EXCERPTS FROM BISHOP LYNCH’S HOLY WEEK HOMILY
Is it not possible that the Church and perhaps even we ordained have become too comfortable, too rich in a way, that we are no longer either the voice or stewards of the Church for the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the vulnerable, the naked and the imprisoned….
In this local Church, there are approximately 115,000 illegals. For the most part they are working, for below subsistence wages and because of their illegal status they are not accessing social services. They are in baptism overwhelmingly our brothers and sisters in the faith. Where are our voices against the proposed draconian legislation passed by the House of Representatives which in its present form could make this diocese and me a felon for our mobile health car van moving among the camps providing minimal primary medical care? Where is our vocal support for Father Demetrio Lorden and Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, whose whole parish can be deported if this legislation passes. All of our priests and religious are at risk if they choose to offer the love of Christ to an illegal, and so are our dedicated generous lay women and men.…
This whole week we focus until Easter Sunday on the death of an innocent man. We know that innocent men and perhaps women have already been executed in this country. The Sanhedrin and the Romans probably got away with executing Jesus precisely because he was a poor man who could not afford an attorney to call witnesses in his behalf and make the case for his innocence. Sometimes on this issue I think the Church acts more like the apostles in retreat and in hiding than like the great prophets of old. Have we lost our soul for this part of our ministry? Are we afraid to speak as Pope John Paul did, against the war in Iraq which costs us the lives of too many of our young women and men? Have we lost our soul’s thirst for justice in these times?
My prayer and my firm belief is that we have not lost our soul but maybe our voices….