S
stumbler
Guest
By Tim Townsend
St Louis Post-Dispatch
06/14/2005
Bishop Edward K. Braxton has one week to go before becoming the eighth bishop of Belleville, but in an unusual move, a group of priests is working to block his installation.
Over the past two weeks, the seven priests have sought help from senior Catholic officials in Chicago and Washington to stop the installation on grounds that the normal process for matching a new bishop to a diocese was not followed, and that church leaders who traditionally participate in the selection were not consulted.
The seven met for 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday afternoon with Braxton and Monsignor James E. Margason, the diocese’s vicar general, to discuss their reservations.
Almost immediately after the Vatican announced in March that Braxton would become the eighth bishop of Belleville, some of the diocese’s priests and laity began to question the process of his selection.
Typically, the Vatican takes nine months to a year to appoint a new bishop. Braxton was named to Belleville two months after Bishop Wilton Gregory was installed as the archbishop of Atlanta. Priests and laity together began to wonder aloud whether the regular process of selection - which would include the participation of the area’s most senior prelate, in this case Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, and the papal nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo - had been circumvented.
On May 27, a group of seven priests from the Belleville Diocese traveled to Chicago to meet with George. In a two-hour meeting, they presented their case against Braxton, according to two of the priests, citing Braxton’s track record in previous leadership positions, including 4 1/2 years as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
The priests told George that priests and laity alike were angry that Braxton’s priority, after being named Belleville’s new bishop, was to renovate the bishop’s residence and that he asked for diocesan funds to be made available to do so. . . .
Full article
St Louis Post-Dispatch
06/14/2005
Bishop Edward K. Braxton has one week to go before becoming the eighth bishop of Belleville, but in an unusual move, a group of priests is working to block his installation.
Over the past two weeks, the seven priests have sought help from senior Catholic officials in Chicago and Washington to stop the installation on grounds that the normal process for matching a new bishop to a diocese was not followed, and that church leaders who traditionally participate in the selection were not consulted.
The seven met for 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday afternoon with Braxton and Monsignor James E. Margason, the diocese’s vicar general, to discuss their reservations.
Almost immediately after the Vatican announced in March that Braxton would become the eighth bishop of Belleville, some of the diocese’s priests and laity began to question the process of his selection.
Typically, the Vatican takes nine months to a year to appoint a new bishop. Braxton was named to Belleville two months after Bishop Wilton Gregory was installed as the archbishop of Atlanta. Priests and laity together began to wonder aloud whether the regular process of selection - which would include the participation of the area’s most senior prelate, in this case Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, and the papal nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo - had been circumvented.
On May 27, a group of seven priests from the Belleville Diocese traveled to Chicago to meet with George. In a two-hour meeting, they presented their case against Braxton, according to two of the priests, citing Braxton’s track record in previous leadership positions, including 4 1/2 years as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
The priests told George that priests and laity alike were angry that Braxton’s priority, after being named Belleville’s new bishop, was to renovate the bishop’s residence and that he asked for diocesan funds to be made available to do so. . . .
Full article