TEMPLES, CHURCHES,

MOSQUES AND SYNAGOGUES

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Temples, Churches, Mosques and Synagogues.”

If you drive through Annapolis, you’ll find churches, temples, an old synagogue - but I don’t know about mosques. Up Duke of Gloucester Street from St. Mary’s is the Presbyterian Church. Up at the top of Duke of Gloucester at Church Circle, you’ll see St. Anne’s church. You can also see on our street  a building that was a Jewish synagogue.

If you go up Rowe Boulevard you’ll spot two churches - the Methodist and then the Lutheran Church. On Spa Road you can see a Jewish Temple.

Right near us here at St. John Neumann there are two churches down the road and the Unitarian Church next to us.

If you drive around the United States or many places in our world, you’ll find, temples, churches, mosques and synagogues.

Why?  Why do people build temples, churches, mosques and synagogues?

OTHER BUILDINGS AND PLACES

There are cemeteries, cemeteries, cemeteries everywhere. They tell us people die and we have to bury folks in special places.

There are stores, stores, stores, everywhere. That tells us people need and buy things.

There are banks, restaurants, gas stations, car dealers - everywhere. That tells us people need places to save their money or to borrow money - as well there are places to eat, which tell us we’re hungry, as well as car dealerships that tell us people buy cars and there are gas stations to fill up - unless the car is an electric and battery powered car.

We know the answer to the why question when it comes to all those places. But what about temples, churches, mosques and synagogues? Why do people build such places?

THE WHY OF temples, churches, mosques and synagogues

Here we are in this church. Why? For what reason?

We’re here to pray. We’re here to thank God. We’re here to ask God for help. We’re here to say we’re sorry. We’re here to do these together.

People come here to thank God for new babies and have them baptized and blessed. People come here to get married. People come here to pray together when someone dies and have a funeral Mass for them. We use this particular church for a graduation Mass for our 8^th graders. Today we’re having this 12:10 Mass for our regular mid-day Mass crowd - as well as our St. Mary’s high school freshmen and women - who are on retreat today.

We come here to celebrate the great feasts of Jesus - Christmas, his birth into our world - and Easter - his Resurrection back into Eternity.

We come here to hear the sacred readings from our Holy Scriptures and to eat and be in communion with Christ in the Eucharist.

Notice the “we”. We do these things not just by ourselves - we do these things in the presence of others. It’s called “community”.

Those are a few brief answers to why this church has been built. I leave answers to the “Why?” question about temples, mosques and synagogues to leaders and teachers in those religions.

TODAY’S FEAST

I brought up the topic of “Temples, Churches, Mosques and Synagogues” - because today the Catholic Church celebrates the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome - way back on November 9^th 324.

Back in 1984, I visited that church in Rome  - dedicated to our Savior Jesus Christ. It was also dedicated to St. John and ended up being called St. John Lateran. It’s a big church - but not a church that grabbed me - by its look. I visited it on an off hour, so it was rather dark.  It’s a big long rectangular box of a church - not that far from the Redemptorist headquarters in Rome. The priests who serve this parish are Redemptorists - so I add that comment.

What grabbed me when I visited St. John Lateran church was not its look - but its history. It was the site of 5 ecumenical councils. It’s the episcopal seat of the pope - the bishop of Rome - way before St. Peter’s - which Catholics consider the “mother church” of the Catholic Church. The popes lived there - till they moved to Avignon in France in 1309.

So that visit St. John Lateran - had me visiting history.

NOVEMBER 9^TH - BIRTHDAY OF THE REDEMPTORISTS

Today - November 9^th - Redemptorists celebrate the opening day of our congregation - not in Rome - but in Scala, Italy, a tiny town above the beautiful Amalfi Coast. St. Alphonsus Liguori who started our community picked November 9^th - because he wanted to call his group - not Redemptorists - but Priests of Our Savior Jesus Christ - the other name of St. John Lateran's Church in Rome.

The year was 1732. Six men showed up for that first day.

Within 6 months all had left St. Alphonsus but 1 person - a brother named Vitus Curtius - stayed.

Thank God St. Alphonsus kept at it - and we are still around after all these years. We were up to 9000 + members in our best days in the middle of the last century. Now we’re around 6000.

I add the numbers because today’s readings bring out that the church is buildings - but more importantly - it’s made up of people - living people. [1]

We are called to be church and temples and houses of prayer.

I don’t know if they have that theology in Islam.

CONCLUSION

Enough. I close with the message of Christ in today’s gospel: We are called to be houses of prayer and the gate of heaven for each other - so let us be that. Amen.

OOOOOOO

NOTE:

[1] First Reading: Ezekiel 47: 1-1, 8-9, 12; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3: 9c-11, 16-17; Gospel John 2: 13-22.