‘Join in This Sacred Cause’

The following are excerpts of the remarks made by attorney James Gill after he received the John Cardinal O’Connor Extraordinary Service Award March 19 at Catholics at the Capitol public policy day in Albany.

I am highly honored and deeply grateful for this award, particularly because it bears the name of my friend, the late John Cardinal O'Connor.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure how he feels, since he is now fully aware of the
manner in which I have conducted my life. Suffice it to say that I have found the state of grace to be somewhat elusive…

Many years ago I heard Cardinal O'Connor say:

"The Catholic Church is not a smorgasbord during which you take what you like and bypass the remainder."

What he was saying was that the Church presents a full plate, and tells us, as our
mothers did when we were growing up, "Be sure to clean your plate."

And so in today's world we see our beloved Pope Francis, hurrying to the sides of
the lame, the halt, the sick, the poor, the aged, the young, the imprisoned, the mentally impaired, the lonely and forgotten. We see him living humbly, frugally and without fanfare. We observe him teaching his beloved priests how to conduct themselves—he extols generosity, he rails against the death penalty and prays and calls for peace in the world.

But at the same time he tells us to protect the unborn, and to adhere to the Natural Moral Law binding upon all human beings.

There is nothing new here. These have been the goals of the Catholic Church since its inception. These are acts of charity, manifestations of love, universal truths and values. They have nothing to do with politics or any form of government.

All of which brings to mind the subject of practicing and espousing our religious beliefs openly and freely, as is the constitutional right of all religions in our country. We have been attacked by individuals, organizations and recently a number of politicians who have concluded that it is politically advantageous to do so.

And so we see the government of the United States instituting a lawsuit against the Little Sisters of the Poor and threatening to fine them out of existence because they refuse to disavow deeply held religious convictions.

These are women who have devoted their lives exclusively to caring for the poorest among us, without reference to religious affiliation or remuneration.

But it's not just our federal government with which we must contend. Recently
our Church and some of our religious beliefs were officially condemned by a misinformed United Nations, despite previous pious protestations to "combat defamation of religions."

In addition, we face an ever-growing wave of "hard" secularism, which would stamp out all vestiges of all religions and reduce our country to an atheistic nation.

Our church is in a "knock down, drag out" fight, which we cannot simply leave to
our clergy.

It is the duty and obligation of all Catholic laypersons to rally to the side of our Church and do everything they can to support, defend and protect her, including bonding with our co-religionists, voting and participating in rallies, marches and "write in" campaigns.

I would especially call upon our women to join in this sacred cause. They are much tougher and far better fighters than we are. Cardinal O'Connor's friend, Mother Teresa, comes readily to mind as do our many magnificent orders of sisters and nuns.

There is no gainsaying the fact that this fight will be a difficult one. But I would remind you that there is no institution in the history of the world, which has dealt with persecution more effectively than the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Moreover, we have the great consolation of knowing that in the end, no matter how long it may take, we will prevail.

God bless Cardinal Dolan and all of our New York bishops!

Thank you, everyone.