PA Municipal Convention

I had the privilege of opening the Pennsylvania Municipal Convention with an invocation this morning at the PPL Center in downtown Allentown. This annual meeting of mayors, city council members, and municipality officials promotes the work of local governments around the State of Pennsylvania. I had an opportunity to get a selfie with Ed Pawlowski, Mayor of Allentown, and NFL Hall of Famer and former Allentown resident, Andre Reed. 

The kindness of the Mayor's Office to have me give the invocation just reiterates the importance of collaboration between civil and religious leaders. As Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, "No one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life" (183).