New bishop will lead Catholics during period of change

By Chris Moore
Beaumont Enterprise
August 19, 2020

https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/New-bishop-will-lead-Catholics-during-period-of-15494092.php

Msgr. David Toups listens as Bishop Curtis Guillory speaks before a gathering of priests and others to announce his retirement and introduce Toups, who was selected by Pope Francis to be his predecessor in leading the Diocese of Beaumont. Msgr. Toups, also a native of Louisiana, will be ordained as Bishop at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica August 21. He will be the first leader of the diocese to be ordained a Bishop at the church. Photo taken Tuesday, June 9, 2020 Photo by Kim Brent

Bishop-elect David Toups, whose ordination Friday will put him in charge of the Catholic community in Southeast Texas, arrives during what many foresee as a time of dramatic change for the church both globally and locally.

The challenges include reversing an ongoing decline in the number of priests, addressing the role of gender in the church, and rebuilding trust after a massive sex-abuse scandal that has cost the church hundreds of millions of dollars and done untold damage to its reputation.

The Rev. Luis Urriza of Beaumont has seen much change in his 76 years as a priest, most of it at Cristo Rey Church, which he helped build on Avenue A.

He knows more change is ahead, and he believes rebuilding the ranks of the priesthood must be a priority.

Urriza, 99, thinks that sometime “down the road” the church will even consider allowing priests to marry. He says he would not necessarily oppose such a change.

“Not right now,” he said in a recent interview. “In some years, down the road, maybe.”

Discussions about expanding women’s roles in the church already are happening at the highest levels. Pope Francis said during a Vatican summit last year that he would explore the possibility of female deacons. In April, the pontiff created a commission to study the possibility.

Sister Martha Kirk, a professor emerita of Religious Studies at the University of the Incarnate Word, said the church must evolve in its position.

Kirk, also a charter member of Women’s Ordination, which has worked since 1975 for women’s equality within the church, cited multiple studies over the last decade indicating millennial Catholics, especially women, are less likely to attend church than members of earlier generations.

“Leadership needs to be thinking about these things,” Kirk said. “Leadership is learning. Pope Francis is willing to listen to the scientists who say we are devastating the environment and it is going to kill us. Is a bishop willing to look at the quantitative and qualitative research that says that we know about these thousands of women in the U.S.? It must be millions of women all over the world.”

She recalled the beginning of Women’s Ordination 45 years ago.

“More than 2,000 of us got together in Detroit, Michigan, and said, ‘Why can’t women be deacons in the Catholic Church?’” Kirk said. “ … Hundreds of people heard from the best scholars and psychologists and counselors say there is no real solid reason why women can’t be ordained priest. The most we can say is that we have never done it before.”

Urriza also believes the sprawling sex abuse scandal involving priests continues to resonate with people nearly two decades since the details began gushing forth. As recently as last year, Catholic officials across Texas released the names of 286 priests, living and dead, they found credibly accused of molesting children and young adults over the years.

Among them were 13 priests accused in the nine-county Diocese of Beaumont. Longtime Bishop Curtis Guillory, like his counterparts around the state, issued a letter of apology.

“It’s something I can’t even put into words,” Urriza said.

For many, the Catholic Church is seen as progressive on issues related to global warming, immigration, social economics and the need to end systemic racism.

Kirk and others seek change in matters related to gender as well.

“I want to say the tradition of the church is the gospel of John,” Kirk said. “The Gospel of John reflects the leadership of women within that first century. Mary Magdalene is the apostles’ apostle. She is sent to proclaim that Christ has risen and help the men who are confused and fearful. The first evangelist is the Samaritan woman who Jesus talks to at the well. He gives her the mission to go back and tell people stories about him.”

She is encouraged by Francis’ willingness to look into the idea of women deacons.

“A couple of days after Easter,” she said, “Pope Francis gave a sermon where he said something to the effect of reading the gospels about the resurrection. He said this is the time that we, the church, need to go to the women. I think he was saying that on many levels.”

Urriza said not addressing the shrinking ranks of priests will compound existing problems.

“We would have to change many things in the church,” he said. “The Masses would have to combine, or the priests would have to work more Masses, maybe. Then, you worry about their health if they are working too much. There are many parishes without priests.”

The outreach must start with young people, he said, while acknowledging that he does not know exactly what that outreach might look like.