News - September 2019

Over the course of his pontificate, Pope Francis has in varied ways called on the faithful to be a Church that takes seriously the lived experience of all human beings. Early on he gave us the image of the Church as a field hospital, exhorting us to listen to and bind the wounds of those who are hurt, in any manner of speaking.

In last week’s pastoral letter, I recalled sharing with you at Pentecost one of the traits of my ideal parish – that parishioners feel seen, feel that we feel that we belong to one another in some way. That same day, I introduced our Be Seen books, inviting everyone to share with me and with our community – either anonymously or with your name – the holy desires for our parish faith community given to us that live in our individual hearts.

I was asked to give a talk to the Thomas More Society of Catholic lawyers in San Francisco on sensible and just immigration reform. Our present immigration system is neither just or working. As Tom Jawetz, the VicePresident for Immigration Policy at American Progresstestified at a field hearing on immigration reform: “ Our current immigration system does not work for families who are trying to reunite but face wait times that can last many years or even decades. It does not work for businesses that must meet the needs of American consumers and get workers they need while also honoring workers’ rights. It does not work for intending immigrants—laborers, entrepreneurs and others—who want to play by the rules, earn a goodliving and give their children a brighter future. These are values we celebrate as undergirding the American dream.

At the combined 10:00 a.m. Mass on the Solemnity of Pentecost last June, I shared with you that one feature of my ideal parish is one in which parishioners feel seen – or heard or noticed or known. Choose the verb; you get the idea.

I have carefully read, outlined, took notes on and went back three or four times to Rohr’s latest book. On the book jacket Bono says of The Universal Christ: “ Rohr sees Christ everywhere and not just in people. He reminds us that the first incarnation of God is in Creation itself, and he tells us that ‘ God loves things by becoming them’. Just for that sentence and there are many more, I cannot put this book down.” Rohr asks us for a mystical or experiential knowing of Christ, not just a theoretical or dogmatic one. He asserts that the risen Christ is ubiquitous and eternal. Christ is the name for the transcendent within everything in the universe.