Bishop Letter, Plus Posts.
Bishop Letter
I reciently received a copy of a very interesting letter from Bishop Pena that was addressed to Mr. Homero Basaldua, State Representative for Texas Federation of Teachers/AFT. I have the original, but it didn't scan well, so I have retyped from the original.
Kanickers~
September 9, 2003
Mr. Homero Basaldua
State Representative
Texas Federation of Teachers/ATF
1500 Dove Avenue
McAllen, Texas 78501
Dear Mr. Basaldua:
Thank you for your correspondence urging the Diocese of Brownsville to endorse the union contracts signed by four parishes in the diocese, and please accept my apologies for the delay in my response. One of my secretaries has been ill and we fell behind in our correspondence.
First, allow me to underscore my own personal commitment to social justice and to collective bargaining on the part of labor. In this particular case, because of some of the issues involved, I feel that I need clarification from higher church authority, before making a final determination, and I will seek that clarity.
In the meantime, we have offered the affected employees full reinstatement, independent of the union contract. We have assured them that if the church or the civil court were to invalidate the contract, their reinstatement would not be affected. They would continue to be employed by the parish.
For your information, I enclose copies of our diocesan and parish salary scales, vacation and holiday schedules, health care and retirement benefits, provision for sick and emergency leave, etc. Through our diocesan synod, we are also in the process of developing a policy that will protect the employees, as well as the new pastor, whenever a change of pastors occurs in a parish.
Thank you for your interest and concern and may God bless you with his peace.
Sincerely,
Bishop of Brownsville
Request for Copy of New Policy
Dear Bishop Pena,
By return E-Mail, please furnish me with a copy of the new policy which, according to the above correspondence, was in development almost 2-years ago to provide protection to parish employees when a new pastor is assigned to their parish. Many of my readers would be very interested in reading it!
Thank You.
Kanickers~
Who ordered the Tribunal anyway?
Interesting! It seems that all this time we have been giving Fr. Brum credit for instigating the Tribunal thing. According to this letter, it has been the Bishop’s idea all along…
One good thing, I guess this letter also pretty much solidifies the employment positions of the “fired four”. Damn good thing,… if he ever so much as even thought about firing any of them again, the parishioners at Holy Spirit would bring the roof down on him!
~A Watchful Parishioner
Another great newsletter!
Thank you for the time and effort of everyone who contributes and puts it together.
Jose Moya's account of how he was removed from the ministry he loved so much is the story of many at Holy Spirit. It saddens me deeply to see how nothing has changed after so many attempts at reconciliation. The arrogance of the Diocesan perpetrators of injustice and of our “supposed to be pastor" is dispersing and loosing sheep all over the place.
Thank you, Jose, for the courage to stand up and speak truth to injustice. Many times I have also been tempted to say, "just let It go". It would be so much easier to move on into the comforts of my own routines.
But, then I remember the Jesus that I love and strive to imitate, the Jesus that spoke truth to injustice, the Jesus that challenged and condemned the church and government leaders of his time. For this, He was murdered. So why should true followers expect less? To imitate Christ is not easy and the reward will not come from this world.
Let us all keep our light burning to help each other find that light within us and to help others see the light.
~A Parishioner
Hooray for Jose…
Sad to say that since the destruction of our previous “vibrant” parish, most of our remaining parishioners are the “one-hour-per-week” type that are usually unaware of all of the “stuff” that is going on behind the scenes at the parish!
Actions such as those taken by Jose Moya at the 8:30 Mass on July 27, 2005, is at least a means of letting those unsuspecting folks know that things are not exactly right on the home front.
That,... and continuing the "Food For Peace" program and placing signs of protest on the inside of your automobile windshield while you are attending Mass! But please take heed, our pastor has security write down your license number, then he will kick you off any parish ministries!
Wow, what a parish we now have!
Sign Me: Disgusted!
Note: If you would like to contribute a posting or a comment to this site, please send it to: kanickers@aol.com, with "Holy Spirit" in your title line. You may also e-mail this article to a friend, simply by clicking on the little envelope icon below!
