I'll walk with God. He'll take my hand; I'll talk with God, He'll understand!

I’ll walk with God, He’ll take my hand; I’ll talk with God, He’ll Understand!

The very song a friend sang for me on the day after my ordination.  The words have such a melody that brings tears to the eyes of anyone beginning the life of Holy Orders.  

A song sung by Mario Lanza from the Student Prince movie.  The words are unique in the message we garner from this tribute to a man who reaches a level of responsibility especially in the Catholic Church.  

We are at a crossroads of saving morality from destruction at a time where too many are saying, by their actions, to hell with all this God stuff!  Look at the most recent turning of higher education towards politics as their mantra and reaching the minds of students to protest the rights of so many helpless people.  The anarchical trend now is placing one nation under foot by putting down Jerusalem and all Jewish citizens.  Jewish students, the world over, are being ostracized in nations like the United States as an enemy.  It’s almost like the Third Reich has resurrected itself from the ashes of WWII and Hitlers unending quest to wipe them out is on its way to repeat one of the most horrific eras of total elimination of a chosen heritage.

When I think back to that day I received the Sacrament of Holy Orders and the song a close friend sang for me, my thoughts 50 years later sends chills down my back as I feel emptiness from the pulpits not standing alongside of our unified brethren in Israel.  The one criterion of Holy Orders is not to strut around with all the pomp and ceremony but to be a crutch for those who are being put on a chopping block of the very evil that is now present in our streets, homes, and pulpits when those who are chosen fail to speak up.

I can with the full knowledge of the Church speak out because my ordination went further than receiving the blessings of the Holy Spirit through my bishop to become a beacon to the world for God’s Poor.  The words of Jesus; “You are the light of the world.  A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all the house.  Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”  (Mt 5: 14 - 16).

Part of the Sermon on the Mount is a requirement for each of us, especially the ordained ministers, to reach out to the Jewish nation and our Jewish students here in Pittsburgh and other places around the world saying:  through our actions, we stand with you.

To protest a grievous item or situation is within our constitution, but to hold one or more individuals from their very freedom of religion is against the first amendment.  This leans on communism which is unleashing Carl Marx’s idea of a corrupt society which without some rule and order will bury us and the ideals of a free democracy.  Tyranny is wrong, and anarchy as well will put the lives of innocent people in harm's way.  We must fight against this corruption.

Ralph B. Hathaway