Bishop removes Saginaw priest Fr. Edwin Dwyer from all assignments

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The fact is, we do not have all the information and we will probably never have all the information.

If the poster above was there, it is certainly justifiable for him to share his experience with the apostolic administrator, and I would encourage him to do so. The bishop should hear from all sides. But for those of us on the outside, little good comes from getting all worked up when the only thing we can be certain of is that we don’t know the whole story.
 
Everything mentioned in the article is perfectly reasonable to implement. I have to wonder (and not judge!) though was Fr. Eddie caring in his approach, or was he severe and/or dismissive?

I think there is a great deal of temptation to implement legitimate/GOOD things without taking into consideration peoples’ fears, neurosis and worse. Interestingly I have been verbally attacked over 3 of the very things mentioned in the article: use of sanctus bells, wearing a cassock and surplice and using incense.

Far more loved the bells, garb and incense than disliked it, but those that did not had an almost scary revulsion to them. While it’s tempting to just ignore such people, priests and others do so at their own peril. Better to simply go slow, let the bishop know what you’re up to (even if you don’t need his approval), be overly nice, fully explain and build-up enough supporters so that even if a small group heads for the chancery down the road, they won’t be able to derail legitimate renewal.

Far too many times I have seen “traditionalists” (both clerical and lay) shoot themselves in their feet because they discounted the value of employing “good people skills” even when they weren’t required to.
 
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Bishop removes Saginaw priest Fr. Edwin Dwyer from all assignments Catholic News
Secondary sources are saying that temporary administrator Bp. Hurley of the diocese of Saginaw has removed Fr. Edwin Dwyer from his assignments as student chaplain at Saginaw Valley State University and from Bay City Michigan Our Lady of Peace parish. There was what appears to have been an impromptu “town hall” meeting on Jan 21 (which I didn’t know anything about) at the parish apparently to complain of a few more traditional elements the priest was trying to introduce back into the Mass – inc…
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My spidey sense is tingling and there’s just something that doesn’t smell right about this story. The bishop’s reaction is so over the top that I can’t help but think there’s something else not mentioned here.
 
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Same here…

Applying good people skills even when we have the facts in our favor is still a very important thing to do…

It’s an important skill for any priest to have.
 
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I think this might go even further than a purported “lack of people skills”. Removing a pastor from multiple positions within a diocese, banishing him to the hinterlands, and not giving him a new assignment is the kind of thing that’s done for gross negligence or criminal acts. We only have the priest’s side of the story and a massive echo chamber of that same side online. The bishop (quite reasonably) is keeping mum.
 
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AlbertDerGrosse said:
My spidey sense is tingling and there’s just something that doesn’t smell right about this story. The bishop’s reaction is so over the top that I can’t help but think there’s something else not mentioned here.
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As NCR noted, the Bishop did state in his general announcement that he was in favor of traditional elements. Specifically:
It is clear to me that there is a need to make available on a regular basis to the people of the diocese in a central location a more traditional celebration of the Liturgy (greater use of Latin and practices that have often been identified with traditional forms of the liturgy)…Traditional practices can enrich our liturgies.
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So it doesn’t seem directly driven by some hatred of tradition. Bishop Hurley also didn’t initially dismiss Fr. Dwyer, though he did ask Fr. Dwyer to step aside temporarily during the investigation into allegations of division.

What most seem to be glossing over is the fact that the letter to Our Lady of Peace notes:
Unfortunately, my office is now receiving faxes, emails, letters and telephone calls based upon inaccurate accounts of our conversations. I do not want the parishioners of Our Lady of Peach [sic] Parish to become disheartened by the controversy. At this time, therefore, I have withdrawn his present assignment as Parochial Administrator…
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So it seems that, at least in part, this was due to some false rumors spreading. Whether or not Fr. Dwyer had a hand in them is uncertain, but I’d imagine that Bishop Hurley deemed it prudent to remove that potential disruption to the investigation.
 
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In other words, people online were whipped into a frenzy with inaccurate, exaggerated, and/or false narratives about what actually happened, and then the electronic mob came out with the virtual pitchforks.

You’d think we all would’ve learned from Covington.
 
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AlbertDerGrosse said:
You’d think we all would’ve learned from Covington.
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I suspect many people were too busy pointing at liberals to do any soul searching of their own.
 
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Someone with whom I’m familiar is a member of OLOP and reported that Fr. Dwyer refused the temporary leave urged by the bishop, which led to his removal from his appointments.

Frankly, I don’t have difficulty believing that a priest might incur negative reactions when introducing more traditional elements into a parish. I’ve no idea if the negative reactions expressed in this case had any effect at all. But I can easily imagine that removing Eucharistic ministers from their duties (suggesting that they shouldn’t be used as widely as they are) would not be happily accepted by some. People feel protective over their worship spaces and styles. That sort of seems like a universal truth.
 
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gracepoole said:
People feel protective over their worship spaces and styles. That sort of seems like a universal truth.
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Yup! And thanks to the internet we now all get to be protective beasts over other people’s worship spaces and styles. It’s an offense to me and my kind when Bishop Whosamacallit over in Nobodytown engages in any kind of discipline against some priest I had never before heard of because I once read somewhere that that priest did something I liked.

We all need to remind ourselves to constantly consider our own biases when reading these stories and to always air on the side of reserving judgment if there’s any question about the facts or their provenance.
 
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I generally agree. But so many bishops have lost respect of the faithful, with good reason, that I’m not sure people will be reserved in their judgements anytime soon.
 
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As I’ve also stated before, this is an interim bishop who’s dealing with a lot of stuff in his diocese right now. Who knows what the permanent bishop will do when one is installed.

I hope no one objects to my stating this fact. In the last thread I made another post observing this same thing and suggesting that people pray for a good permanent bishop to be appointed. Someone actually flagged my post as off-topic and it was removed. It seems on-topic to me!
 
From what I can find the priest’s motives and changes are all sound.

He was restoring tradition, within the rubrics, both because it is sound in itself and also to arrest the terminal decline in numbers, and to bring back the youth.
He cited a 7.3% reduction in Mass attendance in 2018 for the Diocese of Saginaw, a 23.7% reduction since 2013, and a 45% reduction since 2005. He also noted that Our Lady of Peace, “down a bit over 5.3% from last year,” while “better off than every other parish in Bay City percentage-wise,” still indicated to the priest a necessary call to action.

“While that may be better than our neighbors, it is still a decline,” he said in his homily, “and it is my responsibility as your shepherd to replenish the pews, and do so with your help.”

Father Dwyer laid out a plan in his homily that would draw younger Catholics back to the faith and also increase overall participation in Mass at Our Lady of Peace.

“I have not been here long, but folks tell me they’re noticing more young families and crying babies. And if the church ain’t cryin’, the church is dyin,’” he said. “My goal is to hear a chorus of crying babies before my time here ends. To do that, however, we need to embrace what works with the young. We need to more greatly embrace timeless traditions. We cannot keep the status quo.”
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So he did explain what he was doing and why.

My observations of parish life over many years is that there is a small number of laity who are determined to resist changes such as this, and are also entrenched in positions of power in the parish.

The parish liturgy is the number one concern of such people and they impose their own style on the community just as dictatorially as Fr Dwyer is alleged to have done, except they do it without reference to church regulations, and often in contempt of them, thinking they know best. There is also no arguing with them and the only thing that works is a firm hand as Fr Dwyer has done.

The result is, as Fr Dwyer noted, the loss of the youth, the decline of the parish and the absence of “crying babies”. (I’m not suggesting the liturgy is the only problem here, but I believe it is a significant one).

When I attended a Traditional Latin Mass the first thing I noticed was the children running up and down the aisle and the crying babies.
I’ve followed the link to the previous thread and found this, which confirms my reading of the situation, quite eerily.
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Bishop removes Saginaw priest Fr. Edwin Dwyer from all assignments Catholic News
What happened at the townhall was that a number of elderly baby boomers called together about 30-40 people who had a bone to pick with Fr. Eddie and essentially complained that they didn’t like the changes he was proposing for only one of the weekend masses in an attempt to draw in more young families. Families who supported Fr. Eddie were told the town hall wasn’t meant for them. What Fr. had to endure that night was sickening. The rudest, most vile, vitriol was spewed at him and he kept his c…
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OP, is there a particular reason you felt we need yet another thread on this?
 
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Our parish started doing a few of the Mass responses in Latin last November (2018).

My husband and I are converts, and we asked the priest to please make sure that the congregation is “taught” the chants (e.g., correct pronunciation of the Latin, repeating the “melody” and also finding it in the hymnal, etc.), rather than expected to just follow along and pick them up by osmosis. He said that the chants would be taught.

They weren’t taught. It sounded awful. Only a few people sang them, and everyone else just stood there. We could see lots of people looking at each other, shaking their heads, and looking confused. WE were confused

Now it’s four months later, and the chants are gone.

I don’t know if anyone actually complained or not. I know that I found myself deliberately avoiding Masses with music. What someone said earlier in the thread resonates with me personally–I am creeped out by chant. I know that Catholics who were raised with it love it, but I wasn’t raised with it, and if no one bothers to teach me, I just don’t feel comfortable or “blessed” by it. I feel assaulted by it. I think it’s interesting that apparently, others feel the same way.

There are a lot of Protestant converts sitting in Masses now, and I think that if the “old ways” are going to be re-introduced, they need to be taught with empathy and Protestants like me need to be gradually wooed over. If you are a traditionally-minded Catholic, just remember how you felt the first time you heard “Gather Us In” sung in your parish!

To just start something up is not a good way to do it.
 
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Sometimes it’s not what you do it’s how you do it. Also if the Bishop requests a priest step down it is best for the priest to do it.
I love the elements of tradition that are at my church and I wouldn’t mind more but the clergy make a vow to obey the Bishop and his successors. That is what this is about.
 
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Praying for unity.

John 17:20-21 “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”
 
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