In response to Bishop Matthiesen’s building upon the “serious mistake”, Bishop Yanta “courageously began a renewal of Amarillo’s Catholic schools” and created Holy Cross Catholic Academy.
Bishop Zurek’s response thus far has created the need for the slogan, “Holy Cross Catholic Academy is Amarillo’s only Catholic secondary school”.
Some say Yanta’s reaction to a proposed lay-owned high school, Ascension Catholic Academy, was the breaking point, the issue that prompted people to talk openly about problems in the diocese.
Tale of two bishops
Even though both “the victims of clergy sexual abuse“ and the Diocese of Amarillo’s “patience (is) worn out by the journey” , can either “claim that the unjust sufferings of one side alone should be commemorated“, and thus “forget the works of the Lord” and how He “humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross“; furthermore, if the “serious mistake“ has already been “redeemed”, how can one side “condemn the” other?
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Where were You when I was ashamed?
Hiding in a life I wish I never made
You were on the cross”
I agree with our bishop, Patrick J. Zurek, in putting forth in his Holy Week homilies this year the Encyclical of Pope Francis, Fratelli Tutti, as the standard for love and unity in our diocese. Today, let’s reflect upon paragraph #253 in that regard:
CHAPTER SEVEN
PATHS OF RENEWED ENCOUNTER
MEMORY
Forgiving but not forgetting
253. When injustices have occurred on both sides, it is important to take into clear account whether they were equally grave or in any way comparable. Violence perpetrated by the state, using its structures and power, is not on the same level as that perpetrated by particular groups. In any event, one cannot claim that the unjust sufferings of one side alone should be commemorated. The Bishops of Croatia have stated that, “we owe equal respect to every innocent victim. There can be no racial, national, confessional or partisan differences”.[235]
BOTTOM: A building named after Bishop Zurek” by a priest admirer.
“Naturally many people speak to me. I think it would be easier all the way around if one just disappeared so there would be a clear field, no feeling of division in the diocese. I understand that perfectly.”
From “Tale of Two Bishops“ in which Bishop Matthiesen defended the “serious mistake”
This approach demands of us the decision to abandon a modus operandi of disparaging, discrediting, playing the victim or the scold in our relationships, and instead to make room for the gentle breeze that the Gospel alone can offer.
From a January, 2019 letter by Pope francis to TO THE BISHOPS OF THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE
OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS on retreat. A retreat that Bishop Zurek missed in order to take a personal vacation.
This is a clear indication that this one of “the
From a 2019 letter in which Bishop Zurek uses the same “modus operandi” as Bishop Matthiessen
few” has no intention to stop causing division in the Body of Christ. His line is quite clear; he only wants division and disunity.
A Memorial in the Grotto of St. Mary’s Cathedral raised by Monsignor Waldow during Bishop Yanta’s episcopacy. Monsignor Waldow wrote:
“In memory of the death of innocence of the victims of clergy sexual abuse. When innocence dies…a life stops. It is essential that we never forget.”
