Fake bishop selling sacraments at hotels, Dallas Diocese says

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FickleFreckled

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The Dallas Diocese issued a news warning today regarding two men claiming to be a bishop and a priest, who are preying on the Hispanic community, particularly illegals, and selling sacraments. They’re telling people that they have to have money for hotels while they’re here. The implications are frightening and should be shocking, but I’m not shocked and here’s why: I’ve worked in a healthcare-related field since 1995 and have had the opportunity to work with, and run into, many chaplains. In that time, I’ve worked with a former RC priest who wore a roman collar, badmouthed the Church often, and blessed marriages without benefit of annulment of first marriages. I’ve worked with a chaplain who claimed to be an Orthodox bishop ordained by the Orthodox Church in America, and who seemed to have the proper ordination documentation, although it was not a clear copy. On investigation, the Orthodox Church in America had never heard of him, and the OCA address shown on his ordination papers was for an unrelated private residence, not the OCA seminary. I’ve seen several resumes of Protestant ministers applying for chaplaincy positions who specifically state in their resumes that they are qualified to provide the sacraments for Catholics. I’ve heard about, but not seen, men who wear clerical black and collars who claim to be priests, who bring the sacraments to nursing home patients and who can’t be traced to any area churches. About a year ago, a hospice opened in my area that was named after a treasured and popular Catholic devotion. I assumed it was Catholic and called them. I was put through to the head of chaplaincy services, a woman who called herself Mother so-and-so. I thought she was a nun. Nope. She’s a priest who calls herself Catholic. It was so apparent by the name they’d given the company that they intended to make a strong appeal to Catholics. Neither adjoining diocese knew the hospice existed yet, although one was very familiar with her.

In this huge, primarily Protestant area, there’s little understanding about the significance or validity of sacraments. It’s frightening to me to think that if I am dying, the person who comes to my bedside might be a fraud.
 
FickleFreckled, you probably aren’t aware, but when we start a thread in this forum we are required to provide a current news link. I will do so now.
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas warned parishioners Monday that a man appears to be posing as a bishop and charging up to $200 to perform illegitimate sacraments at Dallas area hotels.
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At least four people have called local parishes during the past month after becoming suspicious of a man who claimed to be a Mexican bishop and charged $100 to $200 to perform the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Holy Communion.
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Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas said the Archbishop of Acapulco, Mexico, reported that a man named Martin Davila Gandara may be operating in the Dallas area.
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“This gentleman is not a Roman Catholic,” said the Rev. Eduardo Gonzalez, rector of the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. “He is not able to offer these services.”
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dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-sellingsacraments_12met.ART.State.Edition1.4dbfa39.html
 
con men posing as priests or bishops in scams to steal is an entirely different matter from validly ordained men or professed religious spreading dissent, celebrating sacraments illicitly and teaching heresy. Stick to the topic of the news story on this forum. If you wish to start another thread on the other topic, please do it on the appropriate forum.

if you have news links to the other incidents you know of, they could be used here.
 
What forum should this have been in? (It all seemed related to me since all individuals were providing sacraments to Catholics under false pretenses.)
 
FickleFreckled said:
Sorry…😊 Slow learner…
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Hey, its no problem. We all were new once! 🙂

As to whether this is the right forum, I don’t see any problem with it. But a moderator will move it if he or she feels it belongs elsewhere.

And as for the story itself… we all have to be cautious. If money can be made, con artists will try to exploit the situation. And as for Mother So-and-so, the US has several churches which call themselves Catholic but which are not in communion with Rome. I guess its one more reason to be cautious.
 
Thanks…I may be “new” a little longer than most…:whacky:

Is this happening everywhere or are we just lucky in Texas? I mean, with non-Catholic ministers and unidentifiable “clerics” giving Communion, phony Catholic and Orthodox bishops and priests, it seems to be more and more frequent. The funny thing is that the real priests don’t wear collars and blacks anymore unless they’re “working.” It’s the others who do…
 
It’s fine fickle, what you said was valid enough to be under one thread, but remember the link next time =P
 
FickleFreckled said:
. The funny thing is that the real priests don’t wear collars and blacks anymore unless they’re “working.” It’s the others who do…
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that actually is the funniest thing about the whole story, and scary too
 
Sure hope the FBI catches up with this fraud! And soon!

Besides, what Catholic would expect to have to pay for a Sacrament? Ummmmmmmm…or is it me?

Peace,

Gail
 
It’s customary to give a priest or deacon a monetary gift for weddings, baptisms and funerals.
If the people didn’t understand that it’s supposed to be a gift and not a fee, it might be easy to finagle money out of them…
 
When I was in the Philippines several years ago visiting my fiance then, an Episcopal priest from California lived in a house across from her family home who said he was an English Catholic bishop. He had invited her mother to mass and she found it strange, besides the fact that he had a wife. He also was victimizing people who were were simple and unprepared for such a person. It may be because he realized that I saw through him that he went to another city later, besides, luckily, his lack of success in getting people to join his church.
 
FickleFreckled said:
Thanks…I may be “new” a little longer than most…:whacky:

Is this happening everywhere or are we just lucky in Texas? I mean, with non-Catholic ministers and unidentifiable “clerics” giving Communion, phony Catholic and Orthodox bishops and priests, it seems to be more and more frequent. The funny thing is that the real priests don’t wear collars and blacks anymore unless they’re “working.” It’s the others who do…
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No, it happens fairly often. You have abortion service providers who use Our Lady of Guadalupe as decorations in their waiting room; people who are from the American Catholic Church or who claim to be “Old Catholic”, there have been cases where college students getting married in the Church provide documentation that they were baptized in such-and-such parish, only to find that such a parish never existed in that diocese and there’s no record of that person having been baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, etc.

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