From Archbishop Donoghue

Mass for the Regional Conference
July 10, 1998
National Association of Catholic Home Educators
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Dear Friends in Christ,

It is a great pleasure for me to be here with you this evening - I spend so much of my time dealing with the administrative business of the Church - the building of facilities, the management of money and talent, the problems of personnel, - and all of these are important works, and I am grateful to have a part to play in the immense growth of the Catholic Church in North Georgia.

But the real growth of the Church, the growth that is vital to the Church’s welfare, is why I am happy to be here - because here, in the midst of Catholic families, faithful parishioners, devoted parents - here is to be found the real life of the Church - the life that most closely resembles the life of our Lord - the life of total love, of total commitment, of total giving and sharing.

Like Christ’s own love - and I mean the very power that was in His heart to love all mankind - like His love, ours has two directions.

It begins with our own love for the Father in heaven - God the Father, who saves us from our own tainted human natures - who overlooks the capacities we each have for not being good, for doing evil - who draws out of us, by the ever cleansing example of Christ’s life, and His Body and Blood which we receive, all evil, all that would defeat the rich and wonderful talents we possess, talents that can only be realized when we use them for the good of others. The Father saves us through His Son - and just as Christ did - just as the ancients did - we turn first our hearts and minds upward, and send our love back to the Father in Heaven, for what He has done for us.

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

But as well as upward, our love also has the outward look of Christ’s love - by which, like Him, we reach out, and perhaps not perfectly, but in our own way, try to heal, try to preserve and to protect, all those who are, by Christ’s own calling, our neighbors - our families, our friends, the members of our Church, certainly - but also those we may not even know, those whose paths might accidentally cross ours, when they are in need of charity, of love, of concern, or perhaps, of just a good example to copy - those we may never see again, but whose own lives might have been changed forever, by the simple act of our regard for them.

We may seek to teach our children in the very best way that we can devise - we may fill their minds with the excellence that flows from our Catholic heritage - and we may give them the good sense to deal with the evils that surround us in this world, for if Christ’s words be true, then we are all sheep in the midst of wolves, and must be on our guard at all times - but it is more important, more fundamental, more vital, that our children first learn from us, the meaning - the actuality - of Christ’s love - His love for the Father in Heaven, and His love for those He was sent to save - us.

For the young whom we teach, upon whom we pour out the wise love of experience - and for ourselves, the old, who learn so much and are so replenished by the open and trusting love of our children - the promise of Christ is the same:

You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.

The promise bluntly explains the cost of being a follower of Christ - that some will always hate us - but it also tells us why we must endure in our love - because if we do endure in our love, then we will be raised up on the last day, to be with God and with our loved ones forever in heaven.

Dear friends, as our special Mass for Home Educators continues, let us ask God, and especially in the person of His Holy Spirit, to give us these gifts:

strength to remain steadfast before the scorn of the world,

a passion for truth and for the Church’s teaching,

and finally, holiness in the love of Jesus Christ - the love He gave us when He was here on earth - the love which He continues to give us, even now, as we prepare to receive His Body and Blood in this Sacrament we are about to share.

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