The Harris Poll tracks "prestige" and ranks "priest/minister/clergy" at 41%. The Harris poll makes a point of explaining that to the American people, monetary reward is usually divorced from the concept of "prestige," which is why we see teachers and firefighters so highly regarded according to this poll.

The Lemoyne-Zogby poll however, since it is commissioned by the USCCB, consistently claims that American bishops are held in high regard by American Catholics, something we find very difficult to believe. But then again, they are reporting these findings to their employers who, let's face it, pay them to conduct said studies.

One always has to look at the questions asked. For example, in the most recent Lemoyne-Zogby poll, they gave respondants only two options, optimism or pessimism (and varying shades of optimism and pessimism), in their assessment of the Church's future. Common sense indicates, however, that when it comes to a great variety of topics, many people would not describe their attitude as either "optimistic" or "pessimistic," but often "neither" or "uncertain" or perhaps "wary." None of these were options, however. Any pollster knows that when you limit and control the respondants' options, you also control the results. In the worst of polls, you can ascertain your outcomes.

Options for self-identification were somewhat odd also. "Traditional" or "traditionalist" were not among the options, for example, but "born again" was. Have you ever met or heard of a "born again Catholic?" They also had "fundamentalist" and "evangelical" as options, but not "liberal," only "progressive."

More than ten percent of the respondants are not practicing Catholics in the sense that they go to mass less than once a month. Additionally,the number of people polled was small. Only 767 people identified as Catholic were polled, hardly a significant number of people, and who knows if the sample was representative since they give no indication of this on their site, nor do they share the margin of error or the poll results in a more raw form as in the Harris study. Based upon these facts alone, we would dismiss the Lemoyne-Zogby poll as nothing but propaganda for the USCCB.

Interestingly, the Catholic Register, a liberal publication, published an article back in September entitled, "Trust Evaporating: Poll Finds Clergy Trustworthiness Slips Preciptously." In the article they discuss Canadian Catholic findings, but also mention the above mentioned polls. A Fr. Clough stattes, "Who you don't know you don't trust," referring to the fact that the overall findings of the Canadian poll includes those who do not attend church. That seemed a little ironic to us, though, since in our own diocese it is, unfortunately, precisely those who we do know who we have come not to trust.

A Fr. Borean commented, "If I were bishop I would say, 'Gentlemen, you know we have something in front of us. We have to preach the gospel truly. When we do that there's no hidden interests, there's no personal agendas.'" Amen, Fr. Borean.

"Hypocrisy does not engender trust," said Father Clough. How true, how true.

I admit that watching the show, "Little House on the Prairie" is one of my guilty pleasures. I've liked this show ever since I was a small child. While traveling across the country once, I accidentally (but happily) found myself following the same trail that the real Ingalls family once followed and visited one of the museums associated with the famous pioneer family. Now my husband and I are reading the book series aloud to our children, and this nicely coincides with a homeschooler class my son is taking entitled, "Westward Ho."

In any case, I think that one of the central attractive qualities of this series is the real life struggle between good and evil. While members of the Ingalls family do not always make the right choices initially, with the help of God and by strengthening each other, in the end they always chooses the side of right.

I was reading a quote from one of the writers of the show the other day. He was commenting on the episode, "The Bully Boys" (see last few minutes of episode and transcription below). In this episode a group of thugs threaten the way of life of the entire town. By the end of the episode, virtually the entire town has been abused in some way. The writer states that what makes this episode different from many is the fact that it is acknowledged that some people are essentially bad. The soft-spoken and Christ-like Reverend Alden sums up the sentiments of the writer in his sermon, which precipitates the driving of the thugs from the community.

The reason why I am bothering to share this with you is that I think we face a similar situation on a much broader scale here in our diocese. While some bullies stand outside a church or community, some appear to be a part of it. They wield their membership and, in some cases, their authority in abusive ways. They lie, threaten others, and may even steal what does not belong to them.

Unlike the villains in this Little House episode, there are some in leadership positions in our diocese and throughout the Church who are basically just thugs and bullies. Like the tv show bullies, they think nothing of pushing people and communities around. The common street criminals, the thieving corporate CEOs, the scheming Washington politicians, and certain corrupt Church officials have one thing in common: they are out for only themselves and do not consider the wellbeing and rights of others, much less the propagation of the Faith and the Gospel. They are career-oriented opportunists. Therefore it is imperative that we pray daily not only for ourselves and our parishes, but for the conversion of all Church leaders to Christ and His Church.

In a simple and straightforward way, this episode manages to relay a few very important truths:

1. Contrary to the modern world's popular opinion, good and evil exist. Good and evil are not subjectively determined. They are not matters of perception, but are objectively true.

2. In all of our lives, we have a choice to make. We must daily choose between good and evil, right and wrong, Jesus Christ and The Deceiver. Every day when we wake up in the morning, this is the choice that is before us. We must choose our side. This is called free will. However, we cannot be on the side of both Christ and The Evil One simultaneously. When we fall, when we have made a wrong decision and sinned, we confess it, we disown it, and we choose Christ's side again.

3. "Turning the other cheek" is indeed noble, but as demonstrated by Our Lord, does not automatically exclude the necessity of resisting the devil and "those who do his bidding."

4. A real community does not "stand alone against those who do the devil's work," but is unified by God in its insistence that evil be thwarted and right defended.*

Though the show depicts a protestant congregation, I think a valid fifth point may also be taken:

5. A pastor has an obligation to defend his flock from those who mean to harm it, from the attacks of the devil.

Transcription:

Rev. Alden: With your indulgence I would like to dispense with the hymn and go directly to my subject this morning: Heaven and hell. Sometimes we forget, in our contemplation of our reward in Heaven, that there even is a hell. But we might do well this morning to remember that hell has a purpose too. And the devil doesn't sit down there all by himself. Now I've told you that there's good in all people. But that doesn't mean that all people lead good lives. There are those who lie, who steal, who abuse those around them. Last week I told you that it was noble and courageous to turn the other cheek. Well, that's true, but this week one of you reminded me that there are times that the devil is in our midst; that no endurance, no nobility, will defend us against those who do his bidding.

Thug #1: Reverend, all that talk about the devil, you wouldn't be slurring me and my brothers, would ya?

Rev. Alden: More than that. It's strange that it took the children in this town to teach us the lesson: that we are a town, we're a community, we're a congregation. And no man should stand alone against those who do the devil's work.

Thug #2: What are you planning to do, preacher?

Rev. Alden: I intend to see you out of this church and out of this community.

Thug #2: Well that's pretty hard words but it looks like you're still standing pretty much alone.

[Reverend Alden and Isaiah Edwards slam the thugs against the wall.]

Rev. Alden: Am I?!

Thug #2: All right, all right, we'll be out of here by nightfall.

Rev. Alden: You'll go NOW. And you'll take only those things you brought with you. And maybe next time you'll think twice about taking advantage of good, decent people.

Thug #1: Tell him we'll do it, Sam, we'll do it.

Rev. Alden: [to Isaiah Edwards] Isaiah, your men can handle this?

Isaiah Edwards: Amen, Reverend!

Rev. Alden: [to Caroline Ingalls] Caroline, if you'll lead the ladies in a hymn, we'll be right back.

[Rev. Alden, Isaiah Edwards, and the men of the community march the thugs out of town. The congregation sings, "Onward Christian soldiers..."]


* St. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, Book II:

(Regarding pastors): ...but he who has human beings entrusted to him, the rational flock of Christ, incurs a penalty in the first place for the loss of the sheep, which goes beyond material things and touches his own life: and in the second place he has to carry on a far greater and more difficult contest. For he has not to contend with wolves, nor to dread robbers, nor to consider how he may avert pestilence from the flock. With whom then has he to fight? With whom has he to wrestle? Listen to the words of St. Paul: We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

(Regarding wolves in sheep's clothing): ....even should they capture the whole flock, they do not leave the shepherd unmolested, but attack him all the more, and wax bolder, ceasing not until they have either overthrown him, or have themselves been vanquished. Again, the afflictions of sheep are manifest...

Today I was in Eucharistic Adoration with my two kids. No, it was not the most meditative or peaceful time I've ever had in church, and frankly I was grateful that there wasn't anyone else there during my hour as there usually are, since they might have been disturbed by the kids. In any case, I picked up a brochure someone had dropped off on the table near the door. The brochure is entitled, "Terri Schiavo's Final Hours: An Eyewitness Account," by the well known Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests For Life.

I found his account of the ordeal intriguing and disturbing to say the least. Let me share with you a few quotes from the pamphlet:

After I said these things [namely that Michael Schiavo, his attorney Mr. Felos, and Judge Greer were murderers], Mr. Felos and others in sympathy with him began attacking me in the press and before the cameras. Some news outlets began making a story out of their attacks and said I was "fanning the flames" of enmity and hatred.

Hmmm, I thought. Something about this sounds very familiar to me. Someone speaks out with God's honest truth and he is made out as, well, the worst possible thing he could be today: Not Nice! The implication, of course, is that Fr. Pavone is just another wacky fundy Fundamentalist who wishes to impose his inflexible moral rules on others, disrespecting Terri's supposed right to die, thus making him a hateful person. (Basically anyone with moral or religious backbone these days is pegged a "fundamentalist," hate-filled, or just a big meanie.) Fr. Pavone continues:

Actually, there's a simple reason why they are so angry with me. They had hoped that they could present Terri's death as a merciful and gentle act. My words took the veil of euphemism away, calling this a killing, and giving eyewitness testimony to the fact that it was anything but gentle. Mr. Felos is a euthanasia advocate, and like all such advocates, he needs to manipulate the language, to sell death in an attractive package...

Wow, this sounds even more familiar. How many times in the course of human history have politicians and others had to pretty up something so overtly evil, so immoral? Something they know to be just plain wrong? "Gathering God's Gifts," anyone? Are our churches being "euthenized?"

One of the attacks they made was that a "spiritual person" like a priest should be speaking words of compassion and understanding, instead of venom.

Ahhh, the old "be Christian" routine. The "you hypocrite who claims to be a Christian but doesn't act like one" head trip. As if "being Christian" is equivalent with being a spineless nicy nice, simply a person with very good manners. What a load of horse manure.

But compassion demands truth. A priest is also a prophet, and if he cannot cry out against evil, then he cannot bring about reconciliation. If there is going to be any healing...it must start with repentance on the part of those who murdered Terri and now try to cover it up with flowery language.

Part of the Christian life, as taught best to us by the Church's many martyrs for the Faith, is the necessity of calling a spade a spade and defending the Truth. What a shame so many fall prey to evil dressed up as good, wolves in sheep's clothing, and church closure programs portrayed as promotion rather than a demotion of the Faith.

Another aspect of the Terri Schiavo tragedy is that many people misunderstand its cause and therefore its solution. They think the problem was that Terri did not leave any written instructions... Terri's case is not about the withdrawal of life-saving medical treatment, but rather about the killing of a healthy person whose life some regarded as worthless. Terri was not dying, was not on life support, and did not have any terminal illness. Because some thought she would not want to live with her disability, they insisted on introducing the cause of death, namely, dehydration.

At this point the parallels being drawn were simply unbelievable. The Diocese of Camden's Administration has presented a list of supposed problems within the Diocese (although they have presented contradictory statements numerous times)--its symptoms of terminal illness--and expected the veracity of these supposed problems to go unchallenged, the Administration's chosen responses received without question. Even if we the Christian faithful were to accept their diagnoses, then must we accept their solution? Not necessarily. But misunderstanding supposed causes of our problems in the Diocese is half the problem.

In so many cases, churches threatened with closure (death) are not dying, not on life support, and without "terminal illnesses." But their causes of death were about to be handily introduced from on high. Our "Speak Up Sessions," our "living wills" so to speak, were the venues at which so many allegedly clamored to have their churches merged and closed. As Fr. Pavone says, "what good is a living will supposed to accomplish, aside from saying, 'Please don't argue about killing me, just kill me?'"

If we had enough priests to go around when we began (and we did), the bishop would make sure that we had an inadequate number by the time he was through, creating the priest shortage "terminal illness" he so desired. He and McGrath were careful to disallow various orders of priests from offering their services within the Diocese, and, we have been told by inside sources, actively discouraged vocations to the diocesan priesthood through emotional intimidation and screening processes, neither of which are unique to our Diocese. (For more on such screening processes we recommend you read Michael Rose's excellently researched book, Goodbye Good Men.)

In any case, what we're talking about is the killing of healthy churches whose life some in positions of power regard as worthless. They insist on introducing the cause of death. Fr. Pavone continues:

What we run the risk of losing is the right to receive the most basic humane care--like food and water--in the event we have a disability.

Human beings, of course, have a right to life! And according to Canon Law, parishes also have a right to existence as juridic persons. The good ol' Baltimore Catechism (#132) states that "when these buildings we call churches are blessed or consecrated, they become holy." And the Church Herself said in the Council of Trent that all parish churches should be consecrated and they "may never be transferred to common or profane uses." Why then are all of our churches, our juridic persons, suddenly disposable?

It occurred to me that what is currently happening throughout the United States is this. Certain bishops have decided that our churches--which have rights as juridic persons under Canon Law and Church law generally--and by extension we the Catholic faithful who have built and maintained and worshiped in these churches, no longer deserve the dignity God Himself accords us. We no longer have the right to receive the most basic spiritual care--like the Bread of Life and the Blood of Christ--in our own churches. (It is unlikely any great accident that many of the targeted churches are among the most architecturally traditional). Similarly our consecrated parishes are no longer deserving of the most basic dignity by virtue of their holy usage as having the "Gospel preached in them, the Sacraments administered in them, and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered in them" (Baltimore Catechism #132).

In a model where human beings are considered bodies without souls, our churches are considered mere brick-and-mortar buildings lacking the animating Spirit of God. Therefore they are being dispensed with as if they had no meaning or importance whatsoever, as if they were "just buildings" (a phrase the Diocesan Administration has used time and again). In our current materialist culture, this sentiment is no great surprise. Fr. Pavone continues:

But we have a basic obligation to preserve our own life. A person who leaves clear instructions that they don't want to be fed is breaking the moral law by requesting suicide.

Every word Fr. Pavone speaks in this pamphlet is so very true, I thought. Certainly every person is deserving of his God given right to both physical and spiritual sustenance. In turn, we have an obligation to preserve and promote the Faith, which is our very Life. This one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Faith is the very essence of our churches and our parish communities, and these churches and communities are being attacked without cause. We must stand for Truth at all costs and never allow ourselves to be deprived of our own basic dignity. To stand idly by and watch our communities, our dignity, our spiritual welfare, our very FAITH be torn to shreds would be to deny it, and therefore to commit spiritual suicide. This is the culture of death.*

So by the time I was done reading this pamphlet, I wondered, is even the Church not immune from the culture of death? It seemed to me that the same heterodox and secular model Fr. Pavone spoke of, the culture of death which is so prevalent in our culture today, is now being applied to our churches and in a general sense, to the Faith as we know it. This time, the model has infested the highest levels of our Diocese.


* The "culture of death" is a phrase coined by the late Pope John Paul II and is described in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae

This article is part of a multi-part series and will continue over the next couple weeks.

#1-3, the Theologically Obvious Reasons

1. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 28:19 The biblical commentary that follows the Great Commission is this:

"All power"... See here the warrant and commission of the apostles and their successors, the bishops and pastors of Christ's church. He received from his Father all power in heaven and in earth: and in virtue of this power, he sends them (even as his Father sent him, St. John 20. 21) to teach and disciple, not one, but all nations; and instruct them in all truths: and that he may assist them effectually in the execution of this commission, he promises to be with them, not for three or four hundred years only, but all days, even to the consummation of the world. How then could the Catholic Church ever go astray; having always with her pastors, as is here promised, Christ himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life. St. John 14.

In destroying parishes, which are active communities of the baptized faithful, erected for the permanent* and proper worship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the priests and bishops that help to suppress them are in effect doing the opposite of what is outlined by Our Lord in the Gospels.

* According to the Council of Trent, consecrated churches "it may never be transferred to common or profane uses." (All parish churches should be solemnly consecrated.)

2. As believers in Christ Crucified, we shall not succumb to the sin of despair, one of the greatest sins against Almighty God. In closing down and consolidating churches, we are in effect saying that there is no hope that souls can be saved in the future, no hope in the promise of evangelization, no hope that the Church will increase. We will have said that God is no longer the supplier of hope to His people! As Bishop Galante famously said, we cannot sit around and wait for a miracle. Well we definitely cannot just sit around. But miracles are What God Does! Miracles are God's Business. If He saves one soul in all the souls He ever created, it is a miracle. If after His Son's gift of the Eucharist (a miracle), His subsequent death and resurrection (The Single Greatest Miracle of All Time), He gave us just one saint, one visitation from His Holy Mother, it would be a miracle. He has given us countless miracles. We must not despair that, with our help and the help of even a few priests on fire for the Lord, the Church cannot grow. The growth of the Church is, in fact, the Promise of God.

3. Instead of catechizing, being true preachers zealous in evangelizing God's Word, they have decided to tuck their tails between their legs and sulk away, citing [inaccurate] demographical data and not the Gospel They've chosen to give up and pack it in. But is that what Christ told us to do. NO! In all three Synoptic Gospels it is written, "And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off even the dust of your feet, for a testimony against them." In other words, keep on going!

Contrast this with what was written in this week's Star Herald. The Star Herald reprinted the CNS article, "Reconfigurations evolve in rapidly changing church." Bishop Lennon, the Merge Master of the Cleveland Diocese and elsewhere, says, "It's not just about downsizing...that's just a partial view of what we are about." Doesn't it make you wonder...has this Bishop Lennon read Christ's words? Our Lord did not say, "Go therefore, and downsize, should the demographic data appear to warrant that."

We know that the church closures are not about money. Truly, whatever is lacking could surely be found. (The Diocese owns so much unused real estate and has plenty of money.) And besides, some of the most financially viable churches in the Diocese have been slated for closure. But many persist in believing the closures are about money.

Worse still, there are priests and pastors out there who claim that if a church cannot support itself, it has no right to exist.

(Keep in mind that debt is sometimes incurred due to the necessity of paying assessments to the Diocese and certain amounts to support local Catholic schools, whether or not parishioners actually make use of or can afford tuition at these schools. Barring these two things, most churches do not have any problem paying their utility bills and maintaining their properties. We should also remember that by virtue of threatening certain churches with closure, the bishop has scared off many Catholics from the Faith or their parishes altogether, causing a great deal of confusion, despair, and decreased church attendance, all of which affect collections.)

In any case, what we need to ask ourselves is this: As Christians, should it be the case that those churches who are wealthier deserve to exist, while those who are poorer do not? What kind of an attitude is that? Is it Catholic? Is it even Christian?

In fact, it is neither. Our Lord did not recommend that the poor go out and attempt to become rich, but that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the treasure of the poor would be great in heaven, and that the Kingdom of God belonged to them, that the heavenly banquet would be theirs!

The burden of coming to the aid of the less fortunate parishes in a Diocese falls upon the wealthier ones. And it is the job of the shepherds--the bishop and priests--to see to it that all the faithful have churches in which to worship. The effort to evangelize, not consolidate, should be in the forefront of all of our minds.

If it is believed that a prior pastor lacked the ability to financially manage his parish, then is it fair that the laity be forced to lose their church as a result? We of course know that this is only an excuse to do something we all know to be wrong, but the point is this: shepherds of  flocks in need should help them find ways to subsist.

Let us not delude ourselves. The role of a true pastor is not to persecute his flock, but to help them grow in Christ. He should be acting as a healer and not a henchman. No priest who plans on closing churches may be construed as a prophet unwelcome in his own country.

Let us look to St. St. John Vianney, one of the most unlikely saints of all. Thought to be a poor student, and having failed his seminary exams, he was finally ordained due only to his piety. He was sent to a teeny tiny French village called Ars:

Two decades after the French Revolution inspired massacres of 300 priests in France, there was a desperate need for priests....In a village of 40 houses, there were 4 taverns. Church attendance was very low, the farmers worked on Sunday, everyone spend their time drinking and swearing. It was a 'punishment parish' and the people laid bets on how long this new priest would last. But the new Cure of Ars surprised them all.

Someone peeked in his window and saw that he prayed all night. Others noticed that he removed all the fine furniture from the rectory and turned the parlour into a woodshed. He gave his clothes away to the poor and ate only two potatoes a day. Others reported that though his voice seemed to hurt their ears, his sermons stirred their hearts. He became part of the village life as well, visiting all the homes, and helping the villagers with their daily lives. He helped a shop owner with his bookkeeping, prescribed remedies for whooping cough, and when a tavern closed for lack of business, raised money for the owner to buy a farm, then tore the tavern down.

Twelve years later, people would say 'Ars is no longer Ars.' Everyone went to the three hour masses. The farmers prayed the rosary as they worked in the fields. When Father Vianney heard confessions, people would stand in line for hours....People travelled for miles and from around the world to make a confession to him. Sinners were converted at a few words from him. By the end of his life, he spend 16 to 18 hours a day in the confessional, and he was mobbed whenever he appeared. He heard 20,000 confessions a year, up to 300 a day.

In a country that had murdered great numbers of its priests, and discouraged the practicing of the Catholic faith John Vianney moved like a bright light, restoring faith and healing hearts....

The heroes of his youth were those priests who refused to submit to the French revolutionary government's nationalization of the Church, and risked martyrdom to celebrate Mass in secret in houses and barns of the faithful. John began to practice mortifications in imitation of these priests and as sacrifice for sinners from an early age.

When he was ordained and sent to Ars, he continued these austerities. He disposed of the fine furniture in the rectory, and used the money to help the poor of the parish. He spend hours in prayer, hours in the confessional and more hours serving the day to day needs of his parishioners.

In the entire village in which St. John Vianney lived, there were only a couple hundred people. Now a parish with 250 families is said not to have a right to exist! Oh how far we have fallen. This saint of saints and priest of priests spared nothing for his flock. What are the priests who should be imitating this great saint doing today? Busy figuring out how to close churches? We hope not. Let us pray that all priests, pastors, and bishops see the Light and heed the commands of Our Lord, to "preach the gospel to the poor."

Fr. John Corapi, SOLT (Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity). What a priest!

• "The surest way to be a cause for division is to water down the Truth."

• "When I first started preaching, I mean preaching the way I wanted to, there was a powerful force to keep me from doing that. Not from my superiors--they were supportive and are to this day... Even bishops. They would say, 'You can't say that. People don't want to hear that.' I remember a bishop told me 'You can't talk like that, you'll get into trouble.' [Fr.Corapi in response:] 'Trouble is my middle name.'"

• "The Truth is very well defined. You're either in it or you're not. You either believe it or you don't."

• "Unity is to be desired, but not at the expense of Truth."

Amen!

"Vibrancy," as Bishop Galante defines it (a large number of paid professional lay ministers in each parish), apparently comes at a price that is simply too high to be sustained.  You may remember when Bishop Galante referred to St. John the Evangelist Church in Naples, Florida as a model for the parish vibrancy he seeks here in the Diocese of Camden.

Quoting from the Philadelphia Inquirer article, which is quoting Bishop Galante:

And all he [Bishop Galante's brother] talks about is how vibrant the local parish is: the people going to Mass, the wonderful preaching, concerts with sacred music and popular music.

The vitality and community his brother has found in Florida are what he hopes South Jersey Catholics will one day encounter in the 66 parishes that will remain.

Now, Naples is a very wealthy area.  Half of the American Fortune 500 CEOs live in Naples, FL.  And this is a huge parish, with 5,200 registered families as of last October (before a downward revision to 3,200 families by removing inactive parishioners).  And yet this vibrant parish, whose bulletin that reads like a magazine so impressed Bishop Galante, is finding this level of paid, professional lay ministry unsustainable.

St. John the Evangelist had a whopping $229,000 deficit for Quarter 1 of this past year (07/01/08 - 09/30/08).  Click here for link to bulletin with minutes for the Pastoral Council Quarterly Board Meeting.  Their March 8, 2009 bulletin showed a year-to-date income of more than $1,175,000 (in just over 9 months), but it also revealed that this was insufficient to support their paid staff: 

Consequently, four administrative support positions have been reduced into two.  We have also had to let go of one full time and two part time members of our maintenance staff.

We are sorry for those who lost their positions, especially in the difficult economy we are facing, but there is an important lesson in this.  Most of our new "mega-parishes" will be less than half the size of this church and our parishioners are certainly much less affluent, on the whole, than those from Naples, FL.  So, if St. John the Evangelist, with all its size and wealth, cannot afford the "vibrancy" desired by Bishop Galante, how can we, especially with all of the ill-will created by these mergers?

As a side note, we are glad to hear that the local bishop has requested St. John the Evangelist church install kneelers. ("[A]t St. John's we stand in joy rather than kneel in fear.")  We are also pleased to hear that they are no longer allowing VOTF to have their annual Mass at St. John the Evangelist.  Now, if they only move their tabernacle from its current location ("in the back of the church on the left side") to front and center and fix a few other problems related to their "understanding" of the Real Presence, they might be OK, despite their financial crisis!

Here are some recent comments in response to the article regarding the bishop's 1.5 million dollar luxury estate--oh wait, no, "convent"--in Pittsgrove. As a comment of our own, it has occurred to us that undoubtedly the diocesan administration must be exerting tremendous pressure on the poor sisters at this time, who must truly feel caught between satisfying the bishop's requests and fulfilling their vow of poverty, a promise they made to God. It is outrageous that the chancery would put out a statement supposedly made by Sr. Bernadette, while no one from the media has spoken directly to her, to the best of our knowledge. There is no way of verifying that she actually said what they claim she did. Press Comments: Is Andrew Walton coming unwound? His comments are hysterical, not to mention completely contradictory. He's another way our diocese is wasting money. I wonder how much he's getting paid for his "services." Posted by: hahaha on Sun Mar 15, 2009, 11:28 PM

	How much money does Andrew Walton make that he thinks an $800,000 house is a 'modest' living arrangement? Posted by: elaine on Sun Mar 15, 2009, 11:38 PM

	Not to be mean but with all the church and school closings recently and more in the future, why do they need new nuns? What are they going to do? Posted by: theFlyingNun on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 2:32 AM

	wake up parishoners! YOU'VE BEEN DUPED!! welcome to CAMP ALTAR BOY!!! Posted by: no sin no win on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 3:58 AM

	Ahhhhhhhh...haters and cafeteria Catholics. Some things you can just go to sleep on. Posted by: Truth on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 5:13 AM

	Isn't this awful when the diocese closes St Nicholas School in Egg Harbor City and wants to shut St Nick's church! This is an outrage!!!!! Posted by: MaysLandingJane on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 6:14 AM

	As with any charity...most donated funds go to administrative costs...I am sure the 'Bishops Annual Appeal' needed a new headquarters to operate from... counting your gold in a lavish country estate seems Medival in a way Posted by: mikeyd__ on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 6:18 AM

	simple math: $8 million divided by 5 nuns = $1.6 million per nun. talk about HIGH MAINTENANCE BABES!!! Posted by: collection plate - not! on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:21 AM

	This purchase gives a whole new meaning to "House of Charity". But seriously, why should I give a dime? They clearly don't need my hard earned money. Posted by: Maria on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:30 AM

	from Kenyan grass hut to upscale rural estate. nice career move girls! ps: but do they know how use the wet bar and ice maker? Posted by: papist scam on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:31 AM

If you had a bunch of people giving you money every week wouldnt you spend it...They havn't spent it properly in a long time. I went to Rome on vacation a few years ago and I am getting on the plane walking to my coach seat and what do I see a priest sitting in first class. I know when I searched to purchase those seats were like $15k round trip...I have not given a dime to the church since I saw that Posted by: scam on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:41 AM

Why does this come as a shock to anyone? The Catholic Church is one of the wealthiest entities on the planet! They preach poverty yet acquire lavish property, jewels and artwork all the time. The vatican houses some of the most precious artworks of all time. They are not strapped for cash and never have been. They are considered to be among the larges private land holders in the world, and are estimated to have billions of dollars in banks and stocks around the world. It is one of the biggest businesses on earth. In his newest list of sins that will send you to "you know where," the pope has included accumulating vast wealth, but the Church has been doing that every day since its inception. Interesting, isn't it? And sorry, but it's not 8 million dollars, it's 800 thousand dollars. Guess the math wasn't so simple for the brain trust who thought he'd make a point. Too funny. Posted by: Really? on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 8:55 AM

	Okay, everyone get your Catholic-bashing out of your system. Just remember when you are done, that Catholics are a very devout group of people. Unfortunately, their leadership is self-serving...just like our politicians. Ever notice that no matter what the group, power corrupts? Posted by: njstorm on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:12 AM

	"Spirit of poverty" while living in a $1.5 million dollar home? That's kind of like saying the Bishop has a "Spirit of fasting." Greed, corruption, lies - all from the Catholic heirarchy - it is disheartening to say the least. Bishop Gallante should resign. Posted by: outraged in ocean city on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:32 AM

	The church is big business. The road to heaven is paved with good intentions now send me the dollars. Posted by: executioner1 on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:38 AM

	I am somewhat familiar with the situation, and can tell you that the sisters are not at all comfortable with the sitaution. This was all Gallante. Posted by: maverick on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:39 AM

If someone wants to know the excess of the hierarchy of the Catholic church in our Diocese, as well as in Philadelphia's, look at the ownership of several beachfront homes in Ventnor ... just a block from where St. James R.C. Church and school faced closings. And not begrudging just the beachfront property, but the excessive nature INSIDE those homes (yes, I have seen it firsthand). When the Diocese decided to close St. Augustine School in Ocean City, knowing full well prior to their decision that those students did NOT have another school that could take them, I knew I had given the Diocese my last time. I think Catholics in this Diocese need to express their displeasure in the only way the Diocese and the Bishop understand ... financially. That is what bought several churches at least temporary reprieves already. The religion and the faith of Catholics are strong (and yes I am one) ... its the leadership - the human element - that is flawed. Posted by: truth not rhetoric on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 9:46 AM

	There are way tooooo many empty Convents throughout the state to allow this to happen. The house should have been sold or rented for a lot of money. The Nuns are very nice people who deserve whatever they get however there are many many empty houses in this and other states for them to live in for free. Posted by: Empty nests' on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:02 AM

OK...so here we are with hundreds of billions of OUR dollars going out to greedy banks and business men to "save" them all. This is all OUR money and will cost us and our children for decades to come. I have a great idea. this will eliminate the current billions in debt and settle the national debt. If we just tax the Catholic church on its real estate holding in the U.S. we will raise enough cash to cancel out all the problems. All of the faithful can then empty there wallets into a brass plate on Sunday to help the churches pay there tax bills. Now the church will really now what poverty is like. We pay our tax bills every year now it is there turn. Just look around town next time you take a drive. no matter what town you live in the churches own the nicest land and the nicest homes in the nicest sections of town. Then go home and look at your home and your tax bill and just do some math and you will get an idea of the value of some of this land and structures. Posted by: njscanner on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:03 AM

	I am outraged by this article. There are devote Catholics who tried their best in preventing the merger from happening last year. They even poured in money from their personal savings. In return, we here about a eight-hundred thousand dollar convent. Posted by: Listen here on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:29 AM

This is appalling! There are many, many underused convents in the diocese. The diocese has a retreat center in Blackwood and to believe we would trust they're purchase of this property as a 'future retreat center' is ridiculous. What is it with this bishop, he comes across like the leaders of the financial institution we have bailed out. Totally out of touch with his pariashioners, he is getting bad advice from those around him They should reverse this purchase and sell this property. Posted by: uneasy catholic on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:44 AM

Talk about irresponsible actions. We were advised that the Bishop has increased the amount of money he wants to renovate the kitchen in the new, dynamic, vibrant elementary school in Clayton to the tune of $200,000 dollars. Andy Walton tried to justify the spending by saying the price was dropped from $1.5 million to $800,000 dollars. What he failed to mention was that the home was on the market for a year and when the recession/depression hit, it couldn't sell for the original listing price. So the "good catholic family took their money and moved south. How about the $1.7 million dollars for the sale of St. Bridget's school that went toward reducing the debt of that parish rather than helping to support the new elementary school in Clayton. There are too many instances of flagrant misuse of monies by the CEO of the Camden diocese and his constituents to print here. I wonder if they would agree to an audit of how they are spending their monies and make it an open report to the parishioners whose money they are spending. Sounds similar to the AIG scandalous use of taxpayers money with the backing of the government. We are being told by Bishop Galante that he is concerned about the number of Catholics leaving the church, well I suggest he look in the mirror to see how he is a major reason why this is happening. Posted by: mazz on Mon Mar 16, 2009, 10:58 AM

What true shepherd of God would "trouble his own house?" Scripture tells us that "where there is no governor, the people shall fall."

What will happen to the faithful when their churches are threatened, their faith rocked, and controversy and corruption rule the day? Our Lord paints a disturbing picture. Wickedness leads only to spiritual death. It is in Justice, who is the Lord God alone, that we may place our hope, and consequently we are called to live uprightly.

Proverbs 11 in its entirety is a scripture that speaks to our time and circumstance. Truly we must follow God for His own sake and not our own, because He is God the Truth and deserves our total commitment. Through His Word, the Lord teaches us again and again that righteousness is to be pursued for its own sake, because it is His way, not because we can expect righteousness as an end result or because we hope for some special favors in this life. It's as simple as this: Good may never be obtained by doing wrong. That is God's law.

Either make the tree good and its fruit good: or make the tree evil, and its fruit evil. For by the fruit the tree is known. O generation of vipers, how can you speak good things, whereas you are evil? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Matthew 12:33-35

We rise by God's grace and fall by our own doing. We elect not to follow Christ--there are no accidents in this life. We should not be deceived by "the mouth of the wicked;" we must choose to seek out the truth and follow it. Therefore we beg the mercy of the Father and pray never to succumb to wickedness. "The dissembler with his mouth deceiveth his friend: but the just shall be delivered by knowledge." Wickedness comes from only one place, one being, and that being is not God. Be delivered by the uncomplicated Truth.

May God help us in this time of trial! God bless all of you, and please continue to pray daily for the bishop and all those working with him. Offer up a little prayer or sacrifice for his conversion and for the many countless souls who will likely perish as a result of this unholy de-evangelization. Even without church closures, the "last nails in the coffin" have been hammered for many who have already left the Faith or would never again entertain the thought of returning. Many of us have, unfortunately, witnessed this in our interactions with disgusted friends, family, and neighbors. Sadly, even good, practicing Catholics have begun to have doubts of all kinds. The faith of so many have been shaken by this crisis. But let's not forget that what's at stake is the dethroning of Christ. Christ must be seated on the throne of our hearts. He must be enthroned within our Diocese also, or else it is a house built on sand.

At length he appeared to the eleven as they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him after he was risen again. And he said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. Mark 16:14-16

At last, here are some pieces from Proverbs 11:

3 The simplicity of the just shall guide them: and the deceitfulness of the wicked shall destroy them. 4 Riches shall not profit in the day of revenge: but justice shall deliver from death. 5 The justice of the upright shall make his way prosperous: and the wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness.

6 The justice of the righteous shall deliver them: and the unjust shall be caught in their own snares. 7 When the wicked man is dead, there shall be no hope any more: and the expectation of the solicitous shall perish. 8 The just is delivered out of distress: and the wicked shall be given up for him. 9 The dissembler with his mouth deceiveth his friend: but the just shall be delivered by knowledge. 10 When it goeth well with the just the city shall rejoice: and when the wicked perish there shall be praise.

11 By the blessing of the just the city shall be exalted: and by the mouth of the wicked it shall be overthrown.14 Where there is no governor, the people shall fall: but there is safety where there is much counsel.

17 A merciful man doth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel casteth off even his own kindred. 18 The wicked maketh an unsteady work: but to him that soweth justice, there is a faithful reward. 19 Clemency prepareth life: and the pursuing of evil things, death. 20 A perverse heart is abominable to the Lord: and his will is in them that walk sincerely.

23 The desire of the just is all good: the expectation of the wicked is indignation. 24 Some distribute their own goods, and grow richer: others take away what is not their own, and are always in want.

28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the just shall spring up as a green leaf. 29 He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the winds: and the fool shall serve the wise.

The bishop gave a thought-provoking sermon today at St. Joseph's Polish Catholic Church in Camden, NJ.


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Bishop Galante preached from today's gospel, Mark 2:1-12 (partial excerpt below):

And they came to him, bringing one sick of the palsy, who was carried by four. And when they could not offer him unto him for the multitude, they uncovered the roof where he was; and opening it, they let down the bed wherein the man sick of the palsy lay. And when Jesus had seen their faith, he saith to the sick of the palsy: Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.

On the wonderful blog romancatholicblog.com is an entry that is about a year and a half old that truly speaks to our current situation here in the Diocese of Camden. All due credit to the author, whose name isn't given but whose email is "Maximus." We just stumbled upon this entry today.

Click here to read the piece on his blog.

Is It A Sin To Rebuke A Priest?

A reader has suggested that it is sinful to speak ill of a priest or a bishop and that rather than speak out against corruption within the clergy, Catholics should pray and remain silent.

I couldn't disagree more.

Although I would caution Catholics against the sin of rash judgment, and remind people to be mindful of the requirements of the Eighth Commandment, I firmly maintain that Catholics have a duty to rebuke the clergy when they have gone astray and to warn others against such clerics so they will not be confused by the errors wayward priests and/or bishops are observed to be spreading.

There are provisions for rebuking clergy described in Sacred Scripture:

"Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning." (1 Timothy 5:19-20)

"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." (Matthew 18:15-17)

There are also examples:

"And when Kephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.   For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised.   And the rest of the Jews (also) acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Kephas in front of all,  'If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews ?'" (Galatians 2:11-14)

During the Arian heresy, approximately one third of the bishops in the Church became Arian, along with countless priests and entire dioceses. Yet if we are to believe, as apparently some Catholics do, that priests and bishops may never be corrected, never challenged, and/or never exposed, it was wrong to say that Arian priests and bishops were teaching error.

The same would follow for countless other heretical sects that had their origins in heretical Catholic clergy.

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. Can he not be criticized?

Saints were often critical of priests and religious:

St. Catherine of Siena made a pilgrimage to Avignon in Southern France to persuade the Pontiff Pope Gregory XI to return from exile to Rome where he belonged. After the death of Gregory XI on March 26, 1378, the Great Schism began when Pope Urban VI was selected as his successor. Several of the dissident French cardinals objected and elected their own at Fondi Robert of Geneva who became the antipope Clement VII and set up his headquarters in Avignon. St. Catherine knew Urban was the true Pope and did all in her power to secure support for him and end the schism. While she was a staunch supporter of his Primacy, she did not hesitate to rebuke him when she saw weakness or knew he was wrong.

St. Catherine was also critical of priests in her Dialogue (the work which was the primary reason she was made a Doctor of the Church):

"Your miseries are not hid from you now, for the worm of conscience sleeps no longer, but is gnawing you, the devils shout and render to you the reward which they are accustomed to give their servants, that is to say, confusion and condemnation; they wish to bring you to despair, so that at the moment of death you may not escape from their hands, and therefore they try to confuse you, so that afterwards when you are with them they may render to you of the part which is theirs. Oh, wretch! the dignity in which I placed you, you now see shining as it really is, and you know to your shame that you have held and used in such guilty darkness the substance of the holy Church, that you see yourself to be a thief, a debtor, who ought to pay his debt to the poor and the holy Church. Then your conscience represents to you that you have spent the money on public harlots, and have brought up your children and enriched your relations, and have thrown it away on gluttony and on many silver vessels and other adornments for your house. Whereas you should have lived in voluntary poverty."

"Your conscience represents to you the divine office which you neglected, by which you fell into the guilt of mortal sin, and how even when you recited it with your mouth your heart was far from Me. Conscience also shows you your subjects, that is to say, the love and hunger which you should have felt towards nourishing them in virtue, giving them the example of your life and striking them with the hand of mercy and the rod of justice, and because you did the contrary your conscience and the horrible likeness of the Devil reproves you."

"And if as a prelate you have given prelacies or any charge of souls unjustly to one of your subjects, that is, that you have not considered to whom and how you were giving it, the Devil puts this also before your conscience, because you ought to have given it, not on account of pleasant words, nor in order to please creatures, nor for the sake of gifts, but solely with regard to virtue, My honor and the salvation of souls. And since you have not done so you are reproved, and for your greater pain and confusion you have before your conscience and the light of your intellect that which you have done and ought not to have done, and that which you ought to have done and have not done."

The reforms of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross were due to the laxity in their religious order. Both were openly critical of such laxity and met with opposition because of their reforms.

The Norbertine Order was started because of the widespread laxity, and even debauchery among priests in St. Norbert's day. St. Norbert exhorted and even rebuked his fellow priests, and they responded by attempting to assassinate him.

It is ludicrous to think that clerics are beyond correction, as if infallible by virtue of their office. It is disturbing that such a simplistic outlook exists after the egregious wrongdoing (and that is putting things mildly) of so many priests and even bishops was exposed because of the sex abuse scandal that rocked the Church in recent years.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law makes provisions for the laity to address their concerns about priests:

Canon 212:

§1. Conscious of their own responsibility, the Christian faithful are bound to follow with Christian obedience those things which the sacred pastors, inasmuch as they represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or establish as rulers of the Church.

§2. The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors of the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.

§3. According to the knowledge, competence, and prestige which they possess, they have the right and even at times the duty to manifest to the sacred pastors their opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church and to make their opinion known to the rest of the Christian faithful, without prejudice to the integrity of faith and morals, with reverence toward their pastors, and attentive to common advantage and the dignity of persons.

I also include the following for consideration:

"When there is an imminent danger for the Faith, Prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica II, II, q. 33, a. 4

"It is better that scandals arise than the truth be suppressed." ~ Pope St. Gregory the Great

"When circumstances make it necessary, it is not prelates alone who have to watch over the integrity of the faith." ~ Pope Leo XIII

"The road to hell is paved with the skulls of erring priests, with bishops as their signposts." ~ St. John Chrysostom (347-407), Doctor of the Church, generally considered the most prominent doctor of the Greek Church and the greatest preacher ever heard in a Christian pulpit.

"The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops." ~ St. Athanasius

"The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops." ~ Saint John Eudes

"But how, I ask, does it happen that the saints, who live only for God, resist their ordination through a sense of their unworthiness, and that some run blindly to the priesthood, and rest not until they attain it by lawful or unlawful means? Ah. Unhappy men! Says St. Bernard, to be registered among the priests of God shall be for them the same as to be enrolled on the catalogue of the damned. And why? Because such persons are generally called to the priesthood, not by God, but by relatives, by interest, or ambition. Thus they enter the house of God, not through the motive a priest should have, but through worldly motives. Behold why the faithful are abandoned, the Church dishonored, so many souls perish, and with them such priests are also damned." ~ St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1696-1787), Doctor of the Church (Moral Theology), Founder of the Redemptorist congregation

Saints were even critical of homosexual priests and/or religious:

"Any cleric or monk who seduces young men or boys, or who is apprehended in kissing or in any shameful situation, shall be publicly flogged and shall lose his clerical tonsure. Thus shorn, he shall be disgraced by spitting into his face, bound in iron chains, wasted by six months of close confinement, and for three days each week put on barley bread given him toward evening. Following this period, he shall spend a further six months living in a small segregated courtyard in the custody of a spiritual elder, kept busy with manual labor and prayer, subjected to vigils and prayers, forced to walk at all times in the company of two spiritual brothers, never again allowed to associate with young men for purposes of improper conversation or advice." ~ St. Basil the Great (329-379), Bishop of Caesarea, Father of the Church, and one of the most distinguished Doctors of the Church.

"The befouling cancer of sodomy is, in fact, spreading so through the clergy or rather, like a savage beast, is raging with such shameless abandon through the flock of Christ, that for many of them it would be more salutary to be burdened with service in the world than, under the pretext of religion, to be enslaved so easily under the iron rule of satanic tyranny. It would be better for them to perish alone as laymen that, after having changed their attire but not their disposition, to drag others with them to destruction, as Truth itself testifies when It says, "But if anyone is a cause of stumbling to one of these little ones, it would be better for him to be drowned in the depths of the sea with a great millstone round his neck." Unless immediate effort be exerted by the Apostolic See, there is little that, even if one wished to curb this unbridled evil, he could not check the momentum of its progress."

"Unquestionable, this vice, since it surpasses the enormity of all others, is impossible to compare with any other vice. Without fail it brings death of the body and destruction to the soul. It pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the mind, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart and gives entrance to the devil, the stimulator of lust. It leads to error, totally removes truth from the deluded mind, prepares a trap for the traveller and secures the pit and makes it impossible for the victim to escape. It opens up Hell and closes the gates Paradise, changes a citizen of the Heavenly Jerusalem into an heir of infernal Babylon, and turns a Heavenly star into chaff for eternal fire; it cuts off a member of the Church and hurls him into the depths of the devouring flames of Hell." ~ St. Peter Damian (1007 -1072), Doctor of the Church, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia

It seems to me that the clericalist attitude that priests and bishops are beyond reproach is actually quite dangerous. The idea has a pietistic veneer, and those who hold it may be sincere, but do they realize that attitudes like that contributed to the mentality that allowed the priestly abuse scandals to stay under the radar for so long?

Do they realize that Catholics have an obligation to lead others to the truth and away from error?

Previously we have quoted a bit from the 2002 Michael Rose book entitled, Goodbye, Good Men: How Liberals Brought Corruption into the Catholic Church. This excellent book is well researched and sheds a great deal of light on the controversy, unorthodox doctrine, emphasis on "lay ministry," and seminary/priest formation problems encountered in the Catholic Church in the United States today. Perhaps more than anything else, it explains well how the "priest shortage" crisis is contrived and utterly avoidable.

(As a side note, Bishop Galante and those attempting to make changes to the Church ought to pay attention. Unless we  miscalculate, Rose was 33 when he wrote this book. The younger generations, which the bishop is supposedly trying to attract, are often the ones most disenchanted by the lack of adherence to traditional, orthodox Catholicism.)

Seminary & Priest Formation Problems

From Chapter 5, "The Heterodoxy Downer: How False Teaching Demoralizes and Discourages the Aspiring Priest."

Beyond issues of grave sexual immorality, the seminary environment presents a number of other deterrents to the orthodox seminarian. The most obvious and perhaps the most insidious is heterodoxy, open or subtle dissent from the official teachings of th Church. Many faculty members are averse to teaching what the Church teaches, and some find it onerous even to hide their disdain for Catholicism. The seminarian who arrives on campus expecting to find faculty and staff that love the Catholic faith and teach what the Church teaches can be sadly disappointed.

Continued:

Dr. Louise Leidner, who taught students from the Washington Theological Union in Washington DC...during the 1990s claims that students who expressed orthodox Catholic opinions were "publicly mocked by their WTU peers and by WTU faculty and superiors for taking positions consonant with the Church's teaching." In addition, she says that "Several of her students...were actually kicked out of their religious houses because they expressed orthodox opinions that were 'dangerous and harmful to other people"--even though their positions were supported by the Catechism of the Catholic Church--because they would "negatively infect and unduly influence and contaminate" the other students.

Does it get worse? Apparently. In Chapter Four, Rose mentions several well-known nicknames for seminaries, including a seminary (St. Mary's) to which Bishop Galante, here in the Camden Diocese, has decided to send seminarians. Yikes. (Incidentally, last we heard, this is where our married, former evangelical seminarian/diocesan chaplain employee is currently taking classes.)

According to former seminarians and recently ordained priests...institutions have earned nicknames such as Notre Flame (for Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans) and Theological Closet (for Theological College at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC). St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore has earned the nickname, "The Pink Palace."

Meanwhile, St. Charles Borromeo in Philadelphia, a seminary the diocese of Camden has most often sent seminarians to, is "known to be of a much more conservative mentality" (page 165).

The Rise of "Lay Ministries"

Rose also researched a typical "Lay Pastoral Ministries Program" run by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. (Note that our own bishop is currently implementing one such program here in our diocese, while at the same time, by slow trickle, removing priests by the dozen to forcible retirement, military chaplaincy, removal to other dioceses, and ostensibly to "study" in Rome.) In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, a man named Glenn Jeviden was interested in serving the Church and was directed to this Lay Ministries program. The screening process began with an interview conducted by what turned out to be a liberal sister who

asked me several times if I understood the Church was changing, and if I thought I was able to be "flexible enough to accept a pluralistic Church."

The interview was friendly enough but Jividen, though conceding that change is a part of life, asked the sister "if she believed that some truths never changed." She did not answer. He was next asked to write an autobiography, in which he discussed his pro-life activities, involvement with Catholics United for the Faith (CUF), and his devotion to the Church, the Holy Father, and the Blessed Mother, etc. He also had to take the Myers-Briggs personality test (a test based on Jungian psychological types) and was seen by a priest psychologist for other "tests."

During a psychologist visit, following the results of the tests, the conversation turned to CUF, and its alleged inflexible attitudes (read: orthodox) and Jividen's explicitly orthodox positions. The psychologist stated that the pope only had to be abided by when he spoke ex cathedra. It went on from there, you get the idea. Finally the priest psychologist suggested that Jividen would

feel uncomfortable with my CUF friends after entering the Lay Pastoral Ministries Program.

Needless to say, Jividen didn't make the cut and was told to "update" his theology. They suggested he develop his "personal spirituality" and that he see one of their spiritual directors, 22 of the 25 of whom were women.

The Agenda, says Rose?

Rose's point in discussing the lay ministries program is that some see the vocations crisis as "presaging a revolution and the demise of the  hierarchical structure of the Church" (quoting Helen Hull Hitchcock, 1999).

This is the contingent that has long been promoting "lay ecclesial ministry," the laicization of the clergy, and the clericalization of the laity. Simply put, they would like to see the laity take over the leadership of the Church at the parish level and beyond, from teaching and preaching to administering the sacraments. This program would effectively entail eliminating the priesthood rather than just "reenvisioning" it.

Indeed in many places, the lack of priestly vocations (or in our case, the forced scarcity thereof) is embraced as a way to promote a new vocation to "lay ecclesial ministry," that is, non-ordained, paid church professionals. Some bishops, priests, and other diocesan and seminary authorities actually seem to rejoice over decreasing priestly vocations as an opportunity for creating a "new model of Church" in which the laity can "take their rightful place" (quoting Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles).

This philosophy, drawn out by many over the last decade of the 20th century, betrays a peculiar attitude--the priesthood as a barrier to the emergence of the laity in their own dignity and mission (pages 209-211).

The word vibrant, is of course dropped--its use is not new--and the priest shortage is described as a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Where lay ministry is overemphasized, the priesthood becomes devalued" since it is reduced to sacramental ministry, viewed as being on par with "music ministry," "hospitality  ministry," "youth ministry," etc. Priests are mistakenly "defined...by what they do rather than what they are--an alter Christus."

The Vicious Circle

Tell us if this doesn't look familiar to you? The "vicious circle" looks like this:

Catholics in key positions of authority...actively discourage vocations to the priesthood in order to promote lay ministry. Yet at the same time, lay ecclesial ministry  is proposed as the answer to the dearth of priestly vocations, as if this were a permanent and perhaps ideal situation. Parishes run by lay ministers are likely to foster little, if any, interest in vocations to the priesthood. The result is that the number of priests will continue to decline further, necessitating more lay ministers to fill their places (211).

Rose goes on to describe church closures and radical "faith communities" formed in some places:

Priestless "faith communities" over time are likely to become simply congregational communities centered on the reading of the Scriptures, the homily, and on sharing bread and wine--devoid of the act of perfect worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass--based on the model of Protestant community.

Continued:

The so-called shortage suits them just fine, precisely because they can use the crisis to justify radical change in the local Church...one run by "lay pastors." This "new model of Church" is not really about solving the priest shortage. It is about advancing their agenda of a politically correct Church.

Potential seminarians will, and do, gravitate toward dioceses and orders "that support the ministry of the priest as defined by the Church." The bishops in such diocese are not "issuing pastoral letters introducing parish 'clusters' or worse. Rose suggests that there are all too many in positions of Church leadership who have a "death with for the male, celibate priesthood."

Nothing New

Friends, what we have going on now in the Camden diocese is nothing new. As we have seen, it has been going on for a couple decades now, it has been perpetrated elsewhere, it has ruined other dioceses, it has discouraged vocations to the priesthood, it has wrought havoc and confusion in the Church. Now this downright un-Catholic plan is being recycled here in South Jersey in order to liberalize the Church by depriving us of the priesthood and even our very churches. Our churches are the places that reflect who we are in God's cosmology, they put us in our rightful place! But Galante, Vollmer, and McGrath would like to replace our churches--and Church--with something altogether different. Make no mistake about it. Bishop Galante even brought along one of the leaders from the Los Angeles Archdiocese--a diocese infamously known as one of the greatest messes with one of the most corrupt bishops in the entire country--"Sister" Marilyn Vollmer, to bring a bit of that mess here. (Of course, they called the program "Gathered and Sent" there, now they're calling it "Gathering God's Gifts" here, so at least they switched up the name a tad.)

Currently we are undergoing a screening process in which the "core groups" at each parish--those who are meant to lead the church mergers--are chosen based on their willingness to close or otherwise undermine their parish and positively participate in the bishop's agenda. Those who don't agree with the closure or status of their church and the direction the Diocese of Camden is headed are quickly weeded out.

Don't fall for the nonsense! Keep the faith. It his a hard thing to keep in a time when church leadership, even some bishops and priests, believe things very different than many of us do, a model of church unlike what we have known and what has been promulgated down the centuries. So continue to pray for Bishop Galante. He needs our prayers. And continue to pray for the holy courage and fortitude of the priests of our diocese and seminarians everywhere.

Over at savestmarys, we do not enjoy having to deal with news pieces like this one, but really they make our job easier. This article profiles St. Joseph's "Catholic" McMegaChurch in Richardson, Texas, a church the bishop would like to replicate here in South Jersey.

About 1,500 miles away, officials at the Diocese of Camden want to promote this type of vibrant parish. As part of a planned diocesan makeover...

Here it is in black and white, guys. This is what we're in store for. A "makeover." Yippee! We, too can look just like that cool Church of the Future down in Texas. Wait'll you see what's in store for us lucky Catholics. New buildings with new ideas and new priorities...

 Ironically, in an effort to assuage the fears of Mr. and Miss Average Catholic In the Pews, the Courier Post has done a really good job of confirming that our worst fears about what Bishop Galante and Friends have up their sleeves are true. The prospect that Bishop Galante would want to replicate mega"churches" with labyrinths and cappuccino bars here in South Jersey is a repulsive thought. Why in the world he believes that by instituting flaky, liberal "spirit-trends," souls will be saved is beyond me. Promoting the culture of the world at a supposedly Catholic church and reveling in what one can only imagine constitutes a frequent lack of reverence is simply appalling. Yet the pastor at St. Joe's, Msgr. Fischer,  says,

When people come here, there's a level of energy. It's like walking into a mall at Christmas.

Huh? Is that supposed to make us want to go to this church? Is he off his nut? I for one would like to know the last time that Msgr. Fischer was actually at a mall at Christmastime. These are places that most sane people avoid like the plague. Unless, of course, he is referring to the buzz that certain CEOs might get around Christmastime at the prospect of people willingly parting with their hard-earned money only to get some useless trinkets and doo-dads to fill stockings and gift bags.

Problematic article? Yeah. (But since no one wants a church like that, he did our work for us!)

Our problem with the article? Well first of all, the article fails in the journalistic integrity department generally because it is a puff piece. It is nothing but a piece of advertising for Bishop Galante and Company, and if I was Jim Walsh I'd be embarrassed by the fact that I'd compromised my professional standards. The article does not attempt to promote a balanced view of the megachurch, dissenting opinions, or even a hint of a critical stance toward the Bishop Galante and his plans. (Wonder what in the world the Courier Post, or should we call it "The Other Catholic Star Herald," could be getting in return for this kind of coverage?)

Of course, plenty of scholarship is available on the pluses and minuses of the megachurch at this point, but not a one was touched by Jim Walsh of the CP. Here are a couple of scholars Mr. Walsh could have contacted. Quote from 2005 ABC piece:

Mega-churches are booming all over the country, not just in the South.

Scott Thumma, a theologian at Hartford Seminary, compares the phenomenon to shopping at a place like Wal-Mart.

"Just as if you go to a Wal-Mart, you can get all of your lists done in one place, it's sort of one-stop shopping for spirituality as well," Thumma said.

Randall Balmer, a theology professor at Barnard College in New York says [of mega-congregations], "It is in many ways consumerism run amok."

In contrast, here's a perfect example of more Courier Post pandering:

One more difference between the regions [South Jersey and Dallas, Texas]: Galante, who often draws angry protests with his controversial plans for parish mergers in the Camden diocese, is recalled with fondness at St. Joseph.

"You tell that bishop we miss him here," barked head usher Chuck Maltese of Wylie, Texas, a retired New York City policeman.

How funny is that? First he says we're "angry" protesters. Now why in the world should we be angry? Guess we're too hormonal again. Oh well! Maybe we should have just handed over the keys and deeds to our churches cuz Bishop asked nice and said he'd give us a latte.  (I like hazelnut, no whipped cream. Although I can't afford those kinds of fancy drinks myself!) Honestly, if barking head usher Chuck Maltese would like Bishop Galante back in Texas, I just know we in the Diocese of Camden would be only too happy to oblige. Heck, we'd pay his one-way fare back and he can bring along Ms. Vollmer and Msgr. McGrath for company, too. On us! First class all the way. (No plastic utensils, and real dishes.)

It's rather odd that the CP would make the claim that Bishop Galante is widely loved and missed in Texas considering we at savestmarys have received more than a few unsolicited emails from disgruntled Texans claiming Galante mangled their diocese in more ways than one. Could you imagine the sordid tales we'd hear if we actually bothered picking up the phone to initiate contact ourselves? We simply haven't gotten around to that yet, but we'd certainly appreciate hearing the stories of the Catholics in Texas who are still picking up the pieces.

Depressing, ain't it?

Aside from the article itself, it's just plain depressing that too many "Catholic" churches are are deviating from the Truth in that they are so susceptible to superficial novelties, and that some pastors and bishops are leading their sheep astray. However Jim Walsh makes finding flaws in this "model church" way too easy, and judging from the comments on the Courier Post website, no one seems to think of this church as something in any way desirable, nor are they buying the ridiculous stats spewed by the Diocese.

In holding up this parish Bishop Galante's true intentions become very clear. It seems he wants to dismiss Catholicism as we've known it and institute something utterly different in its place. Something worldly, something that resembles what's going on in many trendy evangelical protestant churches. Something that embraces aspects of extreme liberalism and new age-iness. Something that dumbs down and dilutes our faith. Something that appeals to no real Catholic.

Keeping up with the culture

From a 2005 ABC News article dealing with the new consumerist megachurches, a parent is quoted:

"You know, the culture is giving our kids a lot of fast-paced media and all different things that are moving along," she said. "Why can't the church keep up and do the same thing for our kids and for us?"

There's an easy answer for that one, actually. As Christians we are to be in the world but not of it. It is not the responsibility of the Church to keep pace with modern American culture. It is the responsibility of the Church to preach and teach the Good News of Jesus Christ, whether or not that conforms to our "lifestyle." How many times did Our Lord tell us that He and His Kingdom were not of this world (John 18:36)? Further in St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians (2:12-14):

Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God; that we may know the things that are given us from God. Which things also we speak, not in the learned words of human wisdom; but in the doctrine of the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not these things that are of the Spirit of God; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined.

How many times must we be exhorted not to conform ourselves to the things of this world, for it is passing, but God is eternal?

And be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. (1John 2:15)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that includes lattes and biscotti.

A few interesting things about the church


Cremation: Like the parishes in Florida (churches St. John the Evangelist and St. Agnes), St. Joe's seems to advocate the non-traditional practice of cremation, to the point of having something called a "Columbarium Wall" where ashes may be interred in little niches. It's pretty darn ugly. The Columbarium Wall surrounds the labyrinth. (For those of you who aren't aware, cremation is hugely popular among liberal eco-types because it takes up less space.)


Music: The choir has a CD with the predictable David Haas and Marty Hogan emotional tripe, as well as a "Zulu" song. Yay! How multi-cultural of them. At least now all the Zulus in their parish will feel welcome.

Eastern Stuff: You'll be happy to know they also have "Thai Chi Chih" available.

Questionable Curricula: Interestingly, the catechetical materials they've chosen to use over there have been given a "yellow" or caution rating by catholicculture.org, who "recommend[s] that you avoid Why Catholic." Quote:

Philip Blosser provides a perfect summary when he worries that the program is "designed by revisionists whose devious aim is to use their small group approach to refract ecclesial focus, to undermine magisterial authority, to democratize the Catholic message, to continue the AmChurch decentralization of Catholic Church in America, to continue the process of protestantizing and revising the Church and detaching her from the only moorings she has in her own traditions. . . ."

A Response from non-practicing Catholics

Here's where our coverage of this story will take a turn for the odd. Tonight after work I popped over to my younger sister's house to borrow a couple of Disney videos for my kids, to kiss my new baby niece, and to chat for a few minutes. About an hour later, as I was turning to leave, I just happened to mention this piece in the Courier Post about "a mega[Catholic] Church that the bishop seems to want to replicate here in South Jersey, which has a cappuccino bar."

Now keep in mind that my sister, who is 28, and her husband, who is 32, were both raised Catholic. But, not uncommonly, they are both completely non-practicing. My older niece, who has just begun first grade, has never even been baptized. Other than to attend the baptisms of my own children and the occasional funeral, to the best of my knowledge, she hasn't darkened the doorway of a church in at least five years. She has her own reasons, I know, but we don't talk much about them. The point is, we couldn't be more polar opposite on the religion issue, unless maybe she was a rabid atheist or something.

Without so much as the blink of an eye, the two of them--my sister and brother-in-law--went off. They found the prospect of what a church like this could be, could look like, could morph into, etc. absurd and funny. What struck me most about what follows is that the very audience Galante and Company is trying to entice--the lapsed Catholics, the young families,  professionals, etc.--are the very people who see right through all the crap. People like my sister and her husband, who don't like BS. If there was a possibility of ever being religious, they'd prefer their religion to not be mixed up in materialism. So I thought I'd share some of this [admittedly irreverent at times] rapid-fire back-and-forth between my sister and her husband with you, just to give you an idea of how truly ineffectual all this "nonsense" is. Honestly, I was laughing really hard. They definitely "got it," and with zero prompting by me.

St. Mary's Malaga annually celebrates the Feast of the Assumption as its special feast day. The 11:30 mass (the one we happened to attend) was wonderful and the church itself was packed to the gills. It was standing room only.

This year we were blessed with what was probably some of the strangest weather in the history of the feast. In August, of all months, we had not only quite the storm--including dark, foreboding skies and lots of rain--but also hail throughout South Jersey!

Even more amazing, though, is the fact that so many stuck around throughout the day despite the rainstorm. People retreated to the basement or took cover under awnings and tents until it let up somewhat. Some even stayed in line to get their chicken! Boy that chicken must be pretty good.

Moreover, the storm did not begin until after the procession to Our Lady in the Rosary Garden had concluded. We even had a respite from the rain for some traditional Italian dances. It was a lot of fun.

We at St. Mary's count ourselves blessed always. God gives us so much--a beautiful church, a strong and holy pastor, fervent and abiding faith, the undiluted Truth is desired and preached here (not something to be taken for granted today), Eucharistic adoration is available 3 days a week, there are so many activities and groups, and miraculously there exists a real community of faith where people know and can depend upon one another. Our Lady really looks after little St. Mary's. So with all that, what's a little rain?

First we had mass. Then,
        we prayed & processed...





Then we got a little something to eat, listened to the band (which, later on, played straight through all the rain!) and the kids went on the big, inflatable slides and things.









Thank you for sending in the pictures! I'm sure many of you have more pictures, so feel free to send them in. We can also put up video, if you have that.

On my traditional Catholic calendar I saw that tomorrow's saint was Anthony Mary Zaccaria, a saint I knew nothing about. Since I like to learn about the more obscure saints, I thought I'd look him up. Although I haven't explored it at length yet, I stumbled on wonderful site dedicated to him. (I have sent you to the "preface" section. There is also a novena, a thirteen-part "spiritual theme" section, a ten-part "life of" section [actually 12 if you count the preface and intro], a "daily lesson in holiness" section for everyday devotions, pictures, and more.) This saint is especially relevant since our Holy Father declared the Year of St. Paul, and St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria founded religious and lay societies dedicated to St. Paul. The website and book put online were both put together by Fr. Robert B. Kosek, CRSP, PhD. It is a treasure. Do check it out.


About the saint: After having finished medical school at the young age of 22, he became a priest and founded the Congregation of the Regular Clerks of St. Paul, sanctioned by Pope Clement VII in 1533. Their rule bound them to "regenerate and revive the love of the Divine worship, and a truly Christian way of life by frequent preaching and the faithful administration of the sacraments." He also founded an order of nuns called the Angelicals of St. Paul and also the Laity of St. Paul. The saint also helped reform certain nuns, helping bring their congregations into a stricter and more rigorous religious life. "Not everyone in Milan was pleased with the zeal of this new spiritual family. Its members were threatened. They were accused of Pelagianism" and other heresies.* The saint responded thusly:

Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ, who can boast about our sufferings, because those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones God has chosen to show up those who are everything. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who endured the cross, disregarding its shamefulness and we shall prove that we are servants of God by great fortitude in times of suffering, prepared for honor or disgrace, taken for impostors while we are genuine.*

Notably, heresies were running rampant in northern Italy at this point in time, including the Lutherans. St. Anthony and his fellow missionaries sought to correct these heresies, preaching often. He predicted his own death and his body was incorrupt. (I'm not sure if it still is.) To read more about his life, go to the newadvent entry, the site dedicated to him (see above), or the Barnabite Fathers' own bio (possibly the best).

*From the Barnabite's website


...no matter how excellent a quality knowledge is, it, too, is of very small advantage, as Solomon can prove to you by his own story. For, notwithstanding his great public and world wide reputation for having superior knowledge, he is believed by some to have ended up at the bottom of hell. Even if this were not true, he cannot be cleared of the fact that, despite all his great wisdom, he committed countless and grave sins of lust and of idolatry. Indeed, the servant who knows his master's will and does not do it, will be punished more severely, as Christ says (Luke 12:47). (From the saint's fourth sermon)

Since we have chosen such a great apostle Paul as our guide and father and claim to follow him, we should try to put his teaching and example into practice in our lives. (St. Anthony to the Barnabites)

You have decided to give yourselves to Christ and I desire that you do not fall victims to lukewarmness, but rather that you grow more and more fervant. (Letter to Mr. Bernardo Omodei and Madonna Laura)

by Father Romanowski

Note: This is a piece that was printed in the Catholic Star Herald quite a long time ago! Kept in his scrapbook amid clippings of football and baseball heroes, Our Fr. Romanowski gave this to me to reprint on the website. I apologize that it's taken me too long to put it up. As my kids are now in bed (finally) I have the chance to retype the article now.


Santa Helena de Goias, Brazil--When I have problems, I let a combination of prayer and imagination straighten things out. Starting out as a missionary in Brazil presents some problems.

I think a person with a particular problem in a particular field ought to ask an expert in that field about it. If I wanted to know something about defense, I would ask Robert McNamara. If I wanted to buy a nice side of beef, I would ask an expert on sides of beef--a housewife.

I asked St. Paul about being a missionary.

He looked tough! He was very squat, but had a hard looking body like a stevedore.

What a face! Character was chiseled into it: a little bald, homely, to say the least, but the face had the appearance of a man who had seen what we all want to see. He looked like a marine--a soldier of Christ, but what ascetical eyes in contrast, peacefully piercing, wild and restless. They looked like they could light up the whole universe. And I thought to myself--the face of Burt Lancaster with the eyes of Bishop Sheen.

It was funny how comfortable I felt with him. The same way I feel after reading one of his letters. It's not a comfort that makes you want to relax, but to act.

Father R.: If you were a missionary today, St. Paul, how would your work differ from the work in your own day?

St. Paul: The physical hardships of living were far greater in my day. For example, I had to do many miles of roadwork on foot to arrive at many of my destinations. The food was poorer. Force was supplied by animal or human automation. We used up a lot of time in just existing. Today, however, the missionary ought to encounter (aren't they using that word a lot lately) countless more individuals than in my day.

Father. R.: Then you would say there is a great difference in the two?

St. Paul: No, certainly not. The real force of one's life never changes. Christ was then, still is and always will be, the center of a missionary's life. The differences were accidental. IT's how much the missionary loves his work. That's what is important.

Father R.: What gave you the constant zest to do so much for Christ?

St. Paul: There were days when I didn't have that great desire to serve that I had on other days. But I reminded myself then, that it was Paul who was running things and not Christ. The thrill of Damascus kept these days from popping up too often, but they did come. When I realized this I had to change places and put Christ back where He belonged. Then I knew what it meant when I said it was Christ Who Lived in me. By myself I was entirely incapable of keeping the pace that I did. Only by asking for the necessary help from Christ could I sustain the grind.

Father. R.: Here in Santa Helena there seems so much to do. Where would you begin?

St. Paul: First, I would begin with the things I mentioned before--letting Christ have the central place in my life, and then I would let charity be the navigator of the course. Remember, this is the one virtue that can find the ultimate in life, the complete offering of oneself for Christ.

My time-honored remarks about this virtue can be applied to your work here. It's patient, this charity, when you have problems with the language. But keep plugging, plugging at those sermons and instructions, listening and reading. It's kind, when you want to leave a person who needs help with a well worn line or two, instead of taking the time to understand the problems. [Note: I suspect there's a typo in that last line, but I retyped it as it was from the CSH.]

Charity is not envious of the talents of others--learn from them who have been here longer, who know the problems better, who know the language better, who have sweated longer than you, built churches and opened up schools. Learn from the [ones] who have started a program for the poor, brought back hundreds to practicing religion and helped the whole city. This is evident in your new home of Santa Helena.

Remember the one about being puffed up. You might say that I boasted at times about my sufferings, my Roman citizenship, my religious background, my call and my preaching but I always did it for a purpose other than extolling my own virtues.

I gladly boasted about my weakness too, for the same purpose--to extol Christ. And in the same breath, charity does not pretend to be what it is not. I always knew I was a zero on my own. Just look what I did before my jolt from above. Left to myself, I would always have done the same.

Our Lord put it so well when He answered the rich young man. "Why do you call me good, only Christ is good." But this never let me sit in the corner contemplating how bad I was. On the other hand it made me think of how wonderful Our Lord was to allow us to dive into the ocean of goodness and to saturate ourselves in it in order to magnify the real goodness of God.

To me life was always retreating form what you call phoniness and advancing toward reality. That's what made me bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things for the sake of Christ. Whatever happened to me I made it benefit the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, the life of God with us. If you have this attitude, then the work will follow through.

Be interested all the time, in every place and in every way to show Christ to the people. Like the good householder, use new things and old. I had to be imaginative--dealing with so many different types of people. I couldn't use the same methods with the Corinthians as I did with the Ephesians--different types altogether. Yet, the old proven methods, letter writing and person-to-person contact held me in good stead.

Father. R.: Brilliantly spoken. I certainly admire your talents.

St. Paul: Yes, I know you admire my talents, just a shade below those of John Callison, I believe.

Father R.: You are certainly up on things. You even know that. But with all due respect, you never hit 30 home runs against that tough National League pitching.

St. Paul: Yes, you know, we receive the destructions as well as the prayers. And in regard to that last remark, I never struck out over 100 times a season, either.

I always liked to keep up with things. You never can tell how a knowledge of a thing will help you attract a different segment of people to Christ.

For example, I used my knowledge of the Jewish and Roman law to attract these people. Both admired a man for this knowledge. My ability to work with my hands as a tentmaker attracted the tradesmen. My knowledge of athletics attracted the sports-minded. In a race, all run to win. We race toward God, all of us. We should all have the same attitude--to win that race.

Father R.: I'm worried about a couple of things, a couple of defects I have as a missionary. First, there's all this driving that has to be done over those bad roads and secondly, there's my inability to help the poor as I want.

St. Paul: Your driving ability will improve with time. Until then, and really always, we'll get you where you have to go. I traveled the rough trail myself many times, but always made my destination.

Your real problem is to sustain that love for others that only Christ can instill in our hearts, that strong, manly, forceful and aggressive love of others that creates action for Christ.

Ideas on the poor can be summed up like this--help them, coax them, plead with them to help themselves. Restore that dignity of accomplishment to them by allowing them to earn a livelihood for themselves. This means you're going to have to start an ambitious program. People will laugh at you. They'll say it won't work, you don't have the time. It'll work. Pray unceasingly for its accomplishment. Work like a one-armed pizza twirler. Never get discouraged.

Father. R.: There's nothing left to ask. Thanks, St. Paul.

St. Paul: The pleasure was mine, believe me. I really enjoyed spreading the Good News during my tenure on earth. I think I mentioned that in my letter to the Philippians. I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted more--to continue the work or to be with Christ permanently. I can now do both.

Say, I have to be going. I've another appointment with another fellow who has a tougher assignment than you. He's a special kind of missioner--a chaplain in Vietnam.

(This is from the June 15th bulletin. Sorry, I'm late with this message from Fr. Romanowski!)

The Year of St. Paul

Know you not that they run in the race, all run indeed, but one receiveth they prize, so run that you may obtain. And everyone that striveth for the mastery refraineth himself from all things. And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown: but we an incorruptible one.

I therefore so run, not as an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air. But I chastise my body and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps when I have preached to others. I myself shall become a castaway. 1Cor.9:24-27.

What is the point? The difference between an achievement that only exists for a time compared to the eternal reward of heaven. The compromising agenda of the liberals is never going to please God. That is why we have to take every opportunity to grow in holiness. St. Paul refers to the competition with oneself in competing for holiness. His classic statement, "The good I want to do I do not, the evil I want to avoid, that I do," (Romans 7:19) sums up the warfare inside ourselves.

Those in the Church who provide spiritual nourishment must be followed. The basis of all achievement is the Lord--our intimate relationship with Him through his Blessed Mother. Because of original sin this relationship can become cold and mediocre. It's imperative that we maintain a strong spiritual life. Regular confession (every two weeks) is a requesite in today's horrible world. It lays the foundation for a strong spiritual life. Modern, liberal mentality tells us we should not confess that often because we'll become less impressed with ourselves. I hope so! There lies the problem. We have only to be impressed with the Lord. He who conquers himself conquers the world. Notice how often we can resolve to do better. Only when we daily take up our cross do we put that resolution into practice and make progress. One of Bishop Sheen's classic books is "The Priest is Not His Own." That title applies to everyone. Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

In Jesus' Name,
Father Jerome C. Romanowski

This article has little to do, directly, with the campaign, but it definitely reveals the mindset of those Galante and McGrath surround themselves with. Like Ms. vollmer, formerly of LA and then Dallas, of "it's a process, not a program" fame. Liberals love "process," let me tell you. It makes things appear to be in flux rather than a set plan. But I digress.

Funny thing, I wasn't aware that the "social Gospel" was the "one and only Gospel." I just thought the Gospel was the Truth, the message of salvation, the Word of God, the Good News...the Gospel. Bizarre.

Funnier thing, I do consider myself a "liberal" when it comes to social programs and things, yet I don't at all relate to this rhetoric. Making political (ie something secular, worldly, and generally icky) the Sacred Heart of Our Lord is just not my thing. The implication here, to my mind, is that Jesus and St. Benedict were sort of proto-Marxists. They did Marxism better. Ummm...ok? I guess I just don't get it. I think of Our Lord as my Savior, the One who leads us unto all Truth, not a political figure.

Reminds me of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Naples, FL that Bishop Galante wants to model the new "Church of South Jersey" after. They'd love this stuff. (More on St.John the Evangelist parish here.)

Snippet from Fr. Gregorio's article (emphasis mine):

Priests and deacons preaching the social Gospel (i.e., the one and only Gospel) often are accused of siding with one party or one economic school, even failed ones like Marxism. They should reply that Jesus came before Marx, and that Marx inadvertently borrowed from the rule of Benedict and how Benedictine monasteries run: classless society, ownership of the means of production by the proletariat, no private property, etc. However a monk is always free to leave the community while one may not leave communist China.

Beware of the old rubbish being resurrected about the evils of liberalism. Many damn this leftward slant because of its squishy tolerance of sexual hedonism but ignore its thrust to use government to raise the minimal standard of living of the nation's disadvantaged, most of whom by serious analysis are where they are because of an economic system flawed so badly it would break a bleeding heart.

How sad is this? The diocese is rewarding young people who wrote essays talking about how their churches aren't really that important. They are teaching the kids that the house where the Eucharistic Presence of our Lord resides and the Gospel is preached is basically just a building. While our Faith is indeed more than a building, the place where we worship God is important. If our church buildings weren't important, Bishop Galante wouldn't be so anxious to close them all, would he?

By the way, St. Edward's in Pine Hill, mentioned below, is the church that the beautiful Mater Ecclesiae is (was) a mission of. What a shame. Enlisting children in the spread of propaganda is the oldest trick in the book. Those of us raised in the wake of Vatican II should know. I pray that there will be something left of the Catholic faith in South Jersey for these kids and for all of us.

_____________________________________________________

Young Catholic Leader scholarships presented
Published by Star Herald Writer  
Thu, June 12 2008

Brenna Frick of St. Lawrence Regional School, Lindenwold, first place winner of the David  T. Coghlan Young Catholic Leader scholarship, is congratulated by Msgr. William P.Graham, pastor of St. Lawrence Parish, and Kathryn Coghlan.
'The church is much more than a building'

I am a member of St. Edward Parish in Pine Hill. My belief is that the church is one of the most important things in my life. On Sundays, I help my mom sell grocerey certificates after Mass. I believe that all Catholics should attend Mass weekly. One thing that I am realizing, with the possibility of my church closing and being merged with another church, is that the church is much more than a building that we attend every Sunday. The Catholic family is much more than one parish -- it is a community of many different people worldwide sharing one strong belief. The greatest contribution that I can give to my church is to be a supportive part of it and to trust in God.

-- From Brenna Frick's winning essay

Link to Catholic Star Herald article here