Pa. Catholic College Fires Openly Gay Priest

[dfp42]

foxnews.com/us/2011/02/26/catholic-college-fires-openly-gay-priest-pennsylvania/?test=latestnews

 

[Dale_M]

Not a Catholic priest, but an Old Catholic priest:
the article:

Father St. George is part of the Old Catholic Church Of The Americas, a faction that broke away from the Vatican back in 1870. In his church, priests are allowed to marry and be gay.

 

[Dale_M]

Oh… I remember this guy. Two or three years ago, there was a local controversy because he was advertising his church in the newspaper under the heading of Catholic Church. Some Catholic priests took exception to his practice, and wrote him a letter urging him to do stop doing so since it confused the faithful. In response, he took out a full page ad in the newspaper, posting their letter and his response:
go.philly.com/churchletter

Flash forward to this month, when Fr. St. George decided to launch a much larger advertising campaign.

There are actually three different branches of Catholicism, according to St. George. In addition to the Roman Catholic Church, there is the Orthodox Catholic Church and the Catholic Church of Antioch.

Formed in 1957, the Catholic Church of Antioch has both male and female priests; includes gay, lesbian and straight parishioners; and aims to welcome all comers, according to a press release.

St. George himself admits explaining the differences can be difficult, so the church has launched a new ad campaign aimed at showing St. Miriam’s unique aspects. The campaign differs from any the church has previously done, as it places St. George front and center in what it has termed a personal ad campaign.

montgomerynews.com/articles/2011/02/23/ambler_gazette/news/doc4d652cc3ed55d656193385.txt

The ad campaign, consisting of a group of seven ads which were run in multiple local newspapers, may well have what prompted the lawyer to write to Cardinal Rigali and to the college to complain about St. George being (to use the lawyer’s word) a “heretic.”

 

[hxcCatholic413]

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: why would a Roman Catholic college run by the Sisters of St. Joseph (in Communion w/ Rome) hire an Old Catholic priest (Not in Communion w/ Rome)???

 

[Dale_M]

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: why would a Roman Catholic college run by the Sisters of St. Joseph (in Communion w/ Rome) hire an Old Catholic priest (Not in Communion w/ Rome)???

According to Fr. St. George, doctrine wasn’t an issue when he was hired.

On Friday, though, the college issued a statement accusing him not only of being gay, which it called contrary to traditional Catholic doctrine, but also of misrepresenting before he was hired that he was a member of an independent branch of Catholicism.

He denied both accusations Saturday, saying he never hid his sexuality or his affiliation with the Old Catholic Apostolic Church of the Americas from school officials.

The college recruited him, not the other way around, he said. In a meeting with officials, he recalled asking: “You know I’m not a Roman Catholic priest, right?”

They replied, “We have all denominations here. It’s no problem,” St. George said.

philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20110227_Catholic_college_fires_gay_teacher.html?viewAll=y

Here is the statement issued by the college president, on Friday:

“As president of Chestnut Hill College, a private Catholic institution, it is imperative that I clarify the conditions of our College’s decision not to issue a new part-time teaching contract to Jim St. George. St. George served as adjunct instructor in our School of Continuing and Professional Studies from January 2010 to February of this year teaching a variety of courses in religion and scripture.

“At the time St. George joined our faculty, he presented himself as Father St. George and openly wore a traditional Catholic priest’s collar. While St. George appears to be an ordained pastor-he leads St. Miriam, an independent and self-described reformed Antioch-rite Catholic house of worship located in Blue Bell, Pa.–his church allows priests the option to engage in same-sex partnerships. This is contrary to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.

“It was with great disappointment when we learned through St. George’s public statements of his involvement in a gay relationship with another man for the past 15 years. It is important to note that this information came to our attention only after St. George chose to make his private life public information on his blog.

“While we welcome diversity, it is expected that all members of our College community, regardless of their personal beliefs, respect and uphold our Roman Catholic mission, character and values both in the classroom and in public statements that identify them with our school. For this reason, we chose not to offer an additional teaching contract to St. George.”

chestnuthilllocal.com/blog/2011/02/26/update-college-says-it-acted-independently-to-fire-jim-st-george-when-it-learned-he-was-gay/

The college president’s statement raises an important question. Was Fr. St. George fired or was his contract simply not renewed?

 

[ConstantineTG]

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: why would a Roman Catholic college run by the Sisters of St. Joseph (in Communion w/ Rome) hire an Old Catholic priest (Not in Communion w/ Rome)???

Why not? Depends which subject he is teaching. You’d have Protestants and what have not teaching secular subjects. As long as he’s not teaching religious subjects, then its fine.

 

[AcolyteLector]

Why not? Depends which subject he is teaching. You’d have Protestants and what have not teaching secular subjects. As long as he’s not teaching religious subjects, then its fine.

(1) He’s not simply a Protestant, whose connection to heresy might simply be nominal. He’s some sort of minister/cleric–whose very identity is likely predicated upon infecting daily life with the heresy he’s connected to. It seems like he’s an alright guy, doing good things–but if its social work he’s doing, then by God, call it social work. And if its a small group of people who meet to talk about addiction within a Christian context, call it a temperance meeting or a lay apostolate, not a parish.

(2) Moreover, he’s a member of a group that considers themselves to be the ‘real’ Catholic Church–meaning, that they have no problem calling themselves ‘Catholic’ and their services as ‘Catholic’ (as Dale pointed out, this seems to be true for this individual in particular). Much like Macedonia considers itself ‘Greece’.

(3) Would you feel comfortable if SSPX priests were appointed as professors of secular subjects at Catholic universities?

 

[AcolyteLector]

The college president’s statement raises an important question. Was Fr. St. George fired or was his contract simply not renewed?

This is another really interesting point.

All in all, the coverage presented by the links cited was typically Foxian. Of course the moral of the story was that the Grand Inquisitor came out and expelled Christ from Seville.

 

[hxcCatholic413]

This is another really interesting point.

All in all, the coverage presented by the links cited was typically Foxian. Of course the moral of the story was that the Grand Inquisitor came out and expelled Christ from Seville.

I’d have to agree with you Acolyte (your 2 posts). One thing i’ll add: wouldn’t the college president when hiring him LOOK into his background to see when or if he was ordained? Anyone can show up to a job in a Roman Collar, doesn’t mean their a priest.