“It is no longer good for anything…”
Mt 5:13
Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time
You’re no good”
This has found its way into the Church.
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek, A Reflection on Christian Life
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 #233 and current events in that regard:
CHAPTER SEVEN
PATHS OF RENEWED ENCOUNTER
THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF PEACE
Beginning with the least
233. Building social friendship does not only call for rapprochement between groups who took different sides at some troubled period of history, but also for a renewed encounter with the most impoverished and vulnerable sectors of society.
“This sad discovery further heightens awareness of the pain and sufferings of the past.”
Even though Bishop Zurek believes he has made “rapprochement between groups who took different sides” during the troubling years of the Matthiesen episcopacy, is there not a need “for a renewed encounter” with “the few”.
For peace “is not merely absence of war but a tireless commitment – especially on the part of those of us charged with greater responsibility – to recognize, protect and concretely restore the dignity, so often overlooked or ignored, of our brothers and sisters, so that they can see themselves as the principal protagonists of the destiny of their nation”.[220]
“Dad and me went for a walk that night. We just sat on the steps of our home parish we talked for an hour and a half … things he had seen in me long before. He had seen a priest but he didn’t want to push.”
Perhaps in the Diocese of Amarillo we “push” too hard with “quotas” and mandated prayers from the “dome” for priestly vocations, instead of supporting parents in ways, such as tuition free Catholic education, “so that they can see themselves as the principal protagonists of the destiny of” our diocese.
“The Glenn” in conjunction with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform has pledged to develop a Laudato Si’ Plan, which we can use to discern and implement our response to Laudato Si’. This part of the blog will update readers on this journey.
Amarillo—The 2021 Summer Totus Tuus Program is underway in the Diocese of Amarillo.
Totus Tuus is a Catholic youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic Faith through catechesis, evangelization, Christian witness and Eucharistic worship,
• Now through Saturday, June 12, at Immaculate Conception Church, Vega and St. John the Evangelist Church, Borger;
Today I pray that those of us in the Diocese of Amarillo, but especially those at St. Mary’s Cathedral and, “the few” , do not give into believing they have lost their saltiness and are “no longer good for anything”, because Bishop Zurek, who is, “charged with greater responsibility – to recognize, protect and concretely restore the dignity, so often overlooked or ignored, of our brothers and sisters,” such as “the few”, has made it difficult for them to, “see themselves as the principal protagonists of the destiny of” our diocese.
