Homily
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time A2
6 September 2026
St. Ann Catholic Church - Prairie Village, Kansas
AMDG
Do I like getting caught?
This week I got a ticket from one of Prairie Village's finest. I turned right on red where it is not allowed at 75th and Mission. I was in a hurry to get to a burial in Lawrence. I don't think I had ever seen the no right on red before. I think I've turned right on red there many times. Anyhow, this time I did it right in front of a officer, who immediately pulled me over and wrote me an $86 ticket. I deserved it. I could have gotten defensive, since I was in a hurry for a legitimate reason and I try my best to serve this community. But I didn't. I was careless, and careless driving leads to accident. That's a busy intersection for pedestrians by SME high school. In many ways, I got off easy.
I remember Archbishop Naumann having to call with some fraternal correction for me. I had moved a 4pm vigil Mass to 3pm before a 6pm football kickoff between KU and KState in Lawrence. Somebody wrote the bishop correcting me, saying that I moved the vigil to an illegitimate time simply so people could have more time to drink and tailgate before the game. That was not my intention. My intention was to get more people to Mass! But Archbishop Naumann reminded me it was against policy and immature to not prioritize Mass times since there was still plenty of time before the game. I was sending the wrong message. He was right. I told him I was sorry he had to call me!
Just this week I got a call from a parishioner who felt slighted in how I applied sacrament policies to various families. She was right. I apologized. It was good that I got caught. It helps me to get better. I will make so many mistakes as your pastor. It's not good that I get away with them. We are going to have so many fights along the way to fulfillment of our mission. That's ok. We will get through it and overcome, by engaging conflict in the most direct and merciful way that Jesus expects for His Church.
Do I like getting caught? No, of course not. But it's good for me. I learn so much more when I get called out on my mistakes than when I get away with things. So Jesus tells us all to be really good at conflict and correcting one another. Ever notice that Jesus expects us his disciples to be good at everything? That includes taking responsibility for each other, speaking the truth in love, building a compelling unity in faith and morals, and embracing conflict so that souls are not lost.
The Gospel and our Catholic faith is not for the faint of heart! I often joke that men always think avoidance is the best conflict resolution strategy! Not because it has ever worked, but because it still hasn't been tried enough. Jesus corrects this in today's Gospel. Engage, engage, engage conflict. Not with pride and anger, but with love - tough and soft love, just and merciful love.
When I do marriage prep, I have a responsibility to tell couples the Catholic moral teaching on marriage and sexuality - no fornication, no contraception, no sterilization, no conception of children outside the natural embrace of marriage. Do I expect each couple to live these perfectly. Are they litmus tests on who is better or worse, who is in or out. No! But I would not be meeting my responsibility if I hid or avoided the Church's teaching, which is meant to encourage not to condemn in leading us to not be afraid to choose the highest good.
I have a responsibility to you to insist that we all meet the precepts of the Church, which is the minimum expression of our vital unity in faith and morals. Go to church every solemnity from beginning to end. Connect your sacraments including marriage. Don't go to communion without first reconciling your mortal sins in confession. Fast and abstain on the shared days. Don't cheat. Don't cut corners. If we do, they we are not in agreement in faith and morals and about that for which we are to worship and pray.
Jesus wants His church to be the place of greatest conflict resolution, where we settle for nothing less than a shared unity of faith, morals and worship for which we are all responsible. To that end, how do I respond to the question - do I like getting caught?
+mj
