= Holy Martyrs =

Holy Martyrs Parish Features

Jubilee Pledge: A Catholic Commitment for the New Millennium

As disciples of Jesus in the new millennium, I/we pledge to:

Pray regularly for greater justice and peace.

Learn more about Catholic social teaching and its call to protect human life, stand with the poor, and care for creation.

Reach across the boundaries of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, and disabling conditions.

Live justly in family life, school, work, the marketplace, and the political arena.

Serve those who are poor and vulnerable, sharing more time and talent.

Give more generously to those in need at home and abroad.

Advocate public policies that protect human life, promote human dignity, preserve God's creation, and build peace.

Encourage others to work for greater charity, justice, and peace.

Seven Key Themes of Catholic Social Teaching

Life and dignity of the human person - each person possesses a basic dignity that comes from God

Call to family, community, and participation - we realize our dignity and rights in relationship with others

Rights and responsibilities of the human person - all people have fundamental rights and corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities

Option for the poor and vulnerable - a basic moral test of a society is how its most vulnerable members are faring

The dignity of work and the rights of workers - in Catholic teaching the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around

Solidarity - we are one human family

Care for God's creation - our commitment to the common good and our concern for our neighbors and generations yet to come require responsible stewardship of the earth

Creating the Church of the 21st Century

It helps now and then, to step back and take the long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection, no pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capability.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.

(A prayer composed by Archbishop Oscar Romero who was martyred in San Salvador in 1980)