Open letter to All Parishioners
Dear Fellow Holy Spirit Parishioners:
All of us originally welcomed Father Louis Brum to Holy Spirit Parish with hopes that he would help us unite and rebuild our parish. We placed faith in our Bishop to provide us with a pastor that would encourage healing and would unite us.
In all honesty, I feel that Father Brum has failed miserably at uniting us. His attitude and actions since his arrival seem to have been aimed more towards dividing us, then uniting us. Just look at how we are all now bickering among ourselves! What are we doing to ourselves?
Father Louis' attitude towards certain parishioners has been an extremely difficult thing for me to understand. I too am still searching for answers. I ask you to please help me understand!
Why would a new priest, coming into a new parish, be so adamant about isolating a specific person or group? Just because they disagree or voice their opinion? Is that a reason to exclude someone from participation or from serving their church? And why has he been so closed to meeting with parishioners to hear their concerns? How can we be expected to show much reverence to someone that supports this kind of attitude? Do you agree with his methods? I am really having trouble with this. Can someone help me understand?
Also, is Father Louis ever going to address problems concerning our parish out in the open? Why do we need all this secrecy? Is this not OUR parish? Do we NOT have a right to know what financial position our parish is in? Are our collections meeting expenses? Do we operate under a budget? Where is our money going? Who has a copy of our budget? Do we still have a Finance Committee? Who are its members? Do we still have a Parish Counsel? Who are its members? Have they been elected or were they appointed? Are we going to loose some of our parishioners to Father Bob's North 10th church? Where are the new parish boundries going to be? Is a Catholic School being considered for Holy Spirit? Who is in charge of our parish? Is this the kind of management ability we can expect in the future?
And, why has Father Louis not made any effort what so ever to repair the divisions that exist among us? Isn't that what the pastor of any other Catholic parish would do? Are we not all Catholics that love and serve the same Lord? Are we not all one body? Is there not room for all of us at Christ's table? Wouldn't that be the attitude of every other Catholic priest that you have ever met in your entire life? What is wrong with this one?
I get the feeling something is very wrong here. Worried that there is much more to this than can be seen from the surface. What are the real reasons behind all of this? I think we better start asking more questions!
I would welcome your comments in the spirit of Christ's teachings.
Kanickers~
LABOR DAY 2005 PILGRIMAGE FOR JUSTICE
JOIN THE FARM WORKERS AND OTHER LABOR UNION WORKERS TO HONOR WORKING PEOPLE OF THE VALLEY THIS LABOR DAY, 2005.
- START LOCATION: McAllen Archer Park, 100 North Main, just north of Business 83.
- START TIME: 8:00 AM, Monday, Sept. 5, 2005
- ENDING AT: Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan, Arrival Time: 11:00 AM, in time for a religious service that will start shortly after our arrival.
Bring your rosaries and your banners of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Joseph the Worker. This is a pilgrimage to pray for justice for all working people.
Friends and fellow parishioners:
This is not a time for our parish to be divided. We must all strive to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church and to practice the teachings of Christ.
As Catholics (and as Americans) we must support the rights of ALL workers to belong to a union, should they elect to do so, and it is imperative that we unite to show our bishop that we expect him to adhere to current Church teachings. Please join us in our support!
~Kanickers
September 3, 2005
Dear Father Louie,
After attending the meeting for Extra-Ordinary ministers of the Eucharist on Monday evening, August 29, I came away asking myself the question, “What would Jesus have done?” He used a meal to initiate the Eucharist, with his disciples gathered around. I don’t imagine that he asked them to kneel or had a list of qualifications for the participants.
They were ordinary men, and possibly women who choose to follow him. There are no accounts in the scriptures of anyone who reached out to Jesus, being turned away. These men were not without sin, some had doubts and misunderstandings of Jesus’ message. Jesus did not ask them to leave, not even the one who Jesus knew would betray him. What would Jesus say about all the rules that were proposed? His meal was so simple.
As the crowd shouted to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ “Sit down. Sit down,” the shouts echoed in my ears like the crowd shouting “Crucify him, crucify him!” It breaks my heart that as Christians, we can treat one another this way.
Why are our leaders not encouraging us to respect one another’s convictions and work for unity and understanding of our diversity? What would Jesus have done?
In John 13, 34, Jesus gave us a new commandment, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
It was hard to see much love for each other in the meeting Monday night. How many of us would be recognized as his disciples? Jesus said to Peter, if you love me, “Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my Sheep.”
I pray daily that we can come together as Christians, with forgiveness and love, so that we can all be disciples as Jesus wants us to be.
~Your sister in Christ
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