Here's something to "anchorage" you, as the Pope says: an article about reform moves by Richmond's new bishop.
- hiring auditors to keep parish and school finances sound
- having speakers at parish events screened by theologian Fr. William Smith
- a commitment to have parishes implement the Roman Missal correctly
- dumping a commission on "sexual minorities"
- turning over the bishop's three-story residence to become office space while he moves to a smaller home in the suburbs
- devoting a priest to full-time work in developing vocations
When people in the Catholic Diocese of Richmond go to Mass, they want a Roman Catholic Latin rite liturgy, says the Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo.Wow! A bishop who not only gets it: he's willing to say it! God bless him!
"There were endless letters of complaint about speakers coming in," the bishop said. "I found that nobody paid attention to what were legitimate complaints. The diocesan theologian is there to answer people's legitimate complaints. They have a right to have those complaints answered. They should not be dismissed."
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. It has been a black mark on the Commonwealth to have so many abuses overlooked. Virginia has many people of deep Christian faith who could be reached (although the D.C. suburbs are about one-quarter Catholic, the rest of the state is less than one-tenth Catholic.) Placing "social justice" -- really secular politics -- above the Gospel doesn't appeal to many people.
What a breath of fresh air! I've lived in the Diocese of Richmond for over 15 yeas and for most of that time I've had to "grin and bear it" at Mass. OK, I didn't always grin.
Well, truth be told, the changes aren't quite as drastic as the article makes out.
The "say it" is definitely there; the "do something about it" is sometimes there, sometimes not. For example, if any speaker has been "refused" under the new review policy, I'm not aware of it.
Still a vast improvement, though.
Remember that it takes a long time to turn a ship around.
Those of us in the Diocese of Richmond who have suffered long are like people waking up from a bad dream! We also hear that the Bishop wants to find out what all those apparatchiks at the Chancery actually do and is getting them to justify their existence. This should be very interesting.....
And then there was the lady who he asked to leave the Diocesan Women's Commission because she was on the Women's Ordination Conference Board. He told her that her being on the Diocesan Commission would be like Hebrew University in Jerusalem offering a professorship to someone in Hamas. I love this guy!!!!!
Mio, Bishop DiLorenzo has already done some very concrete things: abolishing a mischevous commission, setting up a review policy for speakers, and reforming diocesan financial affairs. Those are not small things. Rome wasn't converted in a day....