And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
Jn 19:27
Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church
In his Holy Week homilies Bishop Patrick J. Zurek put forth the Encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, as the standard for love and unity in our diocese. Today, let’s reflect upon paragraph #220 in that regard:
CHAPTER SIX
A NEW CULTURE
The joy of acknowledging others
220. Indigenous peoples, for example, are not opposed to progress, yet theirs is a different notion of progress, often more humanistic than the modern culture of developed peoples.
“The church is human, but it is not merely a human organization, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “Jesus brought the fire of the Spirit to the earth, and the church is reformed by the anointing of grace, the gratuity of the anointing of grace, the power of prayer, the joy of mission and the disarming beauty of poverty. Let us put God in first place!”
Theirs is not a culture meant to benefit the powerful, those driven to create for themselves a kind of earthly paradise.
“It sought to erase the Catholic Church from the public domain and view its functionaries as just private citizens, bound by unconditional loyalty to the prevailing power. This is what provoked such conflict.”
Intolerance and lack of respect for indigenous popular cultures is a form of violence grounded in a cold and judgmental way of viewing them.
No authentic, profound and enduring change is possible unless it starts from the different cultures, particularly those of the poor.
A cultural covenant eschews a monolithic understanding of the identity of a particular place; it entails respect for diversity by offering opportunities for advancement and social integration to all.
Today this “restless” and formally unrecognized catechist, is asking those “under the dome “, “Is not Bishop Zurek’s letter to St. Mary’s Cathedral, “A Reflection on Christian Life”, a form of violence grounded in a cold and judgmental way of viewing “the few”?”
Today I ask Saint Mary, Mother of the Church to pray that, “under the dome” the realization that a cultural covenant eschews a monolithic understanding of the identity of a particular place; it entails respect for diversity by offering opportunities for advancement and social integration to all.
