Married man ordained a priest for Victoria diocese

By Jeff Graham
The B.C. Catholic
September 24, 2007

Photo: Father Dean Henderson blesses his son Dominic after his ordination at St. Andrew’s Cathedral.

"How can you be a married man and a Catholic priest?" is a question Father Dean Henderson is asked frequently. Father Henderson, ordained this summer by Bishop Richard Gagnon for the Diocese of Victoria, is married to wife Linda and has four children, and is a former Anglican minister.

"It's exceptional," said Father Henderson about being a married priest. "It's complicated, and it's impossible apart from the grace of God and the approval of both the bishop and the Holy Father."

For Father Henderson, complicated has been the best word to describe the process of becoming a married Catholic priest. His application had to go all the way to Rome for evaluation, and in it was a 13-piece dossier of information to demonstrate satisfactory theological and liturgical knowledge, along with a comprehensive psychological assessment.

There are important conditions placed on Father Henderson, the most notable being that he is excluded from "the ordinary care of souls," which he says essentially means that he is "not meant to be a parish pastor."

Instead of being the pastor of a parish, Father Henderson is an assistant at St. Andrew's Cathedral and the Pastoral Care Co-ordinator at Mount St. Mary Hospital. He said those two postings have kept him on his toes so far, and he explained he is "both busier and happier than I can express."

Father Henderson's ordination is just another plot twist in God's plan for his life and the life of his family.

"In 1999, after a lengthy process of thought, prayer, study, and discussion, my family and I were received into full communion with the Catholic Church at Christ the King Parish in Courtenay. What makes my story of ongoing Christian conversion somewhat different from the other candidates and catechumens in RCIA programs throughout the diocese is that I was an ordained Anglican minister in active ministry on Vancouver Island."

The precedent for ordaining married former Anglican ministers goes back to 1980, when Pope John Paul II granted the bishops of the United States approval to ordain married former Anglican ministers who had entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. In 1986 Canadian bishops were given similar permission.

Although he is married, Father Henderson has deep admiration and reverence for priestly celibacy. "I would like to especially acknowledge the diocesan priests whom I join in a unique way," he told his brother priests after his ordination in Victoria. "Thank you for your example of holy self-offering in a society that needs your Christ-like witness of joyful and sacrificial celibate life."

Father Henderson also recognizes the role his wife and children will play in his priestly ministry, and is thankful for the role they played in helping him get to where he is today.

"My own family obviously shares in this exceptional sacrament in a special way," he said. "Without the support of Linda, with whom I share the sacrament of marriage, I would not be here."

And Spain stays busy...

In the Archdiocese of Oviedo, an Asturian pastor has been separated from his parish when it was discovered that he had a woman partner and son. However, the Vicar General, Fr. Juan Antonio Menéndez, was careful to explain to the press that paternity was not the determining factor in the decision. "Por tener un hijo no se aparta a un sacerdote del ministerio sacerdotal. No está bien, pero no es la causa. Sí lo es el mantener una relación estable con una mujer, ya que va contra la promesa del celibato." ("One does not separate a priest from his priestly ministry for having a child. It's not good, but it's not the reason. What is a reason is maintaining a stable relationship with a woman, which goes againt the promise of celibacy.")

So an unstable relationship would be preferable??? It's more acceptable for the child to be brought into an UNSTABLE family situation? Dios guarda!

Anyway, the father has been given time off to reflect on his choices.

Meanwhile, five Mallorcan priests have recently asked for dispensation in the last couple of years -- all but one in order to get married...And, according to sources quoted in the article, "if celibacy were optional, half of all laicizations would not occur."

The Irish ask: "Should priests be allowed marry and raise a family?"

Carlow People
Wednesday September 12 2007

Twenty years ago, the Parish Priest was the backbone of every Catholic parish in Ireland. His position of power made him a figure to be revered and respected.

But the Emerald Isle in the late 20th century had a rapidly changing society, one that would change even further when the foundations of the Catholic Church were shaken by an onslaught of scandal.

Revelations that two darlings of the people, Bishop Eamonn Casey and Fr. Michael Cleary, both had relationships with women and both fathered children furthered damaged the people's faith in the Catholic institution.

This issue of whether priests should adhere to their vows of celibacy was re-ignited last week with the showing of RTE 1's programme, At Home With The Clearys', which showed footage of Fr. Cleary's bizarre home life.

So, should priests adhere to their vows as they're supposed to? Or should they be allowed to marry and raise a family?

Olivia Jenkinson points out that marriage and family life wouldn't take away from a priest's duties to his parishioners.

There are plenty of men out there who have good faith, who could get married and still be a good priest,' she reasons. It's human nature, men are men. Look at the 12 apostles, they were married. Eventually it'll be that women will have to be the priests.'

Eileen O'Leary was upset by RTE's programme about Fr. Michael Cleary. To her, he was a man who wanted everything.'

I was sick looking at that programme,' she told the Carlow People. I think it's awful that he didn't recognise his son, Ross.'

Eighteen-year-old, Thomas Hickey, is of an age where he has only ever seen scandal in the Catholic Church.

The church needs to reform itself to attract the younger people,' he says. if it modernised itself and allowed priests to be married, they'd get a lot more respect.'

The notion of celebacy for Tina Fennelly in the first place isn't natural' and she, too, thinks that marriage could only add to a priest's life.

A priest's job is like any other,' Tina says. A good settled background would only add to it.'

Raymond Mahon is a father himself and he argues that if priests were allowed to marry, the church wouldn't be in the crisis that it's in now about falling numbers of vacations.

If they were allowed to marry, we'd have a lot more priests here in Ireland,' he speculates. The way it is now is that if a priest wants a relationship, then he has to leave the church. That puts a lot of pressure on them.'

Not allowing priests to get married causes more problems than if they were allowed to have sexual relationships, according to Jenny Sheil.

It just creates problems if they don't marry,' Jenny explains. Any trouble in the past, like (sexual) abuse, has stemmed from the current situation where they're not allowed to marry. It's just too old fashioned. A priest should be allowed to have a private life.'

The final word on the subject goes back to Thomas Hickey.

Raising a family is one of the most God-given things in the world to do,' he concludes. I don't see why priests should be denied that.'

The Curia: "We're shocked, shocked..."

(We're not, not...)

Dominicans surprised at Dutch proposal for priestless Masses
By Carol Glatz
9/19/2007
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The general curia of the Dominicans expressed surprise over a booklet published by its order in the Netherlands recommending that laypeople be allowed to celebrate Mass when no ordained priests are available.

In a written statement released by the Vatican Sept. 18, the Dominicans' Rome-based leaders said that, while they "laud the concern of our brothers" over the shortage of priests, they did not believe "the solutions that they have proposed are beneficial to the church nor in harmony with its tradition."

The statement, dated Sept. 4, acknowledged the Dutch Dominicans' concerns about the shortage of vocations to the priesthood and the difficulty in offering the faithful in the Netherlands a wider celebration of the Eucharist.

But while the statement said Dominican leaders shared those same concerns it said they did "not believe that the method they (Dutch Dominicans) have used in disseminating" a booklet to all 1,300 parishes in the Netherlands was an appropriate way to discuss the issue.

An open dialogue about the availability of the Eucharist and the priestly ministry should be carried out through a "careful theological and pastoral reflection with the wider church and the Dominican order," the statement said.

"The booklet published by our Dutch brothers was a surprise to the general curia of the Dominican order," it said.

In late August, the Dominicans in the Netherlands distributed a 38-page booklet, "Church and Ministry," that proposed parishes in need of an ordained priest choose their own person to become the Mass presider. The parish could then present such candidates -- "women or men, homo- or heterosexual, married or single" -- to the local bishop to ask that they be ordained, according to the booklet's summary on the Dutch Dominicans' Web site.

However, basing its recommendation on practices within the early church, the booklet said if the bishop chooses not to ordain the candidate -- for example, because the person cannot meet the requirements of celibacy -- then the elected candidate and the congregation could speak the words of the consecration together.

"What is important is an infectious attitude of faith," the booklet said.

Because of the priest shortage in the Netherlands, some parishes have a Liturgy of the Word and a Communion service with preconsecrated hosts. In some cases, local church officials advise Catholics to drive to a nearby parish that has a priest.

In an interview posted on the Dutch Dominicans' Web site, Dominican Father Harrie Salemans, one of the booklet's authors, said: "The church is organized around priests and finds the priesthood more important than local faith communities. ... This is deadly for local congregations."

The issue of priestly celibacy and the potential role of married priests came up at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist in late 2005. Both synod participants and Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the obligation of celibacy for priests in the Latin rite.

The pope's 2007 apostolic exhortation, "Sacramentum Caritatis" ("The Sacrament of Charity"), and his special November 2006 meeting with top Vatican officials reaffirmed the value of priestly celibacy.

Dutch Dominicans call for laity to celebrate Mass

William Jurgensen

THE DOMINICAN Order in the Netherlands has issued a radical recommendation that lay ministers chosen by their congregations should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no ordained priests are available.

In a booklet posted to all 1,300 parishes in the country, it says that the Church should drop its priest-centred model of the Mass in favour of one built around a community sharing bread and wine in prayer.

"Whether they are women or men, homo- or heterosexual, married or single, makes no difference. What is important is an infectious attitude of faith," said the brochure, which has been approved by the Dutch order's leaders. However, the Dutch bishops' conference promptly said that the booklet appeared to be "in conflict with the faith of the Roman Catholic Church". It said it had no prior knowledge of the project and needed to study the text further before issuing a full reaction.

The 38-page booklet, Kerk en Ambt ("Church and Ministry"), reflects the thinking of the Belgian-born Dominican theologian Fr Edward Schillebeeckx. In 1986 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned Fr Schillebeeckx that his views on the Eucharist and lay ministry were "erroneous" but took no action against him.

The booklet was written by four Dominicans including Fr André Lascaris, a theologian at the Dominican Study Centre for Theology and Society in Nijmegen. Fr Lascaris was involved in peace work for Northern Ireland from 1973 until 1992 and has published numerous articles and books on conflict, violence, forgiveness and reconciliation. The other authors are Fr Jan Nieuwenhuis, retired head of the Dominicus ecumenical centre in Amsterdam, Fr Harrie Salemans, a parish priest in Utrecht, and Fr Ad Willems, retired theology lecturer at Radboud University, Nijmegen.

The booklet says that many Dutch Catholics are frustrated that combining parishes and closing churches is the main response to the challenge of a dwindling clergy. "The Church is organised around priests and actually finds the priesthood more important than local faith communities," said Fr Salemans in an interview posted on the order's Dutch website. "This is deadly for local congregations."

Using the early Church as its model, the booklet said a congregation could choose its own lay minister to lead services. The minister and the congregation would speak the words of consecration together. "Speaking these words is not the exclusive right or power of the priest," the booklet said. "It is the conscious expression of faith by the whole congregation."

The ranks of Dutch Dominicans have thinned along with those of other clergy, and now number only 90 men. Since 2000 around 200 parishes in the Netherlands have been closed due to the lack of priests and the fall in church attendance.

Internet enhances traditional worship

By William Loeffler
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 9, 2007

Can we get an e-men?

Skeptics said that folks would never give out their credit card numbers to buy a pair of shoes on the Internet. Others sneered at the prospect of obtaining a college diploma from an online university.

With those realities as ho-hum as e-mail, could online churches be far behind? Will Catholics eventually confess their sins to a priest via videocam? Will Baptists log on for Sunday services?

Church authorities and some local parishioners say no. But with church attendance among young people declining, some Internet entrepreneurs and evangelists are stepping into the breach.

Many churches now host Web sites where parishioners can find Mass schedules, birth announcements, death notices, inspirational messages, even the "saint of the week." Web sites outside mainstream religions include www.rentapriest.com, which lists 300 married priests across the country who will perform wedding ceremonies for couples who can't be married in the Catholic church.

Then there's www.GodTube.com.

The nondenominational video-sharing site has received nearly 3 million visitors since its official Aug. 8 launch. GodTube.com claims more people visit the site on an average Sunday than attend the largest mega-church in America, televangelist Joel Osteen's 35,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston.

"The church is having difficulty reaching the 20- to 30- (year-old) generation," says founder Chris Wyatt, a former television producer who attends Dallas Theological Seminary. "They've kind of lost touch. They don't respond to direct mail as their parents did. They don't respond to e-mail solicitation. We created GodTube.com to cast a much larger net -- to speak the language, if you will, of the younger generation."

GodTube.com members can participate in video discussions of Christian theology or watch videos of Christian hip-hop. Video testimonials include that of a mother who was reunited with her estranged daughter. Point and click, and you can watch a video sermon from Crossroads Christian Fellowship in New Jersey or view a bible study in Mandarin Chinese.

"It's our hope that we will be holding regular bible study and services in a virtual environment," Wyatt says. "We'll even be having a video confessional."

Ken Barner, associate pastor at Crossroads Ministries/Library Baptist Church, an independent church in Finleyville, Washington County, has uploaded several videos to GodTube.com, including one of a missionary trip to Mexico. His church's Web site, www.crossroadsministries.com, also features links to GodTube.com.

"I believe that the church has to use the current means to communicate to the next generation," Barner says. "The church must choose its children over its traditions. Methods change, but our message doesn't."

The Rev. James Wehner, director of the St. Paul Seminary, understands the appeal of the Internet for those who might want to search outside the boundaries of traditional church teachings.

"They're interested in their belief in God, but they might have difficulty with institutional religion," Wehner says. "People are looking for an alternative way to practice their faith."

The Archdiocese of Pittsburgh has its own Web site that it uses to inform parishioners and spread the word of God. Former Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl used his Sunday morning television show for much the same purpose, Wehner says.

But the Internet is no substitute for the fellowship of church worship, Wehner says. A church is its people, after all.

"The Muslim, the Jew, the Christian -- all believe that God has revealed himself to the community," Wehner says. "To believe in God or worship apart from the community is a deficient approach to faith. Me sitting behind a computer trying to appeal to my desire to know God can be -- at least -- dangerous."

The Rev. Robert Lubic, 41, launched his own Web site, www.thepunkpriest.com, more than two years ago. Now pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Perryopolis, Lubic says he has counseled people via e-mail who click on the "Ask" link of his site. The questions range from matters of sex to church policy regarding tattoos. One 15-year-old correspondent was going to be baptized as a Christian but wanted to know more about the Catholic church. Lubic also has spoken with people via instant message.

"Sometimes there, you get people dealing with very delicate things," Lubic says. "They were happy with the anonymity of being behind the computer screen."

Visitors to his site will hear Christian rock bands, such as The Vandals, which covers the traditional church hymn "Here I Am, Lord."

"People do ask from time to time if they can get a confession over the Internet," Lubic says. "I say, 'No, can't do that,' because ... the church emphasizes the importance of human interaction. Even if you're behind a so-called screen, it's a physical interaction."

Megan Boerio, 21, of Latrobe, will begin her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland. She grew up attending Holy Family Parish and now attends Mass at St. Paul Cathedral.

"I'm not surprised," she says about the creation of GodTube.com. "You can find anything online right now. Half of what you can find online right now you can't trust, either."

She says she can't see genuflecting in front of a computer.

"I think that some people feel that it could be a replacement," Boerio says. "People already go online instead of actually going physically to school."

GodTube's Wyatt, himself a Baptist, says he wants to use GodTube.com to steer people back to the physical church.

"It really is no substitute for the community of church," Wyatt says. "What we're trying to do is reach the young generation using the tools they understand."

And the winner is Amore by 200-17!

This story gets curiouser and curiouser...and, for the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that in the Italian press the jury is still out on whether this Father is the father of his beloved's little boy...For those who speak Italian and want details, Il Gazzetino Online provides a summary timeline of the main developments titled "La Telenovela"...And did we mention that Don Sante has started his own Web site, Chiesa Cattolica Dei Peccatori ?

Rome, Sep. 6, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Italian news agency ANSA is reporting that on September 4, a parish priest who had declared his love for a local woman and is alleged to have fathered her child held a vote to determine whether his parishioners support his intention to remain at the parish in Monterosso, Italy.

While 17 parishioners agreed with the local bishop’s statement that Father Sante Squotti should resign, more than 200 others voted in favor of the embattled clergyman.

Before the vote, Father Squotti announced that he had expelled a parishioner from the church for having exposed his romantic interest. The priest admits to being in love with a woman in a "chaste way," but denies fathering her child. He and the woman, whom he has known for 8 years, are to be engaged in a ceremony this December. According to the priest, "Canon law does not forbid a priest to fall in love or become engaged in a celibate manner. I want to remain in the Church and so I will obey the celibacy rule.”

"I believe falling in love is a fundamental stage in life. A person can't be a good priest or nun or anything else in life unless he has experienced love at least once," he said.

The priest argued in a press conference last month that the Church's celibacy requirement meant that "only the most closed and narrow-minded priests, the least humane ones, get ahead".

That's Amore!

Fr. Sante actually wants to formalize his relationship with Laura on December 2nd at the beginning of Advent, if she agrees, according to other Italian news stories. Blessings to both and to little Pietro too.

Italian priest admits publicly to being in love, but says he still wants to be a priest

The Associated Press
Published: August 28, 2007

ROME: An Italian priest acknowledged on national television Tuesday that he was in love with a woman — renewing in a very public way the Roman Catholic Church's debate over celibacy for priests.

Rev. Sante Sguotti, parish priest in Monterosso, near Padua, said he had not violated church law or his vow of celibacy, and wanted to continue working as a priest. But during a lengthy news conference in his parish church, he professed his love for the woman, and said he wanted to publicly be her boyfriend while remaining chaste.

"I cannot have a child. I cannot get married. But I can fall in love, because the Code of Canon Law doesn't provide for any sanction if you fall in love. And I do what the Code of Canon Law says," Sguotti said.

Sguotti acknowledged that what he was doing was "a bit on the limit" of what Canon Law allows for, but stressed that "I hope not to pass the limit, but to stay within."

The case of Sguotti has again reignited the debate over priestly celibacy, particularly because the woman in question has a young son, who Sguotti said he had helped name. He dodged direct questions about whether he was the boy's father, saying only that he cannot have a child according to church law.

Sguotti urged other priests who are living in intimate relations with women to "come out of the shadows," and said he hoped to meet with Emmanuel Milingo, the renegade Zambian archbishop who was excommunicated last year after marrying a woman and launching a crusade for the Vatican to allow priests to marry.

Padua Bishop Antonio Mattiazzo said he was profoundly saddened by Sguotti's comments, and that he shared the suffering of the faithful as well as Sguotti's parents. "Mercy is a great Christian virtue, but it doesn't remove the need to shine light on the truth," he said in a statement, according to the ANSA news agency.

Men in the Eastern rite of the Catholic church who are married can become priests, and the Vatican has accepted into the priesthood some married Anglican priests who converted to Catholicism.

But the Vatican has constantly refused to relax the celibacy requirement for Latin rite priests. The Vatican reaffirmed that last November, when Pope Benedict XVI convened a summit of clergy who rebuffed Milingo's crusade.

Thunder from Down Under

Two interesting items coming out of Australia this week...

Australian bishop backs reconsideration of celibacy, women's ordination

Canberra, Aug. 23, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Bishop Pat Power, an auxiliary of the Canberra, Australia diocese, has indicated his support for an end to mandatory clerical celibacy, and suggested a new discussion of the possibility of ordaining women.

In a public response to a campaign by Australian Catholic activists to end the celibacy discipline, Bishop Power said that while Vatican leaders are unwilling to reconsider the issue, among "ordinary Catholics" he has found both support and "a sense of urgency" about the need for change.

"Where there is the conviction that the Eucharist is at the heart of Catholic belief and practice, there must be questions asked about disciplinary laws in the Church which have the net effect of denying many Catholics regular access to the Eucharist," the Australian bishop wrote. He said that by limiting priestly ministry to celibate men the Church was in effect restricting access to the Eucharist "because of the scarcity of priests."

Bishop Power went on the praise Australian activists for raising the question of ordination for women. The bishop said that he recognized "the sensitivity to the question at the level of the Vatican," but called for "a more open and thorough examination of the issues around the ordination of women and the whole structure of the priesthood."

Pope John Paul II closed the discussion of women's ordination with his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (doc). Pope John Paul wrote: "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."

The Australian bishop said that he had often suggested changes in Church teaching and discipline regarding the priesthood, but found little support for his proposals. He blamed the problem on the opposition of Vatican officials-- whose attitudes, he said, have produced "a greater encroachment on the life of the local Church" in recent years.

Pope has too much power, says bishop
Linda Morris, Religious Affairs Reporter
Sydney Morning Herald
August 25, 2007

The Sydney bishop who helped write the Catholic Church's sex abuse policy in Australia has urged a fundamental reshaping of the church's power structures, warning papal authority has gone too far and calling for a review of compulsory celibacy for priests and the church's teachings on sex.

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, who retired three years ago and who was once touted as a possible candidate for the job of archbishop of Sydney, says the church has to get more serious about confronting clerical abuse and change must start at the top.

In an explosive critique of the church to be published tomorrow, he has directly criticised both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI for Rome's reluctance to take stronger action to tackle sexual abuse.

The breadth and scope of his stance is extremely unusual in the Catholic Church, where bishops usually observe an oath of silence in retirement.

Bishop Robertson said he did not expect immediate change but wanted to start a robust "conversation" in the church about the need for reform of power structures and sexual ethics.

He also says in his book that he was the victim of an abusive stranger, not a priest, as an adolescent. The experience shaped his response to abuse victims and led to significant disenchantment with the church.

In the book, Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church, Bishop Robinson says papal authority has gone too far, local bishops have been marginalised and the faithful of the church rendered powerless.

John Paul II had left the church to deal with "one of the ugliest stories to emerge from the Catholic Church" without appropriate levels of direction or guidance.

Pope Benedict's failure to even consider a review of priestly celibacy was to "lose credibility even before the discussion has begun".

There was a need for the church to review its commitment to priestly celibacy and its "extreme" teachings on sexual ethics, in which the church treats as a sin sex before marriage between committed couples.

And the attire of bishops and priests needed to be modernised - the bishop's mitre abandoned because of its "bad body language" and the priestly collar replaced in some circumstances with a distinctive tie.

Priests and bishops should be appraised every five or six years, as was normal in every workplace, and parishes would get a say in the priests appointed.

Specifically, Bishop Robinson has called for an elected parliament of bishops to be established, from which properly representative church leaders would elect future popes.

The tradition in the Eastern Catholic Church of appointing patriarchs to lead national churches could be adopted by the Roman Catholic church to remove hierarchical confusion.

But Bishop Robinson's powerful case for reform was likely to be resisted by those with a vested interest in not seeing any radical change within the church, said Father Michael Whelan, the principal of the Aquinas Academy and a founding member of the group Catalyst for Renewal. The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, declined to comment.

There is no 'cure' for priest with child, archbishop says

"Impaired personality constructs"? "Cured"? "Rehabilitated"? I thought the desire to be with a woman and father a child was natural and normal...Am I missing something here? -- RG

8/20/2007
UCANews

MANILA, Philippines (UCAN) – The head of the Philippine church's marriage-appeals court disapproves of priests continuing in the ministry after fathering children and rejects efforts to "cure" these priests instead of "disciplining" them.

According to Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen-Dagupan, head of the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal, a priest who sired a child cannot be rehabilitated. "No matter how you assist this priest, that child remains and he has a natural obligation towards the child."

He stressed that parenting was "not only giving food, shelter or clothing, as people do with pets, but teaching, formation, education" as well. He believes "impaired personality constructs" cannot be "cured."

In Archbishop Cruz's view, bishops who "overlook" or "just forgive" misconduct by their clergy face problems. If one priest is "allowed to misbehave" and continue in the ministry, "there will be more," the prelate warned, expressing concern about tolerance sending a "wrong signal" to seminarians.

In the northern Philippine archdiocese he has led for 16 years, "about 17 priests have left because there's a woman, there's a child or there's a boyfriend," the prelate said Aug. 3 at the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) headquarters in Manila.

The former secretary general of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) spoke with UCA News as Asian bishops prepared for an Aug. 27-Sept. 1 seminar in Thailand on "Caring for Priests - Especially Those in Difficult Situations," sponsored by the FABC Office of Clergy.

"Caring for priests, for me, is seeing to it that my priests live their priestly commitment," he said. Priests who are "fooling around" should "just leave."

His tribunal reviews all decisions of lower church tribunals on cases related to matrimony. In 2000, he opened a section to help dioceses process dispensation cases for priests with children or partners.

Archbishop Cruz, however, said he could "only guess" the total number of priests with children. In the Catholic Directory of the Philippines, the former CBCP president noted, most dioceses list inactive priests who have fathered children among priests "on leave," "with no assignment" and other categories.

The 2006-2007 directory lists six priests as having "left the ministry," five with "no assignment," and two "on renewal." Another 685 are listed as being on leave for studies, on "sabbatical," "abroad" or away with no specified reason. It has 5,834 diocesan priests listed in 85 geographical church jurisdictions and 122 in the military ordinariate.

One priest spoke with UCA News before leaving to serve in a parish in the United States. His bishop disallowed him from saying Mass and administering sacraments upon learning he had children. However, he did not file papers for dispensation.

When he was "reduced" to selling "all sorts of things door to door," he applied for incardination in another diocese. He said the bishop asked him to "break off" relations with his children's mother, set up a system of financial support for his offspring and "re-enter active ministry far" from his family.

He served as "guest priest" in Manila in 2000 and took part-time jobs to earn extra money for his children until his acceptance in the United States. He is not listed in the latest directory.

Archbishop Cruz stressed "most" Philippine priests are "good priests."

Meanwhile, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, chairman of the Episcopal Commission on Clergy, has acknowledged most bishops are "not of the punitive school of thought."

At the Aug. 15 inauguration of John Mary Vianney-Galilee Development and Retreat Center southeast of Manila, he told UCA News: "Thank God the bishops of the Philippines did not advocate the 'one-strike-you're out' policy." Instead, the CBCP "accepted" the position that the church should give "fallen" priests "help" to "repair the man (and) help him repent."

The commission maintains a priest with one child can undergo "curative measures," the cardinal said. "Singular events" may spell a "weakness" that can be treated "pastorally," and which can be healed through "a program that encourages a person to be better rather than just punishing him," he elaborated.

However, he stressed, a priest with more than one child is helped to leave the ministry. Moreover, "the church is very strict about those who have abused, who repeatedly hurt or take advantage of people."

Priest jailed for murdering son

Some stories are just too sad for words...For the record, the boy carried his father's name, Oscar Emmanuel Valle. His mother is María Félix Hernández. Doña María, le queremos expresar nuestro más sincero pésame.

BBC News
8/9/2007

A Catholic priest in Mexico who killed his son so the Church would not know he had broken vows of celibacy has been jailed for 55 years in Mexico City.

Dagoberto Valle Arriaga had confessed in 2005 to killing his son, Oscar.

State prosecutors have not released the boy's age nor any details about his murder, but local media are reporting that he was 16 when he was killed.

Mr Valle, who was a priest in the city of Texcoco, on the outskirts of the capital, was arrested in 2006.

He was accused of kidnapping his son in September 2005 and bringing him to the central state of Guanajuato before murdering him.

The authorities released no details of how the boy was killed, but it appears that his father dumped his body in the outskirts of a city called Acambaro.

Officials said he was afraid the Church would find out about the boy's existence and remove him from the priesthood for breaking his vows of celibacy.

Celibacy is considered obligatory for Roman Catholic priests, although some Church officials have said it is not prescribed doctrine.

Roughly 150,000 men worldwide have left the priesthood to marry. The Church considers them outcasts.

"Life, Love, Joy": Married priest and author Carl Pfeifer passes away

This obituary tells a beautiful love story and answers the question of how these relationships happen, why they are fruitful for both parties, and the trials clerical couples endure. We extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to Janaan on the loss of her husband. For those who want to know more about this couple, there is an excellent in-depth profile on the Talbot School of Theology Web site, from which we shamelessly stole this photo.

Carl J. Pfeifer, 78; Helped Update Catechism Education

By Matt Schudel
Washington Post
Saturday, August 4, 2007; B06



Carl J. Pfeifer, 78, who resigned from the Catholic priesthood to marry his co-author, with whom he wrote a series of influential textbooks on Catholic education, died of Alzheimer's disease July 12 at Stonehill Care Center in Dubuque, Iowa. He lived in Arlington County until last year.

In 1968, Dr. Pfeifer was a Jesuit priest working at Catholic University when he and a Franciscan nun published the first of a series of textbooks for elementary students on Catholic education and catechism. The series, called "Life, Love, Joy," represented a dramatic change in the way Catholic schoolchildren learned about their faith.

Over the next 30 years, Dr. Pfeifer and Janaan Manternach revised their textbooks, wrote widely and traveled across the world to lead seminars on Catholic education. Their books and other classroom materials, published most recently under the title "This Is Our Faith," were used in Catholic schools in all 50 states. They replaced the old Baltimore catechism, a system of learning by rote, with a dynamic storytelling approach drawing on examples from everyday life.

"What Carl and I did, which was seen as a real change, was we introduced life experience to catechetical education," Manternach said yesterday. "If we're going to find God, we're going to find God in life."

After collaborating for 10 years, Manternach and Dr. Pfeifer felt a growing attraction that went beyond their shared work and faith. In their 40s, they went through the formal process of resigning from their religious orders. He had been a member of the Jesuits for 29 years; she had been a nun for 27.

Only then did they go on their first date. They had never so much as held hands before.

"We absolutely were in love with each other, there's no question, before that first date," Manternach said.

They were married Nov. 20, 1976, at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown. Four priests officiated at the ceremony, and the 300 guests gave them a standing ovation, but their decision to marry was not warmly received by all.

One priest wrote a letter branding their actions "evil." Manternach's sister refused to attend the wedding, and a nun who had been a close friend said Manternach was now "dead" to her.

"Before that, I had a community," Manternach said yesterday. "Now, I had a community of one."

With little money and uncertain job prospects, the newly married couple settled in Arlington and returned to their mission of Catholic education. When the archbishop of Baltimore invited Dr. Pfeifer to speak at conference on Catholic liturgy, they knew they had found official acceptance.

Dr. Pfeifer and Manternach revised their "Life, Love, Joy" series, wrote for magazines and published books for teachers. They taught courses on Catholic education and doctrine to seminarians and, from 1967 to 1992, appeared as panelists on the weekly "Bauman Bible Telecasts," a nationally televised college religion course based in Washington.

They answered questions from religion teachers in a monthly newsletter from 1987 to 1998 and collected their columns in a book, "How to Be a Better Catechist." In 1987, they published "People to Remember," a book about inspirational Catholic figures, and they often spoke to groups of teachers, priests and parents.

From 1970 to 1979, Dr. Pfeifer wrote a weekly syndicated column, "Know Your Faith," for the National Catholic News Service. For several years, he wrote a second column, "Photomeditations," linking religious themes with photographs he had taken. He also wrote the "Core Beliefs" and "Did You Know?" columns for FaithWorks magazine from 1998 to 2002.

He "enjoyed audiences," Manternach said. "He liked to address the spirits of people, and their spirits often responded."

Carl Jacob Pfeifer was born June 22, 1929, in St. Louis and lived above his family's bakery, which was across the street from a Catholic church.

He graduated from St. Louis University and received a master's degree in philosophy from the university in 1954. He taught Latin and Greek at his alma mater's Jesuit high school for several years and continued his studies at Georgetown University, Laval University in Quebec City, Austria's Innsbruck University and St. Mary's College in Kansas before becoming an ordained priest in 1961. He received a doctorate in ministry from St. Mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore in 1985.

While teaching a course on the Psalms at Catholic University in the early 1960s, Dr. Pfeifer met Manternach, who had taught in Iowa and Chicago for 11 years. One day after class, she remarked that his classroom style was all wrong.

"Over the weekend, he changed his way of teaching the Psalms," she recalled. "He brought into play poetry; he added music; he brought in photographs he had taken. He used humanizing elements in his class."

Invited to work on a new model of religious training, they became assistant directors of the National Center for the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine at Catholic University and began their lifelong collaboration.

"It was an unexpected path," said Manternach, of Arlington, who survives her husband, along with one of his brothers. "Carl expected to be a professor at St. Louis University and go up the ladder from there. His career path was geared toward being a theology and Scripture professor."

To commemorate the textbook series that brought them together and formed their life's work, Dr. Pfeifer and Manternach had their wedding rings engraved with three words: "Life, Love, Joy."

In Tyrol, parish rallies in support of priest who says he's a dad

Another news item from EUX.TV (8/2/2007) which demonstrates yet again that the laity are way ahead of the Magisterium on this issue. The banner on the right was painted by the parishioners and says "Let our priest stay."

Vienna (dpa) - In Leutasch, a small village in the Austrian alpine province of Tyrol, residents have manned the barricades in support of their Catholic village priest who has outed himself as the father of a three-year-old boy.

The boy's mother is the local parish assistant, Austrian media reported on Thursday.

In last Sunday's sermon, Father Roland Walch, 46, informed his parish that he now faced a choice of between church and family.

Far from being outraged, Walch's parishioners have rallied to his support, putting up posters and signing petitions asking the diocese to let him remain in office. Many voiced their opposition to the Catholic Church's rigid rules on celibacy for priests.

Catholic priests with a secret family are not all that rare in the western Austrian alpine province.

Herman Steidl, a diocese official, told the Austrian Press Agency that he knew of "five or six" priests in the district who were also real-life fathers. In the last 40 years, 25 priests decided to leave the church for that reason.

Being a father in the purely biological sense is not an unsurmountable obstacle for remaining a priest, Steidl said. However, not being celibate is. Ex-priests can still find employment as laypersons or teach religions instruction.

The specific case of Father Walch and his family will have to be decided by the Holy See. A new parish priest was to arrive soon in Leutasch.

A Swiss Jesuit chooses love

This article was originally published in French as "L'Eglise catholique devient une secte" by Patricia Briel in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps on July 25, 2007. Discussion about this case is lighting up the conservative Catholic blogs. English translation provided by Rebel Girl.

It's the geographical proximity that's amusing. Menzingen and Edlibach are two villages in the canton of Zoug, slightly more than one kilometer apart. The first includes the general house of the Catholics who are part of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X. In the second, one finds an important Jesuit spiritual formation center, Lassalle-Haus. Whereas at Menzingen nostalgia for a pre-Vatican II Catholic Church is cultivated, in Edlibach it's only a matter of spirituality and dialogue between religions and cultures.

But the freedom of speech and thought of the Jesuits was not enough to hold Father Lukas Niederberger. This young 43-year old priest, director of the Lasalle Center, has announced that he quit his order on July 7th. The same day as the publication of the motu proprio liberalizing the Latin Mass. A few days later, the Vatican would publish a document affirming that only the Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ. An act which could only have made Lukas Niederberger more comfortable about his decision. Because the Jesuit was tired. Tired of defending a Church ever more folded in upon itself, and which showed worrisome signs of becoming closed in. And then, he fell in love. He could no longer respect the celibacy rule for priests and he didn't want to live a double life. So he preferred to leave.

"I was a happy Jesuit", he said right away in a calm tone that would last throughout our meeting. "I have never been disappointed in the Company. It has always been a place where one can think, speak and act very freely within the Church." Lukas Niederberger entered the order of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1985 at age 20. He had dreamed of becoming a film-maker, diplomat or journalist. But a brief retreat at Lassalle-Haus with his graduating class changed his mind. "They talked to us about the Jesuits and their involvement in the world. I wanted to become one of them." Novitiate in the Austrian Tyrol region, theological studies in Paris, Philosophy in Munich. Travelling, meeting other cultures and other religions."I was influenced by the theology of Hans Küng, especially in the area of interfaith dialogue, " Lukas Niederberger said. A dangerous area that regularly earns those who venture into it the wrath of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Under the reign of Joseph Ratzinger, several Jesuits were severely reprimanded. If he were to write a book about interfaith dialogue, Lukas Niederberger would certainly also be condemned. He doesn't see Christianity as a superior religion to others. "I like the image that the Baha'i have of other religions. For them, each religion forms a chapter in a book. And each chapter has its value. Therefore it makes no sense to say that one chapter is better than another. Each one is necessary for the cohesion of the whole book. For me, religious pluralism in the world is part of God's plan. It's His will."

Lukas Niederberger has directed the Lassalle Center for twelve years. He must give up his position but he will stay on as administrator for a few months, the time needed for a successor to take over and for the ex-Jesuit to find work. He hopes that it will be in the social or humanitarian field. His decision has been ripening for a long time. "For several years I have been asking myself what I want to do with the second half of my life. But there has been almost no sign of opening in the Catholic Church for the last twenty years," he says."John Paul II has made it into a monolith that tolerates no diversity. And I don't see any hope of change with the present pope, nor in the future. Progressive Catholics are generally over 65 years old. And the next generation is that of John Paul II. The young priests are very clerical and not at all critical of the hierarchy."

And worse: according to the ex-Jesuit, the Catholic church no longer responds to the spiritual needs of men and women of this age. "It's tragic", he says. "The Church has a message to transmit but it no longer knows how to speak to contemporary people, especially in Western Europe. I received about 400 reactions of support when my decision was announced. Many Catholics who wrote to me can no longer identify with the institution." By wanting too much to reinforce the identity of the Church in a traditional sense, the pope is risking making moderate Catholics flee. "One can ask oneself if a Church that turns so much in on itself is not losing its Christian identity," Lukas Niederberger adds. "I'm not saying that the Church should follow the latest trends. But by its inability to adapt to the modern world and take into account the demands being made of it, it becomes a sect. It seems content with the fact that only a minority follow its program. The Church has marginalized itself in society; it no longer has an impact on public life."

Lukas Niederberger fell in love at the right moment. He admits that his meeting a woman helped him make his decision. "We have known each other for a year, and I didn't want to hide my relationship. That would be hurtful for my companion, and there would be no prospect for our relationship as a couple. I don't have any choice, I have to leave. Celibacy is difficult to live out in an order like the Jesuits. We live in the world like laypeople, and that creates constant tensions."

The order of Saint Ignatius is losing an important member. Lukas Niederberger was one of the four Jesuits who advised the Swiss Provincial, Albert Longchamp. A voice that was respected and listened to.

No-no in Ohio

I found this article interesting because it touches on an issue which we have not previously raised on this blog -- the legal implications of priests getting involved with consenting adult women. The laws alluded to at the end of the article are state fiduciary duty laws that have been interpreted to include members of the clergy. Peggy Warren of Educating to End Abuse, who raises this issue, lists a number of such cases on her Web site.

Bishop Blair knew of priest's sexual sin
He would not violate confessional seal
By David Yonke,
Toledo Blade,
July 25, 2007

In a meeting earlier this month with members of St. Rose Parish, Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo did not acknowledge awareness of their new pastor's sexual sins because doing so would violate the confessional's holy seal, a diocesan spokesman said last night.

"He knew about it, but he treated it as you would treat a sin in a confessional manner," said Sally Oberski, director of communications for the Toledo Catholic Diocese. "We don't publish people's sins."

Catholic canon law forbids clerics from disclosing anything told to them during confession, with violations punishable by excommunication.

The Rev. David Nuss, 41, told the bishop in January that he had been involved in a "consensual but inappropriate relationship the previous fall with a woman his age outside the diocese of Toledo," according to a statement released Sunday by the diocese.

In April, Bishop Blair announced he was appointing Father Nuss pastor of St. Rose effective July 2, succeeding the Rev. Thomas Leyland, who was retiring July 1.

Father Leyland in May appealed to the Vatican, saying he was being forced to retire against his will for criticizing the bishop. More than 1,500 people signed a petition asking Bishop Blair to change his mind and keep Father Leyland at the 8,100-member Perrysburg parish.


Then on July 2, three parishioners and Father Leyland met with Bishop Blair and expressed "concern" about allegations circulating that Father Nuss had been involved in a sexual affair with a woman.

The bishop acted as though he had never heard such charges against Father Nuss, according to Joan Foster and James Schaller II, two of the parishioners at the meeting.

Mrs. Foster said the bishop "played dumb" about the allegations, and Mr. Schaller said Bishop Blair responded with "a funny choice of words" that seemed to sidestep the real issues.

Three days later, Bishop Blair issued a statement saying Father Nuss "has decided not to accept that pastorate … for personal reasons."

The diocese issued its statement on Sunday about the priest's "inappropriate relationship" because "we felt it was the best time to put the truth out there," Ms. Oberski said last night.

She said Father Nuss' relationship with the anonymous woman, reported to be 37 years old, "didn't violate the charter," referring to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by U.S. bishops in Dallas in 2002.

"It cannot be equated with any form of clergy sexual abuse of a minor," Ms. Oberski said.

Sexual relationships, however, violate the priest's vow of celibacy as well as diocesan guidelines, titled "Diocese of Toledo: Code of Pastoral Conduct," which state in Chapter 4, Paragraph 1, that "clergy, religious, staff, and volunteers who are vowed or committed to a celibate lifestyle are called to be examples of celibate chastity in all relationships at all times."

Ms. Oberski acknowledged that Father Nuss' "actions were not along the lines of 4.1."

A native of Adrian, who served as the diocese's director of vocations from 2002 until earlier this year, Father Nuss is currently on sabbatical and was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Unlike the Dallas Charter's "zero tolerance" rules for sexual abuse of minors, bishops are given discretion in dealing with priests who violate their vow of celibacy when it involves a consenting adult.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of communications for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the first step toward restoration for a priest in such a situation is to seek forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation.

The bishop will then decide if counseling or other steps are necessary, and where and when the cleric can serve again, she said.

"It's a serious failing. The bishop has to look at it and decide what the appropriate thing to do is," Sister Mary Ann said.

Although sexual relations between a priest and an adult is not a crime in Michigan or Ohio, it is illegal in nine states, according to Peggy Warren, founder of an advocacy group called Educating To End Abuse.

Mrs. Warren, of Wichita, Kan., said priests hold positions of trust and authority in society, and she wants more states to enact laws making it a crime for a Catholic priest or other clerics to have sex with a church member.

"As Catholics, we hold these men of God on pedestals and we lay people can never be on the same playing field as a celibate, called by God, Roman Catholic priest," she said.

Mrs. Warren said the same laws that criminalize sex between counselor and patient, or teacher and student, should apply to priests and lay Catholics.

"There is automatic trust; the trust doesn't have to be earned," Mrs. Warren said. "The minute you walk into a church, walk into a doctor's office, or walk into a schoolroom, you trust that minister, doctor, teacher."

An attorney who is a friend of the woman involved with Father Nuss wrote an e-mail to the bishop stating that the relationship began shortly after Father Nuss had presided at the funeral of the woman's husband in April, 2006.

"Her emotional state, to say the least, was extremely weak and fragile," the friend stated in the e-mail. "From approximately the date of the funeral through mid-February, Father David Nuss decided that it would be in his best interest to sexually exploit my girlfriend, over and over again with her."

"It's an unequal relationship. It's an abuse of power," said John Moynihan, spokesman for the Boston-based Voice of the Faithful.

"Obviously, it's a violation of the vow of celibacy. If the relationship started after he presided at her husband's funeral, this is just the pattern you've seen in the church abuse crisis. Who does these things? Those who have power," Mr. Moynihan said.

Priests Wedded to Their Humanity

In Des Prêtres Épousent Leur Humanité: 24 témoignages de prêtres mariés (L'Harmattan, March 2007), author Philippe Brand has collected the testimonies of 24 married priests about their journeys. Fr. Brand, a married Catholic priest himself, was ordained in 1966. He served in Annemasse and Thonon — two communities in Haute-Savoie, France — from 1966 until 1972 when he left the priesthood to get married. He has two children and is now retired.

Fr. Brand granted an interview to Jérome Anciberro at Témoignage Chrétien magazine and we have translated it into English.

According to your book, there's a typical journey for a married priest, isn't there?

I stuck to one generation, mine, which has retired forever. The experiences lived by the twenty-six [sic] laicized priests whom I interviewed are different, of course. But most were very touched, even before the Second Vatican Council, by this idea that one could no longer proclaim the Gospel to people without being near them. One had to share their lives as fully as possible, in the community, in the workplace, in the way of life. One of my witnesses was particularly challenged by his unionized colleagues who told him that his commitment was less risky because he didn't have a wife or children. It seemed to us that by wanting to be a man apart [from the world] the priest remained on the margins. From the 1970s onward, things changed. The hierarchy has especially been sensitive to the risks of this presence in the world.

What risks?

Mainly that of losing focus by melting into the currents of thought that have gotten away from the Church or are perceived to be hostile to it, for example communism...

Isn't that what did happen occasionally?

I don't think so. Faithfulness to the original priestly vocation remained intact for the vast majority of those who testified in my book. It is the Gospel that pushed and pushes us to become involved in the world. Most of us have remained very socially, and even politically, active. We detached ourselves from the Church that dictates behavior, but we certainly did not detach from the spirit of the Gospel.

Is the issue of celibacy the determining factor in the choice to leave the priesthood?

Not always, obviously. But of course there are priests who left because they met a woman with whom they wanted to live or because they could no longer bear to be alone. Others never really believed in celibacy in any case and some even became priests while telling themselves that the post-Conciliar Church would allow them to marry. But relatively few lived life as a couple while serving as priests, even though that existed and continues to, as the example of Léon Laclau shows.

Are there numbers that allow us to measure these phenomena?

We are no longer seeing the massive departures that we saw from 1960 to 1970, but it is very difficult to get relevant numbers. The Church's statistics only take into account laicization, an imprecise legal category for this subject, since most married priests have not sought laicization. Officially, it comes down to individual issues. There is not a collective view of the problem. In the end, this has been fairly comfortable for the institution.

Aren't there organizations of married priests?

Yes, but they often remain local. The only organization that has greater coverage is the Association pour une retraite convenable (APRC) which has a specific goal — the retirement security of former religious personnel, including priests. Because the Church, in spite of a few recent legal victories, has still not accepted the principle that its religious personnel have a right to pensions pro-rated according to the number of years worked, regardless of future of the person involved...There are also groups for the [female] companions of priests such as the Plein Jour association.

What do you think about the Catholic Magisterium's justification for mandatory celibacy for priests?

It's an issue to which the institution gives way too much importance. Some priests come to consider celibacy to be a sort of performance. Then it becomes serious...Perhaps it's a remnant from the Counter-Reformation of the 17th century. One had to differentiate from the Protestants. There are plenty of absurd things in the Catholic Church that can be explained like that...

Commentary: Catholic Church needs change to cope with decline

by Molly Metzig
Oshkosh Northwestern
July 19, 2007

A few weeks ago my grandfather came to visit from Chicago. We got to talking about my freshman year of college, and it didn’t take long for him to ask me if I had gone to church while I was there. After debating whether to respond with a casual “yeah, once in a while,” or get into what I knew from experience would be a futile debate, I just said “no.”

He then told me with great sincerity about how much his religion enhanced his life, and posed another question: “When this life is over and God asks you why you never went to Mass, what are you going to say?”

No one had ever asked me this before, and I had a hard time coming up with a response. Not only did the question presuppose the very existence of a Judgment Day, but I doubted my old-school Catholic grandpa would understand my feelings of alienation. So I feigned guilt, indicated that I would make more of an effort to attend church next year, and quickly changed the subject.

I went to Mass the following Sunday. My reason for going had less to do with my grandpa and more to do with the consolidation of Oshkosh’s six parishes into two.

I’ve been wary of this consolidation plan from the start. With church attendance dwindling and a generation of priests looking to retire with no one to take their places, I think it’s time for the Church to look for a solution more permanent than consolidation.

It’s neither a surprise nor a coincidence that those Christian denominations which allow for married pastors are not suffering the kind of clergy shortage that the Catholic Church currently faces. And while Americans generally practice Western Rite Catholicism, Eastern Rite priests are permitted to marry if they so choose.

Does this make Eastern Rite priests any less effective than their celibate Western Rite counterparts? Doubtful.

Ordaining female priests is another option, though probably less favorable as church authorities hold fast to the notion of male superiority. Last summer, Philadelphia archbishop Justin Rigali dubbed eight women “a threat to church unity” for attempting to participate in a priest ordination ceremony. While such a misogynist attitude might appeal to the more orthodox set, it estranges women as well as liberal Catholics — something the Church really can’t afford to do at this point.

In my mind, a religious leader is a spiritual teacher. And from my experience, good teachers recognize when it’s appropriate to steer away from the curriculum. It follows that the most effective priests are not the ones that stick hardest to the doctrine, but those who are personable, and open-minded while upholding their basic values of their faith: love, hope, humility, and charity.

But I guess the qualifications for clergy are strict for a reason. If the priesthood was not so exclusive, people would question the very need for a middleman.

And when people are spiritually self-sufficient, organized religion loses much of its influence.

The Catholic Church’s influence is waning at a crucial point in history. Global concern for nuclear warfare, economic collapse and international conflict grows, yet church leaders are too busy covering up scandals, subordinating women, and trying to rid the world of homosexuality to guide the faithful through the challenges that lie ahead. Closing down parish buildings doesn’t get to the root of the problem any more than does sending a pedophilic priest to another diocese. The Church has a decision to make: either waive the vow of celibacy, allow the ordination of women, or consolidate — and let the alienation continue indefinitely.

Oshkosh Northwestern Community Columnist Molly Metzig is an Oshkosh native studying journalism at the University of Oregon.

Wanted: More Priests

CBS Evening News
July 17, 2007

Hers may be the new face of the Catholic Church. Meet Sister Dorothy Pawlus of Pittsburgh.

"When I entered religious life, I didn't really know where God would use me," Pawlus told CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace.

As the first parish life coordinator in Pittsburgh, Pawlus does just about everything a pastor would do — except for administering the sacraments and celebrating Mass.

"This will free up some of the priests to do more of the administrative roles in the diocese or not to have to take on two parishes," Pawlus said.

There were 784 priests in Pittsburgh in 1960. Now there are just 514, and their median age is 61. Nationwide, every year, 1,200 priests retire or die, while only about 450 are ordained to take their place.

What role do experts think the church scandal has played?

"I think we would be naïve to say that the scandals have not played a role," said Monsignor Tom Nydegger, vice rector of Seton Hall's Immaculate Conception Seminary. "I think in the 1960s, we saw dramatic changes in the way people thought, the way people thought about government, about authority, about themselves."

A major challenge for the Church is finding more men like 41-year-old Father Jim Ferry, who left the corporate world and became a priest last year.

"I thought about how I would live a life of service that we're all called to," Ferry said.

The shortage has led to renewed debate about whether the Catholic Church needs to change its ways by removing the celibacy requirement or allowing women to become priests.

"I don't want to be a priest, but I think the people of the parish deserve a pastoral presence," Pawlus said.

A presence that, given the stark numbers, will have to be filled by more non-traditional faces.

Catholic priest in Ark. parish comes with wife, kids

The pastoral provision at work in Arkansas.

KRISTV.com (AP)


FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A fundamental feature of Catholic priesthood is celibacy.


So why does the Rev. Bradley Barber of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Fayetteville have a wife and four children?

Since 1980, priests who converted to Catholicism have been allowed to remain with their families.

"It's a little known thing," Barber says. "It's not blasted and trumpeted around the nation that there are married priests in the Latin rite, but there are. And I'm living proof of it."

Barber and his family are new to the parish. He was on the pastoral staff at a Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, for nine years and before that was an Episcopalian minister.

St. Joseph's church members say they will adjust.

"Catholic churches don't vote. It's not a democracy and we accept whatever appointment is made," says church member Paul Warren. "Now, Father Barber was appointed to be at St. Joe's in Fayetteville, and I think that people are always curious to understand who their next priest is and he came with some things that are new to us, a wife and children."

Barber says that in his first two weeks, he and the congregation have been getting along well.

"People are just glad to have a pastor. They're glad to have somebody who truly wants to be here, and who wants to minister to their needs and serve them," he says.

The parish of roughly 1,200 families had been served by an interim priest since August. Their longtime priest, the Rev. Paul Worm, was removed as pastor for alleged misconduct.

Barber says he doesn't want to be the "poster child" for the married priesthood and wasn't pushing for an end to celibacy for priests.

"I just want to be a faithful Catholic," he says.

His ordination was approved by Pope John Paul II in 1994. The Barbers moved to Fayetteville last month from Corpus Christi. His wife, Jody, is a native of Little Rock and Barber is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he majored in music.

Barber isn't the first married priest in Arkansas. The Rev. Alan Rosenau serves as a chaplain at St. Joseph Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, and is on the staff at St. John the Baptist and St. Mary of the Springs.

Archdiocese facing priest shortage

By Michael Paulson,
Boston Globe
July 15, 2007

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is facing a sharp reduction in the number of active priests over the next several years and will have to dramatically change the way it staffs parishes or face another round of church closings, a committee appointed by Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has declared.

In a 13-page report recently delivered to priests, the committee said that the number of active priests -- those who are not retired or sick -- will drop to 292, from 500, within eight years. That is primarily because nearly 30 percent of the priests now working in parishes are over age 65.

"If no proactive diocesan-wide planning approach, guided by the archbishop [O'Malley], is undertaken, the archdiocese faces a continuing series of parish closings resulting especially from staffing limitations and financial problems," the report says. "It will also face the hurt and anger accompanying such closings."

O'Malley has already closed 62 parishes, starting in 2004, in an effort to address a decline in the number of priests and worshipers and a financial crunch, and many of those closings were controversial; a handful of the closed parishes are still occupied by protesters, and several civil suits and canon law challenges prompted by the closings are pending.

O'Malley's predecessor, Cardinal Bernard F. Law, had closed 42 parishes between 1994 and 2003.

The committee, made up of priests and laypeople, declares in urgent tones that the archdiocese must consider steps already taken by many other dioceses around the country, including greater collaboration between priests in neighboring parishes and a greater use of deacons and lay ministers for pastoral care and business managers for financial matters. And the document sug gests some measures that are sure to be controversial, such as allowing parishes to declare that there will be no funerals on certain days of the week, or allowing parishes to hold Communion services, rather than Masses, because the church's rules do not require a priest for Communion services.

The report encourages O'Malley to embrace a "culture of planning" in the archdiocese, and to get Catholics talking about the implications of the clergy shortage.

The document does not mention two solutions advocated by some liberals, but barred by the Vatican: eliminating the requirement for priest celibacy or allowing the ordination of women.

The report also does not address the possibility that the number of priests ordained under the current rules might increase, either as result of prayer and recruitment, as O'Malley has suggested, or as a result of importing more seminarians and priests from foreign countries.

The document notes that instead of closing parishes, other dioceses facing clergy shortages have assigned pastors to more than one parish.

Others have used lay "pastoral administrators" to oversee parishes, or have attempted some form of "coordinated ministry" in which worship services and other programs are shared by several parishes.

A spokesman for the archdiocese, Terrence C. Donilon , praised the committee but noted that none of its recommendations has been endorsed by O'Malley.

The committee is one of three established by the cardinal to examine challenges facing the archdiocese; the others are examining the state of marriage in the archdiocese, and the transmission of faith.

"The study that has been prepared is merely a draft report with a long-term eye towards the future care of the archdiocese," Donilon said. "Its findings and recommendations are under review. No decisions have been made with regards to the recommendations in this report and none are imminent."

Donilon said the "interest in vocations" in the archdiocese is increasing, but "we know we are faced with dwindling numbers of clergy and we are addressing that."
"We would be acting irresponsibly if we did not take an aggressive -- but thoughtful -- look at the issues before us," Donilon said. "But I want to stress, we are not operating from the same playbook as years past. We are not planning Reconfiguration 2. It is not in the game plan."

A priest who has read the plan said there is no appetite among diocesan priests for another round of church closings, but there is a recognition that the archdiocese must do something to address the dwindling number of clergy.

"The most recent closing experience was one that made people feel as though parishes were being voted off the island -- it was a very sobering experience and it caused so much unrest, it would be crazy to think about that as a solution going forward," said Monsignor Paul V. Garrity , pastor of St. Mary parish in Lynn. "If we adopt that notion that we're going to close parishes because we don't have priests, we ought to just close the whole operation down."

But Garrity also praised the report, saying it calls attention to trends that have been widely known but little discussed.

"This is the first time the archdiocese officially has put down on paper what a lot of people have been talking about for years -- the number of priests has been declining for decades," Garrity said. "Boston is slow to change and recognize the realities, but other parts of the country people have already experienced these things. At some point, we have to say, what do we want to be doing, what are the priorities, and who do we have to do that with?"

Concilium Vaticanum IIum, vale!

This is also not about celibacy but about the dangerously regressive slide our Church seems to be in right now, also characterized by the latest document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which dealt a blow to interdenominational dialogue by reasserting that Christian communities born of the Reformation (i.e. Protestant churches) "do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense." Oh, really??? Statements like this are what inspire people like Nobel laureate and author José Saramago to remark that "Si todos fueran ateos el mundo sería mucho más pacífico." ("If everyone were atheist, the world would be much more peaceful", interview with El Tiempo, 7/10/2007)

By Frank K. Flinn
The Boston Globe
July 10, 2007

Catholics around the world should now have no illusions. Pope Benedict XVI's recent decision to encourage wider use of the traditional Tridentine Mass in Latin is the latest move in his long campaign to undo liberal reforms in church practices popular with Catholics since the 1960s.

The move may well trigger liturgical schisms in dioceses throughout the world.

The form of the Mass was promulgated by Pope Paul V in the Roman Missal in 1570. In this rite the priest stands on an elevated altar, facing away from the people and mumbling the most sacred parts of the liturgy in Latin.

The Tridentine Mass lasted until the new form promulgated in 1969 by Pope Paul VI at Vatican Council II (1962-65). While drawing on some of the most ancient Christian forms of worship, the new Eucharist was translated into local languages. The priest now faced the congregation. Around the world liturgical music expanded to include gospel music, African chants and drumming, Mexican mariachi bands, folk music, and even pop rhythms. Immediately conservative Catholics attacked the new rite, but Paul VI warned that the gospel would be lost to the modern world if it were not addressed to people in their language and their customs.

Criticism continued unabated by a traditionalist minority. In 1988 former French Archbishop Marcel LeFebvre led a small minority of Catholics into schism over what he and his followers labeled the heretical "Mass of Paul VI." The Lefebvrists not only rejected the new liturgy, they rejected key doctrines of Vatican II on ecumenism, religious liberty, and collegiality. Collegiality was the central ecclesiastical concept that shaped Vatican II. The depth of the traditionalists' hatred of Vatican II teachings was and remains astounding.

On the other edge of the church, progressives wanted to advance the openings begun at Vatican II, not only in the liturgy but also in ecumenism, lay involvement, Christian social action (liberation theology, feminism, ecology), and ethical theory (priestly celibacy, birth control). Paul VI started to apply the brakes, but Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, his new prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , went in for a whole new brake job.

They set out to thwart the progressive side of the church. In the 1980s they silenced the liberation theologian Leonardo Boff, removed Swiss Hans Küng and American Charles Curran from their teaching posts, and unscrupulously oversaw the unlawful excommunication of the Indian Tissa Balasuriya. (That act was reversed.) Just this year the pope censured Salvadoran Jesuit liberation theologian Jon Sobrino by using the old Vatican tactic of stringing together quotations out of context.

In contrast, the papacy remained inexplicably lenient toward the schismatic Lefebvrists despite the scorn they continued to heap in the direction of the Vatican itself. Indeed, in the 1980s Cardinal Ratzinger gave them free ammunition. In the preface to a liturgical treatise he accused modern Masses of being faddish "showpieces" and "fabrications." He went on to praise the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Eucharist as exemplars of an "eternal liturgy." One can detect a Eurocentric prejudice in his remarks.

The pope has not been evenhanded in his dealings with the many branches of the Catholic church. He has simply capitulated to the Lefebvrists, who continue to look down contemptuously on average Catholic parishioners who like to worship in their own tongue and see their priest face-to-face. The appeal to an "eternal liturgy" is false. The liturgies of the earliest churches were both multiform and multilingual within the first generation going from Aramaic to Greek and Syriac in short order. The earliest known church, recently excavated at Megiddo in Israel, has the altar not elevated and apart but at the very center of the worshiping community. A true traditionalist would gladly embrace the many languages and cultures of the world as did the early church.

Why do I say farewell to Vatican II? One of the roots of that council was the liturgical movement that preceded it by half a century. The liturgical reformers were convinced that the liturgy was of, by, and for the whole people of God, clergy, and lay alike. The very word liturgia in Greek means "the work of the people." This notion embodies at its fullest the principle of collegiality, the key theological idea that shaped Vatican II. The Tridentine Mass is the work of the priest. By turning back the liturgical clock not to the creative multiplicity of the early Christian communities but to the heyday of the Inquisition and papal monarchism at Trent, Pope Benedict XVI is abandoning the principle of collegiality that embraces all bishops, all priests, all deacons, and all lay people as the worshiping community of the beloved faithful. That says to Vatican II, "Farewell!"

Frank K. Flinn, adjunct professor of religious studies at Washington University in St. Louis, is author of "Encyclopedia of Catholicism."

Does celibacy still serve Catholicism?

By Phyllis Zagano
Religion News Service
Salt Lake Tribune
07/06/2007

Catholic priest pederasty may be on the wane, but it has not stopped. Voice of the Faithful, the Catholic lay group formed in response to the crisis, thinks celibacy is part of the problem. It's gearing up to ask the Vatican to restore an ancient church tradition: married priests.

Church tradition? Well, yes. Married men can be ordained - bear with me for a moment - as Catholic priests and as deacons. Laws have overlaid the tradition, but the early church's determination stands: Married men can be ordained, while ordained men cannot get married. Bishops must be unmarried, but widowers qualify.

The largest cadre of married Catholic priests serve in one of the 22 Eastern Catholic Churches. The next largest group comprises former Protestant and Anglican ministers who have converted - in some cases with their entire parishes - to Catholicism. Since the 1950s, the Vatican has approved priestly ordination for convert ministers, a process regularized by Pope John Paul II for members of the Anglican Communion. There are about 75 former Episcopal - now Catholic - married priests in the United States; more than 600 Anglican priests (about 150 married) have converted in Great Britain. There are even a few married convert priests in Spain.

Catholicism has plenty of good experience with happily married priests, and plenty of bad experience with unhappily celibate priests. Voice of the Faithful is not calling for an end to celibacy, just for a closer look at things.

VOTF President Mary Pat Fox says research supports the common-sense understanding that celibacy "plays a role in the abuse crisis." Fox told The New York Times that celibacy does not cause pederasty, but "it plays a role in creating this culture of secrecy that then caused the bishops to handle the crisis the way they did." The system closes ranks, and celibacy remains the be-all and end-all of priesthood.

Don't get me wrong. Celibacy is fine - for those who are called to it. But married priests are also part of the Catholic tradition.

The U.S. bishops' spokeswoman, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, argues the celibate system will not change: "Don't waste the bishops' time on it - they can't do anything about it. You might as well have a great discussion on what goes on on Mars."

Hello? Let's review. The Catholic Church can ordain married men. Most Eastern Catholic Churches ordain married men as deacons and priests. The Western (Roman) Catholic Church ordains married men as deacons and, with special Vatican permission, as priests. There remains a huge problem with priest pederasty in the U.S., fed by a culture of secrecy and supported by ordained celibate men who just don't get it.

Sometimes some of them really don't get it.

At a public session of the Catholic Theological Society of America in Los Angeles in June, Catholic priest-writer Donald Cozzens argued that zero tolerance for priestly sexual offenses should not apply to an otherwise good priest who was credibly accused of, say, once being a flasher, or of making one pornographic telephone call. I questioned him, and he restated his belief that once-a-flasher should not disqualify a Catholic priest forever.

That is just plain nuts. Would a one-time flasher physician keep his license? How about a teacher? Who else - besides a priest - gets a free pass for one pornographic phone call?

I know there are married oddballs out there, and there have been some sad situations with the married priests we have today. But the predominantly celibate clerical culture is not yet cleansed of concepts that are both silly and dangerous. What father of children would say a flasher can be a priest? What priest's wife would let her husband say it?

Walsh says talking to bishops about celibacy is the same as talking to bishops about life on Mars. I think she may be right. The celibate clerical culture remains in trouble. There are still some clerics out there who are not living on this planet.

* PHYLLIS ZAGANO is senior research associate-in-residence at Hofstra University and author of several books in Catholic studies.

Gay priest leaves parish he loves

This isn't about celibacy but I liked the article for its sane treatment of how gay people can serve in the priesthood.

Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, June 23, 2007


A Catholic parish in Alameda and its priest fell in love with each other over the past six years, but today they'll say goodbye.

Worshipers at St. Joseph Basilica say Father Rich Danyluk knit them together as a community and gave inspired homilies that forced them to look deeper into their lives. Danyluk, known as Father Rich, says he's leaving to get a year of rest after 31 years in the priesthood.

But the 59-year-old cleric says St. Joseph is the place that accepted him wholly, the place where he was forced to grow. It is also where, in 2005, he told the congregation that he is gay.

The revelation did not rock the church. The parish and its leader, the only gay Catholic priest in the Bay Area who is out to his congregation, grew to love each other even more.

Pope Benedict XVI has called homosexuality "objectively disordered," the Vatican issued guidelines almost two years ago saying gay men should not enter the seminary, and Cardinal William Levada, former archbishop of San Francisco, has said that openly gay priests make it difficult for congregations to see clergy as embodying Jesus Christ.

Still, 1,800 families pack into St. Joseph at five Masses every weekend to hear Father Rich.

"He's the most deeply spiritual person I've ever met," said Sue Spiersch, 62, a lifelong Catholic and a member of St. Joseph since 1972. She said Danyluk made a congregation of strangers into friends.

Said parishioner Dana Haering, 40, a lifelong Catholic: "He finds a way to make you feel God's presence -- as my pastor, as my friend. Isn't that what (a) relationship should be?"

Danyluk says he is merely living out the Gospel.

"Being gay in the Catholic Church means, for me, that all my life I was brought up feeling that I was unworthy and didn't belong and very negative things were said from the church," he said in an interview this week. "Hearing that over and over again, you could almost believe it.

"There's a passage in Scripture that God said to Jesus, 'You're my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.' I believe God says that to every male, and he says 'You're my beloved daughter' to every woman. Finally, that sunk into me, that I don't need a priest or a bishop or a pope to tell me who I am. I want everyone else to have that same right."

Gay priests illustrate the Catholic Church's paradoxes on homosexuality, said the Rev. Jim Schexnayder, resource director for the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries.

The church's teaching that homosexual acts are grave sins means that priestly vows of celibacy can be a comfort for gay Catholics seeking to keep the faith. But few gay priests are out, fearing repercussions from superiors or their congregations.

"Homosexuality is a third rail," Schexnayder said. "It tends to be so electric in its effect. It causes a lot of anxiety in some circles. ... It creates this reality that people don't want to face."

For most of his life, Danyluk avoided openly facing his homosexuality. He knew he was gay by about seventh grade. In seminary in the late 1960s, he went to the rooms of fellow seminarians, had his first sexual experiences and pretended that they never happened.

"That's sick. That's using somebody," he says now. "It was the acting out."

Within a few years, he began drinking heavily.

"It gave me a little more freedom to do things that I knew were wrong," he said. "It just numbed the senses."

In the early 1980s, he began seeing a counselor to come to terms with his sexual orientation but returned at times to drinking and illicit sex. He was stopped twice for drunken driving while leading a Southern California parish in the 1990s. After the second arrest, in November 1999, he was sent to a rehab center in Minnesota.

That was a turning point in his life. Before leaving for treatment, he told worshipers at his final service about his alcoholism, apologized and asked for forgiveness and prayers. They gave him a standing ovation.

He said he's abstained from alcohol and has been celibate ever since.

Parishioners say Father Rich's influence at the Alameda church since he arrived in 2001 has been powerful in many small ways.

He greets children on one knee so that little ones can meet him at eye level. He created a team of parishioners to give the homilies one weekend a month. He built relationships among parishioners by instituting a weekly snack and chat time after Mass.

But several church members said his words are the real gems. They are found in his midweek e-mail bulletin, his answering-machine message, unscripted moments and his homilies.

In September 2005, Danyluk was angered by the Vatican's proposed guidelines about gay seminarians. As eventually adopted, they prohibit the acceptance into seminary of "those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "

Danyluk thought it was time to speak up to his parish.

Church hierarchy had decided that the theme that week was about accepting, not rejecting. Father Rich told the story of his aunt.

As she lay dying, she cried and told him she was a lesbian. "I'm so afraid I'm going to hell," she said.

"That's not how God works," he recalled for the congregation. He grabbed the Gospel and held it aloft before the congregation. "This is either the good news for everybody or nobody," he said.

That included all gays and lesbians, he said, including those in attendance, to whom he added: "I'm one of you."

There was no backlash from the bishop of Oakland, the Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron, who Danyluk says supports gay priests. The diocese's top clergy were on a retreat this week and unavailable for comment, a spokeswoman said.

While most parishioners were supportive, Danyluk said two people were upset, including a mother of two children attending the parish's schools who made an appointment to see him.

"I guess you'll be pushing the gay agenda in both schools," she said, but wouldn't tell him what she thought the "gay agenda" was.

"I told her the only agenda I've ever pushed in my life is the gospel of Christ," said Danyluk, who says he has mentioned gays and lesbians only a few times in his homilies. "I said your two children -- I love them, and they love me. I treat them very humanly and very respectfully, unlike what you're doing to me right now."

The woman stayed in the congregation but avoids him when possible, he says.

Other parishioners say Danyluk has transformed their lives.

Haering, 40, said Danyluk visited her and her once-athletic husband every week for many months as multiple sclerosis wasted his body. Before Dave Haering died at age 38 in November 2005, family, friends and Father Rich gathered around him for a blessing.

Danyluk asked them to share what they had learned from Dave.

"Rich has a way of asking just the right question to make you look deeper in yourself than where you knew you could go," Dana Haering said. "My husband was in a coma. He wasn't going to come out of it. And yet what he made us look at was, 'What have we learned?'

"There wasn't a person in the room who didn't realize how blessed we had been to have David in our lives and to have Rich in our lives."

Don't ask, don't tell: Spanish court upholds firing of married priest

This article is a summary (with commentary) in English of a Spanish article in El Pais, June 20, 2007, with additional materials from other news sources. Photo of Fr. Fernandez and his family courtesy of MOCEOP.

A constitutional tribunal in Spain has upheld the 1996 dismissal of a married priest from his position as religion and morals teacher in a Catholic institute in Murcia. The tribunal, which earlier this year also sided with the Church on the dismissal of another teacher for living with a man to whom she was not married, reiterated that it would not intervene in "intra-church" disputes.

This case has some curious aspects, however. First, it highlights the ridiculously long time it takes for the Church to rule on requests for dispensation. Fr. José Antonio Fernández, who was ordained in 1961, requested dispensation from his celibacy vows in 1984. The dispensation was not granted until 1997 -- 13 years later! In the meantime, Fr. Fernández married his wife in a civil ceremony and the couple went on to have five children.

The second REALLY interesting aspect of this case is that although Fr. Fernández had been married since 1985 and without having received a formal dispensation from Rome, his teaching contract was first granted in 1991-92 and renewed until 1996-97 even though his request for dispensation and his marital status were known to the diocese. It was only after a photo of Fr. Fernández and his family appeared in the local newspaper, La Verdad , on 11 November, 1996 in conjunction with an article about MOCEOP -- the optional celibacy movement in which Fr. Fernández is an activist, that the Cartagena Diocese fired Fr. Fernández for his participation in the optional celibacy movement, for making his situation "public and notorious" and "out of respect for the sensibilities of many parents who would be upset." The diocese added that "laicized priests are not permitted to teach classes in Catholic religion and morals except in very rare cases."

Oh, puhleeze... This case is not about whether a married priest is fit to teach Catholic high school students about morals. It's very much about the freedom of speech and association of people who work for Catholic institutions and the Church's desire not to be embarrassed by its employees publicly giving witness to its dysfunctional policies. And it has "HYPOCRISY" written all over it because Fr. Fernández would probably still be teaching today, had he not chosen to stand up for his family and his beliefs.