Some 44+ priests of the Diocese of Belville have publicly signed and announced a letter calling for the resignation of their bishop. It is beyond sad, it is a disgrace.
This is some unsolicited advice, from a man of no importance to a bishop not his own in dealing with a matter he can’t be bothered to delve into:
Bishop Braxton give the priests who have signed a document demanding you step down one week to rescind, apologize and reaffirm their filial loyalty to you, their rightful and canonical superior. Failing that they do just that, suspend them.
There is no more to it than that – it is a shameful and embarrassing thing to see this sort of activism by the priests of a diocese against their bishop in this public fashion, and absolutely no good can come of it. Even if they were justified in their complaints against the Bishop (I personally don’t believe they are) this sort of clerical activism and attempt at an “episcopal recall” is beyond foolish and prideful – it is arrogant and destructive.
Irony of ironies, do they really believe that this sort of public insubordination is going to curry favor with Rome? Had they made their case privately through the appropriate channels, that would be one thing. This PR stunt?
Though honestly, I believe these dissidents are the same ones who publicly signed a letter protesting his appointment in 2005! They have been out to get him since day one! Before day one really!
So Bishop Braxton, again, give them a week to publicly recant, and then give them all marching papers. You need disloyal sons about as bad as a dog needs rabies, and only decisive action will send the message as to who is in charge.
If you need help locating replacements for them while getting your vocations program in gear, I can make some recomendations.
They can all be replaced. Fire them.
See also: +Braxton’s “Belleville 46” Identified – Look Familiar?
See also: Are You Kidding Me? SUPPORT BISHOP BRAXTON
See also: Belleville’s 60%???
All of this over $17,100 for vestments?? Seriously, this has been public for many months. So, what prompted this letter by the 44 now? He had already apologized publicly. What else did they want?
See here is the thing, Father – I think that the whole issue of the vestments – which I believe were in the $8K range for 5 clerics all told – is certifiable, Grade A, Midwestern, Corn-fed BS.
This same core group has had their knickers in a twist since +Braxton’s appointment… And have been opposing him at every turn.
This move now and the reasons for it, seem totally based on expedience, nothing more, nothing less. They don’t like him, never have, never will, and have publicly opposed him since before day one.
I would rather have 10 loyal priests riding the circuit and borrow 50 from other diocese and orders than have these dissidents pulling this. Better to just fire them.
We are talking Southern Indiana. Could race be an issue?
Would they be this upset if he had embezzled $300,000 for his boyfriend? No, they would say, “let he who is without sin…”. What if he had diddled a boy? I’m sure they would be very sympathetic. But $17,000 for vestments? Off with his head!
Time to kick ass and clean house. Defrock them all.
The comments over at this post on Insight Scoop have some interesting discussion about the issue.
Thanks David. It seems that the row over the 17k is just a smoke screen.
This is Southern Illinois (not Indiana). And race is NOT the issue, because his predecessor, Archbishop Wilton Gregory–now in Atlanta–was very well loved and respected.
Having grown spent time in the Diocese, and with family still there, these issues have many causal factors. Suffice to say communication and respect has been poor across the board.
I just read through the remarks over at Ignatious Insight… Now more than ever I am of the thinking that the vestment deal is 100% junk.
Belville has some real problems. They need our prayers.
I now live in the Belleville Diocese and I was acquainted with His Excellency when he was the Auxiliary for St. Louis (meaning that I met him about 3 or 4 times.) As far as I know, he is orthodox . I have honestly heard some racial slurs about his predecessor from certain laity but none about him. (Which is quite sad, really.)
I know that many are calling for a house cleaning and “defrocking” of the dissident priests. But when we have priests taking care of 2, 3 and 4 parishes which are 20 miles apart, we can’t afford to lose any more. My mother’s church is run by a Deacon (who has tripled the size of the parish) but has to rely on traveling Fransicans, and Oblates of Mary Immaculate who drive from the St. Louis metro area over an hour to get there to say Mass.
Maybe we should clean house and get rid of the dissident laity who don’t submit to the authority of the Church.
One more thing, those 44 brave priests didn’t sign their names to the letter.
-Maybe we should clean house and get rid of the dissident laity who don’t submit to the authority of the Church.-
Thanks, Dr. Eric. You are spot on.
What about busting them up? Swap four each with eleven different dioceses.
Hmmm Father J – easier said than done… Would the Holy Cross Fathers want them? (hehehe)
Honestly, if I were +B, I would start calling around to some orthodox new orders and bring in gals like the Nashville Dominicans, the Ann Arbor Dominicans, the FSSP is gangbusters and has more priests than assignments… The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Miles Christi, Miles Jesu – invite them all, start making calls.
If these heroic priests who don’t release their names who have had a hair up their nose against +B since before he arrived don’t like it – let them go wash windows.
Essentially the Diocese of Superior under the predacessor of the current bishop was in similarly bad shape staffing wise. The predacessor would NOT ordain deacons “until Rome allows women priests” which as we all know if he lived to rival Methuzalah, there would never be a diaconal ordination. When the new bishop took the reigns within a year, after word got out he went from one seminarian to 22. And more are applying.
So throw the bums on their bums – start fresh. We don’t need dissident priests, we don’t want them.
That’s why I said dioceses ;)
mmm-hmmmm
Here’s my 2 cents:
1. Like Dr. Eric above. I knew Bishop Braxton as an auxillary in St. Louis and now am a parishioner of the Cathedral parish here in Belleville. This is not an issue of racism. Much of the Belleville diocese is in areas with very large black populations (like East St. Louis, IL) or is served by African (not African-American) priests. The previous bishop, Wilton Gregory, was black. Further, if anyone understands what racism is, it is Braxton — when he arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana (his previous diocese), the KKK burned a cross on the front lawn of his residence. While I do not deny racism is alive in parts of the Belleville (especially Belleville proper), the majority of the diocese, and especially the priests, are (largely) not racist.
2. The number of priests AT this conference made up less than half of the DIOCESAN
priests. That’s a very very small number of the priests in the diocese. The National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows is in Belleville, and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who run the shrine serve many parishes. Also, many of the parishes are run by priests from Africa (Kenya/Uganda), India, or Canada, where Braxton has worked extremely hard to get these priests loaned to the diocese. I would assume they do not count towards the total number of priests of the diocese. Also, note the one priest who rebuked the conference was a retired priest — so who knows how many more of the priests at the conference were retired. Therefore, we must consider the number of priests participating in this event to be a small percent of the total serving the Belleville area.
3. The number of priests that belong to the Belleville Diocese is very small, and until Braxton arrived, had their run of the place. Braxton arrived, attempted to enforce traditional Catholic functions of bishops, and has been rebuked. On that same note, since Braxton’s arrival, the number of diocesan seminarians has gone up tremendously. At some point, with Braxton at the helm, these dissident priests can hopefully be replaced, but until then, Braxton must work with what he has. Many parishes already share a priest with 2 or 3 other parishes. Even most of the parishes in Belleville proper share a priest with another parish.
4. As for inviting more conservative groups to the diocese, Braxton is already making a push that direction. The Institute of Christ the King has been invited (and accepted) to say TLM’s in the diocese. If only it was as easy as suggested above to bring conservative groups to a diocese. The FSSP is rapidly growing, but many of its numbers are still in seminary and most of the priests it has are already in action. The Nashville Dominicans (literally) have waiting lists of what dioceses they can go to. These orders are great and rapidly growing, but when you’re the only ones with growing numbers, even you can get stretched thin. I think Braxton’s actions of recruiting (he frequently goes to Kenya for assist with ordinations) priests from overseas will do the diocese well.
5. Finally, my two cents on Bishop Braxton as a person. In St. Louis, I remember him most for his strong pro-life stances (remember, he was bishop in the STL at the same time Cardinal Rigali was there, who is currently in charge of USCCB pro-life activities). He is orthodox to the core and in the mold of so many others who have come through/from St. Louis (Rigali, Burke, Dolan, Finn, Sheridan, Naumann, etc.). The priests had “the good life” before Braxton came. When they accept the fact that he is acting in his proper role as bishop and find their own proper roles of obedience and acceptance, this issue will go away. I look forward to many more years of Bishop Braxton serving the Belleville Diocese.
YoungCatholicSTL:
As one who also has connections to the Belleville Diocese, I’d like to respond to your points:
1. You are correct in your remarks that this is not about racism. Of course it exists in Belleville, but that’s not the issue with Bishop Braxton.
2. Currently, there are 75 active, incardinated priests in the Belleville Diocese. In addition, there are about 12 retired priests who regularly assist at parishes on weekends. Also, there are about 20 non-incardinated priests who are either sacramental ministers or parish administrators. While you are correct in that the number of priests at the meeting (37) is less than half of the presbyterate, a total of 45 have signed the letter (36 at the meeting, and 9 additional who were unable to attend). Thus, over half of the incardinated priests have given a ‘no-confidence’ vote. Any way you look at it, that’s no “small” number.
3. I’m not sure what you mean by a “very small” number of priests, but it’s true that there are not enough to staff all 118 parishes in the Diocese. (Of these, about 20 of them have not had a resident pastor in many years, and have been “missions” of other larger nearby parishes.) I’m also puzzled by your assertion that the number of seminarians has gone up “tremendously”. Since Bishop Braxton’s arrival, four men have entered the seminary. Only one of them is a native of the diocese. The other three are from Africa.
4. It is true that Bishop Braxton arranged with the Institute of Christ the King to celebrate TLM in Cahokia. However, the bishop himself is no great fan of TLM. I doubt very much that you’ll ever witness him presiding at one.
5. Again, I’m puzzled by your definition of “the good life” with regard to the priests prior to Bishop Braxton’s arrival. Have you visited his home since it was renovated prior to his installation? (I have.) Trust me, there is not a rectory in the Diocese that comes close to its opulence. As far as Bishop Braxton being “orthodox to the core”, I suggest you do a little research and see what some of the traditionalist folks in Lake Charles had to say about him. He may be a stickler for the “red print” in the books, but he’s anything but orthodox.
Bellevillian:
“Currently, there are 75 active, incardinated priests in the Belleville Diocese. In addition, there are about 12 retired priests who regularly assist at parishes on weekends. Also, there are about 20 non-incardinated priests who are either sacramental ministers or parish administrators. While you are correct in that the number of priests at the meeting (37) is less than half of the presbyterate, a total of 45 have signed the letter (36 at the meeting, and 9 additional who were unable to attend). Thus, over half of the incardinated priests have given a ‘no-confidence’ vote. Any way you look at it, that’s no “small” number.”
By your numbers and my math… 75 + 12 + 20 = 107 priests with faculties in the diocese… it seems incumbant upon anyone who wants to come up with the designation “half” for 44 out of 107 must always (in a politcally correct fashion) discount or dismiss the 20-some borrowed priests many coming from Africa…
Again, I’m puzzled by your definition of “the good life” with regard to the priests prior to Bishop Braxton’s arrival. Have you visited his home since it was renovated prior to his installation? (I have.) Trust me, there is not a rectory in the Diocese that comes close to its opulence.
I am sorry, what made you believe that the reference to “the good life” especially in the context yoused by YCSTL was a reference to parochial residential oppulence? It clearly wasn’t – so except to sidewind and insinuate a complaint about the episcopal residence, it doesn’t seem to be a rock worth throwing in this discussion…
As far as Bishop Braxton being “orthodox to the core”, I suggest you do a little research and see what some of the traditionalist folks in Lake Charles had to say about him. He may be a stickler for the “red print” in the books, but he’s anything but orthodox.
So by virtue of the fact we could find disaffected traditionalists in his previous episcopal assignments, his orthodoxy is in question? Am I understanding this right?
I am curious, is the standard they use for questioning his orthodoxy your standard as well? The standard of dissident priests speaking out against their bishop in the media? Are they per chance upset or annoyed that he formerly did not grant wider lattidude to the TLM community? (That issue of course being irrelevent and in any case superceded by Summorum Pontificum…) Is the Lake Charles standard what has had this group of priest in knots since way back 36 months ago when they were campaigning and scheming against this appointment before the bishop was even enthroned?
I would welcome hearing more, but so far, I am sticking to my guns on this one.
This is not about orthodoxy. I have read about this bishop and was concerned myself about his orthodoxy.
This is about obedience. If priests had rebelled in this extremely unseemly fashion against Cardinal Mahoney I would have reacted the same. There are better (and braver) ways to make your discontent known to your bishop. In the end, if he disagrees, you suck it up and tough it out.
Well, what would you say if the man you all love to hate (Mahoney) had appropriated funds collected for the Society for the Propagation of the Faith to spend as his own personal kitty, say for vestments and furniture? How about when an audit brought it to light and his response was essentially “I’m the Bishop here, and every dime that comes into the coffers is mine to spend as I so desire?” Or maybe when these things came to light, found a donor to bail him out and refused to say who it was, or even that spending those monies was wrong in the first place; what would be your response then?
I daresay you would be calling for HIS resignation, and calling for the “good priests” of Los Angeles to speak out.
What would you say about a bishop who does not even help those parishes without priests find sacramental ministers? He has told those outlying parishes to find their own priests to offer Mass for them, that he just can’t help with the matter. They are forced to beg on their own for someone to offer them the sacraments which are their due as Catholics. He will not change the priestly assignment system to allow for ‘circuit riders” so that those parishes have some hope of stability. These struggling rural parishes don’t have a large staff to manage the logistics of such a problem….just volunteer parish councils. He might be ‘orthodox,’ but he’s hardly pastoral in that regard. Isn’t the bishop the pastor of all the souls in a diocese? How can he justify leaving part of his flock abandoned? These people in the pews aren’t asking for a resident priest; they understand the ‘numbers’ problem. They are asking for help from their pastor, and are being told that he can’t be bothered.
“I daresay you would be calling for HIS resignation, and calling for the “good priests” of Los Angeles to speak out.”
Mona, ++Mahoney would not need to do that – he has done plenty enough already that if I were going to start calling for priests to protest and publicly decry and call for his ouster the way the Belville 44 are… Well, I would have started to call for just that years ago. For a good while now, I have resisted the urge to do JUST THAT every time Mahoney Fest, er, the Religious Education Conference takes place.
As it stands, I have not.
The case of +Braxton’s orthodoxy – even his pastoral style – is tangential to my distaste with presbyters who wage public revolt against their ordinary. The American Church needs that scandal like we need a box full of dead mice. Very simply, we don’t.
As a priest I would have to agree with Rob and SS in that to me it is unfathomable to publicly denounce my bishop for any reason–and I am a religious, not diocesan clergy so am a step removed. But we all vow “respect and obedience to the bishop and his successors.” They have violated both the respect and the obedience due him. If they needed to go over his head, it needed to be done in private, not public. What they have done is far more shameful than 17k of expenditure on vestments which are now part of the patrimony of the diocese.
Mona, you may not understand the proper relationship between a priest and his bishop. But what they have done is under no circumstances ever excusable.
Regarding relative residential opulance, I have lived in was once probably one of the worst rectories in my diocese for 4 years serving two poor parishes in a bad part of town. Guess what? It would not occur to me in a million years to begrudge my bishop of his residence or anything else. To look at the world that way is to forget the Gospel. To live in jealousy and to covet or begrudge is just wrong.
SS — Thanks for defending my positions for me! You saved me 20 minutes of work!
eh – only took me about 8. You should send me in to do all your heavy lifting… I work cheap!
Throw a couple Heinekens at him and he’s yours all day!
Well from a lay member’s perspective and from someone that truly believes that the future of our church lies in the hands of the youth; I am very concerned for the future of the Diocese of Belleville with Bishop Braxton at the helm. I am proud of our priests for taking a stand on what they feel as inappropriate behavior by the Bishop. Without checks and balances in place many leaders of our church would run amuck. I also find it quite interesting that when the misappropriations were identified by the Diocesan CFO his contract was not renewed by the Bishop. I have had many encounters with the Bishop at youth conferences and confirmation retreats and he is no Bishop Gregory. We as a Catholic Church are already losing many of our members due to the abuses that have been so publicized of late. His actions are not helping our cause in the least. Bishop Braxton is not only disliked by the majority of the priests, these same feelings are shared by many of the parishioners. He is very hard to approach; he speaks AT people instead of TO people and can not communicate with the youth of our Diocese. Many of the conversations regarding the Bishop in the parish I belong to are very negative. I am, and have always been, one of those people to give a person the benefit of the doubt but it is very evident that Bishop Braxton is not what we need in southern Illinois. However, I do not think he should retire because he is a very intelligent man and obviously has the ability and potential to teach theology to seminarians or perform some type of role at the Vatican.
Just the 2 cents of a humble servant to our God!
Bellevillian,
Except for about 6 years total, I have lived in the Belleville Diocese. I have seen all the “wreckovated” churches. I’ve seen the Rock N Roll “Youth Masses” at the Belleville Cathedral in the late ’90s when Abp. Gregory was bishop. I’ve been to many Novenas at Our Lady of the Snows and attended Daily Mass there. I know that there are not enough priests to go around and the priests we do have are stretched thin, many of them really do say 4 Masses per day at 3 different churches in 3 different towns or villages. There is extreme diversity in the diocese, in the fact that on every block in Belleville (pop 50,000+ not counting suburbs) there is a Catholic Church, yet in Carbondale (pop 50,000+ not counting suburbs) there is only one Church and there is Mass at the Newman Center at SIU-C. If there aren’t enough priests to go around that is hardly His Excellency’s fault.
I know that there are very unorthodox priests and that there are good orthodox priests. My former priest, who is responsible for the salvation of my soul (indirectly,) taught us the very Truth of the Catholic Faith. He saved all his money from his vairous Chaplaincies, had no heat and no air conditioning, and with that money he was able to give our little area a new church (ours was a tavern that was retrofitted) after he died. For the record, Msgr. Jerome (who married my wife and me) has been saying the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Mass for decades. So that has always been here in So. Illinois.
Youth Minister,
If you feel His Excellency speaks AT people (in my recollection he spoke to me not at me in my various meetings) then maybe you should take a course in communication. I did and it has helped me deal with all types of people. Remember, “perception is projection.”
And, as far as the “Youth” are concerned. This cranky ol’ 32 year-old would appreciate less pandering to them. I didn’t like the “Youth Masses” when I was a teen and a 20 something and as I get more set in my ways I have come to become less and less tolerant of them. St. Dominic Savio didn’t go to a “Youth Mass” nor did St. John Berchmanns. St. Maria Goretti didn’t sway and hold hands across the aisle during the Our Father and neither did St. Aloysius Gonzaga. It’s high time Catholics start acting like Catholics and less like Protestants. Besides, they do it better than we do. But we have Our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist and they don’t. Why don’t we show and tell our Youth about that instead of filling their emotions with bad rock n roll “Praise and Worship Music.”
Dr.
I have taken many communications classes. My profession requires that I be able to communicate on many different levels. Sometimes communications have to be “dumbed down” so people can receive the message sent. When speaking to a crowd it is rcommended that the speaker communicate at an 8th grade level because not everyone has the ability to comprehend at a higher level. From a one on one perspective I understand at an acedemic level what he speaks of, but again when you are speaking to the masses you have to speak TO the masses.
As far as your comment about the youth. It is very disheartening to read your comments. Pope John Paul was a catalyst in bringing the mass to the youth. He understood the importance of the youth for OUR future and wanted to make sure that they understood what it meant to be Catholic. I am not a cradle Catholic, I was Baptized and confirmed in 1999, so my view is not clouded with the “old ways” of the Catholic church. The intolerance for our youth will be the death of our church. It is sad to hear that you are only 32 and are already old. I am 37 and got involved with Youth Ministry about 6 months into my journey of becoming a better Catholic and the Youth are what keep from leaving. They are more “Catholic” and Christian than most of the “Catholic” adults I know. So I will pray that you will learn to be more tolerant of our youth.
I think we kind of got off of the orignal topic. Sorry!
The Belleville News Democrat has just published a list of all the dissident priests. Here’s the link: http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/283221.html
Youth Minister,
Your mind is not “clouded” by the “old ways” of the Catholic Church? You mean the ways of the apostles? My mind is not clouded by those old ways either: it is illumined.
News flash for ya: Your “ways” have been killing us for forty years. Prepare for counterattack.
many of u have used false numbers, “facts”, and what seems to be outright falsifications to support a “MAN” who is subject to the sin of pride as we all are. i know many of the priests some of which many of you have condemned for their stand on this issue. some of them i have known all of my life. i am closely related to two of them. believe me they would not take the positions they have lightly. i have worked and yes poured my sweat and blood into improving racial harmony in this diocese and am personally insulted by the smear tactics of implied racism in some of the above statements. if the Bishop will not work on his own “house” he needs to see the light!
“many of u have used false numbers, “facts”, and what seems to be outright falsifications to support a “MAN” who is subject to the sin of pride as we all are.
“
Firstly I would like you to demonstrate what false numbers have been used. I have no idea why “facts” is in quotes. I am more befuddled still why you capitilize and put the word ‘man’ in quotes in that fashion. Why did you do that?
You claim the numbers are false – give us some refutation.
i know many of the priests some of which many of you have condemned for their stand on this issue. some of them i have known all of my life. i am closely related to two of them. believe me they would not take the positions they have lightly.
This is a non-sequitar. I am not interested (and it is not relevent) what your relationship to any of these priests are. They are not being “condemned for their stand on this issue” (heck, it isn’t really clear WHAT their issue is at times).
What this is now about – what it has ALWAYS been about – is the public act of disobedience and disloyalty. There are ways to reddress situations – including seeking an audience with the papal nuncio or going to Rome. This sort of nonsense – waging a media war – simply will not do. It is undignified and it is against the vows that EVERY priest – including the ones you are related to and the ones you have known for years – take.
i have worked and yes poured my sweat and blood into improving racial harmony in this diocese and am personally insulted by the smear tactics of implied racism in some of the above statements. if the Bishop will not work on his own “house” he needs to see the light!
It is regrettable that you feel personally insulted.
I am trying to understand what you mean with “the Bishop will not work on his own “house” he needs to see the light!”
Action of Priests taking a vote of no-confidence seems to indicate that the words in the Declaration of Independence “….consent of the governed….” are coming into the relationship of Priests to Bishops. If Priests choose not to be governed by a particular Bishop, how does the Bishop continue to govern?
Amen Pete – it isn’t an election and that is not how you “run a recall”.
If they had a leg to stand on, I bet they could have pursued it in the Vatican privately. I suspect it is the case they well know Rome would not be sympathetic to priests that were protesting since the appointment.
The phenomenon of “….consent of the governed….” is, I feel, at the root of today’s intra-church problems. If the clergy do not accept the authority of a Bishop to govern, then a diocese cannot hope to be effective. Rome must begin to realize now that any Bishop appointed to the universal episcopacy must pass two levels of competency. The first level is in securing the appointment. The second level is in the position. Unfortunately, the first level is often much easier to attain than the second. For the short term, I see more of this type of activity. Formal channels through the Vatican are being replaced by informal channels based on direct confrontation or passive resistance.
Wow – I just stumbled on this forum and read through the posts. I am 47 years old and have lived in Belleville all of my life. I am a member of the Cathedral. Someone said – Bishop Braxton is no ABishop Gregory. Thank God he isn’t. I was fond of Gregory until I saw Braxton. In all of the years Gregory was here, he celebrated Mass at Cathedral (his parish) ONLY on – Chrism Mass, Holy Thurs., Good Friday (service), Easter Vigil, night before Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve. There were of course events such as the high school graduation and the Mass for the pregnant women. Bishop Braxton celebrates Mass there whenever he is in town. He is usually there 3 times a month. It is nice to see a Bishop celebrating Mass in his own cathedral.
As far as the $17-18,000 is concerned. Does anyone truly believe he would deliberately take money out of a fund intended for a specific purpose? Especially when he knows he is being watched for anything and everything. I do not know how the accounts are set up, but I believe he most likely took funds out of “account A” instead of “account B.” He knows they are out after him and no one can convince me he deliberately took money out of an account that is earmarked for a specific purpose when he has access to accounts for his needs.
The priest that was at Cathedral until he was moved last summer, has done more damage to the Catholics in this area than anyone I have ever met. I was very fond of Fr. Jim until he started spewing negative remarks about our Bishop from the pulpit during Sunday homilies and putting negative remarks in our bulletin. Cathedral was becoming the “church of Fr. Jim”, instead of the Church of Christ. His charm raptured so many parishioners to the point that they believed anything he said or did. Yes, it was him who caused people to dislike and distrust our Bishop. Now, we are fortunate to have a different Rector at Cathedral who actually preaches the gospel and does not spew hate towards our Bishop. The problem is that so many people will not warm up to him, because he is not their Fr. Jim. There is actually a group of people at Cathedral who signed a petition to the Pope himself, saying they want Fr. Jim back at Cathedral. I explained to several of them that priests are moved all the time, but they feel that Fr. Jim IS the Cathedral. People do not see or understand the disobedience
this pack of 45 is committing against Bishop Braxton.
I could go on and on, but I will spare you.
Those of you who are quick to chalk this up to a simple $17k Vestment purchase or want to presume that the 44 priests who asked for the Bishop’s resignation’s are woefully uninformed. As a leader, it is a responsibility to SERVE the community, not demand the community SERVE you. Details you do not know are how Braxton *I refuse to acknowledge any title construing him of any holy or piousness*, interupted a Confirmation Ceremony and berated a potential Confirmee in front of the congregation becasue the poor child got stage fright and mis answered a few token questions. or how he refused to Confirm a candidate because he selected St. Christopher, as his Confirmation name, a name which I WAS confirmed under. What you have not seen is how he has alienated the parishioner from the parish. More people are not going to the Cathedral for mass because of Braxton, they are going because they have nowhere else to go. He is consolidating parishes left and right. My daughter actually asked to skip her Confirmation till, Braxton was gone. When the leader of the diocese is activle driving the youth away from the church all that is going to remain is the old conservative parishioners…you know…the ones that help turn a blind eye to all the predatory behavior the Catholic church has had to recover from and spend millions of dollars to victims. I don’t want that Church anymore. This is MY parish, not a Priest’s or a Bishops. Maybe a lot more of you parishioners should think about that before you start blindly following a corrupt leader.
“My daughter actually asked to
skip her Confirmation till, Braxton was gone.
I hope you were able to explain to her that the sacrament isn’t about liking or disliking out pal Bishop Braxton. (Here we use the title bishop – as someone with a military e-mail address, I would have thought that respect for the office was part of your background….)
When the leader of the diocese is activle driving the youth away from the church all that is going to remain is the old conservative parishioners…you know…the ones that help turn a blind eye to all the predatory behavior the Catholic church has had to recover from and spend millions of dollars to victims.”
Zip! Bang! Pow! Totally ignoring that it is only the greying elderly priests who are protesting (the JP2 kids are doing no such thing) you are wanting to somehow tie in sex scandals to this? Are you sure you want to do that? Something like 12+ members from the grey panthers’ cohort were sacked or left under cloud of scandal in the past two decades. One wonders, was it at their insisting and behest? That is, if you really want to bring this up.
So I am glad you have ownership and pride in your parish. But being a shareholder – as it were – doesn’t make you chairman of the board. He is the bishop, this isn’t what priests do when they disagree – it is against their vows of obedience to the bishop that ordains them and his successor, and against canon law. All of the anecdotal evidence in all the world about what a meanie Bishop Braxton is simply won’t change that.
Charles, will your daughter remain without the sacraments for 20 years or so? Do you really think His Excellency is going anywhere?
Charles – if your daughter does not want to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation until Bishop Braxton is no longer the Bishop of the Belleville diocese, she needs to realize she is denying the graces of the sacrament. She apparently does not understand the importance of the Sacraments, and perhaps she needs further education on her Catholic faith. Confirming her faith in the Catholic church must not be an important thing for her and if you are trying to say it is because of the Bishop – that doesn’t cut it! Her weak faith cannot be blamed on him. Although I am sure you and those you associate with blame everything on him. I feel sorry for your daughter because of her weak faith.
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I recently attended a First Communion Mass celebrated
by Fr. Clyde Grogan in Ruma,Il. There was no pomp and
circumstance, rules or authoritive aires. It was just
a simple priest telling little children about love and the Gift they were about to recieve. It was one of
the most inspirational ceremonies I have ever witnessed. I wish all priests, especially our new ones,could attend one of Fr. Clyde’s services to see how to relate and inspire people.If all priests and bishops inspired like Fr. Clyde our churches couldn’t hold all the parishioners.
Hobart hotel…
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