Our Prayers And Protests Do Matter

The heretical Jesuit Father James Martin was scheduled to give a Lenten reflection on February 15, 2018 at Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Metuchen NJ.  Permission for the sacrilege had actually originated from the deanery as opposed to the parish.

Happily, faithful Catholics got wind of the upcoming travesty and complained to the diocese in loud numbers.  The pastor of the parish said "I've gotten too many protests; I'm not doing it this year".  Other nearby parishes also refused to host Martin so his talk will occur in a secular venue.

This is not the first time that faithful Catholic in the Diocese of Metuchen shamed church officials into doing the right thing.  Almost three years ago, a teacher in a local Catholic high school was fired because she upheld Church teaching on her facebook page - all with the approval of then-bishop Bootkoski.  After hearing righteous anger from faithful Catholics, the teacher was restored to her position.

Now see this collection of posts.  If you go all the way down, you'll see that Cardinal Wuerl invited Martin to give reflections last Lent at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington DC.  I regret that we didn't learn of it in time to launch a protest effort.  However, we did have two months' notice of an address that he was to give at a priests' symposium last September (also in that string of posts).  Again, the resultant protests were enough to cause the symposium organizers to do the right thing and cancel Martin's talk - albeit reluctantly.

The point behind all this is simple.  THE PRAYERS AND PROTESTS OF EACH ONE OF US DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  Never shrug your shoulders and complain "what's the use?"  We are the Church Militant.  When we act, we often have an impact.  If we don't, then of course evil will triumph.  Ora et labora!

Bishop Bootkowski Retires, Deo Gratias

On Pewsitter I stumbled across an announcement that Bishop Paul Bootkoski of the Diocese of Metuchen (NY) is retiring and his successor has been named.  I knew the name "Bootkoski" sounded familiar so I pulled up some old posts.  Now I know we can rejoice at his retirement.

Last year a theology teacher at Immaculata High School named Patricia Jannuzzi was fired from her job with full public approval of Bootkoski.  The reason for discharge?  Because she upheld the Church's teachings on marriage and correctly stated that at the heart of the gay agenda was the deconstruction of western civilization.  That's right!  She upheld the Church's teachings and that got her fired from a Catholic school.  Fortunately enough uproar ensued from Catholic blogosphere to shine the light on cockroaches as it were.  She was reinstated.

Bootkowski is to be succeeded by Msgr James Checchio, who was rector of North American College.  Let us pray for the bishop-elect.