Belleville Diocesan priests ask Bp. Braxton to resign

  • Thread starter Thread starter flameburns623
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
dmelosi said:
Some points to make.

Most of the priests who signed the petition are msgrs and have been around in the diocese for a long time.

The Belleville diocese was among the worst in the US for the sexual abuse.

I travel all over the US for business but I have never seen as much liturgical abuse as I do in my home diocese, Belleville.

The explanation given were that the funds were just taken out of the wrong account, but were put back into those accounts right away.

There are 4 call to action groups in the area. The diocese is very liberal. The bishop has been trying to change that since he has been there.

The bishop is still in mourning over his mother who just passed away. He was very close to her.

The bishop insists on following the rules of the mass and has come down pretty hard on the liturgical abuses.

Last point…worth repeating…I travel all over the US for business but I have never seen as much liturgical abuse as I do in my home diocese, Belleville.
Click to expand...
This testimony, from someone who has first hand experience of the conditions in the Belleville diocese, combined with first hand testimony of Bishop Braxton’s character from my wife’s two orthodox priest-cousins at the Bishop’s former diocese in Lake Charles, convince me that the good Bishop is just that – good. He is fighting entrenched elements of liberlism and heretical thinking in a diocese that is filled with disillusioned parishioners who are being led by the nose by their wayward priests. I am praying the rosary that his Excellency prevails in his battle for the Truth.
 
As more and more information is coming out, it looks like a bunch of sour grapes on their part.

I think those in the diocese should ask those dissenting priests to resign.
 
I have to go here every so often, as my father is from this area, and I have loads of kin there.

Soooo- It is very telling that the meeting to sign this was held in Germantown. I know a lot of older folks who have given up on going to Mass in that twon, or drive to other parishes because of heterodoxy. I know a lot of younger people (middleage and below) who have simply given up all together on being Catholic, or drive to parishes elsewhere. The county holding Germantown is considered “medium”.

It is very telling that the priests in question released their letter to the press, and to Call of Action and Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity (FOSIL).
 
peregrinus_WA said:
As more and more information is coming out, it looks like a bunch of sour grapes on their part.

I think those in the diocese should ask those dissenting priests to resign.
Click to expand...
So much more harm appears to have been done. The many priests in the diocese have gotten away with all of these abuses for so many years and have lead people about the church teachings.

It has led to a gradual acceptance of masses that look like anything but Catholic and as you can see from some of the previous posters, leading them away from church teaching to the point that they accept things as normal…believe that following church teaching is being a “groupie”.

I liken this to the gradual acceptance of abortion being anything less than it is and people having a blind alliance to their political party no matter what. Belleville is extremely liberal, a big Democratic stronghold. So many people are looking for reasons and excuses to stick with a political party no matter what.

Bishop Braxton is trying to stop this erosion of the Catholic teachings. It is no wonder that so many Catholic posters on here excuse their party by saying that there are other more important issues than abortion, and rarely say anything against this mass killing. I have heard the very same thing come from the priests themselves.

And don’t get me wrong other issues are extremely important too, but the point being, I rarely see a Democrat on here condemn abortion as the most important issue. It is so sad that many priests and nuns feel the same way.
 
Yerusalyim said:
Yep, I talked to my mother about this yesterday. This Bishop took funds designated for charities and bought not only vestments, but also furniture for the rectory. His unpopularity has NOTHING to do with his being a “conservative Bishop” and EVERYTHING to do with poor judgement, poor leadership, and poor communication. Just the misappropriation alone should warrant his removal as Bishop. The Church has too many black eyes already because of self serving clergy.
Click to expand...
He bought sme vestments and furniture and paid for them from the wrong funds and then returned those funds and for that he ought to be removed? That conclusion is silly to say the least.

CDL
 
GregoryPalamas said:
He bought sme vestments and furniture and paid for them from the wrong funds and then returned those funds and for that he ought to be removed? That conclusion is silly to say the least.

CDL
Click to expand...
You got to remember, the “progressive” will use anything, including threats and blackmail, to destroy anyone who is not in lockstep with them. Just like their secular counterparts (liberals). :mad:
 
IronHammer said:
Yay! Good news! The Bishop is in the for the fight!

stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/90904EDB370057A986257413000CA0A0?OpenDocument
Click to expand...
God bless you for sharing this. The good bishop’s opponents sound like members of a certain political party who has kept blacks on the plantations since antebellum days. It wonderful to see an Orthodox Black bishop stand up against these liberal destroyers. God bless him. Would someone post a way to let him know that we are praying for him?

CDL
 
GregoryPalamas said:
God bless you for sharing this. The good bishop’s opponents sound like members of a certain political party who has kept blacks on the plantations since antebellum days. It wonderful to see an Orthodox Black bishop stand up against these liberal destroyers. God bless him. Would someone post a way to let him know that we are praying for him?

CDL
Click to expand...
diobelle.org/contact.html

Please do contact, I have called and emailed.
 
Am I allowed to say that neither side is handling this particularly well?

It’s starting to sound like a soap opera…blackmail! intrigue! secret meetings!

This is right up there with the Bishop of Gallup seeing “kind little people” in his closet right before he went on leave last year.

Just a rough situation.
 
frommi said:
Am I allowed to say that neither side is handling this particularly well?

It’s starting to sound like a soap opera…blackmail! intrigue! secret meetings!

This is right up there with the Bishop of Gallup seeing “kind little people” in his closet right before he went on leave last year.

Just a rough situation.
Click to expand...
If you read through this, you can see that it has been a battle for the bishop since he arrived. It has stewed for years and is coming to a head. I am not sure how in the world you think it could have been handled differently.

The way you flippantly make fun of the situation is in pretty poor taste in my opinion.
 
dmelosi said:
If you read through this, you can see that it has been a battle for the bishop since he arrived. It has stewed for years and is coming to a head. I am not sure how in the world you think it could have been handled differently.

The way you flippantly make fun of the situation is in pretty poor taste in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Clearly there is blame to be shared here…

My view is this, the bishop is ordained with the ‘spirit of governance’, so the priests of a diocese do have an obligation to follow his lead and his governance. That has not happened for, what sound like, a variety of reasons.

However, a bishop has an obligation to his priests to be a worthy shepherd and a father to them. He has an obligation to ‘set the tone’ for an entire diocese on things such as finances, etc. He obviously needs to build trust, not just enforce ‘orthodoxy’ etc.

The church should not be reduced to dueling press releases/pastoral letters…whatever you want to call them.

We can and should have some open disagreements from time to time. But it’s not of benefit to anyone for this craziness to continue.

The bishop and his priests are going to need to work with each other…the priests need the bishop, as successor of the apostles to maintain the diocese’s unity with Rome…the bishop needs his priests to continue to have a Eucaristic church.
 
Emails are great - but I have been told that old-fashioned snail mail marked ‘confidential’ often has a greater impact **and the Bishop has more of a chance of seeing it. **

Some Bishops do not read their email, but rather rely on their office staff to forward to them ‘non-junk’ messages. With everything going on in this diocese, I’m not sure you can count on the Bishop seeing your emails. Just my own thought. I could be wrong.
 
frommi said:
Clearly there is blame to be shared here…

My view is this, the bishop is ordained with the ‘spirit of governance’, so the priests of a diocese do have an obligation to follow his lead and his governance. That has not happened for, what sound like, a variety of reasons.

However, a bishop has an obligation to his priests to be a worthy shepherd and a father to them. He has an obligation to ‘set the tone’ for an entire diocese on things such as finances, etc. He obviously needs to build trust, not just enforce ‘orthodoxy’ etc.

The church should not be reduced to dueling press releases/pastoral letters…whatever you want to call them.

We can and should have some open disagreements from time to time. But it’s not of benefit to anyone for this craziness to continue.

The bishop and his priests are going to need to work with each other…the priests need the bishop, as successor of the apostles to maintain the diocese’s unity with Rome…the bishop needs his priests to continue to have a Eucaristic church.
Click to expand...
This started when the bishop first came. The bishop has tried to keep this between them and settle it.
 
peregrinus_WA said:
You got to remember, the “progressive” will use anything, including threats and blackmail, to destroy anyone who is not in lockstep with them. Just like their secular counterparts (liberals). :mad:
Click to expand...
You’re off base with this kind of comment…plenty of the ‘orthodox’ use similar tactics…you’re line of argument makes no sense.
 
dmelosi said:
This started when the bishop first came. The bishop has tried to keep this between them and settle it.
Click to expand...
How in the world do you settle something by misappropriating funds? That’s how things get settled? Walking out on meetings of the finance council is how things get settled?

Come on, you’re placing all the blame on one side of this out of pure blindness towards what you view as ‘orthodoxy’.
 
frommi said:
How in the world do you settle something by misappropriating funds? That’s how things get settled? Walking out on meetings of the finance council is how things get settled?

Come on, you’re placing all the blame on one side of this out of pure blindness towards what you view as ‘orthodoxy’.
Click to expand...
Where are you coming from on this? I live in the area and am speaking from first hand knowledge.

Unless you are from the area, I have to question your motives.
 
He bought sme vestments and furniture and paid for them from the wrong funds and then returned those funds and for that he ought to be removed? That conclusion is silly to say the least.
Click to expand...
That’s not how my mother understands the situation…as she understands it funds were not “taken out of the wrong account” but misappropriated…and not replaced until the bishop was called on the faux pax.

I don’t care one way or another, but like I said, when 2/3rds of the priests are saying there’s a leadership issues, SOMETHING is wrong…and I suspect there’s blame on both sides.
 
dmelosi said:
Where are you coming from on this? I live in the area and am speaking from first hand knowledge.

Unless you are from the area, I have to question your motives.
Click to expand...
I can’t have an opinion if I don’t live in the diocese?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top