Posted on 02/18/2006 5:48:50 PM PST by sanormal
When Archbishop José Gomez asked retired Valero Energy Corp. President Edward Benninger who could help the Archdiocese of San Antonio streamline its budget, Benninger gave him three names.
"Edward Benninger" was on the list.
The archbishop Friday tabbed Benninger to fill the newly created job of vice chancellor for administration. Benninger will be looking for ways to bring modern business practices to the work of the archdiocese starting Monday.
"There are always ways to do thing better," Benninger said. "If you look hard at any operation, you see ways you make it more efficient."
There's plenty to put a pencil to. The archdiocese has total assets of almost $340 million, with $263 million of that tied up in land, buildings and equipment. It holds $64.5 million in cash.
The archdiocese serves 800,000 Catholics in 122 parishes that stretch from Del Rio to Fredericksburg and east to Gonzales.
Benninger, 63, said he anticipates putting in 10-hour workdays to start. "We're stewards of a lot of money and a lot of assets," he said. "It's quite significant in size."
For the rest http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/religion/stories/MYSA021806.14A.ArchdioceseBenninger.21eb8acc.html
(Excerpt) Read more at mysanantonio.com ...
This is what should be happening everywhere. Laypeople are not meant to be up on the altar but out in the world doing what they do best, particularly if they have skills to help the Church. There were literally 22 (yes, twenty two) laypeople up there with the priest at last Sunday's Mass in my local parish. That's not their job.
Having know Archbishop Gomez back when he was "Father Jose", I would trust his judgment implicitly.
Do you trust his judgement regarding open immigration and open borders, too?
I readily confess that I have not followed his thinking on that.
On the general subject, it seems from what little I can remember having read, that Pope John Paul used to say at one time that free immigration was (or was akin to) a right of persons, inherent in their dignity as such, but then he would say in other contexts that each people have a right to their own culture, which for me is the crux of the immigration issue (money matters are more complex, but would seem ultimately to be solvable). It seems almost as if these two concepts are irreconcilable.
I have thought about this a little bit, however, and would venture the hypothesis that perhaps our late Holy Father was really thinking about immigration the way it was always done until the most recent times, whereby the immigrant was welcomed into the host country, but on the impicit understanding that the immigrant abandoned his allegiance to the old country, adopted an attitude of allegiance and patriotism as to the host country, AND adopted the language and customs of the host country. E.g Ruth and other immigrants in the Old Testament ("your people will be my people" etc.). Except of course in certain matters, the most important one being that a Catholic should not be compelled to foresake the Faith for a non-Catholic religion in a host country (and maybe this applies to religion in general).
Just a few thoughts, anyway.
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