1 /5 Jose: SB Diocese, SB Diocese, Why have you forsaken us?
I echo the sentiments Jesus last spoke as he was crucified by his people in response to how the Diocese of San Bernardino has foresaken its people in Riverside, Ca. A cornerstone of the work of Vatican II was to understand the Church’s need to celebrate Mass in the language of the local congregation to appropriately and effectively “get closer to the people of God so that they could understand well what it does, and this is important for us” Pope Francis, 2015.
St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Riverside, CA has a Parochial Vicar- Celestine Afugwobi who fails at bringing the Word of God to our community. He is unable to effectively communicate in either in English or Spanish to be able to share the Good News. He leaves our community to the time prior to Vatican II where God’s people did not understand the language of the Sacraments being celebrated. This is a huge disservice to his flock. Besides being unintelligible, Celestine’s primary focus is evident: his hometown and his people back in his home country. Celestine does not promote the well-being or development of his community in Riverside but rather capitalizes on ways to extract funding and resources from his home community to take back to his home country. We need a priest focused on improving and developing our community, not one looking to exploit us for the benefit of his friends and family back at home.
