Holy Saturday
Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise.
From an ancient homily for Holy Saturday
CHAPTER 5
A BETTER KIND OF POLITICS
Social and Political Charity
The politics we need
177. Here I would once more observe that “politics must not be subject to the economy, nor should the economy be subject to the dictates of an efficiency-driven paradigm of technocracy”.[158] Although misuse of power, corruption, disregard for law and inefficiency must clearly be rejected, “economics without politics cannot be justified, since this would make it impossible to favour other ways of handling the various aspects of the present crisis”.[159] Instead, “what is needed is a politics which is far-sighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis”.[160] In other words, a “healthy politics… capable of reforming and coordinating institutions, promoting best practices and overcoming undue pressure and bureaucratic inertia”.[161] We cannot expect economics to do this, nor can we allow economics to take over the real power of the state.
The United Catholic Appeal was established in 1981 to replace an antiquated system of assessing so much money per person. That structure traditionally provided diocesan financial resources.
Amarillo Diocesan Web Page
How is the, “antiquated system” of 1981 different from what we have today?
In order to find an answer to this question I will follow the example of Bishop Zurek, who has taken up quoting from Miriam Webster in his Holy Week homilies because, “…she seems to have it down.”
outmoded or discredited by reason of age : old and no longer useful, popular, or accepted
The Miriam Webster Dictionary’s Definition of Antiquated
That pretty much sounds like the UCA to me!
Poor pastoral decisions over recent years placed St. Mary’s Cathedral in a crisis well before the pandemic occurred. As a result our parish enters this year’s UCA having to pay off more than a third of what the current assessment is before we can even start paying off an assessment which does not take into consideration the dramatic damage caused by the crisis or the pandemic.
When the sheep are over shorn to cover the mistakes of the shepherd, then clearly the UCA is, “outmoded or discredited… ” and certainly not Catholic, according to Fratelli Tutti.
Catholic Bicycle 
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