LifeTeen founder Dale Fushek excommunicated

[basilisk]

This is on the news board, but I don’t know how many who hang out here get over there regularly (I don’t), so I thought I would post it here too. I know many here are involved in LifeTeen, and this must be a shocking and sad time for all. I just can’t imagine what is wrong with Mr. Fushek… why would he be so hell-bent on tainting the legacy of one of the good things he did? Whoops… hell-bent, excommunicated… ha ha, some unintentional irony there.

azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/12/16/20081216fushek1216.html

Can I just say, too, that when I heard this on the radio yesterday, I had to stop and listen to the headline at least two more times before I was sure of what I heard? You just don’t hear this much… but I say, go Bishop Olmstead! He’s obviously got mettle where it counts…

 

[Brenda_V]

I agree. LifeTeen in a Parish if done right is a good thing. All I can think of is the man who started it went off his rocker! We should be praying for him!

Brenda V.

 

[catholicknight]

Yes, the Catholic Knight commented on this here…
catholicknight.blogspot.com/2008/12/lifeteen-founder-excommunicated.html

This should be a wake up call to all of us. What direction are we taking the American Church? and what do our kids really need today?

In the article above I make the point that there is really nothing teenagers can get out of a LIFETEEN liturgy that they can’t already get off their iPods and MP3 players. What kids really seek today is a sense of solemnity that they can’t get anywhere else.

 

[basilisk]

In the article above I make the point that there is really nothing teenagers can get out of a LIFETEEN liturgy that they can’t already get off their iPods and MP3 players. What kids really seek today is a sense of solemnity that they can’t get anywhere else.

Oh… bravo! This is so well-said! I will have to go read your article later. I have a friend that is constantly urging me to try out the teen Mass at a parish near us, saying my kids will really like it. But you know, I just always hold back… I really don’t want to go there and I feel no need. And my kids don’t seem to have a problem with “regular” Mass. In fact, they are so used to “regular” Mass they would probably think that a teen Mass with contemporary music is wierd. Personally, I like the fact that Mass is radically different from anything else we do all week. Shouldn’t it be? Thanks for putting this into words for me…

 

[agapewolf]

Yes, the Catholic Knight commented on this here…
catholicknight.blogspot.com/2008/12/lifeteen-founder-excommunicated.html

This should be a wake up call to all of us. What direction are we taking the American Church? and what do our kids really need today?

.

How in the world is it a wake up call? This has nothing to do with Lifeteen. LT has distanced themselves completely from him anyway.

If you want to relate the two, then you just have to do the same thing to the church…“well, they are Catholic priests, so I guess we don’t need the Catholic faith”…

of course not.

 

[catholicknight]

How in the world is it a wake up call? This has nothing to do with Lifeteen. LT has distanced themselves completely from him anyway.

If you want to relate the two, then you just have to do the same thing to the church…“well, they are Catholic priests, so I guess we don’t need the Catholic faith”…

of course not.

You need to read the article to fully understand what I mean by the above comments.

 

[agapewolf]

I did read it. And it has many inaccuracies in it.

Just as much as I am a different person now than I was 10 years ago. So might others be.

 

[catholicknight]

I did read it. And it has many inaccuracies in it.

Just as much as I am a different person now than I was 10 years ago. So might others be.

I think I follow what you’re saying. Yes, something has happened to Dale Fushek that has changed him. He has effectively become “protestantized.” Putting the legal problems aside for a minute, the very notion of going out and starting a nondenominational “praise and worship center” is a very schismatic act. It’s something a Catholic in his right mind would never do, but a Protestant (particularly an Evangelical) wouldn’t have a second thought about it. So it would seem that Fushek has gone that way, and I’m sure that played a major role in his excommunication.

I think others should take a look at the article I wrote and judge for themselves. If you think the article contains “inaccuracies” please specifically point them out to me by email - each and every one - and I’ll look into them. I can be reached at: thecatholicknight@gmail.com

 

[Mary_Sue]

There is an excellent article in The Catholic Sun, the publication of the Phoenix Diocese (wwwcatholicsun.org) explaining why Dale Fushek (and another priest, Mark Dippre) are being excommunicated and what the Church’s teaching on excommunication is.

As a Cradle Catholic I realized that I have a limited understanding of what excommunication means; basically I thought it meant you were exiled from the Catholic Church. But it is really a desire by the bishop for reconciliation and unity in the Church.

The article points out that “it is medicinal in its purpose. The intention is to make the offenders aware of the danger that their behavior and their actions pose to themselves and the Catholic faithful who may be confused and scandalized by such activity.”
The activity they are talking about is the Praise and Worship Center that Dale and Mark established a year ago that is outside the Catholic Church.

I was also surprised to learn that someone can be welcomed back to the Church after excommunication through a process of repentance and an attempt to repair what the scandal may have caused.

I am saddened by the action of these two priests but at the same time I am in awe of the truth and fairness and forgiveness of our Catholic Church in sheparding the faithful.