Maybe you should respect a bishop’s office. This doesn’t seem to be about Lifeteen. It appears to be the two priests starting their own church (and I don’t refer to a building). Perhaps that is acceptable to you, but it isn’t to me and it clearly isn’t to their bishop.How dare they openly Praise and Worship. They should stay locked up in the Church like the Bishop said.
It’s really sad the Bishop has a personal agenda. Maybe he should ready Acts 1:8: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
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If Life teen keeps kids connected with the church … then more power to them.
occurred to me as well.call me cynical but i think the entire lifeteen movement was a front to get nearer to teenagers for his sick perverted purposes
Right. But I wonder if this is not evidence that Life Teen was founded on a serious distortion of what the Mass is and what our role is in the Mass.The founder resigned and walked away from LifeTeen years ago.
I looked into the Catholic Sun’s webpage. They have a Q&A article concerning the excommunication. This segment might shed some light (or, then again, it might not, but it is still interesting):Right. But I wonder if this is not evidence that Life Teen was founded on a serious distortion of what the Mass is and what our role is in the Mass.
In the present case, Fushek and Dippre have participated in the formation and operation of a faith community outside of the Catholic Church, have chosen to disobey their own bishop in doing so, and have consistently refused to comply with specific directions to discontinue their association with the Praise and Worship Center. Fushek and Dippre, who still hold the status as priests, have been acting for over a year in direct opposition to the specific instructions of Bishop Olmsted, and continue to do so by encouraging people of all faiths to attend the Praise and Worship Center.
The act of founding and maintaining a faith community apart from the Catholic Church is of great concern to Bishop Olmsted, as Fushek and Dippre have been prohibited from engaging in any kind of public ministry. Despite efforts by diocesan officials to assist Fushek in clarifying and regularizing his clerical status, Fushek has simply refused to cooperate with the diocese or to initiate the laicization process. In effect, this excommunication is not an action that the bishop has imposed upon the two priests; but rather, a declaration of what happened automatically, once they chose to be in schism with the Church by involving themselves in the foundation and operation of an opposing ecclesial community…
I am curious as to what kind of activity occured in this Praise and Worship Center. Did any of their services remotely seem like LifeTeen? Were these services a hybrid of the Mass and something else?…There have been attempts by Bishop Olmsted and by diocesan officials to get both men to cease their behavior and reconcile with the Church. These attempts were ignored as both continue to mislead the People of God and endanger the faith community. Eventually, after obtaining canonical opinions as to what course of action was required, schism was determined and therefore the declaration of excommunication was inevitable.
It is not a “new religion,” but is a gathering of people of diverse religious backgrounds and experience as a community for the purpose of praising God in prayer and in service. There will be Sunday services, and eventually services and ministries during the week. The center is Christian in its orientation, but is neither Catholic nor Protestant. It is truly ecumenical and multi-denominational.
It doesn’t say anything about their services, but, they are past the point of no return with the above quoted material.…Because the Praise and Worship Center is not affiliated with any specific denomination, there are no doctrinal guidelines or mandated acceptance of proscribed theology required for membership. There will be a spirit of listening to each others’ opinions and an atmosphere of learning and growing from sharing experiences and insights. Unconditional love, acceptance of each person in a non-judgmental way, the centrality of Christ’s message of love and forgiveness, and the teachings of the gospel will be the sources of the message of the Center. Moral and family decisions will be left up to the spiritual discernment of each individual member.
No, it is not evidence. Just as I wouldn’t want someone judging me today for who I was 10 years ago, we can’t do that to others. People change for the good and for the bad.Right. But I wonder if this is not evidence that Life Teen was founded on a serious distortion of what the Mass is and what our role is in the Mass.
This excommunication is not connected in any way with the ministry of Life Teen, as all of the actions that led to this occurred after Dale Fushek’s involvement with our ministry. Further, I want to make it clear that Life Teen is in no way associated with his new venture.
Even though it has been almost four years since he has been directly involved with the movement of Life Teen, the media continues to associate Dale Fushek with Life Teen. While we continue to pray for Dale Fushek, the movement of Life Teen is in full support of Bishop Olmsted and Diocese of Phoenix in this matter.
Mark Dupree led the funeral service for my non-catholic mother. He works as a chaplain for a local hospice group and is on call for many local mortoraries. A friend who attended my mother’s funeral told me his story. He was a fairly new priest who was assigned his own parish pretty early on in his career. He apparently asked the Bishop for a leave of absence and while on that leave got married. Not much was made of it until his involvement with Dale Fushek and the Praise and Worship center. As far as any involvement with Life Teen, there are many priests in our diocese that were involved with Life Teen.I am curious about when the founder disassociated himself with LifeTeen. As far as I could tell, he was still a part of the organization at least back in 2004, based on an issue that came up in a previous thread.
Was the other priest involved in the situation also a part of LifeTeen as well?
I find it somewhat telling that staunch defenders of Lifeteen always seem to make the assumption that the rest of us don’t know anything about it.:tsktsk: The general opinion is that if we just gave it a chance we would love it and see it for what it, [edited]I don’t believe that the excommunication of the two priests reflects poorly on LifeTeen. They were not acting on behalf of LT or the Catholic Church for that matter. LT is a sound program. It is not in conflict with Romre or Chruch teachings.
I am a 50 year old male cradle catholic, married to my first and only wife for 28 years. Our three daughters have gone through the Life Teen Program (LT). I agree it is very unfortunate the founder has chosen to excommunicate himself from the church (note that he has done so by his own actions; not that the Church has excommunicated him). But to conclude that because of his actions LT is in conflict with Rome, Catholic teaching etc., would be comparable to saying that all priest can’t be trusted with children because of the actions of a few selfish priests. WE KNOW THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH!
I have been on the Core Team (CT) for 7 years. Lat year I was awarded the “For God and Faith” Award issued by the Archbishop of our diocese for my involvement with LT and the youth of our church. It has led me and dozens of teens closer to Christ. It is based on sound Catholic teaching. We cover issues such as prayer, scripture, the mass, abortion, etc., and oh yes – it is all focused on the Eucharist. Sounds Catholic to me.
Life Teen is not evil and is based on sound Catholic teaching. For those who are skeptical, ponder this question. When was the last time you saw dozens of teens on their knees before the Blessed Sacrament – for 2-3 hours? If you want to know, just come to our next retreat. You will be amazed at the love our teens (admittedly some not all) have for our Lord and desire to be in full communion with Him. May I suggest that if you are skeptical about LT – get educated and find out more about LT. Please don’t’ criticize that which you are not qualified.