We have been hearing today that Fr. William Leone, formerly the Parochial Administrator of St. Cecilia and presently a Parochial Vicar in Blessed Kateri, will be leaving the Irondequoit parish this June. More details as they become available.
Blessed Kateri has already lost:
-Fr. Horan to Pastor of Holy Trinity
-Fr. Erdle (retired) to Chaplain at Legacy in Brighton
-Fr. Abas to native home of Borneo
and possibly…
-Fr. Rice to reassignment by the Basilians
Update: It is believed that Fr. Leone will be replacing Fr. Steven Lape as pastor of St. Jerome in East Rochester. Fr. Lape has completed a 6-year term at that parish, and may have decided not to continue.
Tags: News and Media
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Bill is a fine priest!!!
I’ll second that.
Fr. Leone is a wonderful priest. A true servant of God. I hope he is not being “punished” for being sympathetic to the plight of the maligned Irondequoit parishioners. He and Fr. Abas were the only ones that really cared about them.
All of the blame has to go to Bishop Clark. He makes the first and last decision in the diocese.
Keep exposing Bishop Clark. He is very vindictive with any priest who has challenged the parish and school closings.
Father Leone is an honorable and very personable man and a wonderful, caring priest. The news of his being moved is devastating to Blessed Kateri parishioners. Our recent changes–especially the closing of St. Salome and St. Thomas the Apostle Churches–have left so many Irondequoit Catholics in pain. Many from the closed Churches have found a new home at St. Margaret Mary and at St. Cecilia, in great part due to the welcoming presence of Father Horan and Father Leone. Most of us have have been trying, in good faith, to come together as Blessed Kateri, but such an undertaking requires a lot–including an appropriate amount of time for healing. In light of these re-assignments of our priests: Could the Diocese be any more insensitive to our needs?
If this is true, we might as well just shut’em all down.
Fr. Peter has been back in Borneo since last Fall -maybe July. Can’t remember exactly when. He and Fr. Leone are excellent priests -and much loved!
This is sad news, but not really a surprise. I mean, we simply don’t have enough priests to go around, and Father Leone can be a pastor someplace. I suspect Bl Kateri will have to be assigned another priest, since it’s now the largest parish in the diocese, and there are ten Masses there every weekend.
If the nuclear power plant disaster in Japan is now a category 7 disaster, what category disaster is our diocese?
They would need 2 priests if Fr. Rice leaves because Fr. Tanck would be the only active priest on staff. He’s not too far from 70 either.
The are two pastorates open to my knowledge: Our Lady of the Snow and Our Lady of the Lakes.
Between Frs. Leone and Tunnicliffe, OLOL could perhaps see a good bit of improvement
Ok, this is the fourth time I have heard about Fr. Leone going to St. Jerome.
Is Fr. Lape leaving or something?
Fr. Leone was once pastor of Our Lady of the Snow. So that’s out.
I’m wondering if Fr. Mayer is staying at Pius X in Chili?
Hoping Fr. Lape gets a good assignment if he is indeed leaving St. Jerome’s.
Fr. Mayer is only at SPX temporarily. It sounds like Fr. Brown will be returning this summer.
It was a bit disheartening to read that Father Leone openly donates to Fortunate Families, the pro-gay marriage organization that claims they’re Catholic.
In what way is it open? He himself mentioned it? It’s posted online somewhere?
Wow.
http://www.fortunatefamilies.com/docs/2010AnnualReport.pdf
Page 7. First column, toward the bottom.
Color me shocked.
Me too. What a disappointment 🙁
The newsletter even comes out in support of gay unions!
Fr. Leone isn’t the only priest who contributed. Add Fr. Palumbos, Fr. Bausch, Msgr. Shannon, Fr. Werth, Fr. Michatek and Fr. Brickler, e.g. (Unless someone sent in a donation and put their names on it.) And prominent too is Bill Pickett, of the Diocsse of Rochester planning disaster. I find the entire so-called “Fortunate Families” thing to be highly inappropriate. Their newsletters are written as if they are trying to convert the church to what St. Paul in Romans Chapter 1 clearly condemns, instead of seeking the grace and God’s blessing to be able to live a celibate life. And, from the look of their militancy, I can’t understand how faithful shepherds would have anything to do with this group, and give rise to such scandal.
Well, Palumbos, Bausch, Shannon, Werth, and Michatek comprise a veritable Who’s Who of Rochester Dissenters, so…That’s not too surprising.
As mentioned above, I would be careful to assume. Just because someone is on the benefactor list doesn’t mean they are the actual benefactor. You can always go and talk to the person to confirm expressing genuine concern. Even if you suspect some of the priests did donate you still should not assume without proof. There is also the possibilty they donated thinking it endorses strong Catholic families trusting a recommendation from someone in their parish they trust. Who knows, there’s a number of possibilities.
I would suggest if anyone has contact with any of these priests it’s your duty to inform them that their name is on the list and what the charity endorses. You might suggest a better charity to them as well. From there, you have done all you can do, pray and leave it up to God I guess.
I mostly agree, Christopher, BUT once a priest has confirmed that they knowingly and willingly did contribute to FF, then it can and should be used as evidence for why they are entirely unqualified to lead a spiritual flock of Roman Catholics.
I should add “and w/out regret” to the above statement.
Ben –
Maybe I’m misinterpreting your latest message, but has anyone confirmed that Fr. Leone knowingly and willingly contributed to FF? Or are you just thinking a step-ahead here?
Thank you for asking for clarification, Ludwig, because if my words were confusing then I need to be more clear…
no – not to my knowledge
I don’t mean to jump ahead a step, but simply that we shouldn’t forget to take that step should it present itself. (and not specifically in regards to Fr. Leone, but the many other priest’s names that appear on this list). Very often we look the other way because we think, “well, it mustn’t be what we think it is” and put it out of our minds and pretend it never happened. Let’s take the necessary steps with all of these priests and if it is as it seems, then let’s do something about it.
Ben – thanks for the clarification.
For what it’s worth, I’ve had private emails with someone else in this thread who has sent en email to Fr. Leone asking for a statement regarding this organization.
Gosh, I didn’t realize it was more than 2 DOR priests. Sadly, we are well acquainted with highly involved members of FF. I believe the ministry grew out of Holy Trinity in Webster. Hence, seeing Father Mich’s name didn’t surprise me.
Some other DoR priests on the list are: Fathers Paul Brennan, Bill Donnelly, Thomas Mull, Otto Vogt and Deacon Anthony Sciolino.
And the most troubling fact about FF is that they’ve teamed up with DignityUSA and a couple like-minded organizations that endorse/teach/publish openly dissenting views on homosexual marriage.
Forgot to add, I will dedicate my rosary for the DOR’s intentions today.
I think it would be good if all this were posted as a separate blog for more visibility. However, in the meantime, I think we should note who are NOT on the list, and wonder why, since those are at the heart of DoR leadership. Too often it seems good priests can be trusting and drawn into something presented to them one way, only to find it is something else and they’ve been misled. For example, entice one good, faithful priest into giving to such a cause and all the fund-raiser has to do is say to the next one: “Fr. Faithful is giving.” It can happen that way.
But why has the core of diocesan leadership kept its names off the list? Where are Bishop Clark? Fr. Condon? Fr. Hart? Where are the pastoral administrators? The remaining members of the Presbyteral Council? Where is planner/speaker Karen Rinefierd who went through that unfortunate situation with her then-husband CFO of the Rochester Diocese? (Just google “Jim Rinefierd”). Then she became the diocesan LGBT liason for the DoR. It hardly seems that their absence is a condemnation of “(un)Fortunate Families” which would be counter to so many other messages the Dor puts out. But what does their absence say to other priests who are thinking of giving or are now left “hanging out there” with their names floating in the ether?
A legitimate LGBT ministry would be to help parents, for example, to still love and help their sinning children, as Christ loves all of us sinning children, but not by condoning our sin but by helping us to overcome it. THAT would be a legitimate reason for good priests to contribute; to bring souls back to the Church, not to change the Church to conform to those disordered souls. But that is NOT the effort one sees in the Fortunate Family literature. It is just the opposite: it seems more like condone the sin so your kids won’t be mad at you.
As we express our concern to those we believe to be good priests, educating them on what is really going on at FF is an important first step, before thinking they’ve gone over to the dark side. Another important step is stating the obvious — that a priest endorsing FF through not only his donation but, more importantly, the use of his name is scandal.
I do not mean to pass judgment on any of the folks named on these benefactor lists, but it just struck me that the first post above on the topic came on Spy Wednesday.
Ugh, after trolling around on that organization’s website, I have to disinfect my computer’s hard drive and memory….
Do any DoR parishes have Courage chapters?
Dear Bothers and Sisters from the DOR participating on this blog,
I just recently came across the reference to Father William Leone. I served with Father Leone in the Army when we were mobilized for deployment to the Balkans in 2006. I witnessed Father Leone’s ministry for almost 18 months nonstop and feel very confidant to say that he is one of the best priest, if not the best that I have ever met. Father Leone is trusting, and although this is a quality it also is a quality that some people take advantage of. Having spent almost 1 & 1/2 years witnessing this amazing man, I strongly suspect that he must have been misled. Those who know father Leone well, will give Father the benefit of the doubt but others who do not know him may not. I hope someone clears his good name on this thread.
I am keeping your diocese in my prayers as I know you very much are in need of a Faithful Bishop.
Vivat Jesus!
pray4DOR,
Thank you for commenting and sharing that experience. I’m glad you made me realize that this thread had no closure. I spoke with Fr. Leone about this situation of contributing to FF some time ago and I want to clear his name. His donation was extremely small and was given upon direct request and was an attempt to be able to somehow get into the good graces of the organization so that he could influence them. I no way did he intend to have his name used to somehow endorse the erroneous positions that FF embraces. He was deeply troubled with some of the information I provided to him about FF and said that he would no longer give them any money – no matter how small. From what I know of Fr. Leone – he is a good man and a good priest. You’ll notice in this follow up post that I excluded his name entirely:
http://cleansingfire.org/2011/07/local-priests-support-anti-catholic-organization-fortunate-families/
-Ben