In my 38 years as a priest, I have baptized over 1,000 people. Some adults, some kids, but mostly infants. I love that way we do baptism here at Christ Our Light. For we make it a community event by doing them in Mass. And with every baptism we are declaring that the new-baptized is now part of the family of God. We declare that they are now IN CHRIST. They are now part of a bigger story. That is, the story of love, support and togetherness.
They are washed into the mystery of Christ who leads us beyond pain or hurt into joy and hopefulness. The newly baptized are IN CHRIST by the community of faith that says, “We got you. We’ll be there for you.”
It’s like the quote from Martin Luther King Jr, whose holiday we celebrate next week. He said: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
It means that if one of us is having trouble, we all are having trouble. If one of us is feeling bad, we all are feeling bad. This become especially true when we think of bullying. If anyone is bullied, we are all bullied. Likewise if someone does nothing to confront the bullying they, in a sense, they contribute to the bullying. We are all in this together.
The modern version of bullying occurs on social media. With so many remarks and put-downs exchanged. It is called cyberbullying. We, as a faith family, declare that any bullying is wrong. a number of US Catholic Bishops took this a bit further to pinpoint bullying targeted at gays, or the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. You see, a few years ago, there was a young man in college named Tyler Clementi. He was a victim of cyberbullying because he was gay and he killed himself.
Today there is a foundation named after him that seeks to protect all people, especially children from being bullied. Those Bishops created a statement on protecting LGBT youth from bullying. It is reprinted in the bulletin. Please open the bulletin and read it.
As Catholic Bishops in the United States, we join with the Tyler Clementi Foundation in standing up for at-risk LGBT youth in our country.
As we see in the Gospels, Jesus Christ taught love, mercy and welcome for all people, especially for those who felt persecuted or marginalized in any way; and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that LGBT people are to be treated with “respect, compassion and sensitivity.”
All people of goodwill should help, support, and defend LGBT youth; who attempt suicide at much higher rates than their straight counterparts; who are often homeless because of families who reject them; who are rejected, bullied and harassed; and who are the target of violent acts at alarming rates.
The Catholic Church values the God-given dignity of all human life and we take this opportunity to say to our LGBT friends, especially young people, that we stand with you and oppose any form of violence, bullying or harassment directed at you.
Most of all, know that God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.
14 Bishops have signed that statement. Parishes are invited to support those bishops in declaring that bullying of any kind is wrong. To declare that being IN CHRIST is to protect and help all its members.
The leadership of Christ Our Light Parish which includes the Pastoral Council, staff, trustees, Deacon Mark Barder and Fr. Kevin Anderson voted unanimously to support the statement.
We, here at the parish want to tell all of you youth that we are here for you. If you are bullied in anyway (for whatever reason), we want to help you. You are not alone. Bullying in any form is wrong. And a wrong done to one of us, is a wrong done to all of us.
Through baptism, we say, God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.