By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski's homily at Mass with members of the Florida Council of Catholic Women as part of their conference. Tampa, FL, October 9, 2026.
Theme: Guarding the House of the Heart, Protecting the Vulnerable, and Defending the Church’s Freedom
My dear sisters in Christ of the Florida Council of Catholic Women (FCCW),
In today’s Gospel we encounter Jesus facing intense spiritual warfare and division. When He drives out a demon, skeptics accuse Him of working through Beelzebub. Jesus quickly dispels this, famously noting that "every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste." But He doesn't stop there. He warns us about what happens when an interior house is swept clean but left completely empty: the unclean spirit returns with seven others, and the final state is worse than the first.
As women of faith and leaders in your dioceses and parishes across Florida, this scripture offers a powerful blueprint for Catholic leadership and spiritual motherhood. Jesus is calling us to guard the house—not only the house of our hearts, but the house of our Church, our families and our communities—and fill it with the truth of the Gospel. Today, guarding that house requires us to stand firm on several urgent fronts with your bishops and with our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV.
First, we need to stand firm and give a Consistent, Seamless Witness to the Culture of Life.
Jesus warns that "whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." To truly gather with Christ, we must defend human dignity at every single stage.
Recently, Pope Leo XIV challenged us to absolute moral consistency. Our Holy Father stated clearly that opposing abortion while simultaneously supporting the death penalty or ignoring the inhuman treatment of immigrants is not truly pro-life. His words serve as a profound wake-up call to avoid political tribalism and instead embrace a complete Gospel of Life: [1, 2]
There should be no doubt about our unwavering opposition to Abortion: You along with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops led a diligent fight to defeat an extreme pro-abortion amendment, Amendment 4 in our state.
The direct taking of innocent unborn life is always a grave moral wrong and therefore we need to educate ourselves and the citizens of Florida of the threat to the culture of life of IVF legislation that seeks to expand In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).
Current IVF practices treat human life as a commodity, eugenically selecting some embryos to live and discarding countless others.
This same commitment to life compels us to speak out against the death penalty. We cannot remain silent while Florida continues state executions at an alarming pace. Capital punishment fundamentally devalues our common humanity and fails to offer true healing.
Second, we must defend our Religious Freedom
Jesus makes it clear: the Church answers to the divine authority of Christ, not the shifting demands of secular governance. Right now, in Florida, we are witnessing a profound overreach where state officials have attempted to force our Catholic schools and institutions to implement state-defined "religious exemptions" regarding vaccine policies, threatening to pull vital scholarship funding if we do not comply.
But under the First Amendment of our nation’s Constitution, the state does not get to interpret Catholic theology or tell the bishops how to run our ministries. We must resist state attempts whether they come from the left or from the right to compromise our autonomy.
Finally, Jesus warns against leaving a house empty and vulnerable. We must be vigilant in defending the family. Echoing Pope Leo XIV's call to defend the migrant, we must recognize that massive, aggressive deportation policies threaten to tear apart families across Florida.
Our Florida bishops have strongly spoken out against the trauma these massive roundups inflict on innocent children and the deep fear they instill in our pews. The family is the domestic church. When we fracture families, we fracture our parishes. True Christian compassion demands that we stand as a shield for these vulnerable homes. Nobody wants criminal loose on our streets, and to make America great is a worthy aspiration, but the vast majority of those being rounded up are not criminals, they are our neighbors, our co-workers, our fellow parishioners and often enough our own relatives and you won’t make America great by making America mean. Cruelty does not further the cause of justice.
My dear sisters, as you continue your mission under the patronage of Our Lady of Good Counsel, let us ask the Lord to make our hearts and our Councils fortified strongholds for His grace. Be women who refuse to stand on a neutral middle ground or divide your moral convictions. May you courageously fill the world with the light, love, justice, and absolute truth of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
