Words cannot count nor render account for all of the good works that Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan did for so many. He was an outstanding bishop and a wonderful human being. We will miss him.
With his passing, not only do the Catholics of our diocese lose his warm and comforting pastoral presence, with which we were blessed for the more than five decades of his priesthood, but so do many others, not only in the metropolitan area but well beyond. His was a voice for all of God’s children, not only those who may have known so or been so esteemed by others. He witnessed by word and deed to the dignity of every human being, especially the poor and downtrodden who often have no voice.
Bishop Sullivan’s advocacy for human rights and social justice is renowned. Under his aegis, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Brooklyn developed a national reputation as a provider of social services. His work brought him into intimate contact with our poorest and most neglected neighbors in his local and national advocacy for health care and support of those involved in social work.
In the most exemplary of ways, the life of Bishop Sullivan mirrored our faith in an Incarnate God whose mercy extends to everyone and whose disciples take both the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy to heart without distinction as the Beatitudes proclaim.
He radiated such joy in his priestly ministry which he compared to being already in heaven. In a 1999 interview for The New York Times, he said, “I really think of this job as heaven on the way to heaven. It doesn’t come at the end. It begins here.”
This leads us to hope that, to paraphrase a prayer of St. Thérèse de Lisieux, the good that he has always done may continue on earth from heaven.[hr]
Women Forgotten
In New York state, one out of every three pregnancies ends in abortion. That’s as bad as the bubonic plague, the so-called “Black Death” which once killed off almost 33 percent of the population in Europe. Today, this is called a “choice.” How many women would really choose to destroy their own child if they believed someone would abide with them and extend them some care and support? Instead, in our own communities, how often women are just left alone.
Where are the friends at the killing centers? Where are the fathers of the children? Nowhere in sight. Most of the women who come to have their child cut out arrive alone – and leave alone. After it is done, no one wants to talk about it. No one dares because it is too “private.” Who asks, even quietly at the water fountain at work the Monday after: How are you feeling?
How outrageous a way to treat human beings! Both women and unborn children are undeniably human, even if they do not yet share the same rights and freedoms under the current state of our law. Let’s not make it worse.
Some of our legislators now are trying to take more protections away from women and their unborn children by opening the door for non-doctors to perform abortions and potentially decriminalizing even forced or coerced abortions – all at taxpayer expense!
If this bothers you, go to nyscatholic.org, or better yet, call Governor Cuomo’s office at 518-474-8390. Tell him to stop expanding the culture of death and abortion in our state that separates women from their children – and leaves them alone.
