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June
1997 Roman Catholic Faithful, P.O. Box 109, Petersburg,
IL. 62675
(217-632-5920) (Fax 217-632-7054)
Heavenly
Father, we ask Your blessing on our efforts. Show us the
way to spread the Truth of the Catholic faith in the
midst of error and infidelity. Fill our hearts with
authentic love for our priests, bishops and all the
clergy, a love that moves us to unceasing prayer for
their souls and to constant exhortation to faithfully
fulfill their sacred task of preaching the Whole Truth of
the Catholic Faith without compromise.
Grant
us wisdom in our deliberations, courage in promoting the
truth, prudence in exposing error, and Charity in all the
things we do. Bless our Holy Father the Pope by granting
him loyalty and fidelity from the bishops and all the
clergy of the church.
We
ask these things through the intercession
of our Holy Mother Mary.
INDEX:
[ The Wanderer Interviews
Father Malachi Martin ] [
Fr. Martin Joins RCF! ]
[Is the Diocese of
Springfield in Illinois Catholic? ]
[ A Priest's View] [ Death Comes to the
Archdiocese! ]
[ RCF Board Member Arrested
While Praying! ]
[ St. Thomas More Lawyer's
Guild Speaks Out! ]
[ Upcoming RCF Events
and Meetings ]
[ The Good Priest ]
Interview from The Wanderer
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
Since the
publication of Malachi Martin's WINDSWEPT HOUSE,
(Doubleday) everyone who has read it is asking the same
question:
Is
it all true?
The brilliantly
conceived and elegantly written novel presents Vatican
City as a nest of intrigue, where the Holy Father is
cautiously temporizing as disloyal cardinals subvert his
Papacy and scheme with government and business elites in
London and Brussels to advance the New World Order.
Believing that
the Church must be a key player in the New World Order -
primarily for financial reasons - and that Catholic
doctrine on key issues must be "moderated,"
"transformed," or simply dropped in order for
the Church to be accepted as a player in the new power
structure, the Pope's unfaithful cardinals plot to
isolate John Paul II. That plot - along with dozens of
other subplots, ''wheels within wheels " - boils
rapidly, making WINDSWEPT HOUSE a thrilling, if somewhat
disconcerting, novel.
The novel's title, WINDSWEPT HOUSE, takes its name
from a grand home in Galveston, Texas, occupied by an
old, very wealthy, and prominent Catholic family which
over the centuries has provided valuable services to the
Holy See. Two members of that family, brothers - one a
priest, the other a lawyer - are the novel's chief
protagonists, but they are merely pawns in a high-stakes
chess game on which hinges the future social, economic,
political, and spiritual development of the world.
Of course, if the work is entirely fiction, Martin's
latest book can be dismissed as merely the product of an
overly stimulated Irish imagination. If it is largely
true, every Catholic should both appreciate the peril the
present Pontiff is in, and pray that the Lord have mercy
on His Church.
Is WINDSWEPT
HOUSE true? That's the question THE WANDERER put to
Martin in a recent telephone interview.
| Q: |
How is Windswept House selling since
its release in June? |
| A: |
The book is selling steadily, all over
the country, with no dip in sales yet. Almost
55,000 copies in hardcover are in circulation,
and the book is expected to come out in paperback
within a year. |
| Q: |
Have you received any comments from
any important Church leaders? |
| A: |
Yes, I have. I cannot quote names. Some
approved highly, some disapproved highly, with
those disapproving challenging the thesis of the
story. Those who approve say it's about time
someone started telling the truth. |
| Q: |
In general, what reaction has there
been among most readers? |
| A: |
Those who correspond with me or talk to
me on the radio shows I have been doing are
thanking me for "telling it like it
is." Then they ask: Now what is to be done?
What are we to do? That is the question answered
in the sequel to Windswept House, which I am
writing now. |
| Q: |
The burning question among Wanderer
readers who have read the book is: How much of
Windswept House is true? |
| A: |
To speak in percentages, roughly 85% of
the fictional characters mirror real people, and
roughly 85% of events in the book mirror real
events, except those which are obviously mythic,
such as the final stay of the Slavic Pope in
Poland. We are talking about real events and real
people masked in the form of a novel; nowadays it
is called faction, a term coined by Norman
Mailer, but an art form really created by Taylor
Caldwell. |
| Q: |
Is there such a place as Windswept
House? Are there really such people as the
Gladstones? Is there as much intrigue in the
corridors of the Vatican as you suggest? |
| A: |
The answer to all three is yes; and with
regard to the last, the answer is yes, and
more.While we believe and know by our belief that
the Holy Roman Catholic Church is centered in
Rome in the person of the Pope, we also know that
clustered around his persona, whoever he is,
there has grown up a highly skilled chancery and
this is seated in a sovereign Vatican City State
which enjoys a prestige and global position that
no other organization enjoys.
It would be impossible, humanly speaking, and
only a miracle could prevent it from happening,
that such a spiritual power clothed in
sociopolitical garb and living for so long -
roughly 1,700 years in full vigor - for the
intrigue not to be intense.
If one wants reasons for that, consider a few
points: The Vatican has 180 ambassadors who
desire to be represented diplomatically with the
Holy See. That costs money and personnel, which
countries are willing to spend. Apparently, it is
worth it.
Second, the Pope has 80 personal ambassadors in
over 80 countries, including all the highly
industrialized countries and around the world.
Third, the nominal membership of the Catholic
Church is almost one billion. It is the only
example today of a global organization up and
running, even though it is inefficient in terms
of promoting its religious mission. |
There Is No Evangelization
| Q: |
Regarding that
"inefficiency," your book presents a
scene in which Pope John Paul II laments the fact
that Pope Paul VI's "new
evangelization" never got off the ground,
and, in fact, your book shows Vatican intriguers
boasting about their successful
"antievangelization" efforts around the
globe over the past 30 years. Can you elaborate
on that? |
| A: |
There
is no doubt that throughout this global
organization, there is no vibrancy, there is no
burning initiative, there is no manifest movement
to convert, to spread the Catholic faith as the
Catholic faith. There is no evangelization. We
have even gone so far as to have our Churchmen
suggest that the Gospel of John should be revised
to meet the new concept of Catholicism.
This new concept is enshrined in the movement we
call ecumenism, exemplified by the agreement
signed with the Orthodox in Lebanon a year ago,
in which all the parties agreed not to evangelize
each other. |
| Q: |
Since you mention the revision of St.
John's Gospel, what did you think of Joseph
Cardinal Bernardin's famous speech at Hebrew
University during Lent, 1995 when he described
the Gospel of John as a well of anti-Semitism? |
| A: |
That was certainly one of the clearest
manifestations of the apostasy into which His
Eminence Cardinal Bernardin and other members of
the Sacred College have fallen: They have decided
that for the good of humanity the Roman Catholic
organization should collaborate completely with
the New World Order and its demographic and
educational exigencies - population limitation
and the takeover of schools by the state. His
Eminence is not alone in this apostasy. |
| Q: |
Is this view assumed for religious
reasons primarily or is it as you suggest, for
financial reasons? |
| A: |
Their choice has been made because they
have lost the Roman Catholic faith. They are
sincerely attached to the New World Order's
promise of peace and plenty. |
| Q: |
Is there such a mountain as Aminadab
outside of Jerusalem, at the peak of which is a
Masonic Lodge? Some readers suspect you are
referring to Tantur, a gathering place for some
of the most liberal Catholic ecumenists in the
world. Is Aminadab Tantur? |
| A: |
No.
Aminadab is an actual hill or mountain, and from
it you can see the Lebanese mountains, the
Mediterranean, and the mountains of the Sinai
peninsula. The Masonic Lodge building at the peak
is an invention, but there is a large lodge in
Israel to which Catholics, Muslims, and Jews
belong. This ecumenical lodge believes that all
these religions have a contribution to make to
the socio-cultural and sociopolitical stability
of nations. It is purely and simply on the
natural plane. |
| Q: |
You describe a gruesome murder in
Century City (Chicago) when introducing readers
to your Cardinal Leonardine (Bernardin). There
are a number of people who will be very disturbed
when they see that murder described, because they
know you are recording an event that actually
took place. If you have the story on that ritual
murder, why not tell it as fact, and not fiction? |
| A: |
Because I am writing a novel, and I am
not blaming any body, living or dead, nor am I
fixing any responsibility to anyone no more than
any novelist does. Let those who write factual
reports please write it. It is about time they
fulfill their duties. |
| Q: |
How do you know a common effort among
business and Church elites to create a New World
Order exists? For example, did you ever see any
evidence documenting the meeting you de scribe in
Strasbourg between top European business leaders
and Vatican officials? |
| A: |
Strasbourg was a novelistic ploy. There
have been several meetings and get-togethers.
These are very quiet meetings. They are very
private. How does word get out? There is always
diplomatic communication and people who pass
papers on. It is impossible for such powerful men
to get together regularly and to hone their
policies to suit each other, without word getting
out. It doesn't become public knowledge because
no one will talk about it publicly.
This year, for example, between May 29th and June
2nd, the Bilderbergers met in King City, Ontario.
There has never been a word about that, even
though the purpose of the discussions was to talk
about global communications control, an issue
that affects every one of us. Attending it were
several prominent Americans, including Vernon
Jordan. |
| Q: |
One of the strongest criticisms of
your book is that it is fiction, and it can
easily be derided as "just fiction. "
If all you say is true, why didn't you name the
names? Why didn't you name Agostino Cardinal
Casaroli instead of inventing Cardinal
Maestroianni, etc.? |
| A: |
I am a Roman Catholic priest and have a
reverence for prelates and their privacy, no
matter how off course they might be. And a
certain amount of reverence is implied by
fictionalizing their characters and actions.
Besides, it keeps the book in a certain literary
genre which is safe to use from the point of view
of the public record. And I am not going to write
a book judging morally the present regime of
cardinals and prelates in the Church unless
absolutely necessary for the good of the Church. |
| Q: |
What do you think generally of the
level of skill and competence - from a merely
secular point of view - of the staff members in
the Secretary of State's office? How do they rate
with their peers in the world? |
| A: |
They rate very highly, especially the
Second Section, which deals with foreign nations.
Most recently, there is no doubt that they, under
the stimulus of the present Pope, achieved
notable results in their struggle against the UN
demographers proposing very drastic means of
population control.
They out-maneuvered them; they have cultivated
parliamentary procedures matching the most
malignant of their opponents, because malignant
those opponents were in Beijing and Cairo. So
they get good marks for that. The measured
statement the Second Section allowed the Holy
Father to make criticizing President Clinton for
partial-birth abortion was strong enough to let
the world know that Clinton had committed an
abomination.
One of their chief levels of skill is the
collection and use of information. They have an
Intelligence system which is superb. That is why
many nations want representatives in the Vatican.
They want the information. |
| Q: |
What kind of information are we
talking about? |
| A: |
The
coded messages sent over the wires and in
diplomatic pouches are about the stock market,
industrial production, academic conditions,
economic conditions, family conditions, and so
on. They cover every aspect of human life. The
Vatican must have this information because it has
a very large portfolio invested in every sector.
For example, the Vatican has all the details on
what really happened in Burundi between the Hutu
and the Tutsi. It won't publish the information
because it would reveal the infidelity of the
clergy to their Catholic principles: the collapse
of the clergy and the bishops, and taking sides
and indulging in killing. It was a disgrace.
Tribalism won out.
Then there is the fact that it was the Vatican
which provided Boris Yeltsin with the short-wave
radio he needed to address the Russian people
from the top of the tank during the coup.
Now here's the rub for a man like me: I find that
lock, stock, and barrel, this skill and
intelligence, this romanitas, is now backing the
New World Order, fighting for certain things, but
backing the New World Order nevertheless, and
that's where the difficulty comes.
But it all goes back to Pope Paul VI's closing
comments to the bishops in December, 1965 at the
end of the council, in which he said that the
Church will now collaborate with men in building
the human habitat. |
| Q: |
But this isn't new, is it? Is this
not the 20th-century equivalent of Church and
king collaborating as they did 1,000 years ago? |
| A: |
The Church never, but never, asserted
that it's mission was to help man build a better
world. The Church has always asserted that its
mission was to save souls to help men get to
Heaven. They promulgated laws to make men more
moral and less sinful. But to join hands and make
religion sub sidiary to the socioeconomic well
being of nations is nonsense. |
| Q: |
Doesn't the Vatican-Israel accord
signify the failure of the Holy See's diplomatic
corps which you previously appraised as the most
highly skilled in the world? |
| A: |
It means precisely the following: that
the Holy See as a financial power was
out-maneuvered. |
The Burden Of Peter
| Q: |
Often, when an American prelate is
praised by the secular media for his ability to
"get things done in Rome" - prelates
such as Cardinal Bernardin or Pittsburgh's Bishop
Donald Wuerl - reporters use the word romanitas
to characterize their skill.
No one who reads your book will ever think highly
of romanitas again, because the word is loaded
with the concepts of blackmail, murder, intrigue,
hypocrisy. Is this really what romanitas
signifies? |
| A: |
It is what romanitas has come to signify
in the present epoch. The romanitas of a man like
Cardinal Consalvi, the secretary of state dealing
with the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic
wars, cannot be compared to what we have today.
Consalvi not only matched wits with giants like
Metternich and Castlereagh, but also secured the
advantageous position of economic independence of
the Holy See. But he did this without conceding
one inch either to the rampant republicans or to
the very dictatorial attitudes of the
imperialists.
The compromisers today are such that romanitas is
a means of perpetuating a bureaucratic class
which is no longer interested in genuine
evangelization.
Ecclesiastical romanitas started in earnest with
Pope Sylvester I in the fourth century. He was
provided a public identity and power from the
Emperor Constantine, and from then on dates the
constant enmeshing of the spiritual power with
temporal surroundings. Before that, the Church
was utterly separate, independent of the temporal
power.
The skill Vatican diplomats have developed over
17 centuries has given them a group instinct for
where the gravamen of human power in any
particular epoch is moving. For a long time it
was used for survival; but the enmeshing often
became dangerous for the morality of clerics. It
also enabled the Church to escape from dilemmas
posed to it over 1,700 years, and the guiding
light in all cases was always the behavior of the
man who was elected Pope. |
| Q: |
On
the levels of skill and intrigue, how would you
compare the diplomatic skill of Churchmen such as
Cardinal Richelieu with Cardinal Casaroli, and do
you think Casaroli's accomplishments will be
compared to those of Richelieu? |
| A: |
Richelieu was, and remains, unmatched
for the skill which he used, alone, to change the
map of Europe disastrously for the Roman Catholic
Church, because he ended up promoting the
Protestant powers. |
| Q: |
Is the same going on today? |
| A: |
Yes, but in an inverse way. The Pope
today is as impotent as was Pope Urban VIII in
the time of Richelieu. On top of that, the
present Holy Father has the added difficulty that
there is a complete lack of fervor and enthusiasm
for the Catholic cause throughout Europe and the
Americas.
The reason this Pope does not get rid of
cardinals and bishops who violate traditional
rules is that he happens to share the view of the
relationship between Pope and bishops according
to the postconciliar version of the doctrine of
collegiality. |
| Q: |
You write in Windswept House that the
Pope has his own vision for Europe and the
development of the modern world, and he even has
a few good men working in support of his plan,
against the machinations of the professional
intriguers. Will the Pope succeed over time, or
is he in an ecclesiastical end-game? |
| A: |
This Holy Father will not succeed in
changing the onrush of events which will
culminate once he leaves the scene, either by
resignation or by death. He simply can not
outmaneuver his opponents.
His Papacy has been successful in this basic
sense: that nobody can ever doubt his
consciousness of carrying the burden of Peter. He
has carried the message of Christ all over the
world, and given millions the richness of the
Gospel.
With his encyclicals, he has provided Catholics
with a sheaf of new principles and fresh insights
with which they can navigate the New World Order,
which will not be a friendly place for Catholics. |
The
Wanderer
201 Ohio Street
St. Paul, Minn. 55107
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[Return to Index]
| Father Malachi
Martin has joined RCF and offers his full
support. Father is working on a statement which
will be published in our next newsletter. |
[Return
to Index]
RCF
needs your prayers and financial support!
—
— — — — — — — —
— — — — — — — —
— — — — — —
Please
print out and mail your donation to:
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
P.O. Box 109
Petersburg, IL 62675
ph:
217-632-5920 Fax: 217-632-7054
http://www.rcf.org
| Donation Phone |
| Name |
| Address |
| State Zip
Code |
| E-Mail |
Prayer,
Fasting & Proclaiming the Truth.
Thanks
for all that you do.
A.M.D.G.
We are a Not-For-Profit Corp.
but are not a 501 c/3 because we intend
to confront Catholic Politicians who are Pro-Abortion,
etc.
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[Return to Index]
Is the Diocese of
Springfield in Illinois Catholic?
By Stephen Brady
Four years ago
when parish council members and a religion teacher at our
local parish were introducing the public school children
to Planned Parenthood, "safe sex" and
contraception, I felt confident the problem could be
remedied by our pastor’s intervention. Boy was I
wrong. Not only did the scandal continue, the Parish
Council member that publicly endorsed Planned
Parenthood’s message was appointed to the Diocesan
Tribunal.
- Last
October I interviewed several priests from our
diocese and was told of their bishop’s
homosexual activities. Once again I felt
confident that we could correct the situation
with the help of the American hierarchy. Once
again I was wrong!
-
- It is up to
the laity. The Papal Nuncio and the NCCB seem to
fear the Cross that Christ said they must carry
if they wish to follow Him. We need to examine
the life styles of our Church leaders in this
country to find out why this is so. While so many
of their fellow priests are being persecuted the
NCCB pays us lip service. Why? We at RCF intend
to find out as soon as we resolve the situation
within the Springfield Diocese.
-
- When one
looks back at the early Church and all those who
gave their lives rather than deny their Faith, we
must ask —how can we allow the leadership in
this diocese to mock the authentic Catholic Faith
and tradition?
-
- Father Eck
throws insults at traditional Catholics at Sacred
Heart by changing the words of the Mass to suit
his own desires. "You must be willing to
accept change" Father says as he talks down
to those whose lives were once nourished at
Sacred Heart.
-
- Fr. Costa,
in his April 13, 1997 church bulletin states,
"Only 32 percent of the registered
parishioners of Holy Family parish attend Mass
each weekend, and only 36 percent of the
registered parishioners of St. John Vianney
parish attend Mass each weekend." Can you
assure us you believe in the Real Presence
Father? If Jesus was there, the people would also
be there. Can good fruit come from a rotten tree.
-
- The January
26, 1997 Cathedral bulletin advertises "Introduction
to Enneagram". What are we to think? Is
this Catholicism?
-
- Bishop Ryan
and Father Holinga, what are you afraid of? You
have threatened legal action, threatening to turn
to the civil courts— have you no Faith to
stand on? Call me in, demand a full accounting,
have me explain myself, Save My Soul!! Do you
fear the Truth? "The Truth will set you
free".
-
- It is time
to remove the cancer eating away at this diocese.
Heresy, schism, and apostasy are feeding that
cancer. We must expose the problem before we can
ever attempt to solve it.
-
- What does
it mean to be Catholic? Fr. Swiatek (RIP) once
told me "to join the Church, you must be
willing to accept all that She teaches".
Even if we narrow that statement down to the
basic teachings of the Church such as the Real
Presence, the Virgin Birth, the Blessed Trinity
and so on—where does this diocese stand on
these issues?
-
- If a
Bishop, Priest, Nun or Catholic teacher represent
themselves as Roman Catholic only to deny some
Truth of the Catholic Faith which must be
believed—are they still Catholic?
-
- Peter, our
first Pope, was given the keys to the kingdom,
"upon this Rock I shall build my
Church..." We were given an institution by
which we could always know the Truth. The
Council of Trent in the canons on the
sacrament of order stated:
-
- Can. 6
If anyone says that in the Catholic Church there
is not instituted a hierarchy by divine
ordinance, which consists of bishops, priests and
ministers let him be anathema."
-
- Not only
does the teaching office of the Springfield
Diocese deny Canon 6, they mock the Council of
Trent. I will explain.
-
- In October
of 1995, I attended a class offered by the
Springfield Diocese Office of Education. This
class was called "Overview of Catholic
Teaching." The classes were held at Christ
The King School in Springfield and were a
total of ten hours. These classes were required
for Diocesan Basic Certification. During these
classes we were given some printed hand-outs for
study. I have taken a few quotes from one such
hand-out. These quotes were in the form of
question and answer. They read as follows:
-
- Question
15: "Jesus set up the positions of
Pope and bishops as we have them today." False.
The positions of Pope and bishops as we have them
today are different from the positions in the 3rd
century, and they were different then from the
time of Jesus and the period immediately after
his death. Theologians argue today about what
institutional aspects of the church, if any, were
established directly by Jesus.
-
- Does that
sound like Catholic teaching? Remember the Council
of Trent "Let them be anathema"
Well, the Office of education had an answer for
the Council of Trent. The following year The
Office of Education for the Springfield Diocese
was selling T-Shirts which stated "The Council of Trent;
Been there, Done That, Moved On."
Once again the Springfield Diocese denies the
Catholic Faith. Here were a few more statements
given out during this class:
-
- Question
4: "Jesus preached against sexual
sins often." False. Because he
mentioned sexual sins only a few times, Jesus
clearly did not preach against them often. No
obsession about sexual matters can be found in
the attitude of Jesus. He preached against
hypocrisy more than anything else.
-
- Question
6: "Jesus knew all things since he
was a child." False. Theologians
argue and always will about the knowledge and
consciousness of Jesus, but most would agree that
Jesus did not know all things since he was a
child. Karl Rahner writes that Jesus grew in
knowledge and consciousness the way we do,
through experience, historical influence, and
personal relationships.
-
-
- "I
guess God did not know he was God" as Mother
Angelica would say.
-
-
- In February
of 1995 I attended a day long retreat at the Dominican
Renewal Center in Riverton. Sr. K. Cour
(Office of Worship) played a part in this
retreat. The speaker, Carla Mae Streeter, O.P.,
taught us that
-
- 1. The
Baltimore Catechism taught us to hate
Protestants.
- 2. She
compared all male Church to slavery, that has
reduced
one-half
the Church community to slavery.
- 3. "We
are all saved, but we (Catholics), unlike others,
we know
who saved us, who
brought us healing, and we say thank
-
you."
-
- It would
serve no purpose to go on with the list of
abuses. Most of you have your own story to tell.
But there is one recent event I would like to
share with you.
-
In the June 8, 1997 issue of the Taylorville
Breeze-Courier there was some interesting
information about an Eckankar Memorial Service
which was held at St. Mary’s Church. The
deceased Edward K. Hames was "a member of
the Masonic Order" and "an ordained
minister in Eckankar, Religion of The Light and
Sound of God." -
ECKANKAR - The Ancient
Science of Soul Travel
- Eckankar,
otherwise known as the "Ancient Science of
Soul Travel", was founded in 1964 by Paul
Twitchell (Enroth 59). Although Eckankar claims
to be the "oldest religious teaching in all
the world", one can easily see by looking at
Twitchell's life that this claim is not true
(Gross 2).....
- .......The
members of Eckankar believe their movement is the
only way to God.
As Darwin Gross contends: "Eck is the
shortest way to God...Whenever a man pursues
creeds, priests and organizations, he will find a
religion of some sort, but never the way to enter
the kingdom of God as stated by the great Eck
Masters" (Gross 27). Thomas Flamma also
states in his book that the: "prime purpose
of making known the existence of Eckankar is to
allow individuals the opportunity to experience
this direct path to God..." (232). Again, he
is supporting that Eckankar is the quickest and
only way to God. Another strong belief held by
all Eckists is their respect of the Living Eck
Master. They uphold him so high that they seem to
put him equal with God. Twitchell says this of
the Living Eck Master:
"The Living Eck Master is the only man, or
should I say being, who is capable of manifesting
both individualism and universalism in their full
expressions. He is law unto himself, does what he
pleases, has what he wants, comes and goes
absolutely at his own will, and asks no favors of
any man." (67). (Cult Awareness &
Information Centre - Australia) It
is time to march on the Chancery!!!
- 1. RCF is
in the process of creating a Web Page devoted to
the Springfield Diocese.(http://www.fgi.net/~rcf).
This Web Page will contain information about
heretical teaching and practices, abuses and
other anti-Catholic practices going on within the
Springfield Diocese. If you have any
contributions to make, please contact RCF for
instructions on where to send the documentation.
We must expose the problem!
2. We need to hear from every Catholic that would
be willing to take part in prayer vigils and
protests that will be taking place in the Diocese
on a regular basis.
3. We need the help of an Illinois attorney with
experience in Not-For-Profit organizations to
help RCF determine what rights Catholics may have
when in comes to obtaining access to records
concerning how their donations are spent.
4. RCF needs the names of our members with
computer skills and Internet access who would be
willing to help with the Web Page. Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
P.O. Box 109
Petersburg, IL. 62675
ph. 217-632-5920 fax 217-632-7054
http://www.rcf.org
http://www.fgi.net/~rcf
[Return
to Index]
The following letter was sent to me by a
priest from the Springfield Diocese. There will
be more to come.
SOME AREAS OF
CONCERN -
A PRIEST'S VIEW
LITURGICAL
ISSUES-
In 1977 a committee of the NCCB produced a
document called "Environment and Art in
Catholic Worship". This document was
presented to the "Administrative
Committee" for approval but was never
approved by a plenary session of the Bishops.
Because of that, it was never presented as
"particular law" for the dioceses of
the United States. In Springfield we were told it
was the binding law and Churches were torn apart
with EACW as justification. If the
"experts" had read the NCCB Committee
on the Liturgy Newsletter (Vol XXI 1965) they
would have seen that EACW was not in fact
particular law. This fact has been known for
years but in our diocese Sr. Kathleen Cour O.P.
with Bishop Ryan’s full knowledge and
support has continued to use it as a tool to
destroy Churches. If you allow the Office of
Worship to "renew" your Church, you
will have no crucifix, no tabernacle, no
kneelers, even the altar may be pushed to the
side. What is being done here in Springfield is
NOT the vision of the Roman Catholic Church.
Several new and renewed Churches have the
tabernacle in a very small space which in no way
could be honestly called a Eucharistic chapel. (
In one new Church I saw two folding metal chairs
stuck in a small space the size of a large
bathroom lit by two emergency exit lights!)
- Those who
have tried to protest have been ignored or
treated with disdain. When the Presbyterial
Council asked for a "study" day to
question many of the liturgical values, the day
was so filled with presenters trying to convince
the priests that the office of worship was
correct that there was only five minutes left at
the end of the day to bring up questions! The
questions that had been raised by a questionnaire
given to all the priests were never addressed!
The bishop has even given Sr. Cour such power
that if a Priest needs to re-paint the sanctuary
he must fill out a long questionnaire and provide
a detailed plan for the "renewal" of
the entire church. This extortion has Bishop
Ryan's full approval.
Anything having to do with traditional Catholic
worship is looked down upon and is tolerated at
best. The Pope has granted permission for the
Tridentine Mass to be celebrated with the local
bishops permission and has asked that bishops
give this permission "generously"!
Those who have sought this permission in this
diocese have been refused by the bishop. He gives
the excuse that no one really wants it, but I
believe the truth is that he and Sr. Cour are
scared to death to think that a very large number
of people would respond if they only had the
chance.
The fact is the fullness and richness of the
Roman Catholic Liturgy is being withheld or taken
away from the people of this diocese by a very
few powerful people supported and protected by
Bishop Ryan. If they are truly concerned about
the liturgy, why is a priest at Blessed Sacrament
sitting while extraordinary ministers distribute
Communion? Why did a priest at the Cathedral go
back in the sacristy during a mass and dump
unconsecrated hosts from a plastic bag into the
ciborium and distribute them as the Body of
Christ?! Why are sisters giving the homily at
masses? There is a long list of abuses that are
not only tolerated but encouraged by this
administration. - Recently a
priest put an insert in his bulletin questioning
why Mass attendance was so poor. It is hard to
believe he had to ask the question. The numbers
tell the truth. The people want to worship God,
they want to hear the truth and want to be proud
of being Roman Catholic. That has been taken away
from them by people who should be nourishing
their faith rather that taking it away from them.
People are beginning to wake up! From Cardinal
Ratzinger to the people in the pew, slowly people
are beginning to say out loud what has been
obvious for years - What we experience as
liturgical renewal is not what Vatican II
intended and has had a devastating effect on our
Catholic people!
THE PASTORAL PLAN IS NEITHER:
The word "pastoral" suggests it is
concerned with the care of God’s people and
the good of the Church. The word "Plan"
would give one the impression that there is some
clear way of addressing those needs in an orderly
fashion. Therefore a real "pastoral
plan" would be a plan for Vocations to
provide more priests for the diocese. Parishes
are closing and yet the bishop in a radio
interview says that "we don’t have too
few priests, we have too many parishes."!
Several years ago all the priests met with the
bishop in Sherman and one priest stood and asked
the bishop what we are doing for vocations? The
bishop said he would let our Diocesan Vocation
Director answer that question. Fr. Kuse went to
the microphone and said simply "We have no
program." It has been years since that
meeting and we still have no program. The
so-called pastoral plan is nothing more than a
set of rubrics for an orderly wake. It does
nothing to address the real problems but only
provides for an orderly burial of priestless
parishes. When the people of God have no priest
in there parish or a priest who only drops by
once a week on his way to three other Churches,
it is cold comfort to tell them; "Don’t
worry, its all part of the pastoral plan!" PRIESTLY MORALE IN THE
DIOCESE OF SPRINGFIELD:
The
priesthood is under attack in the diocese of
Springfield!
- 1. We
cannot seem to develop a vocation program, but we
have a high powered
lay-ministry program to provide
people to replace
priests.
- 2. Priests
are not consulted concerning the disposition of
their
own parishes.
- 3. The
presbyterial council has become something of a
joke,
only existing because
it’s canonically required. The bishop
wants to emphasize the
"pastoral council" instead but put a
few priests on it for
window dressing.
- 4. We are
now talking about a "vocation office".
Which will
certainly be concerned
with all kinds of vocations and not
just priestly ones. (The
"seamless garment approach")
- 5. In the
past money could not be found for a raise in the
priests’ salary,
but raises for sisters, teachers, janitors, etc.
were matters of
"peace and justice!"
- 6. Priests
do not trust the Bishop or those close to him. We
all
wonder what happened to the
results of the survey we all
filled out. We paid thousands
of dollars for it. But apparently
when the Bishop saw the
results of the priests evaluation of
the value of the Curial
offices........ The report just
disappeared! Instead we got a
thinly disguised "pep rally" in
the name of planning for the
new millennium, which was
nothing more than an effort to
try and convince priests how
lucky they were to have all
these new offices!
- 7. The
entire Diocese used to be run out of the basement
of the
Cathedral rectory, now we are
filling up an entire high school
building with offices, staff,
and salaries.
- 8. The
Diocese demands a detailed accounting of parish
funds,
but does not provide one
on its own budget (Detailed!!!!!!)
Many people would like
to see some financial accountability
and disclosure. In the
past few years the diocesan
beaurocracy has
ballooned to an absurd degree. All of these
offices with their
staffs and secretaries may not be necessary
or even useful to the
parishes. (But we’ll never know since
the aforesaid survey was
"lost"!
- 9. During
previous administrations if a person made a
complaint
about a priest for any reason,
the priest was notified and
given an opportunity to
respond. Now a priest has no idea
what is being said about him
or how it may affect his present
or his future. The Bishop has
had "secret meetings" with
individuals and groups without
allowing the priest to
participate or even be aware
the meeting occurred!
- 10. To have
no vocation program tells a priest more than
anything how much his office
is valued in the Diocese!!!
- 11. The
janitors in our parishes had better insurance
benefits
than the priests. For years
some priests have paid a large
part of their salaries for
prescriptions to keep them healthy
and at the altar. While there
was such great concern about
our employees retirement and
health we did little to
take care of our retired
priests and the bishop is reported to
have said at a presbyterial
council meeting that they could
very well end up on welfare
and food stamps. (Not something
likely to happen to the
Bishop!)
- 12. The
future of the priesthood in this diocese is to be
a
"sacrament
machine" running from parish to parish
having
mass while a layman or a
sister is in fact the "pastor".
- 13. We are
creating structures and lines of authority which
in
fact do not exist in the
canonical structure of the Roman
Catholic Church.
- 14. Many
priests themselves, in an effort to survive, have
lost
much of their integrity. They
know they are not valued and
have no place in the future of
the church being created in this
diocese and so have an "I
got mine" attitude. "Just leave me
alone in my parish, the less I
have to do with Springfield the
better!" This is because
they feel helpless to change the
situation in which they are
trapped. There is a depression
because they see a bleak
future and nothing being done by
those in authority to change
it for themselves or the people
they serve!
- 15. As a
group, priests are rather intelligent men, if for
no other
reason than the years of
schooling they have shared. When
intelligent, spiritual men are
treated like simple fools it is
demeaning and frustrating. To
be treated with condescension
rather than respect produces
anger, and to think that
priests are so foolish as not
to notice is the greatest
disrespect of all!!!!!
- 16. There
is a serious morale problem among the priests of
this
diocese! We have received a
little "pious verbiage" but little
in the way of any hope for a
future for priestly ministry here;
on the contrary, all the
planning is toward the death of the
priesthood in our diocese.
- 17.
Strangely enough in recent weeks there has been
an
outpouring of concern for
priests from the diocese. We got a
raise and a prescription card
and so did our retired priests.
This is seen as too little,
too late. It’s not perceived as a
caring response to need, but
an effort to avert scandal.
- 18. In a
time of priest shortage our work is made more
difficult
by the structures that have
been created. What used to take
a phone call now requires
committees, meetings,
questionnaires, and unwanted
interference from chancery
officials. This is NOT
perceived as helpful, but simply
distrustful of a priest’s
knowledge and ability to guide his own
parish. (Where did our survey
go!)
- 19. Letters
are not answered, permissions are not given,
priests
are left hanging. The
astounding and expensive beaurocracy
that is still expanding in our
diocese has replaced the simple
image of a bishop and his
priests working together. This
enormous structure is seen as
the Bishop’s way of
insulating himself from the
responsibility of decision-making.
- 20. The
evidence reveals that the Bishop and those to
whom he
has given authority are
working from and toward a model of
Church that is not traditional
Roman Catholic, nor the model
presented by Vatican II. He
has focused on the expanded
ministry of the laity as is
proper, but he has failed to support
his priests in there special
ministry.
- 21. One
sign of the unhappiness of priests in this
diocese is the
large number of priests who
find work elsewhere, or retire
early, or simply withdraw
within their parish boundaries. The
priests know that this is a
very easy diocese to leave, very
little effort is made to keep
priests.
- 22. The
difficulties priests have with Bishop Ryan are
not
personal. His vision of the
Church is not the vision of Vatican
II, and he does not have the
leadership abilities that are
needed. We pray for him daily
and sincerely!
[Return to Index]
Death
Comes to the Archdiocese!
Erosion of the faith in the Archdiocese
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
By Stephanie Block
- Working
down through the mountain of news clippings,
letters of the faithful, flyers, brochures,
articles, and Vatican documents, the researcher
is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of evidence
leveled against the Milwaukee Archdiocesan
hierarchy. The evidence is dispassionately
offered, piece by piece, from supporter and
detractor. It makes no attempt to measure the
moral cost of scandal or the human suffering from
sin which lies behind each documented story. It
does, however, cry out for correction and
redress.
-
- This
evidence of willful disobedience to, and defiance
of, Church and moral teaching falls into four,
primary categories: a failure to provide honest
and compassionate homosexual ministry, a failure
to provide honest and chaste religious
instruction, a failure to defend the unborn, and
a failure to provide healthy seminary formation
to aspiring vocations. Each failure might be
expressed another way. The archdiocese has
exhibited tremendous success in exacerbating the
moral confusion about homosexuality, about
sexuality, about a moral commitment to life, and
about religious vocations. This is not a success
to be proud of.
- Failure to
provide compassionate homosexual ministry: As far
back as the 1980s, concerned Catholics confronted
Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland for his
shockingly imprudent "out-reach" to the
homosexual community. What was shocking was not
the establishment of programs designed to
minister to, or evangelize within, the homosexual
community - a moral equivalent of "sitting
among sinners and eating with them." Not at
all. What was shocking was the establishment of
programs which failed to minister and evangelize
the homosexual community, and which were
themselves a rejection of moral understanding.
Among these programs was the Milwaukee AIDS
Project. Archbishop Weakland helped to found, and
served in an advisory capacity on the Board of
Trustees for the Project. Archbishop Weakland was
also a major fund-raiser and spokesman for it.
[Milwaukee Journal, "US Bishops Retreat from
AIDS Policy," March 25, 1988; Weakland
fundraising letter for Milwaukee AIDS Project and
AIDS Resource Center, December 19, 1986.]
What differentiated this Project from a Catholic
charity or program was that rather than provide
help to the stricken individual, it provided
instead lessons on how to derive the maximum
pleasure with the (apparent) minimum consequence.
The AIDS Project distributed graphic brochures
which contained instructions on
"safe-sex" techniques, including
"mutual masturbation," "light S
& M," and the use of "one’s
own sex toys." Readers were encouraged to
enjoy "massages, fantasy, videos, phone
sex…and other creative pastimes [which] can
add to your sex life without adding risk of
disease." [taken from brochures distributed
by the Milwaukee AIDS Project.] The Project also
distributed condoms in an effort to promote
"safe-sex." [Ibid.] Today, the Project
seeks the funding to provide free, clean needles
for drug use.
Not content merely to recommend, the Milwaukee
AIDS Project co-sponsored a Gay and Lesbian Film
Festival at Catholic Marquette University in
February, 1988, as a part of "AIDS Awareness
Week." Members of Milwaukee’s Catholics
Serving the Lord (CSL) viewed and audio-taped
parts of the Festival. One film which CSL
reviewed contained "scenes of gay erotica
and masturbation. It further underlined the need
for gays to become militant in their fight to
make homosexual activity legitimate, legal, and
accepted by society."
Milwaukee AIDS Project advertised for its various
"Fests" and Fund-raising Benefits in
InStep, a local periodical for Milwaukee
homosexuals, which contained, in the same pages
as the AIDS Project advertisement, photographs of
a person engaged in "solo sexual
enjoyment" and the advertisement for a
"sexually explicit" calendar. [August
6, 1986, InStep]
The archdiocese permitted weekly DIGNITY Masses.
As of 1989, the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Board Of
Education policy mandated that all Catholic
elementary and secondary schools develop an AIDS
curriculum which included information about the
use of condoms. [Milwaukee Journal, "Right
Tone on Tough Topics," November 14, 1989]
The archdiocese also produced a brochure, titled
simply "To Answer Some Questions,"
which stated that: The Bible has very
little to say about homosexuality.
The Bible does not identify the sin of Sodom with
homosexuality.
A Catholic may in good
conscience make a decision not in total agreement
with Church teaching on a particular issue and
still remain within the Church.
- It is
hardly surprising, therefore, that episodes of
clerical sexual abuse abound in the archdiocese.
In 1983, the principal (who was a priest) of the
Mother of Good Counsel Parish school, along with
several of the school’s teachers, became
alarmed over the behavior of a new pastor and his
assistants. It had been observed that the new
priest had on several occasions taken young boys
to his private bedroom, one at a time. When the
principal and his teachers warned the
Archdiocese, rather than investigate these
concerns, the teachers were threatened with a
libel suit and along with the principal, were
later fired. Subsequently, one of the assistant
priests who had been identified as engaging in
suspicious behavior was convicted of sexual
assault of a child. [CSL Letter to Pope John Paul
II, July 10, 1988, detailing Archdiocesan
abuses.]
In 1980, a Milwaukee priest, Fr. James Arimond,
led a 4-part series on "Homosexuality and
Its Impact on the Family." In the Milwaukee
Journal’s promotional article for the
series, Fr. Arimond was quoted as saying that
"a pervert is someone who goes against his
or her sexual tendency. If a heterosexual acted
homosexually, that would be perversion.
Similarly, if a homosexual acted heterosexually,
that would be a perversion." [September 20,
1980]
Archbishop Weakland took a similar position. In a
July 19, 1990 column of the Archdiocesan paper,
he wrote, "Jesus says nothing specific about
homosexuality. But St. Paul is quite explicit: he
is indeed harsh with heterosexuals engaging in
homosexual activity." [The Catholic Herald,
"An Open Letter: Who Is Our Neighbor?"
by The Most Reverend Rembert G. Weakland, July
19, 1980.]
In 1988, both CSL and Catholics United for the
Faith expressed their concern about the teachings
of Fr. Arimond, who was by then the chaplain of
the Milwaukee Dignity chapter, and a regular
columnist for the Wisconsin Light, a member
publication of the Gay and Lesbian Press
Association. In particular, they drew attention
to a mailer, "To Answer Some
Questions," (mentioned above) which was
co-authored by Fr. Arimond and which were handed
out at lectures he gave at the archdiocesan
Cousins Center. The 2-page flyer stated that the
Catholic Church’s moral theologians held
"differing viewpoints on the morality of
homosexual acts. When making a moral
decision…ultimately it is the
individual’s conscience which must be his or
her guide. A Catholic may in good conscience make
a decision not in total agreement with Church
teaching and still remain within the Church if
they do not deny any point of divine and Catholic
faith and do not reject the teaching authority of
the Church. An example of this is the millions of
American Catholics who have decided on a moral
stance different from the teaching of the Church
and use artificial means of birth control, yet
remain Catholics in good standing." [Mailer
authored by Reverend James Arimond and Leon
Konieczny, in Conjunction with the Spouse and
Parents Support Committee through Adult and
Family Ministry of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,
"To Answer Some Questions," envelope
postmarked March 18, 1988.]
Not only did Archbishop Weakland fail to respond
to the expressed concerns voiced about Fr.
Arimond, Weakland promoted Arimond to serve as
pastor of a local parish. In 1990, Fr. Arimond
pleaded "no contest" to charges that he
had sexual contact with a teenage boy (a minor).
[Milwaukee Sentinel and Milwaukee Journal, July
24, 1990.]
In such a climate, Catholic morale and discipline
plummeted. By 1993, there were 7 known priests
involved in pedophilia in the Milwaukee
Archdiocese, involving over a hundred young
victims. In the cases of most, if not all of
these priests, the Archdiocese had been informed
of the problem long before it made the headlines.
By 1997, more cases of pedophilia had surfaced. -
- Where in
all of this "out-reach" is the
Christian charity which will lovingly tell a man
to his face that his behavior is self-destructive
and hurtful? Where is the moral guidance and
spiritual support he needs to escape temptation
and disordered proclivities?
Failure to provide honest and chaste religious
education: In addition to this disturbing (and
flawed) homosexual "out-reach," CSL was
deeply distressed over the use of several
unchaste sex education programs in Catholic
parochial schools. One of these was the "New
Creation Series," which Edouard Cardinal
Gagnon of the Pontificium Consilium Pro Familia
has referred to as a "travesty," but
which continues to be used in archdiocesan
schools. -
- The
Archdiocese also produced its own sex education
program, "Valuing Your Sexuality." The
textbook for the Archdiocesan series was written
by two abortion advocates and two dissident nuns.
Among the program’s many amoral components
is an exercise from the teacher’s manual in
which children are asked to decide on their own
at what age activities such as masturbation, oral
sex, abortion, contraception, incest, and
premarital intercourse are appropriate. Another
lesson has the children playing a word search
game to teach familiarization with the terms
"erection," "copulation,"
"masturbation," "rape,"
clitoris," "testicles," and the
like.
The Archdiocese also ran an adult sex education
program called "Sexual Attitude
Reassessment." Offered from 1978 to 1988,
the program’s registration form invited
prospective participants to examine their sexual
attitudes by considering the following statement,
"I am aware that although my partner and I
have a sexual relationship, I am not as free as I
would often like to be…" Far from using
the program to ask people why they were
copulating with "sexual partners" and
not spouses, the program promised to examine
"how we were trained (or not trained) to
hold restricting attitudes about our
sexuality." Sexually explicit films,
produced by the National Sex Forum ( a
distributor of other such educational titles as
"Plain and Fancy Penises,"
"Hookers," and "Women in Love:
Strategies of Black Lesbians") showed male
and female masturbation, heterosexual and
homosexual intercourse, and variations in oral
sex. [Flyers and registration form from 1988
"Reassessment of Sexual Attitudes"
workshop conducted at Archdiocesan Cousins
Center.] The program was protested for years, but
it was not until 1988, when CSL exposed the
program on television, that public opinion forced
the archdiocese to shut it down. -
- One need
not penetrate the motives behind the AIDS Project
or the Archdiocesan sex education programs to ask
what has been the practical success - the outcome
- of the Archdiocese’s amoral,
"non-judgmental" sexual preoccupation.
Did these programs curb illicit homosexual and
heterosexual behavior in Milwaukee, or did they
exacerbate such activity and deaden the
conscience to chastity?
Failure to defend the unborn: In 1990, Archbishop
Weakland released a 21-page statement attacking
what he called "the strong influence of
fundamentalist positions on some of the pro-life
women." [Milwaukee Journal, "Weakland
Not Looking for ‘Holy War,’" May
21, 1990] The statement caused a furor among
Catholics, but provided deep solace to
pro-abortion groups. - Pro-choice
professor, Daniel Maguire, publicly interpreted
the Archbishop’s statement as "calling
for more dialog, not saying how can we convince
these women. For [Weakland], abortion is not a
closed question. He treats it with compassion and
sees it full of ambiguity, not a choice that is
crystal clear." [Milwaukee Journal,
"Abortion Opponents Angered by
Weakland’s criticism," May 21, 1990.]
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and the National
Abortion Rights Action League of Wisconsin
(NARAL) also expressed their delight at the
statement. "This is a significant step
forward for the church," NARAL crowed.
[Ibid.]
The defenders of the unborn ask how such
capitulation to abortion providers and their
proponents has saved a single unborn life, or
rescued one pregnant mother from making the most
heart-rending decision of her life? -
- Failure to
provide healthy seminary formation to aspiring
vocations: Weakland has attacked the US Catholic
Bishop’s for denying support to women’s
priestly ordination. [Milwaukee Sentinel,
"Weakland Rips Pastoral Letter for Avoiding
Woman’s Role," May 11,1990] The Sacred
Heart School of Theology, a seminary located
within the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, has publicly
touted its not-so-subtle efforts to prepare the
present generation of priests for the ordination
of women. "I will do everything I can to
push that edge forward," said a retiring nun
who had taught at the seminary for 22 years.
"I totally affirm and believe that there is
no obstacle to the ordination of women."
That remark appeared in the May 19, 1990
Milwaukee Sentinel.
By 1993, the Milwaukee Journal had deeper
scandals to report out of Sacred Heart. A student
had placed a personal ad in a gay publication,
providing the seminary phone number. Another
student was arrested for soliciting sex from a
male officer in a public park. A third student
was discovered to own 2 gay bars in another
state. [Milwaukee Journal, March 28, 1993] In
such an unchaste environment, it is difficult to
imagine how there could be any vocations
whatsoever.
Other Archdiocesan seminaries, lacking vocations,
have invited the laity, including women, to
participate "in some of the same classes,
programs (and) liturgical events as the
seminarians." [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
"St. Francis Seminary Evolves with
Changes," September 7, 1996.] As a further
discouragement, St. Francis seminarians were
subjected to the "Sexual Attitude
Reassessment" adult sexual education program
(see above), no doubt because one of their moral
theologians was a co-presenter of the program.
Yet in 1991, Weakland issued a statement to the
Vatican, asking for the ordination of married
priests in response to priest shortages in the
diocese. "I see at this moment no other way
out of this very difficult situation….I see
no other solution." [Catholic Herald of the
Archdiocese of Milwaukee, "Facing the Future
with Hope," January 10, 1991.]
In response to this reasoning, Margo Szews, a
Milwaukee Catholic blames archdiocesan policies
for creating the priest shortage.
"Isn’t it the archbishop," Szews
asks, "who has allowed potential
seminarians, whose loyalty to church teaching is
viewed as ‘rigid and inflexible’ to be
rejected? …Isn’t it the archbishop who
has encouraged women to attend the
seminary…where they have outnumbered men for
years? ….Isn’t it the archbishop who
has, through forced early retirement, rejected
the services of able-bodied priests who are seen
as ‘rigid and inflexible’? Isn’t
it the archbishop who had routinely allowed
seminary students to view a pornography program
…so they could ‘rethink’ their
views on sexuality…? Archbishop Eldon
Curtiss of Omaha points out that the vocation
‘crisis’ in this country is ‘more
artificial and contrived than many people
realize….[It] is precipitated and continued
by people who want to change the Church’s
agenda…" [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
"Married Priests? The Debate
Continues," November 17, 1996.]
The laity of Milwaukee, threatened with losing
their priests, are not unaware that other U.S.
dioceses have seminaries which are bulging with
stellar vocations. These are the seminaries which
are uncompromising about the faith and
unambivalent about the moral standards to which
the priesthood must be held. The laity must ask,
in the light of such a contrast, are the seminary
policies of the Milwaukee Archdiocese fostering
or crippling vocations?
In conclusion: CSL president, Tom Phillips, has
said, "We’re clearly in the middle of
spiritual warfare. Archbishop Weakland has
singled out sexuality as ‘the big one’
on which to teach and speak, and his views
directly oppose the Vatican and the 2,000
year-old teachings of the Church." [The
Honolulu Advertiser, "Prelate: Won’t Be
Muzzled," October 5, 1991]
Another Milwaukee Catholic observed, "The
continuing effort by small cliques surrounding
some bishops to foist their own view of Catholic
Christianity on existing Catholic communities is,
in this age, an outrageous power
play….[T]heir attempt to trick us into
believing that they represent authentic
Catholicism is an unforgivable deception."
[The Milwaukee Journal, "Disobedient
Catholics Free to Leave Church for Own,"
Thomas Darien, January 4, 1993.] [Return
to Index]
RCF
Board Member Arrested
While Praying On Church Property.
- May 31,
1997 at 11 am James Bendell, a Washington State
Trial Attorney and Board Member of Roman Catholic
Faithful, was arrested by the Lantana, Florida
police and charged with trespass. Jim was
arrested at the Cenacle Retreat house where he
was praying the rosary and distributing Catholic
literature defining the Church's teaching
regarding homosexual acts and the treatment of
homosexual persons. ( 1986 Document of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
"Letter to Bishops of the Catholic Church on
the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons")
Also present were Kyran Murphy, an RCF group
leader in West Palm Beach, Florida, Kyran's wife,
and several other RCF members. Fr. Robert Nugent
and Sr. Jeannine Gramick were giving a talk at
the retreat house.
That same morning a protest was taking place at
St. Ignatius Loyola Cathedral on Military Trail
and Holly Avenue in Palm Beach Gardens. Kyran
Murphy had tried unsuccessfully to convince
Bishop Symons that Gramick and Nugent should not
be allowed to speak in the diocese. The following
is a copy of the statement distributed by Kyran's
group.
Why are these people allowed to spread their
errors in our diocese? -
- "Homophobia
Workshops" sponsored by "Center for
Homophobia Education" based in Hyattsville,
MD and NYC have been Scheduled in our diocese.
Sister Jeannine Gramick, of Dignity fame, and Fr.
Robert Nugent, stripped of his faculties to
preach and hear confessions in the Washington
Archdiocese, are the seminar
"facilitators". The purpose of the
seminars is to quell "Any unwarranted fear
of homosexuality in oneself or others- usually
based on ignorance, stereotyping or other
psychological factors." All this taught
without altering its pro-homosexual disposition
and with no apparent effort to impart Church
teachings that homosexuality is an
"OBJECTIVE DISORDER".
-
- Nugent's
and Grammick's jaded past includes:
1978 - Fr. Nugent stripped of his
faculties to preach and hear confessions in
Washington.
1979 - Gramick and Nugent sponsored a
retreat for homosexual religious women causing
the Vatican to order the FIRST OF THREE
INVESTIGATIONS by their superiors.
1981 - After planning a national
conference on homosexuality and the Catholic
Church in Washington, DC, the second Vatican
ordered investigation commenced. Archbishop, now
Cardinal Hickey wrote to the US bishops and
religious superiors informing them that New Ways
Ministries, co-founded by Nugent and Gramick, had
an ambiguous stand on the morality of homosexual
activity.
1983 - Cardinal Hickey asks Grammick's and
Nugent's superiors to withdraw them from his
archdiocese.
1984 - Sacred Congregation for Religious
had them withdraw from New Ways Ministry under
threat of disciplinary action. They nevertheless
continued to offer workshops on homosexual
ministry, according to a Catholic News Service
report.
1984 - Gramick signed the infamous NY
TIMES pro abortion ad.
1985 - Third Vatican request for
investigation of their activities.
1992 - US CATHOLIC August issue, Sr.
Gramick candidly described her mission as helping
US Catholics to approve same sex relationships
between gay and lesbian people.
1994 - Cardinal Maida of Detroit, was
appointed head of a Vatican committee to probe
the "gay ministry" of Gramick and
Nugent.
- Gramick and
Nugent continue their activities to this day. She
was quoted to have said in a talk at the
University of Tennessee Catholic Center, "If
gay people are in a committed relationship, then
sexual expression is morally okay."
Gramick and Nugent have been banned in Boston by
Cardinal Law, In Newark by Bishop McCarrick and
in Washington by Cardinal Hickey----
When Jim was arrested he was taken to the City
Police Station and placed in a holding cell. He
was later transported to the county jail where he
was searched and fingerprinted. After several
hours Jim posted bail and was given a court date
of July 1.
The American Catholic Lawyers Association has
stepped in to help.
American Catholic
Lawyers Assoc.
10 Audrey Place
P.O. Box 10544
Fairfield, N.J. 07004
Kryan Murphy,
1362 Breakers West Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL.
33411
561-790-4858
[Return
to Index]
The
St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild
Presents a Clarification of the
Teachings of the Catholic Church on Homosexuality
- On March 1,
1997, Bishop Matthew H. Clark of the Diocese of
Rochester, New York presided at a "Mass for
Gay and Lesbian Catholics" at Sacred Heart
Cathedral. Prior to the celebration of the Mass,
Bishop Clark stated that he was "going to
disappoint" those Catholics who had
expressed the concern that he should remind those
attending the Mass that homosexual activity is
sinful. According to Bishop Clark, it would have
been "oppressive and manipulative" to
"pound on" the sinfulness of homosexual
activity. (Catholic Courier, February 27, 1997,
p. 3.) The media reported that "[Bishop]
Clark avoided any discussion of the official
teachings of the Catholic Church" on the
homosexuality issue. (Rochester Democrat &
Chronicle, March 2, 1997, p. 1A.)
-
- Because of
his failure to convey the full teaching of the
Catholic Church on the issue of homosexuality,
his words and actions caused much confusion among
the faithful, especially our youth.
Canon 212, Section 3 of the Code of Canon Law of
the Catholic Church provides that Catholics
"have the right, indeed at times the duty,
in keeping with their knowledge, competence, and
position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their
views on matters which concern the good of the
Church.... They have the right also to make their
views known to others of Christ's faithful."
With all due respect to the episcopal office of
Bishop Clark, we, the undersigned, are compelled
to exercise this right and to articulate for the
benefit of Catholics and other interested parties
the relevant teaching of the Catholic Church on
the issue of homosexuality which the bishop
omitted. The
Church's Teaching
- "Basing
itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents
homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,
tradition has always declared that 'homosexual
acts are intrinsically disordered.' They are
contrary to the natural law. They close the
sexual act to the gift of life. They do not
proceed from a genuine affective and sexual
complementarity. Under no circumstances can they
be approved." (Catechism of the Catholic
Church, n. 2357, quoting Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration, Persona
humana (1975), n. 8.)
"Although the particular inclination of the
homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or
less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic
moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must
be seen as an objective disorder."
(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Letter, On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual
Persons (1986, n. 3.)
"[Persons with deep-seated homosexual
tendencies] are called to fulfill God's will in
their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite
to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the
difficulties they may encounter from their
condition." (Catechism of the Catholic
Church, n. 2358.)
"It is up to the Bishops to instruct the
faithful in the moral teaching concerning sexual
morality, however great may be the difficulties
in carrying out this work in the face of ideas
and practices generally prevailing today. . . .
It is likewise the Bishops' mission to see that a
sound doctrine enlightened by faith and directed
by the Magisterium of the Church is taught in
faculties of theology and in seminaries. Bishops
must also ensure that confessors enlighten
people's consciences and that catechetical
instruction is given in perfect fidelity to
Catholic doctrine." (Persona humana, n. 13.)
"It rests with the Bishops, the priests and
their collaborators to alert the faithful against
the erroneous opinions often expressed in books,
reviews and public meetings." (Persona
humana, n. 13.)
"No authentic pastoral program will include
organizations in which homosexual persons
associate with each other without clearly stating
that homosexual activity is immoral. A truly
pastoral approach will appreciate the need for
homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of
sin." (On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual
Persons, n. 15.)
"All support should be withdrawn from any
organizations which seek to undermine the
teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about
it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support,
or even the semblance of such support, can be
gravely misinterpreted. Special attention should
be given to the practice of scheduling religious
services and to the use of Church buildings by
these groups, including the facilities of
Catholic schools and colleges. To some, such
permission to use Church property may seem only
just and charitable; but in reality it is
contradictory to the purpose for which these
institutions were founded, it is misleading and
often scandalous." (On the Pastoral Care of
Homosexual Persons, n. 17.)
In his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (1993), Pope
John Paul II reminded his brother bishops that
they have the duty "to be vigilant that the
word of God is faithfully taught.... As bishops,
we have the 'grave obligation' to be personally
vigilant that the 'sound doctrine' (1 Tim. 1:10)
of faith and morals is taught in our
dioceses." (n. 116; emphases in original)
Similarly, the teaching of Vatican II's Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) is
clear that an individual bishop's authority must
be exercised in union with the Pope (see nn. 22,
25).
In 1987, during his second visit to the United
States, the Holy Father stated to American
bishops that the pastoral care to be given to
homosexual persons "includes a clear
explanation of the Church's teaching, which by
its nature is unpopular. Nevertheless, your own
pastoral experience confirms the fact that the
truth, howsoever difficult to accept, brings
grace and often leads to a deep inner
conversion." (Address, September 16, 1987,
n. 18.) Indeed, there are countless documented
cases where homosexuals have turned away from
their disordered "lifestyle,"
confirming the promise of conversion when the
truth is known.
Every witness who appears before a court of law
in this country, before giving testimony, is
asked some variant of the question "Do you
swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help you God?"
Just as any attempt to testify in court as to
only part of the truth and to conceal or avoid
the rest violates this oath, so should any
attempt to give witness to only part of the truth
of Catholic doctrine be viewed with grave
concern. Truth is disserved and the faith
discredited -- with incalculable damage to souls
-- where words and actions by diocesan officials,
including bishops, do not clearly indicate
adherence to the entire body of official teaching
of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and
morals.
Lay Catholics "have the duty and the right
to acquire the knowledge of Christian teaching
which is appropriate to each one's capacity and
condition, so that they may be able to live
according to this teaching, to proclaim it and if
necessary to defend it." (Code of Canon Law,
Canon 229, Section 1) All Rochester Catholics --
and now, particularly those with a homosexual
inclination in this diocese -- must be allowed to
exercise their right to the truth.
Before He took up His Cross, Our Lord said:
"All those committed to the truth hear my
voice." (John 18:37) The voice of Jesus
Christ is heard today on the issue of
homosexuality -- clearly and forcefully --
through the Magisterium of the Catholic Church in
union with Christ's vicar on earth, John Paul II.
No local bishop of a particular diocese may
unilaterally deviate from this teaching. (See
Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Church (Lumen Gentium), nn. 22, 25. See also,
Persona humana, n. 13.) Respectfully submitted,
The
Board of Governors,
St. Thomas More Lawyers Guild,
Rochester, NY
Dated:
May 15, 1997
(This
manuscript was originally submitted to the
Rochester Catholic Courier, the official
newspaper of the Rochester Catholic diocese, for
publication. The Catholic Courier declined to
publish the article, even as a paid
advertisement. Therefore, it was the Guild's
decision to publish the article as a paid notice
in the Messenger-Wolfe Publications. [General
Offices for the Messenger-Wolfe Publications --
which include nine newspapers serving the suburbs
of Rochester, NY -- are in Victor, NY.])
John
Manning Regan -- President
Joseph A.F. Valenti -- Vice President
Mary E. Taylor -- Secretary
Posted
by: John F. Wagner,Jr.
Member, Board of Governors, St. Thomas More
Lawyers Guild
[Return
to Index]
Upcoming RCF Events and
Meetings
Past
RCF events
Monday,
May 19, 1997. Quincy, IL
RCF Meeting held at the Holiday Inn in Quincy.
Topic-The Springfield Diocese
Wednesday,
May 21, 1997. Cardinal Carberry Campus.
CREDO of St. Louis has Stephen Brady speak on
Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc.
Monday,
June 9, 1997. Radio interview on
WMAY Radio 970 am, Springfield, IL.
Topic-Bishop Ryan.
Wednesday,
June 11, 1997. Serra Club dinner with guest
speaker S. Brady
(Crisis in the Church and in the Priesthood) held
at the Dominican Priory in River Forest, IL.
Monday,
June 16, 1997. Radio interview on the John Nuzzo
show, WBVP Radio 1230 AM.
Upcoming
RCF events
Saturday,
September 20, 1997
A day long event, sponsored by Coalition of
Concerned Catholics of Albany, P.O. Box
13-532, Albany, NY 12212-3532. James Bendell, a
Washington State Trial Attorney and RCF
Board Member and Stephen G. Brady of RCF
will be speaking.
Stephen
Brady will be speaking in Oneonta, NY, Friday,
September 19, 1997
For more information contact: Rita Armstrong at
RCF, P.O. Box 483, Oneonta, NY 13820
If you
live near Rochester, NY and could help set up a
talk there for September — please let us
know.
Stephen
Brady, RCF will be speaking in Albuquerque, NM
& Phoenix, AZ in September. Dates will be
made available in two weeks. RCF members in other
states interested in a date for a talk, contact
RCF, Inc.
Several
Orthodox Catholic organizations are working on
establishing a Web Site that will contain
information on all "Catholic" Groups or
individuals that dissent from Church teaching. If
you are interested in helping, let us know.
Human Life International
The Pro-Life/ Pro-Family Institute Presents:
A conference for priests and deacons to
promote understanding and
encourage preaching about Humanae Vitae.
When:
July 22-24
Where: HLI Headquarters, Front Royal, VA.
Cost: $200 per person (includes housing
and meals at Christendom College)
Preparation: Familiarity with Humanae
Vitae, Familiaris Consortio, and Evangelium
Vitae.
For
registration and information call Helen Garrity
at (540) 622-5278; E-mail: helen@hli.org Human
Life International 4 Family Life Front Royal, VA.
22630
[Return
to Index]
The
Good Priest
By Stephanie Block
- I recently
wrote an exposé concerning a priest who is
active in Call To Action. One of his parishioners
took exception to the article. She felt that it
portrayed the parish and her pastor unfairly.
Father is a good priest, she protested, who has
"touched home and our hearts with his
words." The parish he administers is an
institution "that makes resources available
to Catholics who are going through a hard
time." Clearly, this parishioner has found
Father to be a warm, loving, and caring priest,
and I see no reason to assume otherwise.
However, the issue of the priest’s
"goodness" is irrelevant to his
Catholicity. Many non-Catholic clerics are
certainly good people. The Catholic faithful have
the right to ask if it is sufficient to simply be
a neighbor to one’s fellow man, or is one
called to be more?
Certainly, the Catholic is called to be a
neighbor. We all know the scriptural
exhortations, from the story of the Good
Samaritan to Jesus’ condemnation of the
hypocrites - those whited sepulchers - who
pretend to be God’s friend while disdaining
the needy. We all know the story of the man who
stands before Christ on Judgment Day, crying
"Lord, Lord…," but Jesus does not
recognize him because he neglected to minister to
the least of God’s little ones. We all have
memorized the Works of Mercy and understand our
calling and our privilege is to strive for
perfection, to sell what we have and give to the
poor, and to expend ourselves, even to death.
But there are two Laws of Love. Service to God
does not end with service to neighbor. If that is
all the Christian has to give, he has given too
little. The Christian who tries to buy his own
salvation with good works is a stingy thing, a
spiritual miser who hordes pennies when he has
been given an entire universe to spend on
charity. It is good to see God in one’s
fellow man, but it is not enough to find Him only
there. The truth is so much bigger.
God is to be known and loved - as well as served.
The soul who loves his neighbor does not
necessarily discover God. The soul who loves God,
on the other hand, will learn to love his
neighbor.
This love is larger than bread and timber and
fabric and security. It demands a higher standard
for counseling and comfort and education and good
intentions than the world can give. It probes
into the wounds of a broken humanity more
radically than the most wild-eyed revolutionary.
It sears the gaping hole closed. It heals.
To love one’s neighbor through God, and in
Him and with Him, is to love as God loves,
concerned about all that a man needs to live,
which is not on bread alone. A Christian who
feeds the hungry is concerned not just about
gastronomic emptiness, nor about intellectual
voids, but about a man’s yearning for the
divine. More than that, the Christian knows how
that appetite is satisfied. And further still,
the Christian knows that there are some who
perish, not knowing what they lack.
As the body’s hunger cannot be fed on
stones, neither can the soul’s hunger be fed
on falsehood. Both are indigestible. Both,
indulged in for too long, will destroy a person,
no matter how "good" he may be.
Ingested stone will rigidify the flesh as
spiritual stone indurates the soul.
On God’s mercy, which can change even stones
into bread, and which can raise sons of Abraham
from stones, we can hope - but we must not
presume. A stone swallowed in ignorance is not
the same thing as a deliberate diet, swallowed
hard-heartedly.
An ordained servant of God, standing before the
people of God, has been given a commission.
Regardless of his personal worth or the strength
of his faith, he must preach and speak and
deliver real Bread. As a priest, as the leader of
a congregation, he must be a neighbor, yes, but
he must also speak the Truth which has been
delivered to him from the hands of Christ,
through His Church, for the welfare of His sheep.
The priest is not at liberty to preach whatever
strikes his fancy as "good," nor to
lead the flock wherever he wishes. There is only
one gate, only one destination, only one Bread
which gives eternal Life, only one source of
Living Water, and only one Body - only One.
Would you argue that a Good Samaritan is
preferable to a Bad Pharisee? Amen! But a Good
Pharisee, as Jesus was, is better than both. We
are not called to choose the best alternative
between bad extremes, but to seek the complete,
the whole, and the good. We are called to imitate
Christ, who was both a Good Neighbor and the Way,
the Truth, and the Life.
A kind man who teaches rebellion against the
Church may be better than a cold man whose lips
preach Truth but whose icy heart foments
rebellion by its very existence. Neither,
however, makes a very good Catholic priest. Thanks, Stephanie, for
all that you do!
If you have a question for Stephanie,
send it to RCF
and we will pass it along.
[Return
to Index]
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