Why Are You Not Talking?

Your Excellency,

“If you remove from your midst

oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;

if you bestow your bread on the hungry

and satisfy the afflicted;

then light shall rise for you in the darkness,

and the gloom shall become for you like midday.”

Isiaiah 58:9-10

These words from from today’s First Reading reminded me of the politics that occurred this week in our nation’s capital. I had to ask myself if this was what Pope Francis had in mind a few weeks ago when he told you and the other bishops of Region X,

“…teach your people discernment by you stepping back from the sheer politics of it…”

Unfortunately, it seems you have placed your lamp “under a bushel basket” by not sharing any thoughts about our recent “ad limina”, and your Diocese of Amarillo remains in the dark about what the Holy Father meant.

This is the reason I did not contribute to today’s Second Collection for, The West Texas Catholic.

“Another concern is in the form of a question: why is it that everyone
seems to believe everything that appears on a social media page, and worse,
may pass it on as truth. It appears that the Gospel is forgotten. Or friendship
gets in the way of truth and being an ambassador for Christ.”

Bishop Zurek, “A Reflection on Christian Life”

With these words you summarized your feelings about social media and why you choose not to utilize it as many other of your brother bishops of Region X do. However accurate these thoughts may be, it does not relieve you of your responsibility to communicate with your spouse, of which your ring is a symbol of our marriage.

On your return last Sunday to your Cathedral you mentioned nothing of your visit to the tombs of Peter and Paul. In recent months we have been hearing less and less from you in your own publication, The West Texas Catholic. In the most recent edition and on the Diocesan News website we heard from several other bishops of Region X, but not from you.

Why are you not communicating with your spouse?

• Are you tired of the dialogue? You did say in your letter cited above, “A further concern, even if an explanation is given, is that it is always summarily dismissed; and then another false narrative appears. It never ends.”
• Are you operating on a belief stated in the same letter that, “We lose the capacity to realize that ‘I, as a lay person, do not always have all the knowledge’ while it is quite probable that the deacon, priest or bishop has a much fuller picture of what is actually happening.”?
• Perhaps you are choosing to “hunker in your bunker” until you retire and minister only to a small group, preferring to share your experiences with committed laity who serve you in an autonomous way?

Whatever the reason the results for, The West Texas Catholic, is that it has lost “its taste” and …

“It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

Matthew 5:13

Therefore, I urge you to resume your conversations and interviews in, “The West Texas Catholic”, both the print and audio versions and do as Pope Francis advised, “To teach discernment, including on political issues.

Sincerely your faithful salt and light,

Darrell