Miami Archbishop Wenski Attempts To Bully Concerned Parishioners Into Silence

Two years ago Cardinal Dolan expelled Father Justin Wylie from the Archdiocese of New York when the latter was on the verge of exposing corruption on the part of Msgr Chullikatt at the Holy See's Permanent Observer Mission.  You'll see in that same link how Dolan had Michael Voris physically ejected from the press box at the St Patrick's Day parade when the latter questioned him about his support for the presence of gays in the parade.

Now it has come to light that Archbishop Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami is retaliating against a group of lay Catholics for exposing the filth being perpetrated by their pastor, Father Pedro Corces at St. Rose of Lima parish in Miami Shores.  With the aid of a private investigator, the parishioners, organized under the name "Christifideles" caught Corces spending nights at the apartment of his gay boyfriend and the two eating at rather lavish restaurants.  To add insult to injury, the boyfriend is a maintenance worker at the parish.  This man has a police record involving prostitution yet he has regular access to children at the parish school.

Speaking of the parish school, it has also come to light that the order of sisters that has taught at the school for 35 years is suddenly being expelled.  It seems that Corces wants a lay principal.  He alleges that this is being done for financial reasons.  Really?  Religious sisters generally take vows of poverty; all the parish would be doing is providing room and board for them.  So now they want to pay the more expensive salaries of lay teachers?  That's more of a cash drain.  Parents are up in arms, angry that they were not consulted on the matter.  A group of them held protests, urging cessation of donations.  I say "good for them".  Perhaps Corces, if he's really the least bit concerned for finances, can quit taking his boyfriend to ritzy restaurants.

Archbishop Wenski has now sunk to a new low.  Instead of taking seriously the concerns of parents and other parishioners, has emailed parishioners a letter accusing them of "detraction and calumny".  Well, no, Your Excellency.  If anything, the two sins of which you accuse them entail the spreading of falsehoods.  With hard evidence collected to corroborate their complaints, the truth of their complaints cannot be denied.  My colleague Susan Matthiesen, who now writes for Les Femmes, reports that when she penned Orlando Truth, that Wenski told her she was on the verge of excommunication.  That shows us all the lengths to which Wenski is prepared to go, even to the point of abusing his stature.  Most people understand that excommunication cannot be done willy-nilly; there must be substantiated cause.  He had none but was willing to employ that threat against my colleague.

At first glance, the situations regarding the expulsion of the sisters and Corces' sodomy may appear to be unrelated.  Maybe, and maybe not.  Recall that Corces' accomplice in sodomy has regular access to the school children.  Is it at all possible that the good sisters caught him behaving inappropriately with the children and had the temerity to voice their own concerns?  If Wenski can lash out against parents for raising their voices, it would be even easier for him to retaliate against the sisters, who most likely have been ordered to silence under their vows of obedience.  I think that to be a plausible hypothesis: more so than this crock about "finances".

Father Corces and Archbishop Wenski cannot be allowed to get away with it.  Let's join our fellow faithful Catholics of Christifideles and raise our protest to the Archdiocesan offices.