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

[AlegreFe]

…
Fr Francis Mary was married to the Church. He put himself in a proximate occasion of sin. He is old enough to have known what was happening and should have returned to the friary and really worked on his prayer life. The widow also knew what was happening, probably before Fr Francis, and she should have severed contact with him.

emphasis mine

I totally agree with you. That woman should’ve stopped it. Satan once more, used a woman to tempt a man. And not just any man, a man of the cloth. Satan hates priests because Satan knows that it is through the hands of a Catholic Priest that we get Jesus in the Eucharist.

yinekka:

Would we have any sympathy for a married EWTN employee who kept helping a widow knowing he was attracted to her and then told his wife that he had to take some time off from the marriage to discern whether he should leave his wife or not?

We probably wouldn’t but at the same time we know that we would have to be forgiving and merciful and ask God to guide him in the right direction.

yinekka:

I doubt that Fr Francis will return because the letter would not have said why he was discerning or mentioned a woman if he had not made up his mind what he means to do. I hope I am wrong.

I don’t think he will ever return either.

 

[peary]

I think it’s called “mid-life crisis” for most of us. I will pray for him and hope that the Lord brings to him clarity of mind. I lost a good priest-friend the same way twenty five years ago…and so did the Church. Now he’s angry at the Church for not allowing married priests, even after discerning several years prior to ordination on the choice he was going to make. Does God take away one vocation and supplant it with another?

 

[AlegreFe]

…
Another thing, just this week, maybe during Wednesday, I went to the EWTN website. I wanted to listen to the past LOTR shows.

I couldn’t find the recent ones. I just realized later that ALL episodes hosted by Fr. Francis Mary was deleted. Shucks. And there’s a lot that I want to listen again to.

His picture on the website was also deleted? WHy?

I really feel they made a good decision taking all the pictures off the website and removing all past shows hosted by Fr. Francis.

If you notice at the beginning of the Mass, you will not hear his voice anymore. That is also off the air. The beginning of LOTR has been edited also not to include all the shots with Fr. Francis. That would be hypocritical of them to leave his pictures, shots and voice on EWTN. It would just seem really strange to me if I still saw his face and heard his voice.

 

[Michael_Patrick]

Did you hear your own quote? “what do YOU want”? Think about this. That’s a selfish prayer. No one here know’s what God’s will or plan is for this man. You don’t even know this man.We need to be praying for God’s will to be done, and trust in faith that it will.

Of course we should always pray for God’s will to be done. We also should pray for one another in difficult circumstances, and always. This certainly is an example of a difficult circumstance.

We all need prayer and God’s grace to live out our vocations, whether we are priests, married, or any situation. It is loving to pray for Fr Francis and his priestly vocation. And speaking for myself first, we need to pray more for all of our priests. They (and we) are certainly under attack
.
While many may not “know” Fr Francis, many have come to know him through EWTN. Many no doubt also were inspired by him as well. What we do “know” is that he is a priest, and needs our prayer. More charitable than selfish it seems to me.

J.M.J.

 

[AlegreFe]

…
But when I worry myself over such a scenario, I remind myself that my faith in Christ and in the Church He founded is not based on the conduct of the sinners who make up the Church and for whom the Church was made: it is founded on Him who was like us in all things but sin…

This is what I’m afraid of. There are so many people that base their faith on other people instead of on Jesus Christ and HIS Catholic Church. They look at how people act instead of looking at what the Church teaches.

Jesus told the people to listen to what the pharisees say but don’t do as they do. All the people who only look at how the people in the Church act, have to keep that in mind. We have to HEAR the Holy Spirit teaching us through the Magisterium of the Catholic Church; and NOT “judge” the Church by what the sinners in the Church do. If people judge the Church that way, they are judging the Holy Spirit and don’t even realize it.

Jesus said to His disciples when he sent them out to preach the gospel, “Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

So please, many of you who judge the Church by the acts of the sinners who are in the Church, please rethink your position or way of thinking. By judging and/or rejecting the Church in that way, you are also rejecting the one who sent Jesus Christ and that of course, would be GOD.

 

[Dee_Dee_King]

This is what I’m afraid of. There are so many people that base their faith on other people instead of on Jesus Christ and HIS Catholic Church. They look at how people act instead of looking at what the Church teaches.

if people didn’t live the faith, it would be a dead faith. this is why God gives us saints. they are a reminder that we all can live out our faith with fidelity. living your faith is much more important than preaching it. it hurts our faith when a religious falls. but many more stay faithful.

 

[Therese_Martin]

Now that members have had time to reflect on and discuss Fr. Stone’s announcement, the admin staff has decided that further public discussion of this issue on CAF can only deteriorate from this point on. We recommend that all who continue to be interested in the case channel their interest into prayer for Fr. Stone and for all those affected by this tragic turn of events.

Note:

This thread is closed. Any future threads opened on this story will also be subject to closure for the foreseeable future. Thanks to all for their participation and for their understanding and cooperation.