Sunday, November 25, 2012

Open Letter To Archbishop Lori Regarding Two Problematic Baltimore Priests


Your Excellency, you have spoken much (and well) regarding the perils that are confronting Holy Mother Church in ways that are waxing more blatant and ominous with each passing day.   The threats posed to us by the HHS mandate and other encroachments upon Christianity must be met with charity, but also with firmness.

However,  as we fight the culture of death around us, we must first fight it within our own ranks.  I regret to state the obvious: that progressive influences are ensconced within the Church and within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  Several weeks ago, Father Richard Lawrence mocked your letter from his pulpit during Mass.  To that you issued a reply stating that no one can change moral teaching.  To be frank, it was much too nuanced and general.

It has come to my attention that Father Lawrence has at least one like-minded crony in crime among the clergy.  I speak of Msgr Paul Byrnes, a retired priest who assists with Masses at St Peter the Apostle in Oakton, MD (southern Garrett County, in the western panhandle).  As confirmed by the Catholic Review, he operates a blog called “Half Hermit by the Lake”.  On November 7, the day after the election,   he praised the election of Barack Obama and other pro-abortion politicians.  Moreover, he lauded the passage of Question 6, allowing for the perversion of marriage in the state of Maryland.  He opined in that post that gay marriage fits within the Church’s teachings on social justice.  Mind you, he made these statements in a blog that’s available to anyone at the click of a mouse.

While I hope that these two priests are "flashes in the pan", I suspect that others share their warped views albeit quietly.  At any rate, Your Excellency, you have some housecleaning that is screaming for your immediate attention.  For the sake of these two priests and the rest of your archdiocese, I strongly urge you to bring down public discipline upon these two priests.  I emphasize "public" because their behaviors have brought very public scandal upon the Archdiocese of Baltimore.  We can safely assume that their terrible example has helped lead astray many of your flock, to the point of imperiling their immortal souls.

There is an additional dimension to the trouble posed by dissident priests that extend well beyond your diocesan boundaries.  A few days ago, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Holy Father's emissary to the US, warned that dissident priests, Catholic professors and other officials posed "grave threats to religious liberty".  I surmise he refers to the undermining of your authority in the eyes of the state and populace at large.  It therefore behooves you, Your Excellency, to remove such threats as they appear within your diocesan boundaries.

In a meeting at St John Neumann Church in Annapolis a few months ago, you stated that in part you were beholden to the USCCB regarding the exercise of your episcopacy within your Archdiocese.  Your Excellency, the Holy Father has stated quite plainly that national bishops' conferences have no intrinsic authority at canon law.  You do not need their approval to act, nor need you fear any repercussion for exercising your duties within your archdiocese.  The Holy Father has already laicized Roy Bourgeous.  He has given an example for the US bishops to follow.  Please do so immediately.

11 comments:

  1. Amen. Amen. Amen.
    To our dear bishops: Please,please, speak out loudly and clearly; there must be consequences for those whose actions publicly defy Church Teaching. Many faithful are already confused. True, there were fewer Catholics who voted for an evil administration, but even one is too many. It appears we are allowing Satan's agenda to take over our country.

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  2. It would be great if your letter appeared in the "Catholic Review"! Thanks for writing this even if it doesn't make it in print.

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  3. I was thinking about writing a letter to Lori regarding a certain culture of death issue in his jurisdiction. Do you think an anonymous letter would do any good?

    Dawn

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    1. Without knowing the precise nature of this issue, I have no basis for an opinion. Unless there's a pressing reason to keep the matter quiet, I'd suggest you publicize it, so that more of us may shed light on it and thus eradicate it.

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  4. Msgr. Byrnes is a priest's priest, a true gentleman, and, I believe a true Catholic!I feel blessed to know such a man!

    I sincerely suggest that if you believe in what you profess: Judge not, least you be judged!

    May God in his infinite wisdom, have mercy on your souls!!!

    I am posting this as "Anonymus", because, quite frankly, folks like you scare the day lights out of me. I thought that the Inquisition ended hundreds of years ago!

    Lee K.
    St. Peter the Apostle Parish
    Oakland, Maryland

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    1. Mr. Lee K, the wayward father posted his beliefs on his own blog. We most certainly are at liberty to evaluate those beliefs for conformity with Church doctrine, as he writes as a priest. As for your insistence on the misapplication of Scripture, Jesus Himself said we need to examine actions. Everyone does it all the time in order to gauge their own responses. Let me point out that your comment is most judgmental when you say that "folks like you scare the day lights of me". Yes, that is a judgmental statement. You have the right to utter it, even though it is quite brainless (oops! a judgment! gasp!)

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  5. You Sir/Madam hide behind the cloak of anonymity and self-righteousness while cyber bullying in the name of our Lord and the Church. I feel sorry for you and will pray that all small minded people see the error of their ways. Healthy dissent and open discussion of divergent views only makes the whole stronger! What are you affraid of? We are the Church!

    Our life on Earth is all about the choices we make and what is in our hearts when we make them. God sorts it all out in the end! Why don't you enjoy life and the blessings that He has bestowed on you, and let God do his "job"???

    All things in moderation,
    Lee K.

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    1. So I defend Church teaching on my blog and because that gets your undies in a bunch, that constitutes "cyber bullying"? What nonsense! Why does the truth sting you so much that you seek to shut me up?

      As far as "healthy dissent" goes, that is a bunch of hogwash. It is NOT "healthy" to shill for the perversion of marriage and family life vis-a-vis "gay marriage". It is NOT "healthy dissent" to promote the whole-scale murder of unborn babies; in Maryland alone, that death count is about 95 every day. It is those who indulge in such "healthy dissent" that are the real small-minded people for by such "dissent" they separate themselves from the Magisterium and the God whom the Church serves.

      I pray that those who sin by such "healthy dissent" will repent for as you said, "God will sort it out in the end" and a terrible fate awaits those who exalt their own warped "dissent" over God's revealed truth.

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  6. You seem sooo angry! In the end, what would Jesus do???

    Good Bye!

    Lee K.

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    1. What would Jesus do? I asked that very same question last June when we had to picket an appearance of Mark Shriver at a DC church. See http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com/2012/06/picket-of-shrivers-appearance-at.html and the flyer encapsulated therein.

      My friend, anger, like any human emotion, can be a good thing. It all depends on its object and how it's used. Sins against God's honor and sins that can lead to damnation (such as the rebellion in which you seem to be engaged) are indeed worthy of anger, owing to the damage that such sins will wreck if not speedily checked.

      Interested parties can read the following for a solid treatment on the subject of anger http://lasalettejourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/he-who-is-not-angry-whereas-he-has.html

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  7. Father,

    If you don't have the courage to act and lead--how can you expect us to be able to do anything?

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