The Wenski Era

Well, June 1st has now arrived, and with that comes the hurricane season. But enough about that routine. Today also marks the beginning of (hopefully) a new era in the Archdiocese of Miami. If you have followed my blog in the past, you would know that I have not been a big fan of outgoing Archbishop John Favalora. Yes, I know it is not a very popular thing to say in public to the Catholic community of South Florida. However, I am not a big fan of how he handled situation regarding the now Episcopalian Reverend Alberto Cutie a year ago. I am also not a big fan of his rigorous adherence to Catholic orthodoxy.
Not that it's bad to staunchly follow the beliefs of your church if you truly believe them. Ever since I converted to Roman Catholicism from the Southern Baptist Conference a few years ago, I too can be considered to be a staunch follower of the Catholic Christian belief system.
The problem is the narrow-mindedness, or the apparent narrow-mindedness that shuts the door off to other Christians. I remember all too well how Archbishop Favalora blasted the local Episcopalian leader for accepting Fr. Cutie into their church. Wouldn't us Catholics do the same? If a popular non-Catholic preacher, be he an evangelical Southern Baptist, or a liturgical Episcopalian, wanted to leave his church, wouldn't our Church welcome him with open arms? Wouldn't we want to tell him, "our house is yours too"?
Anyways, enough about Favalora. While we can learn from history, we need to worry about what happens in the future. Thomas Wenski is the new face for that future, at least locally. I am very excited about what this installment means for our South Florida Christian community. That's right. Not just the Catholic community, but for all Christians.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have a strong indication of what purpose God has created me for. That purpose is for ecumenism. All the life experiences I've endured, the people who I am surrounded by in an almost weekly basis, and the circumstances that I have found myself in recent years points to that one conclusion. If that changes in the future, I'm sure there will be signs for me to look out for. With Wenski's installment to replace John Favalora, the Catholic Church in Miami has a new leader who has a history of being very open to intra-Christian ecumenism. Check out this column he wrote as Bishop of the Archdiocese of Orlando.
In a nutshell, I am excited about what God has in store for our city. With all of these pieces coming together, it is so evident to me, if not to you, that God is working wonders in South Florida. All these events make it evident that the words of Chris Tomlin's popular worship song is ringing truer than ever in South Florida. Indeed "Greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city..."
Let the Wenski Era begin.