We are all called upon to cooperate. No sector can tackle the challenge of steering digital innovation and AI governance alone. Safeguards must therefore be put in place. All stakeholders — from the tech industry to legislators, from creative companies to academia, from artists to journalists and educators — must be involved in building and implementing informed and responsible digital citizenship.
If the Centennial pillar of Communion calls me into shared responsibility with others, how does my own tendency toward judgment either hinder or help that cooperation—am I willing to listen, collaborate, and build together, or do I retreat into my own conclusions instead of participating in the common good?
2. Meditatio
Every March, my family engages in that most sacred of American liturgies: the bracket challenge.
We crown a champion not of holiness, but of judgment—the one who best predicts what will happen.
I have never won.
My strategy is what might be called theological optimism mixed with athletic bias. I pick Catholic schools out of loyalty, Texas A&M out of nostalgia, and higher seeds out of a misplaced trust in order.
This year presents a crisis of conscience: Texas A&M versus a Catholic school. And so I did what any confused disciple might do—I chose the Catholic underdog and called it virtue.
My bracket will likely collapse early, which is to say, it will resemble my spiritual life.
For if I am honest, my judgment of basketball teams is flawed—but my judgment of souls is far worse.
I have a remarkable ability to seed myself very highly.
I am, in my own estimation, at least a respectable number three seed—solid, experienced, with a decent chance of making a deep run into eternity.
Others, I am afraid, I place much lower.
And yet the Gospel today quietly ruins my bracket.
Jesus does not say that the highest seeds advance.
He says something far simpler—and far more unsettling:
“Those who have done good… those who have done wicked…”
Which means that the final judgment is not about my predictions, my affiliations, or even my intentions.
It is about what I have done with grace.
And grace, like March Madness, has a peculiar fondness for upsets.
Chesterton once observed that the problem with modern man is not that he thinks too little of himself, but that he thinks too much of his own opinions.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our tendency to judge others while quietly excusing ourselves.
We behave as though we are both the player and the committee—competing in the tournament while also selecting the seeds.
But Christ removes that illusion entirely.
He alone is Judge.
And the great twist of Christianity is this:
The Judge is the same One who died for the guilty.
Which means that judgment is not merely a verdict—it is an invitation.
An invitation to stop pretending we are the committee and start playing the game of grace.
4. Oratio
Lord Jesus,
You who are both Judge and Savior, teach me to trust your judgment more than my own.
Forgive me for the times I have ranked myself too highly and others too low.
Help me to see that every good I do is not my achievement, but your grace at work within me.
And when I stand before you at the end, let me not rely on my own seeding, but on your mercy.
Amen.
5. Actio — In Light of Laudato Si’ and Synodality
It sometimes happens that complete information is not put on the table; a selection is made on the basis of particular interests, be they politico-economic or ideological. This makes it difficult to reach a balanced and prudent judgment on different questions, one which takes into account all the pertinent variables.
This week, instead of judging others, I will practice synodality by listening—especially to someone I might normally dismiss or overlook.
True judgment belongs to Christ. Communion belongs to us.
6. Song Pairing 🎵
🎶 “Basketball” – Kurtis Blow🎵
A joyful celebration of the game—but also a reminder that even the best players don’t control the outcome. In life, as in basketball, the final score is not ours to declare.
7. Movie Pairing 🎬
🎬Movie: “Space Jam” (1996)
A story where the underdogs win not because of seeding, but because of unexpected help. A fitting parable: in the Kingdom of God, grace changes the game entirely.
Just listened to the latest episode of Spiritual Arms: Five Minutes for the Battle. Christianity begins with a wonderful paradox: the people most ready to approach God are the ones most aware they need mercy. Like the leper who simply said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” Josh reminds us that Jesus went to the Cross precisely for moments like that. In Confession, we bring Him our wounds, receive mercy, and then go back into the world carrying the love we did not deserve but were freely given. Five minutes very well spent.
Move over, celebrity sightings…this is a Sacred Heart sighting! ❤️ Duane and Theresa are popping up in parishes everywhere, helping families put Christ at the heart of their homes and spreading devotion that’s anything but half-hearted. But wherever they go, they’re on fire for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 🔥 In this episode, Duane and Theresa talk First Fridays, 12 powerful promises, and why enthroning your home might be the best “heart upgrade” you’ll ever make. Warning: Sacred Heart enthusiasm may be contagious. ❤️🔥
The Introverted Apostle: Small Group vs. Large Group Engagement Doosterhaus. Doisterhaus. Dusterhaus. However you pronounce it, Davlyn brought wisdom. 😄 Less noise and more depth in this week’s episode, Davlyn Duesterhaus unpacks introvert survival tips: start small, know your boundaries, make eye contact (occasionally), and why wholeness takes both introverts and extroverts. It’s not either/or…it’s both/and. Take a deep breath and say, “Okay, God, here we go!” ⛪😌 BONUS: We attempt to pronounce her name correctly.
My Story
Photo used by permission of Douglas Kirkland/Corbis via Getty Images
Memorial in the Grotto of St. Mary’s Cathedral. The inscription says: “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.“
I was one of “the few” Bishop Zurek spoke of in this letter. He first posted it in August of 2019, and in response to my, “calling out all the more“, he kept reposting it atop the diocesan news page until December 11, 2019. There it remains to this day.
Fr. Ed Graff, brought here from Philadelphia by Bishop Matthiesen, was arrested in 2002 for sexually assaulting a minor and died later that year in jail. Despite the harm linked to his ministry, he was buried in an honored section of Llano Cemetery among our pioneering clergy — a decision that continues to wound survivors and raise hard questions for our diocese.
A tribute to Bishop Matthiesen—now a complex symbol in our diocesan history, erected by former priest John Salazar, whose later abuse conviction reminds us how painful chapters of the Church’s past must be faced honestly as we seek healing and communion.
Bishop Matthiesen, who rode the white horse of public activism even as he brought abusive priests into our diocese such as John Salazar—wounds that still mark us today. I spoke with him often, pleading with him to reconsider his “no regrets” about bringing those priests here…
Bishop Zurek, who told the Diocese of Amarillo he had “no facts” about the Philadelphia report even as Amarillo’s connection to that tragedy was headline news. When I continued to speak out, as Bishop Yanta had once urged me to do, he later wrote that I was not among the faithful and loyal disciples whom the Lord Jesus desires.
While we recognize your thoughtful suggestion for a renewed dialogue on Bishop Matthiesen, the present circumstances do not present an opportunity for it. I think it would foster division not dialogue. We remain confident in God’s providence and hopeful for what the future may bring.
