The following appeared in the St. Helen parish bulletin this weekend:

I just hate it when the people who remain misinterpret why people left. No, it was not because they rejected to the person of Sr. Joan. No, they didn’t object because she was a nun, not a priest. No, they didn’t object because she was a SSJ. They objected because she is in open denial of papal authority, and shows an unabashed hate for everything traditional and orthodox in the Church. The fear over Latin being lost was quite real, from what I have been told by friends. However, that has stayed. But only because Sr. Joan knows that if she cut that, St. Anne would be just another bland, flavorless parish devoid of any liturgical strength.

The reason people leave parishes is not so much a matter of “I don’t like _________” but rather “I don’t like what ________ does because it is illicit.” People could have cared less about Sr. Joan if she had just stayed in the pew rather than insert herself into the Mass. However, when you have an administrator (aka “business manager”) sitting, vested, next to the priest, major problems arise. People, even if they are not the most well-read Catholics, can discern when something is not quite right. That’s how so many of our readers find us – they think something is slightly amiss, so they check with people who have experienced the same thing.

So, yes, people left because of Sr. Joan. However, this bulletin blurb would lead you to think that they were the stick-in-the-mud reactionaries who can’t deal with change. No. Those who left did so because they were told to do so by their pastoral administrator. “Go fertilize another parish.” “Take your subversion elsewhere.” “You’re theology is backwards.” “I’m the new resurrection.” These words, dear friends, are not words of comfort or pastoral leadership. They are the rantings and intemperate bleatings of a nun whose goal is not to glorify God, but to glorify herself. I am sorry, but it is absolutely true.

If you go to any of the parishes in Gates, or know people who go there, set the record straight. People don’t leave only because of the clustering. The majority will leave if they are presented with heterodoxy and dissent from Church teaching. Who cares if you have to go to Mass at a different time? The real battles come when you are confronted with administrators who have no regard for the legitimate authority of Rome. Diocesan norms mean nothing if they run contradictory to those from Rome. A bishop must do as Rome does. If he does not, he is in error, and is in denial of Rome. Rome has said NO to lay preaching, NO to women’s ordination, and NO to every other abuse perpetrated by Sr. Sobala. It’s time we look towards Rome for leadership, for our own local leaders are so consumed with pride they have lost sight of the authentic faith which they were ordained and appointed to defend.

Pray for Sr. Joan. Pray for Bishop Clark. They need our prayers more than most.

Tags: Joan, Liturgy, Progressive Drivel, St. Anne

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