Because He could raise more money crossing to the other side!
Words in italics indicate passages pulled from the Preparatory Document for the Synod 2021-2023.
This week begins the countdown to the 2021-2023 Synod entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” There are 4 days until the solemn opening on the 9th – 10th of October 2021 in Rome and 13 days until the Diocese of Amarillo is expected to celebrate the local ceremony on the 17th of October; although Bishop Zurek has given no indication he’s going down the road of this upcoming journey as expected by God.
““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)
Momentarily, at the beginning of the pandemic, Bishop Zurek revived the sense that we were all neighbors, all in the same boat, where one person’s problems were the problems of all. Once more we realized that no one was saved alone; we could only be rescued from the pit together. We loved one another as Jesus loves.
But now, the pandemic has made the already existing inequalities and inequities of the “serious mistake“ explode: the Diocese of Amarillo seems increasingly shaken by the imposition of quotas, the turning of ministries into fundraisers and the breaking of the diocese into a collection of groups that raise funds for their own special interest; this tragic condition is exemplified by the latest posting of additional stories on activities in the Diocese of Amarillo where almost two-thirds were fundraisers. Furthermore, a check of all the news stories posted on the diocesan website for September revealed that over half of them involved the same.
This documents the depth of the fault lines that runs through the diocese of Amarillo, and which down in Bishop Zurek lies asleep. They are a call to start on the synodal road by refusing to pass by on the other side so as to avoid listening to the cry of the poor and of the earth and to recognize the seeds of hope and of the future that the Spirit continues to sow even in our time: “The Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home”
With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed
And if you see your sister falling by the way
Just stop and say, “You’re going the wrong way”
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.
“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.”
