Roman Catholic Blog

Prima Facie Heresy in Fresno.

hat tip to California Catholic Daily

SEE: http://calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=21446f75-b6f2-4199-b2b3-46d95fd4802e

 

Renegade Catholic Advises

Priests on How to

Fight the Church

Knight of Columbus Targeted

Published: July 1, 2009, California Catholic Daily

"Suspended Fresno priest turned gay activist Father Geoffrey Farrow has called for Catholic priests to retaliate against the Knights of Columbus for their support of Proposition 8.

Farrow was removed as pastor from the St. Paul Newman Center at Cal State Fresno in October 2008 for his outspoken defiance of church teaching over Proposition 8 and the issue of homosexuality.

In a post on his personal blog dated June 4, 2009 “Boycott the Knights of Columbus,” Farrow wrote:

“Many priests have E-mailed me and expressed their rage and anger over the hypocrisy of the Catholic hierarchy in supporting anti-marriage equality legislation…One of the organizations, which the bishops have effectively employed to do their dirty work, has been the Knights of Columbus.”

Farrow then asked “So, what can priests do to fight the anti-gay agenda of the bishops and the K of C?” His first suggestion:

“Borrow the full amount against your Knights of Columbus life insurance policy immediately. Take the check and invest the funds with an LGBT friendly fund. Do not pay back the loan.”

Father Farrow recommends that faithful parishioners be denied the proper use of parish facilities. He reminded pastors that they control the content of the weekly parish bulletin. He urged: “Do not let the K of C publish or announce.“ He encouraged pastors not to allow Knights of Columbus events to be held on church property--even if that would mean “creating” a “program” to occupy available time slots at parish facilities:

“Pastors may grant or withhold permission for organizations to use church facilities for their meetings. Most parishes have very tight facility scheduling. Create a program and tell the K of C they need to meet elsewhere.”

After Farrow was removed from his parish and suspended without pay, he complained that he was not being supported by his bishop. This prompted the “Catechism on Call” blog to write:

“Why would anyone who is faithful to the Gospel and Jesus Christ, actively support a priest who publicly promotes the homosexual lifestyle, which the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls ‘intrinsically disordered?’”

Father Farrow is the scheduled homilist for the “Eucharistic Celebration” at the 2009 Dignity USA Convention which will be held July 2-5 in San Francisco. Other attendees are keynote speaker Richard Rodriguez, a parishioner of Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco, and Fr. Donal Godfrey, SJ, the executive director of campus ministry at the University of San Francisco, who will be conducting an unspecified “workshop.”
_______________________

As a resident of Fresno and a member of the KnIghts of Columbus I am waiting to see Bishop Steinbock's response to this.

If you want to read Farrow's babblings they can be found at:

http://fathergeofffarrow.blogspot.com/

 

Saving the Priesthood

My 75 year old father, who lives alone in Riverside County since my mother's death last year, called me the other day to relay how his most recent visit to the doctor went. (Blessedly, his health is good and his mind is still the "steel-trap" it always was!) As we chit-chatted, he mentioned to me that he had recently read an article in the newspaper about the possible federal indictment of Cardinal Roger Mahoney for his active participation, actual orchestration, of the covering up of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Cardinal Mahoney's misdeeds have always been of interest as when my family lived in the O.C., and my mother was alive, she became friends with Cardinal Mahoney's late mother who went to daily mass at the same Church that my mother usually attended daily too.

There was never a more devout woman, in the old traditional sense of the word. How she produced the current Archbishop of Los Angeles is a mystery. But I digress as this post is not about Cardinal Mahoney.

 

My dad had been in conversation at his Knights of Columbus Chapter and the conversation turned to the amount of monetary damages, and their effect on the institutional Church. My father commented that this was completely the wrong focus. Relaying this after the fact to me on the telephone, he nonetheless repeated his sage words:

"We can have a Church without buildings, but we cannot have a Church - a Catholic Church - without good and holy priests!"

Every year I get older my father gets wiser, and boy did he hit the nail on the head with that statement. My dad's catechesis was a lot like my catechesis, based on memorization and simple educational tools ala the Baltimore Catechism. As we seem to have a large number of non-catholics commenting here I'll synopsize as to "why" priests are important.

1.) Man must have God's grace to achieve Salvation.

2.) The Seven (-7-) Sacraments are the primary means by which man receives grace.

3.) Priests are absolutely necessary to confect most of these Sacraments.

I thought of my dads observation as I read a piece by the ARCH-HERETIC - "Fr." Richard McBrien. (pic below)

How it can be possible that he is the Crowley-O’Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame escapes me. He wrote an article at the National catholic Reporter - bastion of neo modernism - lamenting the increasing trend of:

IMPORTING AFRICAN & ASIAN PRIESTS TO WORK AT PARISHES IN THE USA.

If you wish to see his piece it can be found at:

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/3178

Be forewarned that he is a dangerous man, and that the publication is itself a "cloaca maxima" for heresy and error.

This again related back to my parents home parish in Riverside County - where the two local churches are staffed by Holy Ghost Fathers - all either retired Anglo priests who had been missionaries, or young African priests.

I think that Fr. McBrien and his ilk are upset with these African and Asian priest for two reasons:

1.) Their importation lessens the "priest shortage crisis" they have been using to foist ecclesiological experimentation on unsuspecting parishioners.

Mc Brien suggests himself that rather than importing priests the Church should:

• (a) welcome back into the priesthood those priests who left to marry and might still be willing to serve as married priests;
• (b) drop the requirement of life-long, obligatory celibacy for its priests, thereby matching the discipline of the non-Roman Catholic churches of the East, which have had a married priesthood for centuries; and
• (c) open the ordained priesthood to women.

All ideas that have "gone nowhere" for thirty years, and will continue to go nowhere under the steady hand of Benedict XVI.

2.) In my experience these African import priests have been unbelievably faithful and hyper-orthodox. Not necessarily liturgically traditional, but doctrinally quite sound.

I am curious to hear from the readers of this blog what your experiences have been with "import" priests.

As both Fr. Mc Brien and the New York Times have written about the phenomena - I am hoping that it is widespread!

Bella's Eduardo Verastegui On Abortion, Obama & Proposition 4

[Warning] The video immediately below is graphic (those below it are not)...

Barbara Kralis Asks An Excellent Question In Her New Article...

Click here to read Barbara Kralis' article: How many times do we have to say 'NO' to same-sex marriage?

Click here to read this recent Time Magazine story: The Gay Mafia That's Redefining Liberal Politics

Food For Thought...

See also: What Could Be Scarier Than Halloween? Two Orange County Pastors Donating To Obama

What Could Be Scarier Than Halloween? Two Orange County Pastors Donating To Obama

(Above) Mission San Juan Capistrano Basilica Pastor, Fr. Art Holquin

(Below) Corpus Christi Parish Pastor, Fr. Fred Bailey

Mission San Juan Capistrano Basilica Pastor, Fr. Art Holquin, gave money to Barack Obama's campaign.

Click here: Holquin Donation

So did Fr. Fred Bailey, pastor of Corpus Christi parish in Aliso Viejo, of Halloween Mass & Barney blessing fame.

Click here: Bailey Donations

Click here to learn about Fr. Fred Bailey's "wife" Helen: Corpus Christi FAQ

Flashback Video Links:

Halloween Mass Video #1

Halloween Mass Video #2

Halloween Mass Video # 3: The Barney Blessing

See also:

California Priest, Fr. Art Holquin, Gave Money To Obama Campaign

Fr. Art Holquin: Homosexual Priests Are A Gift To The Church

More On Holquin: An Observation from the Diocese of Orange....

Open Letter To Tod Brown, Bishop Of Orange

A Good First Step: Archbishop Chaput Corrects Senator Biden On Abortion

Here's the link: Archbishop Chaput Corrects Senator Biden on Abortion

My thoughts:

This is good, but the fundamental problem is with Catholics thinking that remaining within a political party that supports abortion as a civil right and attempting to dismiss this fact by pointing to conservative support for things like specific wars (or war in general) or the death penalty neutralizes the scandal involved in belonging to such a group is a moral option.

When will Church leaders tell Catholics that it's as wrong to belong to organizations that support the culture of death, most notably through support for the legal option to kill preborn babies, as it is to belong to a Masonic lodge?

And when will so-called Catholic politicians who support legal abortion be told, without equivocation, by all bishops (including the Holy Father) that, by supporting the culture of death, these so-called Catholic politicians are not in union with Rome, may not receive Holy Communion, and will be excommunicated if they persist in supporting legal abortion?

Any thoughts?

See also: Can Catholics Support Obama?

Partisan Pastor?

Archbishop Charles Chaput has been very open about his commitment to the Democrat party, even going so far as to admit having voted for, and even having worked for pro-abortion candidates.

A recent article by Catholic author, Barbara Kralis, brought attention to the issue: Will Denver Catholic Archbishop finally enforce Canon 915?

Archbishop Charles Chaput's history has troubled many of the faithful, and some of them have attempted to encourage the archbishop to exercise his duty to teach, govern, and sanctify by denying pro-abortion politicians (regardless of political affiliation) access to the Holy Eucharist.

More after the jump...

Voice of the Faithful is "Mainstream Catholic"?

That's how a reporter described the Voice of the Faithful today in my hometown paper, the Orange County Register.

The article is about Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod Brown's request that retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson not come to Orange County to promote his book "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church."

Robinson is speaking to the Orange County chapter of Voice of the Fathful, which OC Register reporter Vik Jolly described as "a group of mainstream Catholics working for change in the church structure and policy..."

Dennis Prager: California Decision Will Radically Change Society

Here's the link: California Decision Will Radically Change Society

Here's a quote:

Americans seem mesmerized by the word "change." And, by golly, they sure got it last week from the California Supreme Court. It is difficult to imagine a single social change greater than redefining marriage from opposite sex to include members of the same sex.

Nothing imaginable -- leftward or rightward -- would constitute as radical a change in the way society is structured as this redefining of marriage for the first time in history: Not another Prohibition, not government taking over all health care, not changing all public education to private schools, not America leaving the United Nations, not rescinding the income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax. Nothing.

Unless California voters amend the California Constitution or Congress amends the U.S. Constitution, four justices of the California Supreme Court will have changed American society more than any four individuals since Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison.

And what is particularly amazing is that virtually none of those who support this decision -- let alone the four compassionate justices -- acknowledge this. The mantra of the supporters of this sea change in society is that it's no big deal. Hey, it doesn't affect any heterosexuals' marriage, so what's the problem?

This lack of acknowledgment -- or even awareness -- of how society-changing is this redefinition of marriage is one reason the decision was made. To the four compassionate ones -- and their millions of compassionate supporters -- allowing same-sex marriage is nothing more than what courts did to end legal bans on interracial marriage. The justices and their supporters know not what they did. They think that all they did was extend a "right" that had been unfairly denied to gays.

Another reason for this decision is arrogance. First, the arrogance of four individuals to impose their understanding of what is right and wrong on the rest of society. And second is the arrogance of the four compassionate ones in assuming that all thinkers, theologians, philosophers, religions and moral systems in history were wrong, while they and their supporters have seen a moral light never seen before. Not a single religion or moral philosophical system -- East or West -- since antiquity ever defined marriage as between members of the same sex.

That is one reason the argument that this decision is the same as courts undoing legal bans on marriages between races is false. No major religion -- not Judaism, not Christianity, not Islam, not Buddhism -- ever banned interracial marriage. Some religions have banned marriages with members of other religions. But since these religions allowed anyone of any race to convert, i.e., become a member of that religion, the race or ethnicity of individuals never mattered with regard to marriage. American bans on interracial marriages were not supported by any major religious or moral system; those bans were immoral aberrations, no matter how many religious individuals may have supported them. Justices who overthrew bans on interracial marriages, therefore, had virtually every moral and religious value system since ancient times on their side. But justices who overthrow the ban on same-sex marriage have nothing other their hubris and their notions of compassion on their side.

Be sure to read the rest at the link.

Also worth reading:

Pope restates gay marriage ban after California vote

Bishop Vigneron To The Faithful Of The Oakland Diocese On The California Supreme Court Decision Allowing Same-Sex Marriage

No wiggle room: Vatican says no exceptions to ban on homosexuals in seminaries

Any thoughts?