Is it in “pursuit” of Christ or someone else that I “go off” to places each day, striving to do something about:
From Luke 17: 20-25
- 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 III – Places
Bishop Zurek, for his part, called what Matthiesen did a ‘serious mistake,’ yet the memorial still remains.”
“The missionary synodal life of the Church, the vital relationships of which it is composed, and the pathways that enable its development should not overlook the concreteness and specificity of “place”, that is, the Church placed within a given context and culture. Part III invites us to overcome a static vision of places that orders them by successive levels or degrees according to a pyramidal model (i.e. Parish, deanery, Diocese or Eparchy, ecclesiastical province, Episcopal Conference or Eastern hierarchical structure, and universal Church). This has never been our vision.” Indeed, doesn’t a memorial raised by a convicted pedophile priest for a bishop who made the “serious mistake” of giving this same priest an opportunity to abuse again affect not only the parish where it stands, but also the universal Church, prompting us to affirm, “‘I have the full right in Christ to order you to do what is proper,“; and to go in “pursuit“❓
“The network of relationships and the exchange of gifts between the Churches have always been interwoven as a web of relations rather than conceived as linear in form. They are gathered in the bond of unity of which the Roman Pontiff is the perpetual and visible principle and foundation. In this sense, the catholicity of the Church has never coincided with an abstract universalism. “Yet, in his letter, “A Reflection on Christian Life,” doesn’t Bishop Zurek go in “pursuit” of abstract universalism rather than cultivating a network of relationships with “a few” who reported clergy abuse at St. Mary’s Cathedral—relationships that could foster a true bond of unity and reveal that “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob.“❓
Alleluia, alleluia, “Moreover, in the context of a rapidly changing conception of space, constricting the Church’s action within purely spatial boundaries would imprison it in a fatal immobilism and produce a worrying pastoral redundancy, rendering it incapable of reaching the most dynamic parts of the population, especially the young. Instead, places must be understood from a perspective of mutual interdependency, which becomes concrete in the relationships between Churches and the groupings they form, endowed with a unity of meaning. The service of unity, which is incumbent upon the Bishop of Rome and the College of bishops in communion with him, must take this perspective into account and find the appropriate institutional forms necessary for its exercise.” Yet, is the daily Eucharist’s cancellation at St. Mary’s Cathedral truly the appropriate form necessary for fostering unity, or does it leverage the Eucharist in “pursuit” of “human glory and personal well-being.” by controlling access to Jesus, who said, “I am the vine, you are the branches, says the Lord: whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.“❓
Alleluia, alleluia
Finally, In the meantime, will I continue to justify the current system where priority is given to the “pursuit” of a static vision of places, ordering them by successive levels or degrees according to a pyramidal model that fails to consider the concreteness and specificity of “place”—the Church situated within a particular context and culture❓ Will i disregard the effects on human dignity caused by my own “sins against synodality” cause—which now place our new bishop in a position where he must “Just Say NO❣️” to being “put in his place”—if I simply…
“Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.“❓
In the meantime, economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to speculation and the “pursuit” of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account, let alone the effects on human dignity and the natural environment.
From Paragraph 56 of ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME