Is it NORMAL for a lay Catholic to question the bishop as to why his diocese schedules: a Veteran’s Day Honor Mass around All Souls Day; a commemoration for those who died during the COVID-19 pandemic on Veterans Day; and an event that Pope Francis wants, is not?
This week I’ve been counting down to the 2021-2023 Synod entitled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission” There is 1 day until the solemn opening on the 9th – 10th of October 2021 in Rome and 9 days until the Diocese of Amarillo is expected to celebrate the local ceremony on the 17th of October; however the local celebration may not occur since Bishop Zurek seems more intent right now on erecting another current sign of the “serious mistake” by changing Veterans Day to Pandemic Day, and scattering rather than gathering to journey with and listen to his diocese.
Words in italics indicate passages pulled from the Preparatory Document for the Synod 2021-2023.
Within this context, synodality represents the main road for the Church, called to renew herself under the action of the Spirit and by listening to the Word.
The ability to imagine a different future for the Church and her institutions, in keeping with the mission she has received, depends largely on the decision to initiate processes of listening, dialogue, and community discernment, in which each and every person can participate and contribute.
At the same time, the decision to “journey together” is a prophetic sign for the human family, which needs a shared project capable of pursuing the good of all.
A Church capable of communion and fraternity, of participation and subsidiarity, in fidelity to what she proclaims, will be able to stand beside the poor and the least and lend them her own voice.
Oh, think twice, ’cause it’s another day for you
You and me in paradise
In
order to “journey together,” we need to let ourselves be educated
by the Spirit to a truly synodal mentality, entering with courage and
freedom of heart into a conversion process that is indispensable for
the “continual reformation of which [the Church] always has need, in
so far as she is a human institution”
“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 Matthiessen’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.
“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.”