All we need is...

Pope Benedict XVI's first encyclical is due out this week, but not before The Evangelist goes to press. Nevertheless, we know the letter's title, "Deus Caritas Est" ("God Is Love"), and some of its themes: the power of God's love, modern society's diminution of the meaning of love, and the dual ideas of love that are expressed in two esoteric terms: eros and agape (see page 1).

Articles throughout this week's issue deal with love in many forms. On the front page, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard talks about his quick trip to New Orleans to view the hurricane damage, release a report on poverty, and present relief money from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and the Diocese. The funds he dispensed come from the pockets of ordinary Catholics who lovingly give every year to collections that help the poor.

The annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. (see column at right) is another expression of selfless love: for more than three decades, thousands of pro-lifers have braved January weather to stand up for unborn children.

The opposite page summons us to a more difficult love: for condemned criminals. The call by the Church to end the death penalty is one of its more challenging. It's easy to love babies and to work for their survival; it demands a real commitment to Christian love to offer life when a demand for vengeance seems our only response.

The 18 pages dedicated to Catholic schools (pages 9-26) offer other loving expressions: of teachers for students, of students for their schools, of parents for the education of their youngsters in a religious atmosphere.

When Pope Benedict's encyclical is out and available on-line for reading (www.vatican.va), we hope Catholics will take the time to study and reflect on his words. Doing so will deepen our understanding of God's love and how we can show it in a world too often scarred by hate.

(1/26/06) [[In-content Ad]]