The AmChurch train of scandal

Matt C. Abbott
© Matt C. Abbott
October 8, 2014
Reproduced with Permission
Renewamerica

The AmChurch train of scandal keeps rolling - and rolling - and rolling - along. It's been that way for many years, in fact. And it's been making countless "stops" in recent times.

Three of its latest "stops" have been the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and the Archdiocese of New York.

First, Chicago.

Pro-abortion Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, endorsed by Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, "will receive the St. Pius V Parish Community Service Award during the annual Celebrating the Harvest banquet on Saturday, October 25." Click here for the details.

That parish needs an exorcism. Yikes.

Next, Minneapolis.

From Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant.TV (excerpted from the script; click here to view the video or read the script in its entirety):

Last month, long-time parish music and liturgy director Jamie Moore civilly and legally married his longtime homosexual partner, Garrett, at his parents' house with 160 friends in attendance.

So when news got around, someone informed the Archdiocese of [Saint Paul and] Minneapolis.

Archbishop John Nienstedt then had to get involved; Moore and his pastor, Father Bob White,

met with the archbishop, and Moore ended up resigning.

That is when the fun began: the media reports, the recriminations, the liberal Church of Nice spilling out of the pews, the feminized pastor writing a gushy, emotion-filled, aching letter to the parish, Jamie Moore also being allowed to write an equally emotion-filled letter to the parish, as if to get in the last word....

How is it the case in the first place that an active homosexual was the music and liturgy director at the parish for nearly 18 years? Judging from all the media reports and the letters in the bulletin, his homosexuality and relationship with Garret was no mystery.

Father Bob White even says in his letter to the parish: 'The way Jamie came to his decision to marry was consistent with the man I've been proud to call my friend for the last 18 years. It is an honest and open expression of who he is and how he lives his life.'

What else does that mean, other than he knew Jamie was actively homosexual? It is safe to assume that Jamie did not legally marry Garrett after having taken up with him for just a couple of weeks. Every media report says they were longtime partners.

So how did Father Bob White, who has been proud to call Jamie his friend for the past 18 years, not know this? The point is, he did know it and didn't care. In his mind and heart, the Church is wrong.

And this is the bigger point: in parish after parish, all over the country, all over the West, active homosexuals are given free rein in the schools, liturgy offices, music offices, and, in not a few cases, the pulpits as well.

But it's not just active homosexuals; it's lesbian nuns, couples practicing birth control, uninformed, uneducated religious teachers, and so forth.

There is no substantial difference between what went on at St. Victoria's Parish and what goes on every single Sunday in thousands of parishes all over the place. It's just that this case got a lot of press coverage. In parish after parish after parish, people who do not believe the Catholic faith are in charge of the parish....

Sadly, that does indeed appear to be the case.

Lastly - just for now - New York. This is a follow up of sorts to my Sept. 14 column .

First Things contributor Maureen Mullarkey writes (excerpted; click here to read her article in its entirety):

In March, Msgr. Michael Hull was pastor of Guardian Angel and executive director of the Sheen. At the end of April, on Divine Mercy Sunday, he announced from the pulpit that he was leaving his flock to get married. According to a priest familiar with Hull, he and his young bride - formerly an intern at the Sheen - are living now in Venice.

Well, the heart wants what the heart wants. By Woody Allen's reckoning, Hull's sentimental truancy is just another New York story. Less neighborly, however, is the incongruity of his lavish renovation of the fourth floor rectory of Guardian Angel within the last year. The parish is small, hardly prosperous. Yet the renovation was designed by an associate at Richard Perry Architect, an upscale firm that serves deep-pocket clients. A visitor to the rectory called it 'mind-bogglingly beautiful.' Did Hull acquire a taste for living large as Cardinal Egan's protégé? All that can be said is that the renovation raises questions about funding.

Funding of the Sheen Center remains another mystery. Neither the Sheen personnel nor the office of the chancellor, Msgr. Gregory Mustaciuolo, will disclose the cost of the project. How much was covered by private donation? What percentage was Archdiocesan monies? What is the combined cost of the salaries of the senior staff? Will an annual report become available? The chancellor's office, which oversees budgetary matters, refers questions to the communications division. The spokeswoman at that end stonewalls: 'We have no information at this moment.'

How can that be? Surely the chancellor's office has records from Cost+Plus, the cost management firm hired to vet proposals from the chosen team (the award-winning Acheson Doyle Partners, architects, and Harvey Marshall Berling Associates, theatre design and acoustics)? Again: 'We have no information at this moment.'

Ha!

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of New York is reportedly planning to close and/or merge a number of its parishes - except for the "gay-friendly" ones, of course.

Not to mention the widely-reported scandal of homosexual activists being allowed to march in next year's St. Patrick's Day Parade.

God help us all.

Top