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Grace, Law, and the Human Community (Catechism Series Part 31) - Auspice Maria Ep. 61

Auspice Maria with Bishop James Ruggieri

Bishop James Ruggieri turns from the individual heart to the whole human family. Communion with God was never meant to stay private, he explains. It spills outward into justice, subsidiarity, and solidarity with the poor, shaping how we build families, workplaces, and neighborhoods. But good structures alone cannot save a society. Something deeper has to change first. That deeper change, Bishop Ruggieri explains, comes through grace, not willpower. Law shows us the good; only the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to live it. Drawing on paragraphs 1877 through 2051 of the Catechism, he traces the path from natural law to the New Law of the Gospel, arguing that holiness was never meant to be a solo pursuit. We must strive for holiness together. A full transcript can be found on our website at https://portlanddiocese.org/news/auspice-maria-ep-61