October 4, 2026

Dear Parishioners,

I’ve been reading recently about the Arian controversy in the Church in the 4th and 5th centuries. Sounds riveting, doesn’t it? It actually is. Arius was a priest from Egypt who believed and taught that Jesus was not fully God; that Jesus was created and “there was a time when he was not.” Arius’s teaching was so popular that the Church had to convene the first ever ecumenical council to resolve the debate. Actually, it was the Roman Emperor, Constantine, who had recently made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire, who convened the council. Constantine was disheartened that there was division in Christianity and felt the need for unity in the Roman Empire, which was contingent upon unity in the Church. The emperor actually sat in on the sessions of the Council. 

The Council of Nicaea, as it was called, in 325 AD decided against Arius, confirming the belief that Jesus is indeed truly God. Jesus is eternal–consubstanial with the Father. The Creed we say at Mass on Sunday after the homily came from this council, which is why it’s called the Nicene Creed.

Arius might have looked at today’s parable of the wicked tenants and felt affirmed in his belief that the Father and the Son are not totally equal. In the parable, the landowner sends servants to the vineyard to try to negotiate with the wicked tenants who have seized the vineyard. At last the landowner sends his son, who is killed by the wicked tenants. Arius would point to the subordination of the son to the father. The father is the one who is primary and has command to send the son. The son is killed, not the father.

What I’ve found fascinating in my studies about this time period in the Church is that Arius’s teaching was so popular because it was the conservative position. (By ‘conservative’ think in today’s political terms, but merely another word for safe, cautious, traditional.) We generally think heretics are extreme and, if anything, liberal. Think of Martin Luther. He eliminated the ordained priesthood (and four of the other sacraments), along with our understanding of Mary, the communion of saints, Purgatory, the Papal Office–pretty extreme and liberal stuff. The Catholic Church is generally seen as pretty traditional, so anyone who goes against the Church (a heretic), is typically understood to be the opposite.

But that was not the case with Arius at the time. He wasn’t some long-haired, wild man doing scandalous stuff–the boogeyman, as we can tend to picture him. Arius was, by most accounts, a pretty traditional priest. You wouldn’t have been able to point him out in the crowd as “the heretic.” If anything, just the opposite–you might have thought him to be a saint. Arius’s understanding of Jesus as being created by God was the safe and reasonable route. He was trying to help people understand God and truly be able to surrender to God the Father. Again, this is why Arianism gained so much traction. It was the Catholic position that was more radical, liberal, extreme, and risky. To claim that Christ is eternal and that the eternal God could take on flesh and suffer at the hands of men? No way.

Yes way. That is how radical God’s love is, and that is the true faith that is required from us. The Trinity, though it can be explained rationally (which is what Nicaea and other theologians from that era were doing), is still unfathomable. We need to believe.

But my greater point is that sometimes the safe, comfortable, conservative route isn’t the way of the Lord. The safe route for the landowner in the parable would have been to let the vineyard go or to send in an army to take it back. Sending in his son was the riskiest move…and that was the right move. If Jesus lived conservatively, he wouldn’t have done any of his miracles or given his teachings.

Of course, there is room for prudence and caution. We certainly need to use proper discernment. It is wise to be safe.

But when we are truly in union with God, I do believe eventually he will lead us to the radical course of action. Reaching out to someone with whom you are estranged, speaking up the hard and unpopular truth at a company meeting, admitting and seeking help for an addiction, entrusting your heart completely to the one you say you love, asking for forgiveness, turning off technology, living simply in the material world–all actions of the saint. May we have the grace to take the proper risks.

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A reminder that the annual Pet Blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi will take place this Saturday, October 3rd at 9am (following the 8:30am daily Mass). We are privileged to have a relic of St. Francis of Assisi (a recent gift), so we will have that on display at Masses over the weekend.

The Family Mass for this month will take place this Sunday, October 4th at 10:30am in the HFC. We will also have Donut Sunday in the gym afterwards.

Tomorrow, Monday, October 5th, our Respect Life Committee will be hosting a Candlelight Rosary. 

In this Respect Life and Domestic Violence Awareness month, we continue to hold in prayer all pregnant mothers and unborn children, all those at the end of their lives (and perhaps contemplating physician-assisted suicide), all families, all victims of domestic abuse, and anyone else who is vulnerable in our society and in need of prayers. Next Saturday, October 10th at the 4:30pm Mass, the SPC Social Services Ministries will host a special prayer after communion for all victims of domestic abuse. 

I want to thank parishioner Steve B. for making and donating the new, beautiful tabernacle for our Adoration Chapel. Steve carefully and thoughtfully designed the tabernacle using a particular wood fitting for the Lord, and spent many months on the project. The tabernacle is large enough to hold the monstrance, so adorers are welcome to open and close the doors if they have to leave the chapel and there is no one present to adore (or they arrive and no one is there and the doors are closed). If you’re wondering why we have a tabernacle now in the chapel after over twenty years, it’s because the Archdiocese contacted me recently and notified us that we are required to have a tabernacle in our chapel.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. James