes to life instead of choosing an abortion.

To those who voted “no” on the amendment, may we somehow work together in finding ways that support women’s rights but also the rights of the unborn. We also pray for those who have had abortions. The arms of the Church are always open so that those who are suffering may experience God’s mercy, compassion and healing by our words and actions.

We want to express our gratitude to the thousands of people who joined in voting “yes” for Value Them Both. Thank you for your courage, your generous support and hard work in promoting the Value Them Both Amendment.

There is much more to be accomplished in helping our society see the value and dignity of every human life from conception to natural death. We trust that God will bring good out of evil. In the end, the truth wins! No matter how deep the darkness is, no matter how long it reigns, no matter how much it grows, it cannot destroy the light. Too often, it can seem that evil is winning, but we know that the darkness will never defeat the light of Christ. We will continue to preach the truth with love and place all our trust in Jesus who gives us hope.“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Most Reverend Gerald L. Vincke
DIOCESE OF SALINA

Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme
DIOCESE OF WICHITA

Most Reverend JOSEPH F. NAUMANN
DIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY

Most Reverend JOHN B. BRUNGARDT
DIOCESE OF DODGE CITY

More and more we're getting back to Mass

 

More Bishops Invite Catholics Back to Mass, Lift Dispensations

Kansas and Missouri dioceses have issued letters to the faithful.

More dioceses are calling the faithful back to Mass. (photo: Unsplash)

Catholic News AgencyNationMay 26, 2021

Two more U.S. bishops have invited Catholics back to Mass, following other dioceses that have lifted dispensations from the Sunday obligation.

“St. John Vianney, the patron saint of priests, used to beg his people to keep the faith and not miss Mass because he feared they would separate themselves from God for all eternity,” Bishop Jerry Vincke of the Diocese of Salina, Kansas, wrote to Catholics. “I want each one of you to go to heaven.”

Bishop Vincke’s May 20 letter is split into 12 sections, each dedicated to highlighting the importance of how the faithful should approach the liturgy. He began his letter announcing he would be lifting the general dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days, beginning on the weekend of May 22-23. The general dispensation in the diocese began on March 17, 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic spread in the United States.

The bishop noted that a dispensation still exists for Catholics with “valid reasons,” which include being ill or elderly. He mentioned that those who are unable to attend Mass because of extenuating circumstances, such as travel or work, must seek a dispensation from their pastor.

Bishop Vincke apologized to any faithful “that were hurt by the decision to close Masses to the public” for the six weeks in the spring of 2020 that public Masses were suspended due to the pandemic. A Mass broadcast online, he said, can never substitute for attending in-person Mass.

“It is part of the very nature of our faith that we have a personal and in-person encounter with Christ through His Church,” he wrote. 

Next to the Diocese of Salina, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, launched a new campaign, “Come Home to Communion,” on May 24. Bishop James Johnston Jr. of Kansas City-St. Joseph is inviting Catholics back to Mass, lifting the general dispensation for the Sunday obligation effective on June 1.

In its campaign, the diocese used billboards, social media, a website and online tool kits for the diocese’s 98 parishes and missions to reach Catholics. 

Citing canon law, Bishop Johnston acknowledged that individual dispensations may continue for reasons of sickness, being a caregiver, or being advised by medical doctors to avoid public gatherings. 

The bishop wrote that all legitimate government directives are to be followed, and parishes should be aware of any resurgence of infections. 

Bishop Vincke wrote to Catholics in his diocese that Jesus “is the way, the truth and the life.” 

“If we are missing Sunday Mass because we do not feel it is important, or we simply put other things before God, we are likely on the wrong path,” he wrote. “We have forgotten who we are, and this only leads to our unhappiness.”

Bishop Vincke explained that attending Sunday Mass is the most important thing Catholics do all week. 

“Coming to Mass is participating in the greatest, most passionate love story that has ever existed: celebrating the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, who comes on a rescue mission to save humanity from hell,” he wrote. 

“Perhaps the biggest lie in our world today,” Bishop Vincke wrote, “is that everyone goes to heaven no matter what.”

He continued, saying that “this is not what Jesus said or what the Church He founded teaches us.”

The bishop urged those who have missed Mass deliberately in the past, and have been away from the sacrament of reconciliation, to go to confession before receiving Holy Communion.

Bishop Vincke continued to mention the holy days set by the Church and affirmed the gravity of missing Mass on those days, as well. 

The bishop also wrote that, when attending Mass, the faithful ought to dress appropriately for “God, the King of the Universe,” adding that they ought to dress modestly in order to “honor the sacredness of our physical bodies.”