Bishop Knestout, Who Expelled A Faithful Priest, Appoints A Pervert Priest As Pastor

George Neumayr published the account of Bishop Barry Knestout of the Diocese of Richmond (VA) appointing as pastor of St Augustine a public sex offender without notifying the parishioners. The criminal priest in question is Father Wayne Ball.  He pled guilty to "lewd acts" with another male in a car in a parking lot.  At the time of the incident and subsequent hearing, he was at another parish.  Those parishioners petitioned for his removal and hence he left.

The excuse being proffered for this appointment is that no underage person was involved.  In other words, Ball did not rape a boy.  However, he is a priest and he is obliged to obey the Church's moral laws and honor his priestly vows.  That is, no one may engage in homosexual relations as they are inherently sinful.  Not only is it natural law and (should have been) taught in Catholic education, but the man attended seminary where (we hope) he would have received further teaching on the matter.  Moreover, there are his priestly vows of celibacy, meaning he can engage in no sexual relations whatsoever.

But Bishop Knestout thought it no big deal to inflict a pervert upon one of his parishes.  Oh, by the way.  At the USCCB meeting last month, he was elected/appointed Chair of the Bishops' Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.  This is grounds for calling for his immediate removal from that position.  He sent a known pervert to a parish that presumably has teen-aged boys without any warning whatsoever to parents.

Bishop Knestout should immediately remove him from ministry with the same speed and alacrity with which he removed Father Marcel Guarnizo from his parish assignment while he was Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Washington.  There is one teeny bit of difference between Ball and Guarnizo.  The former has engaged in homosexual perversions while the latter denied Holy Communion to a woman living in a sinful lesbian relationship.  He wrote this nice sniveling apology - to the woman who was prevented from committing sacrilege against the Blessed Sacrament. 

A reasonable person could surmise from all this that Bishop Knestout seems to be coddling and "running interference" for those engaging in mortally sinful homosexual conduct, no matter who is harmed in the process - faithful priests or unsuspecting parishioners.

At the bottom of his article, Neumayr suggests that all contact Bishop Knestout and urge him to do right by the parishioners of St. Augustine.  I might add two things.  First, also suggest that Knestout resign from his new USCCB post as his obfuscation of the truth regarding Ball is the very antithesis of the mission of that committee.  Second, notify Archbishop Lori of the same; the Diocese of Richmond is a suffragan under the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Planned Sacrilege In Williamsburg Church - CANCELLED, DEO GRATIAS

The previous post on this blog was a call to action to prevent a scheduled sacrilege at a Catholic church in Williamsburg.  As you know, Bishop Barry Knestout offered the local espiscopalean church use of St Bede's to profane the Sacrament of Holy Orders by "ordaining" a "woman bishop".  In a live broadcast this evening, Michael Hichborn did an excellent job in detailing all the theological and moral errors behind what Bishop Knestout did in giving permission for this monstrosity to occur.  Please note that there were problems with the audio in the first part.  Skip ahead a few minutes to the -59:38 mark for the audio.

Thankfully, the sacrilege was averted.

Upon learning of the sacrilege scheduled for their parish, faithful Catholics within that parish mobilized to take action.  They made the situation known on social media.  One of them started a Facebook group for the express purpose of combatting it.  The Lepanto Institute offered to help organize a Rosary rally to occur at the same time the event was to occur.  Many people from across the nation contacted both the parish and the Richmond diocese.  Local secular news outlets picked up the story.  

Soon word got back to the episcopal diocese of the concerns of faithful Catholics.  It was the episcopal church that took it upon themselves to relocate their event to another venue.  It seems that they had more sense of decency than did Bishop Knestout.  The latter released a statement expressing "sadness" at the move.  I link to it now.  This is not the first time that Bishop Knestout has displayed a regrettable penchant for apologizing to non-Catholics for the virtuous acts of real, faithful Catholics.  Eight years ago, at my parish, when Father Guarnizo refused Holy Communion to the flagrant lesbian (go to the archives for March 2012), Bishop Knestout apologized - to the lesbian.  Here is that letter.  Please open both these pieces of drivvel side by side.

They are both rife with error and yes, sin.  In both cases, he is voicing anger (yes, it's anger) that Catholics behaved like faithful Catholics in ways that showed either his own dissidence against the Faith or that of his superiors.  He evokes false definitions of ecumenism, compassion, etc.  He evinces an abysmal lack of appreciation for both the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift.

A big happy "take-away" from this Williamsburg event is the lesson of what can happen when faithful Catholics stand up to evil - even from our hierarchy - and not let them get away with it.  Certainly our prayers, Masses, Rosaries played a critical role.  So did our voices.  So did our being thorns in the sides of the Richmond chancery and the St Bede's parish offices.  

I understand that the same band of Catholics will now be offering Rosaries of thanksgiving in lieu of the now-cancelled Rosary Rally.  We can add our Rosaries of thanksgiving whereever we happen to be now.

Call To Action For Faithful Catholics - Diocese Of Richmond VA

Michael Hichborn of Lepanto institute has discovered that a Catholic Church in Williamsburg VA is slated to host the so-called "ordination" of a female "bishop" for the episcopalians.  Here is the announcement.  Let a few things sink in.

• An espiscopal "ordination", that isn't really an ordination for these protestants have no valid orders, is slated to occur in a Catholic church.  This is sacrilege, a mockery of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  That this is being permitted to happen in a Catholic church is an utter disgrace, if not a commission of mortal sin on the part of the pastor of St Bede's.  It is a violation of Canon Law, specifically Canons 1210-1212.
• The so-called "ordinand" is a woman.  Our Lord made clear that the Sacrament of Holy Orders is reserved to men.  This raises an interesting question: is this debacle being allowed to occur, to anesthesize us to the attempts in the Vatician to push women's ordinations?

The bishop of the Diocese of Richmond (suffrigan diocese of the Archdiocese of Baltimore) is Bishop Barry Knestout.  Readers of this blog will recall that Bishop Knestout, while an auxiliary bishop here under Cardinal Wuerl, expelled a faithful Catholic priest for withholding Communion from a flaming lesbian.  He apologized - to the lesbian.  Father Guarnizo himself told the entire truth about the unethical treatment that he received from the one who is now Bishop of Richmond.

A petition is being circulated online to Bishop Knestout to put a halt to that planned sacrilege.  Here it is and I urge you to sign and circulate it.  I understand that a picket is being planned, should our voices be ignored.  If the local church wants to avoid a picket, they need only remember that they are Catholics and simply tell the episcopaleans to take their little ceremoney elsewhere.

Here is contact information for the diocese.  Here it is for St Bede's.  In particular, let Msgr Lehman know that his hokey attempt at justifying the sacrilege falls flat on its face, and let both of them know that a picket is in the works should they be so imprudent and careless about their duties as to allow this to happen.