[Sundaycommunity] Czerny on De Roo

[Dave Snelgrove]

Thank you Arthur.  The highlighted ideas are worth printing out and keeping
close by.  We were blessed to have a Bishop of such fine character and
steadfast ideas, based on the essence of Vatican Two.  Rosemary

On Sun, Feb 13, 2022 at 6:44 PM Rita Shaughnessy via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> Thanks Art. Didn’t know much about Bishop De Roo. Sounds like a great man.
> Our Church needs more like him.
> Rita
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Feb 13, 2022, at 11:43 AM, Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <
> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
> 
>
> Roo – Victoria, Feb 12, 2022
>
> I speak to you today as one who was fortunate to get to know Bishop Remi
> De Roo and be inspired and challenged by him. We knew each other through
> the second half of his long life. So, I am speaking to you now about an
> admired friend. I also bring you the warm greetings of Pope Francis, who
> joins us in mourning and thanksgiving, and who sends his blessing.
>
>
> Remi De Roo was 38 when Pope John XXIII made him a bishop in October 1962
> – thus, the youngest bishop in the world, and the first sent to the
> Victoria diocese who was born in Western Canada. He attended all four
> sessions of Vatican II.
>
> Remi came across as decisive, frank and even abrasive at times. He was
> also complex, controversial, and faithful to his convictions until the end.
> Above all he was a Council Father who dedicated his subsequent 55 years
> to continually rediscovering what it means to live as a Council Christian
> and as a Council Church ... and now indeed as a Synodal Church.
>
>
> Bishop Remi called himself "a pilgrim of the Second Vatican Council".
>
>
>  It decisively shaped both his unwavering vision and his lifelong
> mission. His conciliar conscience found expression in various directions,
> but above all it became concrete in his constant habits of proximity and
> closeness, encounter and engagement. He believed that the Church in
> Canada should divest itself of its instinctual suspicion of the modern
> world, and instead always seek to dialogue with contemporary culture, to
> accompany the path of ongoing cultural and social transformation, and to
> enlighten society with the "living substance" of the Gospel.
>
>
> I believe that the following elements were key to Bishop Remi’s pastoral
> choices:
>
>
> ● The decision to visit the indigenous communities of his diocese, with
> whom he maintained a sincere bond of friendship throughout his life.
> ● His commitment to the promotion of social justice, which led him - as
> chairman of the Canadian bishops' social justice committee - to question
> the political world about its social policies and the business community
> about its responsibilities.
> ● Encouraging lay people to become aware of their dignity as baptized
> persons and of the responsibilities they were called to play in the Church
> as protagonists of the apostolate, not merely as recipients of the
> proclamation.
> ● Promoting the role of women; rejecting the patriarchal models that
> confine them to subordinate positions and offend their human and
>  baptismal dignity.
> ● Finally, the care given to ordained ministers who had chosen to leave
> the ministry. Against the stigmatization that made them reprobates and outcasts,
> Bishop Remi manifested a Church that knows how to be "mother" to all.
>
> Bishop De Roo’s progressive stances and apostolic service were greatly
> appreciated by some and greatly disparaged by others. He remained constant
> in spite of a degree of marginalization and hostility, even within the
> Church. Difficulties of a different order arose in the administration of
> the goods of the diocese of Victoria. In response to the criticisms, a
> friend of his wrote a whole book about his “Vindication” with the sub-title
> “Political Sea-change in the Catholic Church”.
>
> What of us here, now? When confronted with the death of a life-long
> brother, let alone one of our senior elders, our faith in the Risen Lord
> spurs us to reflect on ourselves and to remember that Divine Judgment
> takes place in the here and now, in our daily decisions about Christ, with
> or without him, for or against him.
>
>
> Our farewell for Bishop De Roo questions us about our adherence to the
> Lord Jesus who said “When I was hungry you gave me to eat". We mustn’t
> just sit here. Let us review our lives on both the individual and ecclesial
> levels. Let us give thanks for Vatican II and align with its mission of
> evangelization. Let us recall
>
>
> ● that above all, collegiality is made up of closeness, openness to
> dialogue, patience, and a cordial welcome that does not condemn.
> ● that belonging to the Church today is based more than ever on fidelity
> to the Council and on attention to the human heart, to community, to the
> common home, with ears and eyes attentive to the "signs of the times" that
> continually reveal the presence of the One to Come.
> ● that the rediscovery of synodality must inject new energy into every
> area of pastoral response: catechetics, liturgy, family, employment,
> justice, culture, social life, charity, ...
>
> Let us recall too that if we affiliate with elites instead of trusting in
> the Lord and opting for the poor; if we huddle for assurance within our
> own closed groups instead of going out to the existential peripheries;
> then we end up far from the people of God and outside of real communion with the
> Catholic Church.
>
> The time is now to reflect, meditate and pray on all these things,
> whether we are young in the Church or approaching 98 years of vigorous
> age. The words of Pope Francis two Sundays ago, to a group of lay people
> engaged in catechesis, are an excellent guide to this moment, this time:
>
>
> ● “This is the time to be the artisans of open communities that know how
> to value the talents of each person.
> ● It is a time for free and disinterested missionary communities, which
> do not seek prominence and advantage, but rather walk the paths of the
> people of our time, stooping to tend to those on the margins.
> ● It is a time for communities that look disappointed young people in the
> eye, that welcome strangers and give hope to the disheartened.
> ● It is a time for communities that fearlessly engage in dialogue with
> those with different ideas.
> ● It is a time for communities that, like the Good Samaritan, know how to
> approach those wounded by life, to bind their wounds with compassion.”
>
> The Holy Father could easily have had our beloved Bishop Remi in mind
> when, with a certain tough love, he spelled out these challenges. With the
> intercession of our beloved ancestor, let us – even with the risk of being,
> once in a while, just a little bit irritating – embrace them with firm
> resolve and inextinguishable hope! Amen.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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