Fr. Francis Mary Stone takes leave of absence to discern vocation

[LilyM]

I was addressing more of preventing this from happening than hiding it after it happened.

That being said, I don’t think it was a good idea to make it public unless Father had defitively said he would no longer wear the collar again.

Well, I’m sure Fr Francis Mary needs a lot of prayer right now either way, that may have been one reason to publicise it.

 

[Joey1976]

I saw this too and was very shocked. However, i am not completely sure i know what happens if a Priest decides to leave the Priesthood. I thought once a man is Ordained he is ALWAYS a Priest. If that is the case and he leaves the Priesthood for a women to marry or to be with does that mean he is living in sin? Will he no longer be a practicing Catholic? If he leaves does that mean he no longer believes in what the Church teaches if they teach Priest can never get married even if they leave the Priesthood? What is the Church’s stance on this? This is very shocking to me, i always thought he completely believed what the Church teaches and he would be able to resist that type of temptation. Such as feelings of love. Cause they are just feelings, you have to choose to love and i guess if he chooses to love this women then he is choosing to be against the Church teachings. I guess i always just figured the Priests that did leave the Priesthood were not the good Priests like Father Francis is. However,everyone is human and i cannot imagine how hard the Priesthood would be to be without a companion in a romantic relationship. It would be so hard and i bet it would be very lonely at times. I remember Fr. Francis saying that he was engaged once and maybe those desires to be married never left him. Wow, i am shocked. I have to believe he will get through this and persevere and figure out what his true calling is. If he decides to stay in the Priesthood it would be a great story and a great example to everyone

 

[jpsheehn]

My thoughts are that if Fr. Francis Mary had been married with children, and had suddenly decided he wanted to be with someone else due to “personal feelings”, no one on here would be very sympathetic or condone his choice.

I am sympathetic to our Priests, love them, and he certainly deserves our prayers, but there is no excuse for this.

WOW! No excuse!? I so can not believe what I just read!

So much for that Love Your Neighbor thing I read so much about. I guess if this happend a few centuaries ago we would have to what… kill Fr Francis? That kind of thinking is what leads to people like Luther leaving the church. I am pretty sure that Jesus said something about forgiving people, but hey what do I know.

Has anyone but me considered the following: Maybe God’s plan for Fr. Francis has changed. Who are we to know what God’s plan is for the man.

Fr. Francis is human lke the rest of us. Fr. Francis makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Fr. Francis for sure deserves our prayers and FORGIVENESS just like how Jesus asked us to.

 

[Brad]

On this, I completely agree with you. Ideally, he and all concerned would have been able to work this out in complete privacy, but with the media’s anti-priest bias, this was the smartest thing he and EWTN could have done. If he’d just taken a leave of absence with no explanation, it would have been a huge media fiasco. Now they really don’t have anything to dig up and use to smear him, as he’s laid it all on the table.

Not really. Priests go on sabattical or take leaves quite often. Unless he definitively said he was done with the priesthood, I think this does harm to the youth that watch this show. My very young kids sometimes watch this show (depending on content). They need to know that there are heros that can resist falling.

The media will not be kinder either way.

 

[Joey1976]

WOW! I so can not believe what I just read!

So much for that Love Your Neighbor thing I read so much about. I guess if this happend a few centuaries ago we would have to what… kill Fr Franics? That kind of thinking is what leads to people like Luther leaving the church. I am pretty sure that Jesus said something about forgiving people, but hey what do I know.

Has anyone but me considered the following: Maybe God’s plan for Fr. Francis has changed. Who are we to know what God’s plan is for the man is

So you think God plans for people and wants them to leave the Priesthood??? Wow! God cannot work against his own Church. How would God leading Priests out of the Priesthood be beneficial to his Church? I highly doubt God would plan and want his Priests to leave the Priesthood.

 

[Brad]

Well, I’m sure Fr Francis Mary needs a lot of prayer right now either way, that may have been one reason to publicise it.

Just say he needs prayer.

It is almost impossible for a kid to grow up today without thinking that all adults think about is one thing. If you can avoid it, do so for the sake of the children.

 

[He_Man]

WOW! No excuse!? I so can not believe what I just read!

So much for that Love Your Neighbor thing I read so much about. I guess if this happend a few centuaries ago we would have to what… kill Fr Francis? That kind of thinking is what leads to people like Luther leaving the church. I am pretty sure that Jesus said something about forgiving people, but hey what do I know.

Has anyone but me considered the following: Maybe God’s plan for Fr. Francis has changed. Who are we to know what God’s plan is for the man.

Fr. Francis is human lke the rest of us. Fr. Francis makes mistakes just like the rest of us. Fr. Francis for sure deserves our prayers and FORGIVENESS just like how Jesus asked us to.

What ARE you talking about? There is **no excuse. **

That doesn’t imply a lack of forgiveness, and yes, we are all human, but perhaps you don’t fully understand a Priests vocation. He IS NOT a minister. He is married to the Church.

Would you be indignant if I said there is no excuse for a wife to cheat on her husband, or do you see some justification there as well? How about when someone murders another human, are we to say “well, no ones perfect…” Come on.

There is no mutual exclusion between holding some accountable for their actions, and forgiving them. And ho is calling for Fr Francis Mary to be stoned or killed? That’s quite a leap from being held accountable.

God does JUST THIS. We may be forgiven in the sacrament of confession (thank God for that), but there are still consequences for those actions that we needed forgiveness for. At a minimum, Purgatory.

 

[Riley259]

Not the time to be jumping on the priests should get married bandwagon. This is too opportunistic. There are many reasons why priests are celibate.

Amen. There are many solid theological reasons why a priest shouldn’t marry and I think it should stay that way. We could debate that here but I’m sure it’s been debated countless amounts of times in other threads. Let’s pray for Father Francis. Hopefully he hasn’t broken his vows and is just discerning this because he’s just getting the emotional feelings (without physical intimacy) and he’s having a difficult time reconciling them with his priestly vows. Up to this point, he’s been a strong voice in defense of Catholic teachings and against the culture of death.

 

[jpsheehn]

So you think God plans for people and wants them to leave the Priesthood??? Wow! God cannot work against his own Church. How would God leading Priests out of the Priesthood be beneficial to his Church? I highly doubt God would plan and want his Priests to leave the Priesthood.

And you have a direct hot-line to God? If so please give us the number.

You, nor I, nor even the Pope are qualified to know the will of God.

There is one and only one being who knows the will of God and that of course is GOD.

Is it so ironic to think that maybe God wants Fr. Francis elsewhere?

An example of this would be all the married former Lutheran priest who have converted and are serving as priest with in the Catholic church now as we write this.

I’m sure the Lutheran church was scream how “wrong” they were for leaving and coming over to the Catholic side.

But for some reason God wanted them in the Catholic Church so that is were they are today.

 

[timotheos]

One of the other people on the show read a letter from Father Francis. Basicly the letter said this in not so many words:

I have been helping a young widow and her children for some time. I have basicly fallen in love with her. I am at this time discerning my future.

Hmmm. Yes Fr. Francis Mary needs our prayers. “Falling in love”? Even our clergy can fall for the oldest trick in Satan’s book. I never got the impression that his original priestly discernment was incomplete, his “marriage to the Church” was invalid, or that he was less than 100% committed.

I wonder what my spouse would think if I announced that I had been helping a young widow and her children, had “fallen in love” with her, and was discerning my future with my wife. Her answer might be punctuated by the use of a rolling pin, or maybe a frying pan. Alas, the Church may be more forgiving, but quite possibly not more correct, than my DW.

I will pray for him, and his brothers.

-Tim

 

[He_Man]

And you have a direct hot-line to God? If so please give us the number.

You, nor I, nor even the Pope are qualified to know the will of God.

There is one and only one being who knows the will of God and that of course is GOD.

Is it so ironic to think that maybe God wants Fr. Francis elsewhere?

An example of this would be all the married former Lutheran priest who have converted and are serving as priest with in the Catholic church now as we write this.

I’m sure the Lutheran church was scream how “wrong” they were for leaving and coming over to the Catholic side.

But for some reason God wanted them in the Catholic Church so that is were they are today.

Your logic just justified why people rape, pillage, murder, vote for John Kerry, and all sorts of other heinous things.

Because God willed it? How about, “we all have free will…”

 

[Joey1976]

But for some reason God wanted them in the Catholic Church so that is were they are today.

But for some reason??? Uh, i don’t know maybe cause it is the true Church that Christ founded.

 

[jpsheehn]

What ARE you talking about? There is **no excuse. **

That doesn’t imply a lack of forgiveness, and yes, we are all human, but perhaps you don’t fully understand a Priests vocation. He IS NOT a minister. He is married to the Church.

Would you be indignant if I said there is no excuse for a wife to cheat on her husband, or do you see some justification there as well? How about when someone murders another human, are we to say “well, no ones perfect…” Come on.

There is no mutual exclusion between holding some accountable for their actions, and forgiving them. And ho is calling for Fr Francis Mary to be stoned or killed? That’s quite a leap from being held accountable.

God does JUST THIS. We may be forgiven in the sacrament of confession (thank God for that), but there are still consequences for those actions that we needed forgiveness for. At a minimum, Purgatory.

So you have never ever made a mistake! WOW you and one other person I know named Jesus are in that arena. Can you please give us your secret on how to never ever make a mistake?

No wonder why I see people leaving the Catholic church in drones these days! Its exactly that kind of biased backwards thinking that makes people think the Catholic church is the most un-welcoming and un-forgiving place on earth.

My Catholic church allows alter girls. Does this “new way” of thinking scare you too? Are we all going to hell for having alter girls in our church?

I also seem to rememeber an apostile who was named Paul (formaly named Saul) who killed a bunch of chirstan way back in the day. Need I remind you we now call him SAINT PAUL.

God must have forgave Paul if the man is labeld a Saint.

So yeah to us your own words COME ON.

 

[He_Man]

You keep posting the same long posts, and apparently haven’t read the part about him deserving our prayers. And of course we are called to forgive. Do we let convicted killer roam loose, even after we forgive them? Tax evaders have to pay fines, why? They have been forgiven.

Using human imperfaction as an excuse will get you out of anything. Can I assume you have never gotten mad at anyone for anything? Why would you; they are only human, right?

God is both merciful and just. AND JUST. There IS accountability. Just because we are imperfect does not mean we can’t see when others are making mistakes, and pray for them.

 

[jpsheehn]

But for some reason??? Uh, i don’t know maybe cause it is the true Church that Christ founded.

I guess I am the only one here who remembers this quote from my RCIA training. Which started just 3 weeks ago for me

Welcome to RCIA. We are here to teach you what we know about God and our Church. We do not claim to be 100% correct and all knowing, but this is our teachings.

If this is the kind of close mindedness, bias, and un-forgivness I am to expect from the rest of my fellow Catholics I might as wel quit RCIA now and go elsewhere.

Amazing prejudice coming from you people!

 

[He_Man]

I guess I am the only one here who remembers this quote from my RCIA training. Which started just 3 weeks ago for me

Welcome to RCIA. We are here to teach you what we know about God and our Church. We do not claim to be 100% correct and all knowing, but this is our teachings.

If this is the kind of close mindedness, bias, and un-forgivness I am to expect from the rest of my fellow Catholics I might as wel quit RCIA now and go elsewhere.

Amazing prejudice coming from you people!

Your RCIA teachers were either spineless, or ignorant. No offense, but the Catholic Church is correct. Our teachings ARE correct. I have seen good and bad RCIA, so don’t assume everything you hear is gospel. Read the Catechism; that is the source of Catholic truth.

That probably came out harsher than intended, but that is the long and short of it.

Glad you are taking RCIA though, i hope you learn a lot and grow in Christ.

Odd way to end a rant I suppose…

 

[Joey1976]

I guess I am the only one here who remembers this quote from my RCIA training. Which started just 3 weeks ago for me

Welcome to RCIA. We are here to teach you what we know about God and our Church. We do not claim to be 100% correct and all knowing, but this is our teachings.

If this is the kind of close mindedness, bias, and un-forgivness I am to expect from the rest of my fellow Catholics I might as wel quit RCIA now and go elsewhere.

Amazing prejudice coming from you people!

Wow!! Now you posts make alot more sense because of your RCIA class and what you were taught. The Catholic Church DOES claim to have the fullness of Christ’s teachings and is infallible on it’s teachings. That means if the Church teaches something is a grave sin, it IS. That is not an opinion, it is Truth. God promised the Holy Spirit would guide the Church for all time. The scriptures state the the Pillar and bullwork of TRUTH is the Church

 

[jpsheehn]

RCIA, so don’t assume everything you hear is gospel. Read the Catechism; that is the source of Catholic truth.

QUOTE]

I would suggest you take your own advice there as well.

Hypocrite is the new word for the day I see.

 

[He_Man]

And that makes any sense, why? Everything I said is legit; just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it is fiction.

 

[jpsheehn]

Wow!! Now you posts make alot more sense because of your RCIA class and what you were taught. The Catholic Church DOES claim to have the fullness of Christ’s teachings and is infallible on it’s teachings.

The catholic church has admited hundreds of mistakes in the past! Ever hear of something called the Crusades?

Are you justifying the killing of Islamics and the burning of witches now?

How far do you want to go using that word Infalliable?