Matt C. Abbott: California Priest In 'State Of Crisis'

Here's the background story: Fresno Priest Still In Exile

Quote:

In 2003, Father Joe Baca, of the Fresno, Calif., diocese — and who, for a time, was permitted to celebrate the Tridentine Mass at St. Agnes Mission Church in Pinedale, Calif. — was removed from public ministry by Bishop John Steinbock.

Father Baca's story, along with that of Father Jean-Michael Lastiri, can be found in this 2004 article from Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission.

Father Lastiri is still in public ministry. In June 2006, he was named Diocesan Director of Liturgy and Worship and Evangelization. On March 5, 2007, he was named administrator of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in downtown Fresno, and he currently heads the diocese's (newly-renamed) Office of Justice, Liturgy, and Worship.

Meanwhile, Father Baca's situation, like that of Arlington, Va., priest Father James Haley, remains in a sort of limbo.

Here's the update: Help Us, Pope Benedict... California Priest In 'State Of Crisis'

Quote:

Readers might recall my coverage of Father Joe Baca, of the Fresno, Calif., Catholic diocese. Father Baca contacted me in recent days and seemed distraught. I was, and still am, concerned for his well-being.

Thankfully, Father Baca is working with Joe Maher, president of Opus Bono Sacerdotii ("Work for the Good of the Priesthood"), who has issued the following update to Father Baca's unsettling situation:

'I just talked to Father Joe Baca at length. He assured me that he was not suicidal; however, he is utterly exhausted and has lost just about all hope. He received a letter from his bishop via e-mail on Monday which I believe threw him into a state of emotional and physical shock. I cannot say more than this due to the confidential nature of canonical cases. I asked Father Joe to send me a copy of the letter and I may talk to his bishop personally to see what can be done to ease his pain and bring some justice to this situation. I don't want to give anyone false hope because bishops often act at their own discretion regardless of canon law. We shall see.

'All that being said, and based on the thousands of priests' cases we deal with, and one new priest a day on average contacting us for help, Father Joe is in a state of crisis. Now more than ever, he needs the kind of love and support you are giving him here. Very few priests have such a network. When I can give a further update, I will.

'May Our Lady of Priests be Father Joe's, and your, health and protection.'

Please pray for all priests, particularly those who are suffering for the cause of the Faith!

Comments

[Jimbo]

Yikes!

Again we see the curious tendency of certain authorities to show compassion to one segment of the population and not others.

I am led to conclude that the Bishop is horribly compromised in his decisions, and am left to wonder privately why this might be--why he seems to consistently side with a certain segment of the population.

I always get a chuckle at these peace-at-all-cost types. Yeah, the parish peace and comity are the most important things! They quote the sword being beaten into plowshares all the time, but never seem to quote Jesus saying he came not to bring peace but the sword. How about a balance, peaceniks. I suspect they forget that Jesus divided homes and families and synagogues.

[Loyolalaw98]

Twenty years ago I knew Joe when he was a fellow Orangensis at St. John's in Camarillo. They put him through h*ll for his orthodoxy. He bore it all patiently and humbly. I knew of no other seminarian who prayed more than Joe. He was castigated for it, called a "wafer worshipper."

It's interesting to note that the former Rector of St. John's while Joe was there, George Niederauer, is now the Archbishop of San Francisco, and the Dean of students while he was there, Gabino Zavala, is an auxiliary Bishop of the L.A. Archdiocese. One can imagine the "type" of priests they try to recruit.

[jay_d_acre]

This is the first I've heard of these priests, and from what I read through these links there definitely seems to be something wrong with the priest colleagues around Fr. Baca. But we also need to be honest about giving the whole picture of Fr. Baca. I think I understood the articles: hasn't Fr. Baca been battling a serious drinking problem? If so, that is something that will really mess one up, and it's certainly something that will compromise a priest's ability to function. I know of a few priests who did the right thing, who knew they had a problem, took time away to get treatment, and came back better than ever. But staying sober is a life-long fight, one moment at a time, one dat at a time.

[Jimbo]

Well, Jay, I notice that even if what you say is true about Father Baca, I noticed that one priest's battle with addiction (homosexual pornography) has been cleared by the bishop with amazing speed, while Father Baca's (alcoholism) still hasn't been cleared. Why would homosexual porno addiction be cleared so fast and alcohol so slow? Furthermore, the porno addiction most assuredly coincided with numerous vacation antics.

Again, why compassion and understanding to one addiction and not the other? Apparently some addictions and groups are more deserving of compassion and consideration than others.

[ATHELSTAN]

Eventually Pope Benedict will have no other choice but to excommunicate those Catholics who refuse to accept his final revision of the liturgy. The creation of a flexible, Tridentine-style rite with numerous options within. A Rube Goldberg of a machine with many moving parts. All designed to satisfy some group within the Church.
The reactionaries here and elsewhere in the world will never accept anything but the full restoration of the Tridentine Mass. They vainly wait for it to replace the Novus Ordo. That will never happen and this pope and future popes won't permit it to happen.

So the inevitable clash and the pope's need to anathematize the so called "traditionalists" who refuse to submit to his authority from the mainstream of the Church cannot be avoided.

[Billy Simons]

I have a question. Preachers say they are called to serve God. And Priests and Nuns say they are called to serve God. Why do Preachers get married and have children and the Priests and Nuns don't? Thanks, BS