Dear Brother Hibernians,

This past year has been challenging to say the least. Following months of restrictions and anxiety around the COVID-19 pandemic, we seemed to immediately enter the turbulence of an election season. Accompanying this, we have witnessed increased unrest in our communities especially in response to racial injustice. It has been a difficult year indeed.

As we vote and await the outcome of our national elections, it is helpful to remember that no matter how fervently we may support any given candidate, our true homeland is in Heaven. It is right to engage in the democratic process, and in fact a duty of ours both as citizens and as Catholics. However, we must always have the words of Psalm 146 ringing in our ears, “Put not your trust in princes.”

We will always witness inequality and corruption in any human endeavor as a result of our fallen nature. We even witness that division and woundedness in the human element of our beloved Church throughout her history. However, our Catholic Church is also the pure bride of Christ and all of her blemishes and wounds will be healed when Our Lord becomes all in all at the end of the age. This is the one great hope that drives us forward in pursuing holiness and evangelizing others.

Let us pray fervently for our nation, and for its leaders. May they uphold the dignity of every human person, most especially our most vulnerable, the unborn. We pray that they become champions of the religious freedoms upon which our nation was built, and that the whole of America might finally come to recognize the one ruler in whom we can truly place our trust–Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In His Name,

Rev. Joseph Farrell

AOH Virginia State Chaplain