Words in italics indicate passages pulled from the Preparatory Document for the Synod 2021-2023.
This week posts are focusing on the implications for the Amarillo Diocese” of a Synod entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” The first phase of listening to and consulting the People of God in the Diocese of Amarillo should occur from October 2021 – April 2022.
““It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.”
FRANCIS, Address for the ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the institution of the
Synod of Bishops (17 October 2015)
Implication #6: Those who rank lower or are insignificant to Bishop Zurek must be received and consulted into this Synod before April of 2022.
We lose the capacity to realize
“I, as a lay person, do not always have all the knowledge”; while it is quite
probable that the deacon, priest or bishop has a much fuller picture of what is
actually happening.
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek,
“A Reflection on Christian Life”
Is Bishop Zurek turning the Synod into another current sign of the “serious mistake” which only despises the “little ones”?
Bishop Zurek is expected to set in motion the ideas, energy, and creativity of all those who will take part in this Synodal journey, and to provide the resources which make it easier to share the fruits of their efforts.
The path entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” will
solemnly open on the 9th – 10th of October 2021 in Rome and on the following 17th of October in each diocese.
“Regardless of the distinctions that are made in society today, or the varying ethnic groups that are present in our local Church or the languages that are spoken, we are called to the unity of the family of Christ in the Church. Unity must be the aim and goal of the members of each parish, of the parishes with each other and with the bishop, the priest, the deacons and all the lay Faithful.”
Bishop Patrick J. Zurek
The Church, A Pastoral Letter
How can Bishop Zurek claim that unity must be our aim and goal if he ignores an invitation from Pope Francis to a Synod entitled, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” ?
“Inasmuch as there could be serious legal implications for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles if we do fully disclose to you our concern regarding the Reverend John Salazar, Sch.P., by this letter I am informing you that the Reverend John Salazar, Sch.P. would never be allowed to minister as a priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in any way whatsoever given the circumstances of his case.”
From a 1991 letter from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to the Diocese of Amarillo prior to Bishop’s Matthiesen’s bringing of John Salazar to the Diocese of Amarillo. Bishop Matthiesen ignored this warning. Later he defended the “serious mistake” by stating that he never conducted his own checks of the priests – which included the Rev. John Salazar-Jimenez, and that it wasn’t until 10 years later that he learned some priests were not the first-time sex offenders that they purported to be when he agreed to hire.
A Memorial in the Grotto of St. Mary’s Cathedral raised by Monsignor Waldow (whom Bishop Matthiesen labeled as a “congenital liar”) 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.”
