What sign can I offer to show that it is God’s will for me to post daily about what I perceive as the Diocese of Amarillo’s lack of “transparency, accountability, and evaluation” regarding:
From Jn 2: 13-22
- The protection of a memorial erected by a convicted pedophile priest for a bishop whom Bishop Zurek acknowledges made a “serious mistake“;
- The Maintaining of a letter on the diocesan website rebuking “a few” who reported abuse at St. Mary’s Cathedral;
- The aborting of daily Masses at St. Mary’s Cathedral, citing the need for “an incredible sense of Reverence for the…Priests and especially for the Bishops“, effectively leveraging the Eucharist as a means of power and control;
- The building of another bishop’s residence, effectively putting our next bishop “in his place” before he even arrives ❓
XVI ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS
How to be a missionary synodal Church
Instrumentum laboris
Part II – Pathways
Transparency, accountability, and evaluation
75.
Bishop Zurek, for his part, called what Matthiesen did a ‘serious mistake,’ yet the memorial still remains.”
“In our time, the demand for transparency and accountability in and by the Church has come about as a result of the loss of credibility due to financial scandals and, even more so, sexual abuse and other abuses of minors and vulnerable persons.” Indeed, “If Boston is the fault line of the child sexual-abuse scandal that has convulsed the Roman Catholic Church, then few places have felt the aftershocks more deeply than the Diocese of Amarillo.” Therefore, what further sign than a memorial erected by a convicted pedophile priest for a bishop who made a “serious mistake” do I need to demand transparency and accountability in the Diocese of Amarillo, “for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.“❓
“The lack of transparency and accountability fuels clericalism, which is based on the implicit assumption that ordained ministers are accountable to no one for the exercise of the authority vested in them.” However, in his letter, “A Reflection on Christian Life,” doesn’t Bishop Zurek claim that “a few” who reported clericalism at St. Mary’s Cathedral were not a living sign of the Church from which “The waters of the river gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High!“❓
“When it enters the hearts of pastors,…worldliness “takes on a specific form, that of clericalism,” Moreover, have not certain priests at St. Mary’s Cathedral become “fascinated by the seductions of the ephemeral, by mediocrity and habit, by the temptations of power and social influence,” to the point of even leveraging the Eucharist to obtain “human glory and personal well-being.”❓ Isn’t this a sign that we, as the Church, need to be asked, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God“❓
Alleluia, alleluia, Furthermore, how can we be “a synodal Church…whose doors are open” to our next bishop when, before he even arrives, it has already been decided that Bishop Zurek will remain in his current residence while the new bishop will live in a separate residence nearby❓ Is this a sign, that we don’t truly believe, “I have chosen and consecrated this house, says the Lord, that my name may be there forever.“❓
Alleluia, alleluia
Finally, are not all these signs also symptomatic of our “sins against synodality“—which now place our new bishop in a position where he must “Just Say NO❣️” to being “put in his place” and having to ask…
“What sign can you show us for doing this❓“
The social dimensions of global change include the effects of technological innovations on employment, social exclusion, an inequitable distribution and consumption of energy and other services, social breakdown, increased violence and a rise in new forms of social aggression, drug trafficking, growing drug use by young people, and the loss of identity. These are signs that the growth of the past two centuries has not always led to an integral development and an improvement in the quality of life. Some of these signs are also symptomatic of real social decline, the silent rupture of the bonds of integration and social cohesion.
From Paragraph 46 of ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME