Dear Fellow Parishioners, I am sure earworms happen to all of us; a song or a phrase catches our minds and just won’t let go or go away. For some reason this seems to be happening to me more frequently. I’m not sure this is part of the aging process, some of you older folks can let me know if this is happening with or to you. In any case, I think because we are celebrating the 4th of July, this week’s ear worm is a phrase from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” Of course, self-evident means obvious, that is it’s clear that everyone understands these truths. But when we examine our history and our country and world today it is more obvious that these truths are far from being self-evident. We fought a civil war to assure that all are “created” equal, and still that equality is elusive to so many. “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is equally elusive to most, if not all. As a Catholic-Christian, I realize that the teachings of Jesus that I hold so sacred and “self-evident” are interpreted in so many ways that we are powerless to hold on to the sanctity of life. Some lives seem to matter more than others. Like Sr. Joan Chittister has said in The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart, “What part of Thou shalt not, don’t you understand?” This is why it is so important for me that we tap into the power of our faith. We cannot be silent in the face of injustice. We cannot turn our backs of people in need, we cannot think that someone else will take care of the least, the lost and the last that Jesus calls us to take care of in His teachings. My dream is that we will tap into the power of our numbers as Catholics and Christians and come to our senses and live and walk together in faith and become a powerful presence that helps others to recognize the equality of all peoples. Yet at the same time there seems to be a “glass ceiling” even in our Catholic faith. I hope and dream that as Pope Francis calls us to share our holy discontent with the Catholic Church in order to create a future where all are welcome. We can’t create that welcome for the church universal, but certainly we can do and be that for the Catholic Community of Sacred Heart. It's that time of year when we celebrate our Independence. I thought I would share my “earworm” with you as a means for fruitful reflection on our personal ability to live our that which we hold as self-evident! May our dependence on God help us to do better. Fr. Bill