Orthodox Priests in Detroit are "Under Siege"

[Detroit_Sue]

The newest trend in our Archdiocese is for liberal ( for lack of a better word ) priests are rejecting the newly ordained and candidates for the priesthood for their orthdoxy. The assignment board is assigning orthodox, inexperienced priests to some of the most flaming liberal pastors. Their intent is to break them. The ones that won’t break are having their reputations dragged through the mud.

There was a meeting called “The Elephant in the Sanctuary” a couple of months ago. This meeting and “plan” was drawn up by Bp. Thomas Gumbleton. Our famous protester. He has a lot of time on his hands, galavanting all over the world to partake in demonstrations. The orthodox priests are being accused of being “rigid” and wanting to go back to Pre-Vatican II practices.

This is all true. This is no rumor. I personally know 2 of the priests/candidates who are suffering at the hands of this liberal Episcopate. Other clergy have proudly announced that they attended the elephant show, and doggone it, it’s time to bring the Church into the 21 century.

Please pray for our priests. They need all the graces they can get to rise above the cesspool that our archdiocese is rapidly becoming.

 

[MrS]

Detroit Sue:

The newest trend in our Archdiocese is for liberal ( for lack of a better word ) priests are rejecting the newly ordained and candidates for the priesthood for their orthdoxy. The assignment board is assigning orthodox, inexperienced priests to some of the most flaming liberal pastors. Their intent is to break them. The ones that won’t break are having their reputations dragged through the mud.

There was a meeting called “The Elephant in the Sanctuary” a couple of months ago. This meeting and “plan” was drawn up by Bp. Thomas Gumbleton. Our famous protester. He has a lot of time on his hands, galavanting all over the world to partake in demonstrations. The orthodox priests are being accused of being “rigid” and wanting to go back to Pre-Vatican II practices.

This is all true. This is no rumor. I personally know 2 of the priests/candidates who are suffering at the hands of this liberal Episcopate. Other clergy have proudly announced that they attended the elephant show, and doggone it, it’s time to bring the Church into the 21 century.

Please pray for our priests. They need all the graces they can get to rise above the cesspool that our archdiocese is rapidly becoming.

I am in the Lansing diocese and have heard of the problem you speak of.

Pray for priests.

MrS

 

[Greg_McPherran]

This is ridiculous. Pray for priests because of liberal pastors???

The bishops are supposed to take care of this. This is insane.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

Greg_McPherran:

This is ridiculous. Pray for priests because of liberal pastors???

The bishops are supposed to take care of this. This is insane.

This diocese is insane. The cardinal sends the good bishops to other states, and the 3 most recently ordained are among the worst of the lot.

 

[Greg_McPherran]

Hi Sue,
Detroit Sue:

This diocese is insane. The cardinal sends the good bishops to other states, and the 3 most recently ordained are among the worst of the lot.

I do empathize. However, if the very bishops of the Church don’t do their job, then we get what we deserve and they will have to answer to Jesus. They have the authority, not the laity. They have the power, therefore they have the most responsibility. Sure the laity can help, but the bishops have the authority.

Greg

 

[Detroit_Sue]

Greg_McPherran:

Hi Sue,

I do empathize. However, if the very bishops of the Church don’t do their job, then we get what we deserve and they will have to answer to Jesus. They have the authority, not the laity. They have the power, therefore they have the most responsibility. Sure the laity can help, but the bishops have the authority.

Greg

We need to pray fervently for the orthodox priests, because their bishops are for all intents and purposes, useless. There are threats of holding back candidates, there have even been seminarians removed from Sacred Heart Major Seminary. A lot of these men have found their way to religious Orders, but the faithful are starving for the Truth. The diocesan bishops are shooting themselves in the foot with some of these stoopid decisions. They are removing priests from ministry over personality conflicts. And it’s always the orthodox who are the ones removed. There are still sexual scandals and administrative leaves being mandated, and they want to reduce the population of priests even further?

Sorry if I rambled. Just heard some very distressing news from one of my closest friends, who has a great big target painted on his back.

 

[Greg_McPherran]

Detroit Sue:

There are threats of holding back candidates, there have even been seminarians removed from Sacred Heart Major Seminary. A lot of these men have found their way to religious Orders, but the faithful are starving for the Truth.

Sue, I completely understand and I struggle with the same problems. Maybe we should start a web site that reports these situations of dissent. It has to stop. It’s as if the Church has been hijacked. It’s heartbreaking. I live in Massachusetts.

Greg

 

[Detroit_Sue]

Greg_McPherran:

I live in Massachusetts.

Greg

Then yes, you do understand. My own priest says that he finds “little pockets of faith” occasionally, but those parishes are few and far between. Thank God my home parish is one such sanctuary.

 

[kk1727]

The Bishops do indeed have the authority, but the laity also has responsibility to their particular vocation. First and foremost to personal holiness. I’m not sure where I read it but I think it was the encyclical Mystici Corporis that states that the reason the whole world is not converted is because the faithful do not pray fervently enough. The suggestion in the original post describes exactly the action we should all take. Pray. Consistently and fervently for Holy Mother Church, the Pope and all the Bishops, for all priests and religious, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, and for the conversion of the entire world to the Catholic faith.

Pax,
Keith

 

[Faithful_2_Rome]

If anyone wants to read a truly HORRIFYING book…much scarier than reading about Exorcisms… oh it involves the demonic all right… right in the SEMINARIES…rampant, overt homosexuality…from seminarians, to priests to bishops… I suggest the book… Goodbye Good Men… this will blow your socks off, curl your hair, raise goosebumps, etc… know thy enemy…know from whence they came and what their plan is.

 

[cestusdei]

I too hear of these things happening. Pray and encourage the orthodox priests. Life is hard for them. Also help them to be discerning. I tell them it is better to blow off steam elsewhere (like here!) then to blow their vocation. The old liberals are going to die off. All the young ones have to do is survive. The meek shall inherit the earth. So “be innocent as doves and wise as serpents”.

 

[asquared]

what else is new? someone very close to me was a victim of the Sacred Heart seminary mentality 30 years ago. The damage that Gumbleton has inflicted on the archdioces and the Church cannot be understated. Remember where Call to Action started, and who was its earliest promoter. My family is still in the Detroit area, and it is impossible to find a parish where you can kneel during the Eucharistic prayer without being molested by ushers, where authentic preaching can be heard, where the school teaches true Catholic doctrine. I had heard that the seminary has a new rector who is trying to repair the devastation, but that it is like turning the Queen Mary around in a hurricane.

 

[Faustina]

I am still a little mystified as how the heirarchy in the Church works. I know there are the priest and then bishops, who have the authority over the diocese. After that I am a little lost. What I am asking is after the Bishop, who is next up the ladder? Who approves the final appointment for a bishop? Is there any type of recourse for this?

 

[asquared]

A Detroit mystery writer, William Kunstler (I think I have it right) who is himself a former priest, now married who was for a time editor of Michigan Catholic diocesan newspaper, has a series of mysteries with the priest detective Fr. Koessler. The first book was the Rosary Murders, made into a movie with Donald Sutherland. This crimes in this series all revolve around Catholic priests, parishes, sisters, laypeople, and he is called on by the police to assist with his knowledge of Catholic belief and practice and of diocesan and parish politics. He has one book set in Sacred Heart Seminary. While his priest is faithful and chaste, the overall tone affirms the liberal middle of the road compromising brand of Catholicism that is the norm in this country, certainly in Detroit. One of his plots involves a priest who left to get married civilly, his wife is murdered, he is exonerated of the murder and quietly returns to the priesthood in the Saginaw diocese. Whether or not that is based on truth I don’t know.
My point: this series does a very good job chronicalling the history of the priesthood and the Catholic in the Detroit archdiocese over the last 30 years. He has a journalist’s eye and ear and correctly depicts the thinking and actions that have steered the church in this time period. You may find his Catholic sensibility alien to yours, but the series is invaluable if you want a commentary on the state of the Church in Detroit. Another book deals with a women who wants to be a priest, and how she goes about her plan, it also deals with seminarians and their world.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

asquared:

A Detroit mystery writer, William Kunstler (I think I have it right) who is himself a former priest, now married who was for a time editor of Michigan Catholic diocesan newspaper, has a series of mysteries with the priest detective Fr. Koessler. The first book was the Rosary Murders, made into a movie with Donald Sutherland. This crimes in this series all revolve around Catholic priests, parishes, sisters, laypeople, and he is called on by the police to assist with his knowledge of Catholic belief and practice and of diocesan and parish politics. He has one book set in Sacred Heart Seminary. While his priest is faithful and chaste, the overall tone affirms the liberal middle of the road compromising brand of Catholicism that is the norm in this country, certainly in Detroit. One of his plots involves a priest who left to get married civilly, his wife is murdered, he is exonerated of the murder and quietly returns to the priesthood in the Saginaw diocese. Whether or not that is based on truth I don’t know.
My point: this series does a very good job chronicalling the history of the priesthood and the Catholic in the Detroit archdiocese over the last 30 years. He has a journalist’s eye and ear and correctly depicts the thinking and actions that have steered the church in this time period. You may find his Catholic sensibility alien to yours, but the series is invaluable if you want a commentary on the state of the Church in Detroit. Another book deals with a women who wants to be a priest, and how she goes about her plan, it also deals with seminarians and their world.

You’re thinking about William Kienzle. He left the priesthood 20+ years ago and got married. He died in 2001. It wouldn’t have surprised me that he would invent a character who could have his cake & eat it too.

You say your parents are still in the area? If you would like to PM me, I would be happy to give you some names of good parishes.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

cestusdei:

I too hear of these things happening. Pray and encourage the orthodox priests. Life is hard for them. Also help them to be discerning. I tell them it is better to blow off steam elsewhere (like here!) then to blow their vocation. The old liberals are going to die off. All the young ones have to do is survive. The meek shall inherit the earth. So “be innocent as doves and wise as serpents”.

Cest, I was hoping you would weigh in on this. Could we possible talk by PM or IM? I’d like your opinion and perspective on a couple of things.

 

[Chris_in_Mich]

What do you mean by
Detroit Sue:

The ones that won’t break are having their reputations dragged through the mud.

I hadn’t heard much of what you’d said before, however I remember being told that Fr. Riccardo, formerly of St. John’s center and a gifted conservative Priest was sure to be transfered to a liberal parish, and sure enough he was made Pastor at St. Anastasia in Troy shortly thereafter. In his case he is so strong that I predict this will work out.

 

[Brendan]

Chris in Mich:

What do you mean by
I hadn’t heard much of what you’d said before, however I remember being told that Fr. Riccardo, formerly of St. John’s center and a gifted conservative Priest was sure to be transfered to a liberal parish, and sure enough he was made Pastor at St. Anastasia in Troy shortly thereafter. In his case he is so strong that I predict this will work out.

I know Fr. John very well and I’m pretty close to St. Anastasia (I’m at Guardian Angels). He’s gonna ROCK that parish!

As far as having their names ran through the mud, I think the opposite is happening. They are correcting a lot of wrongs and are really sticking up for what is right.

Sacred Heart is really putting out some great men, and that is very frightening to the Bishop Gumbleton’s of the world.

 

[Detroit_Sue]

Chris in Mich:

What do you mean by
I hadn’t heard much of what you’d said before, however I remember being told that Fr. Riccardo, formerly of St. John’s center and a gifted conservative Priest was sure to be transfered to a liberal parish, and sure enough he was made Pastor at St. Anastasia in Troy shortly thereafter. In his case he is so strong that I predict this will work out.

Chris, Fr. Riccardo also has a wonderful associate in Fr. Jim Rafferty. Fr. Rafferty has been a friend of ours since his seminary days, and is my younger son’s confirmation sponsor. At least if there are 2 priests of like mind, neither feels like they are alone. The assignement board here is pretty vindictive; they will reassign or move priests to parishes where they are doomed against the pastor and laity. If they like ya, they’ll send you anywhere you want to go. If you are too “Orthodox” (somehow that term gets used interchangeably with “Pre-Vat.II”), the will assign you to a parish that is in complete opposition to Rome. I understand it is not just our diocese, but probably 90-95% of American priests.

 

[Chris_in_Mich]

I did not know that about Fr. Rafferty, it has been my experience that there are a number of wonderful priests in the archdiocese, many of them under 45. As frustrated as I can get over the current state of things I have high expectations for the future.