Dear Brother Knights,

We follow Jesus because he is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way, truth or life. In a world of moral relativism and subjectivism, believing that there is a truth does not change will necessarily bring about division and even conflict.

As Catholics, we don’t look to pick fights with the world around us. We live the truth and present it to the culture in which we live. But we also should not be naïve about the battles that we face today.

Many of you have probably heard about the recent controversy involving the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The team had invited an anti-Catholic group called The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to be honored at Dodger Stadium. The group mocks the vocation of religious sisters who sacrifice their entire lives to be brides of Christ. This group promotes homosexual actions that are contrary to God’s design for human sexuality. Some of its actions, I wouldn’t even mention in this column.

After some initial backlash, the Dodgers disinvited this group. However, after counter-backlash, the Dodgers re-invited the group to be honored in June. Subsequently, some baseball players have courageously spoken out against this anti-Catholic group, despite facing a barrage of attacks.

I’ve been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember. I have so many memories of playing the game that has become the national pastime. It’s a pure game that is part of our national heritage. Thus, I find it terribly disheartening that it’s being subjugated by an agenda that is not only anti-Christian but has nothing to do with baseball.

Many of you are probably familiar with the great Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully. Scully was not only the voice of the Dodgers but an iconic voice of baseball itself. He was sometimes called the “voice of summer.” Personally, I would rather listen to a game with play-by-play by Vin Scully than watching a game on TV.

Scully passed away last year. He was a devout Catholic and a fellow member of the Knights of Columbus. Scully was honored with a Life Achievement Award at a conference of Catholic writers and editors. He was also intricately connected with the Dodger organization. You have to wonder what his reaction would have been to this and if anything would have changed.

Let us never be deterred in our mission as Catholics regardless of what our current culture advocates and celebrates. Jesus remains the way, the truth, and the life–no matter what is popular and acceptable in the eyes of the world.

Sincerely in Christ,

Father Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

Happy Easter! He is Risen! Alleluia!

There is an ancient Christian saying that St. Pope John Paul II would like to repeat, “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!” The fact that Jesus is risen from the dead is indeed our song that we sing abundantly in this Easter season, abut it’s meant to ring in our hearts together at all times.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us so much hope because it’s the promise of resurrection for us who are faithful to Jesus. We long for the resurrection even amidst the fallen world, and despite our own weaknesses and failings.

St. Paul says, “Where, O death, is your victory, where O death, is your sting?…But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15: 55-57). It’s because of the resurrection, that St. Paul’s boast makes sense.

Easter is the greatest and happiest celebration that the world will ever know. The worst fear in the world, death, has been conquered, and we now have certain hope in eternal life by following Jesus Christ. The antidote to the sickness of sin and death is available to us all and it gives perspective to all our earthly concerns.

I pray that you and your families have a very blessed Easter Season. I hope it is a season filled with great joy. We indeed are an Easter people are alleluia is our song. Let us sing this every day in our thoughts, words, and actions.

Sincerely in Christ,
Father Nicholas Kipper

Dear Brother Knights,

The sacrament of confession is an untapped blessing to us. The Lord gave us confession as the ordinary means to have our sins forgiven, which continues his healing ministry.

Part of understanding the blessing of confession is a recognition of the reality of the priesthood. Priests are to continue the sanctifying and healing work of Jesus. Jesus healed during his time in and through his very person. Going to the priest acknowledging one sins allows for that interpersonal healing to take place, and the Lord forgives us of our sins.

When we go to confession we beg for God‘s mercy. When we go to confession we know that we are undeserving of God‘s mercy. And so over time as we come to fully except the mercy of God we become more merciful. Even when others sin against us or maybe even persecute us, we come to know in this sacrament that we too are sinners.

One of the enduring effects of making a frequent confession is that we come to know our weaknesses. We have to quite literally speak our weaknesses and failings to the priest. However, the sacrament of confession is not about beating ourselves up over sins, but owning them, showing contrition for them, and letting the Lord into our weaknesses.

During the remainder of the season of Lent, let us meditate on the great and profound mercy of God. We receive this mercy of God at a great cost, as God’s mercy is fruit of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. In this season of Lent, let’s make it a point make a good, holy confession and receive the mercy of God.

Sincerely in Christ,

Father Kipper

Brother Knights,

One advancement I’ve seen in recent years is the ease by which one can come to understand your genealogy and ethnicity. The internet age has allowed us to find out the names of and, perhaps, even a little bit about our ancestors with a lot more ease through sites like genealogy.com. There are now tests where we can find out the different ethnicities and parts of the world from which we came.

This is a human, natural thing to want to know. We want to know our origin. Genealogy and the study of history as a whole allows us to remember the past. Remembering the past helps us gain a better understanding about the present, where we stand right now.

We can look back at history and see the things that went well, the blessings that have been given us, but also the things that did not go well. We can look at the sins and evils of the people of the past so as not to repeat them. A culture that does not look back and reflect is destined to fail because it will lose sight of its identity.

One of the ways that we do this is by celebrating the past. For instance, we honor veterans on Veterans Day, so that we don’t forget the service of the men and women in our armed forces. We celebrate events like the 4th of July and other national holidays to remember the foundation of the country and recognize those who have helped shape it into what it is today. Holidays serve as a kind of memorial to the past.

Our ancestors in the faith, the ancient Israelites remembered the past through genealogies, as evidenced in the Book of Genesis. Moreover, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke both contain genealogies giving witness to Christ as a descendent of King David.

The Israelites also remembered in a ritual, liturgical way. Yes, they would read and recall verbally what had happened in the past, but they also held various feasts, celebrations, penances, sacrifices, and prayers as part of their remembrance of the past.

Remembrance for our ancient ancestors in the faith meant something. It was like going back to the past; it was a rejection of evil and an acceptance of the covenant. But the point that the author of Hebrews is making is that these sacrifices were begging to be fulfilled, and they have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus.

Tapping into that natural desire to know our past is soothed a little bit in our turning to genealogy, history and other ways, but it reaches its perfection when we come to realize that God calls us into his own family. He comes to show us that we are all called to be one with him. And we celebrate that, really in every sacrament, but very clearly in the Mass.

At Mass we proclaim the Word of God, both the Old and the New Testament, we recall the past, but, mysteriously, we also enter into it. We get to know the story, the history through the spoken word. We, through signs and symbols in one Mass, enter into the reality of God’s saving action; we are celebrating the fulfillment of what our ancestors in the faith we’re doing thousands of years ago.

The Mass is the greatest act of remembrance, and so in it we find our true identity.

Sincerely in Christ,

Father Nicholas Kipper
Pastor
St. Teresa Parish

Dear Brother Knights,

The New Year carries with it a spirit of new beginning. The past year is behind us; we can’t change it. We have things in our lives that we want to change, and the New Year seems to be a good time to make this change. This is why many of us make some kind of New Year’s resolution.

It is a good thing to make a New Year’s resolution. After all, if we are wanting to do something better, then we have admit that we are not perfect and need improvement. When we make the decision to carry out these resolutions, we are improving ourselves and hopefully those around us.

However, we have to remember that any improvement that we want to make in our lives, and our spiritual lives in particular, has to take place bit by bit. The Christian life is about forming good, spiritual habits with the help of God’s grace. We may have the desire to make a lot of changes in our lives, which is noble. But, these are done by taking one day at a time. We change our lives when we change our habits. Good habits are built up when we live in the present moment and do well whatever is before us.

We believe that the Blessed Virgin Mary was Immaculately conceived, free from Original Sin from the first moment of her conception, but also without committing any personal sin throughout her entire life. In our new year’s resolutions, let us look to the Blessed Virgin Mary was the one who was resolute in her love, day in and day out.

May you and your families have a blessed Christmas season and a grace-filled New Year.

Sincerely in Christ,

Father Nicholas Kipper
Pastor
St. Teresa Parish