Another Priest Canceled For Preaching Like A Catholic

Approximately ten years ago at St. John Neumann Church in Gaithersburg MD, Father Marcel Guarnizo was celebrating the funeral Mass of a parishioner.  Her daughter happened to be a flaming lesbian and made Father quite aware of that fact minutes before the Mass began.  When the daughter presented herself for Holy Communion, Father refused to let her commit sacrilege by receiving unworthily.  Days later, he was summarily ejected from the Archdiocese of Washington.  Since then, several such incidents have occurred throughout the western world, where good priests have been betrayed by their corrupt bishops.

The latest occurred a few days ago in County Kerry, Ireland.  Father Sean Sheehy, a retired priest residing at St Mary's Church in Listowel, celebrated a memorial Mass for a deceased parishioner.  He lambasted the sins of abortion, contraception and sodomy in his homily, causing some badly-formed Catholics to clutch their pearls.  They scurried off to Bishop Kerry Browne.  Instead of explaining why Father was correct, Browne offered a sniveling apology, stating that Father's words "do not represent the Christian position."  Bishop Browne needs a catechism refresher course.  Then he forbade Father to celebrate any more Masses

This video from St Mary’s Church in Listowel is absolutely shocking…. pic.twitter.com/VYHu3Ktc3d

— Shane McAuliffe 🐷✈️ (@ShaneMcAuliffe1) November 1, 2022

I trust that the faithful Catholics of County Kerry are raising their voices and closing their wallets in protest.

Faithful Priests Persecuted By Hierarchy For Their Fidelity

Last fall I wrote a bit about Don Minutella in the Italian diocese of Palmero who defended the teachings of Jesus Christ regarding marriage and Holy Communion against the heretical poison contained in Amoralis Lamentia.  Eponymous Flower reports that he recently took a group of pilgrims to Ars in France to visit St John Vianney's church.  They were barred from entering initially and only with difficulty gained access to the church.  There is video of the confrontation on the EF site.

Until very recently, Ireland enshrined in its national constitution protection for unborn children.  After a very contentious referendum battle, Ireland debased itself by expunging those protections.  The snakes have returned to Ireland, with abortion being one of them.   Father James Larkin a priest of the parish of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in the Archdiocese of Dublin spoke truth to his congregation when he said during a homily that those Catholics who voted for repeal should go to Confession.  For that he was abruptly given the heave-ho by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.  He was told that he was to say no Masses or have any contact with parishioners.  He is currently assigned to a chaplaincy for some sisters.

Last week in Glasgow, Scotland, that city held a "gay pride" parade.  Father Mark Morris, chaplain of nearby Glasgow Caledonian University, led a Rosary of Reparation to atone (in part) for that celebration of sin.  In retaliation, he was fired from his position by that university's administration.  Such is the current UK knee-jerk reactions to Christian morality confronting their own immorality.  Regrettably another priest, Father Paul Morton, lauded the debauched event, but was promptly rebuked by Bishop Joseph Toal.  The one bright spot in this scenario is that Father Morris was vindicated by the local bishop.

I suspect this list will grow, and we laity must call out the evil and not be blind to it.

A Parish Council Worth Its Weight In Gold - Action Item At Bottom

I speak of the parish council at St John Bosco parish, in the Archdiocese of Palmero located in Italy - Sicily to be precise.  They have a parish priest named Don Alessandro Maria Minutella.  The latter is being sacked by Archbishop Corrado Lorefice because he teaches the truth about marriage, Holy Communion, etc.  He will not allow adulterers to receive Holy Communion and has publicly decried the language in Amoralis Lamentia that permits such abominations.

The parishioners are upset and understandably so.  Knowing the proclivities of their bishop, they have reason to fear a progressive being named as Minutella's replacement.  They are being diligent not only for their own souls but those of their families.

LifeSiteNews not only has more details of the situation but they also have a translation of the open letter that the local parish council sent to their bishop.  They make plain the fact that they are not going to roll over and play dead, that they will not play the rubber stamp.  They want at least to discuss the matter with the bishop.  With all the kvetching about "dialogue" and "encounter", is this such a difficult concept for Lorefice to grasp?  Or does that only work when the conversation favors progressivism?

Readers, I for one applaud the clarity and courage of this parish council.  It is worthy of study and emulation.  Let us ponder that last word, for many of us will most likely face such scenarios where we'll have to stand up to diocesan bullies who would spiritually starve us and our loved ones.

Meanwhile, we can add our voices to those of the parish council members.  Here is the contact page from the diocesan site.  Please write your own emails.  Unless you are writing in Italian, I'd suggest brevity along with clarity.  These chanceries do seem to respond to volumes of contact; let's make our own, shall we?

Cardinal Joseph Tobin Targets Pro-Life Priest - Time For Us To Act

Father Peter West is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark NJ.  He has been outspoken in his defense of both the pre-born babies as well as God's timeless teachings on marriage, sexuality and family.  In the past, he was affiliated with both Human Life International and Priests for Life before being called back to his home diocese.  From there he has continued to preach against the intrinsic evils of abortion, "gay-marriage", contraception, etc.

He has voiced his opinions regarding politics as they impact public morality and the ability of Christians to practice freely their faith in the public square.  In doing so, he has spoken in his capacity as a private individual, not as a representative of the Archdiocese of Newark.  I can attest to this, being one of Father's facebook friends.

A few months ago, Archbishop Joseph Tobin, formerly the ordinary of Indianapolis, was transferred to Newark by Pope Francis and named a cardinal.  I have written about Cardinal Tobin (not to be confused with Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island).  He has shown himself to be quite the progressive lap-dog,  While in Indianapolis, he worked to undermine then-governor Mike Pence as the latter went about enforcing immigration laws.  Not only did he object to Pence, but he called the four dubia cardinals "troublesome".  Then of course there was the debacle of two years ago, when he looked the other way while a Knights of Columbus hall in his diocese was used by two lesbians to celebrate their #mowwidge.

I am not at all surprised that Cardinal Tobin's minions have the long knives out for Father West.  Christian Review has an excellent analysis of the situation, as well as a link to the liberal trash-article that seems to have called the Newark progressives into action.

But perhaps there's another cause to the roughshod treatment that may be meted out to Father West.  In September of 2003, a consortium of Catholic schools in the DC area held a fund-raising dinner downtown.  Pro-abortion Ted Kennedy was one of the two co-chairs of the event.  Seeing the disgrace that would have resulted in a pro-abortion proponent being honored at a Catholic event, I and a number of others tried to at least have Kennedy disassociated from that event.  Cardinal McCarrick was archbishop of Washington at that time.  Of course he turned a deaf ear to us.  So about 25 of us picketed that event.  Father West joined us.  Lo and behold, who pulls up but Cardinal McCarrick!  We both greeted and rebuked him.  The Cardinal was none too pleased, and none too pleased to see Father West - whom he ordained while archbishop of Newark.  I'm an eye-witness to that exchange.  I don't know if there's a connection or not, but that possibility cannot be discounted.

Anyway, it does appear that the Newark archdiocese has found an excuse to quell its stung conscience by clamping down on a faithful priest.  I echo the Christian Review's call for all of us to pray and make our voices heard at the Archdiocese of Newark in support of Father West.  Please act now.  In addition to the contacts suggested by the Christian Review, you may wish to contact other offices.  The archdiocesan website is www.rcan.org.  Please pass this to others.  Thank you.

#IStandWithFatherPeterWest

From The Niggers Of The New Age Department: CA Lawmakers Attack Faithful Catholic Bishop

As many of you undoubtedly heard, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, chief shepherd of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, has taken actions to ensure that Catholic schools within his archdiocese are correctly imparting the Catholic faith to their students.  He has revised teacher contracts and faculty handbooks so that they outline the moral conduct expected of Catholic teachers.

Naturally progressives have knotted their knickers over the fact that a bishop is acting like (wait for it!) - a true successor to the Apostles!  Call to Action, a group well known for its dissidence, has launched a petition for the removal of the "outdated and discriminatory" morality clauses from the contracts.  Of course God's laws are never outdated, but these folks don't serve the One True God anyway, so anything goes with that cabal.

What truly is chilling about this matter is that several California lawmakers have chimed in, using the weight of their offices to "ask" the archbishop to remove the clauses that they say "foment a discriminatory environment".  This pdf of the letter reveals that it was written on official letterhead, presumably produced at taxpayer expense.

Ladies and gentlemen, this action on the part of these lawmakers flies in the face of the Constitution.  The First Amendment was written to prevent such tampering by governments in the internal affairs of religious bodies.  This action, taken by state officials to intimidate a bishop from proclaiming his faith in his church and schools does the very thing that it ostensibly is trying to prevent: the "fomenting of a discriminatory environment".  Can you imagine these lawmakers writing anything similar to a Jewish or Muslim school system?  Neither can I; hence I have consigned this matter to the "niggers of the new age" department, for once again faithful Catholics are being treated as so much kudzu and trash.  Of course this is San Francisco, with a high percentage of gay residents.  The laws of Jesus Christ speak truth to practicing homosexuals, making plain that their behaviors are mortally sinful and will greatly increase their chances of eternal damnation.  They gays, of course, hate hearing that and they pull the puppet strings of the California lawmakers.  It should be pointed out that at least one of these lawmakers is an unabashed sodomite.

Posted on Speroforum is an open letter to the legislators in question, written by my friend and Catholic Media Coalition colleague Stephanie Block.  The attempt of these lawmakers to interfere with internal matters of the Catholic Church is an affront and an outrage.  Please write your own and/or call at the numbers below (provided by California Catholic Daily, another CMC colleague).

Assemblyman Phil Ting (DEM – San Francisco (415) 557-2312.

Assemblymen Richard Gordon (DEM) – (916) 319-2024 or 650) 691-2121
chaired the LGBT caucus for 3 years, his “husband” is Dr. Dennis McShane, his first partner died of AIDS;

David Chiu, (DEM) (415) 846-8108 is associated with the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance;

Marc Levine (DEM (916) 319-2010

Kevin Mullin (DEM) (916) 319-2022

Sen. Mark Leno (DEM) (916) 651-4011
is also a member of the LGBT caucus

Jerry Hill (DEM). (916) 651-4013

See here for a list of emails.

The archbishop himself has responded to his attackers via open letter, showing them the logical fallacies of their intimidation attempt.  Good for him!

Long Knives Out For Another Good Bishop AND Franciscan Friars Of The Immaculate

We've seen the unceremonious sacking of both Cardinal Burke and Bishop Livieres of Paraguay.  Now it looks as though Bishop Robert Finn is the latest in the progressive cross-hairs.  Eponymous Flower has listed some of his accomplishments in the Diocese of Kansas City - St Joseph.  Here are a few (please read the whole list)

• Promoted Summorum Pontificum and offered the Extraordinary Form of the Mass
• Raised vocations to a 40-year high (Bishop Livieres did that too.  Is increased vocations now considered to be a liability in the Church of Nice?  I suppose so, if the young men are orthodox).
• One that EF missed is that he formally asked the "National Catholic Reporter" to stop calling itself "Catholic", owing to its embrace of heresy and dissidence.  No doubt that set some teeth on edge at one of the "church of nice's" favorite rags.

Finn's administration has not always been stellar. In 2011 he failed to report to the authorities a priest who had pornography on his computer.  But why is Finn being fly-specked while someone like Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg FL is given a free pass?  Remember that the latter had to spend thousands of dollars to various, uh, "partners" in legal settlements AND he gave the green light to Michael Schiavo as the latter murdered his wife Terri in his diocese.

The Vatican recently sent Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergrast to "investigate" Bishop Finn while the latter was in Rome.  His investigation basically consisted of polling people by asking "do you think Finn is fit to be a leader"?  There's no hint that Prendergrast was the slightest bit interested in the 2011 incident.  So what is that about???

That's the story of the Vatican progressives baring their teeth at Bishop Finn.  Now let's look at their ongoing malicious vendetta against the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.  Six of the Friars had sought incardination under other bishops and were awaiting dispensation from their vows to the FFI.  They did not receive those dispensations.  Rather, they received suspensions "a divinis".  That is a sanction reserved for the most grave matters; moreover, it is a sanction that is subject to strict due process under canon law.  Commissioner Fidenzio Volpi observed none of the due process regulations; he delivered the suspensions with no regard to the processes of Canon Law.

None of this is any accident.  Moreover, it is unreasonable to presume that Pope Francis had no knowledge of these matters.  Some, in attempts to give to the Pope the "benefit of the doubt" have to resort to all manners of denial and logical contortions to the point of engaging in intellectual and yes, spiritual, dishonesty.  It's high time that rose-colored glasses were stripped from all faces.  If we're going to lift up our Church and her leaders in prayer, we must be relentlessly honest about the faults of all concerned.  Else our prayers will be so much pious but ineffectual fluffy-puff-stuff.

Strange Double Standards From The Vatican

Two days ago came the news that a flagrantly dissenting priest of Ireland, Father Sean Fagan, has had all sanctions lifted.  Six years ago he had been silenced because he refused to cease his dissent in matters pertaining to sexual morality.  It has been said that he was an advocate for the liberalization of abortion.  The news report does not indicate any repentance on Father Fagan's part.  There are intimations that the lifting of sanctions came about as a result, at least in part, of intervention by Pope Francis.

Contrast this treatment with that of Father Stefano Maneli, a founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.  They are the order that has been wildly successful in promoting the Traditional Latin Mass - until some malcontents managed to bend the ears of influential Vatican officials to stifle the order.  The elderly Father Maneli is essentially under "house arrest", forbidden to visit his parents' graves to celebrate his birthday.

I am having grave difficulty reconciling this strange double-standard.  One the one hand we have a flagrantly dissident priest having his sanctions lifted, out of the blue with no conditions placed upon him: conditions such as fidelity to the Magisterium, etc.  On the other hand we have draconian measures taken against a faithful religious order and no justice in sight for these Franciscans.  All this has occurred with the Pope's approval, if not at his direction.  How does this work?  Where's the "method to the madness"?  OR, what's the motivation to the madness?

Some more comments from the Vortex are in the clip below.  He rightly lays much of the blame for the demise of our culture at the feet of bishops who refuse to proclaim Catholic truth of faith and morals to the world.  I might add that not only do these bishops refuse to do so themselves, but they punish their priests who do speak out; think of Father Michael Rodriguez, Father Marcel Guarnizo, Father James Haley.  Click here if you cannot see embedded video.

Another Faithful Priest Heaved Under The Bus

On April 5th, I reported on the maltreatment meted out to Father Gerhard Swierzek of the Archdiocese of Vienna (Austria).  In a manner similar to the way Father Guarnizo was maltreated by the Archdiocese of Washington, Father Swierzek was run over by his bishop when he tried to prevent an openly gay man from sitting on his parish's council.  I closed that post by asking for Rome's intervention, saying that "there would be more".

Not one month later, that prediction rang true.  This latest incident is also from Austria.  Father Stefan Muller refused Holy Communion to a woman, Karina Rudolf, who is living with a man outside the bonds of Holy Matrimony.  As you read this account, you'll see this woman is acting in a way that's very, very similar to how Barbara Johnson reacted when she was refused Communion by Father Guarnizo.  In fact, I'd say the similarities are just too close to be coincidental.

As that other blogger wrote, "wherever old liberal bishops abound, it's open season on faithful priests".  Unless Rome acts, we'll see more such accounts.