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Upcoming Speakers
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Chris Lewis "Learning God's Work: Even If You Grew Up In Show Business Hollywood" February 24, 2012  |
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Teresa Tomeo "TBD" March 23, 2012  |
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Tentative - Lydia Fisher "Cinderella of Wall Street" October 19, 2012  |
To be truthful, I had a hard time staying awake during the talk which was not organized as well as most of his talks. The discussion turned ugly because of two individuals who were miffed by no response to their inquiries. They had no place in this forum, and I hope somehow you can get the word out just how inappropriate they were. Bishop Jaime tried to put them off but they were both bad actors.
I was pleased that Bishop Soto made himself available at such a forum, but wish his remarks had been much shorter - allowing more time for Q&A. With respect to the two outspoken attendees, folks like that should have been anticipated and can easily be handled by staff on the spot - and could have been screened in advance since the identity and bio of each person attending was known in advance. In fact, the gentleman with the demand/question about unrestricted availability of communion is well known to anyone who reads the Catholic Herald, since it has published probably dozens of his letters which were equally objectionable as his comments at the forum. Again, that's what staff is for.
I very much admire and support the Bishop and hope that he will do many such events. His charismatic leadership not only guides and inspires diocesan Catholics, but has the potential to do the same for our secular, civic culture as well.
As a long-time attendee at almost all of the group’s meals—breakfasts originally and lunches now—I was also disgusted with the behavior of two members of the group who used the question-and-answer session as a vehicle for their own personal ax-grinding. Granted, it was only a couple of people who were so inappropriate, but I still found it an embarrassment to all the rest of us who would never want to put our Bishop on the spot. The secular world does enough of that already. The 3x5 cards we filled out for questions were a good idea--too bad they were not collected and used to screen the questioners ahead of time.
I look forward to Bishop Soto's next visit with us.
I am continually impressed with Bishop Soto's ability to navigate so well along the center line of the broad road we call Catholicism. While not commenting on his own views on the new English translation, for example (something that he should not be expected to do in a public forum), he used the topic to shepherd his flock toward the opportunity for catechesis on the Liturgy of the Mass that the implementation of new language precipitates. Wonderful!
I agree with the previous commentors, that more time might have been spent on the Q&A (since that was a major marketing point for the session) and that collecting, screening, and addressing the questions on the 3x5 cards would have hopefully minimized the use of that limited time by the three attendees with individual, personal issues.
We so appreciate all of your comments and feedback. I enjoyed Bishop Soto's remarks and appreciate his wonderful facility "to shephard his flock toward catechesis." In this particular venue, perhaps his endearing qualities of approachability and openess stymied our best intentions to ensure a broader range of questions from the audience. He opted not to use the cards, but rather randomly call on questioners. Perhaps next time. I love it that Bishop is not only generous with his time, but engages with the Sacramento Catholic Forum.