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DiLorenzo restyles diocese, but after a year, some want pace of change quickened
BY ALBERTA LINDSEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
May 29, 2005
When people in the Catholic Diocese of Richmond go to Mass, they want a Roman Catholic Latin rite liturgy, says the Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo.
DiLorenzo, who just wound up his first year as the 12th bishop of the diocese, is seeing that his flock gets what it wants.
Soon after his installation, he reactivated the diocese’s liturgical commission and named the Very Rev. Russell E. Smith as diocesan theologian, a post that had been vacant since 1998.
Parishes cannot bring in a speaker from outside the diocese without Smith’s approval. Smith also will investigate and respond to parishioners who complain about liturgical abuses in a particular church.
These kinds of checks and controls were needed because some people in the diocese were used to living outside the traditional boundaries of Catholicism, DiLorenzo said. Self-monitoring is the ideal, but it wasn’t working, he added.
“There were endless letters of complaint about speakers coming in,” the bishop said. “I found that nobody paid attention to what were legitimate complaints. The diocesan theologian is there to answer people’s legitimate complaints. They have a right to have those complaints answered. They should not be dismissed.”
Those making unjustified complaints will also receive a reply, he said.
DiLorenzo would not cite examples of the complaints. “There are specific things, but that’s private between the diocesan theologian and the priest,” he added.
Reactivating the liturgical commission is one of several changes DiLorenzo has made since becoming the leader of the Richmond diocese. Other changes in- clude moving his residence from Cathedral Place to Midlothian, doing away with the diocesan sexual-minorities commission and increasing the number of clustered parishes…
Full article
BY ALBERTA LINDSEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
May 29, 2005
When people in the Catholic Diocese of Richmond go to Mass, they want a Roman Catholic Latin rite liturgy, says the Most Rev. Francis X. DiLorenzo.
DiLorenzo, who just wound up his first year as the 12th bishop of the diocese, is seeing that his flock gets what it wants.
Soon after his installation, he reactivated the diocese’s liturgical commission and named the Very Rev. Russell E. Smith as diocesan theologian, a post that had been vacant since 1998.
Parishes cannot bring in a speaker from outside the diocese without Smith’s approval. Smith also will investigate and respond to parishioners who complain about liturgical abuses in a particular church.
These kinds of checks and controls were needed because some people in the diocese were used to living outside the traditional boundaries of Catholicism, DiLorenzo said. Self-monitoring is the ideal, but it wasn’t working, he added.
“There were endless letters of complaint about speakers coming in,” the bishop said. “I found that nobody paid attention to what were legitimate complaints. The diocesan theologian is there to answer people’s legitimate complaints. They have a right to have those complaints answered. They should not be dismissed.”
Those making unjustified complaints will also receive a reply, he said.
DiLorenzo would not cite examples of the complaints. “There are specific things, but that’s private between the diocesan theologian and the priest,” he added.
Reactivating the liturgical commission is one of several changes DiLorenzo has made since becoming the leader of the Richmond diocese. Other changes in- clude moving his residence from Cathedral Place to Midlothian, doing away with the diocesan sexual-minorities commission and increasing the number of clustered parishes…
Full article