Although I had never met the man, this is the letter I received from DS, which he wrote 3 days before taking the pulpit at St. Jan’s to lead a pep rally for Fr. Robert Ring. As mentioned in Zeal Part III, he asked for it to be disseminated. DS’s words are in red; the response from myself as Editor for It Really Matters is in blue. I did not know that this EEM, speaker from the Catholic Pulpit wasn’t even Catholic when I replied to him.
While we had no obligation to share it at all, we did so in order that people in the parish could see the kind of tone that was behind Father Ring’s agenda. It is shared here for a similar reason; i.e. that those reading the saga of OLOL will have a sense of “tone” on both sides, and be better able to interpret the stories as they unwind going forward. I’d have liked to shorten the material, but will go with the full letter and reply, lest we be accused of making adjustments to the real history. Only the name is changed to the initials “DS,” and initials added for innocent parties. The letter was addressed to the “KKK Members of It Really Matters,” and that quite sets the tone.
DS never answered our answers to him.
Your sister in Christ,
Diane Harris
Tags: Fr. Robert Ring, Zeal
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Diane,
This story continues to amaze me (as does your charitable, informed response). This reads very much like many of the comment threads at CF – we’ll have to remember to link back here.
Diane,
Thank you for sharing this story. Parts of it are remarkably similar to the situation at All Saints Parish. While it is good to know that we are not alone, it saddens me to know that these are not isolated instances.
Ben, I was struck by the same thing. Some commenters on this site could easily be “DS.”
Diane, I knew things were bad, but I didn’t know they were this bad. Your experiences echo so many of mine in my local church. I, too, taught CCD, sat on and chaired parish council, sat on the Stewardship committee, started and ran a young children’s group called “K4J” and facilitated family-centered catechesis programs. I won’t bore you with too many details, but suffice it to say that while they were thankful for my participation and support, they had no interest in hearing opposing views when a notorious dissenter was brought in for a Lenten retreat or when they allowed the Masons to use our facilities, or when a political discussion prior to the national elections in 2000 seemed to be nothing but thinly veiled campaigning for the Democratic nominee.
Similarly, they weren’t interested in our questions about the practice of lay preaching or liturgical practices. It seems a person is “welcome at the table” as long as they toe the party line. Otherwise, shut up and volunteer (oh, and make sure you give to the CMA because the church still has to make the goal). Despite the rhetoric of “everyone is welcome” the reality is is that only certain opinions and viewpoints are allowed.
Wow…KKK and Nazis all in one letter. You people must REALLY be bad!!
Whoa- that guy needs a sedagive (not a mistype, Young Frankenstein reference).
Diane-thank you for your dedicated work. Its frustrating for me to read – but in the other sense it is vindication. I mean this writer has gone off the tracks completely – I think it would be harder to fight for the truth of what has happened at St. Jan’s if DS and ilk were charitable and reasonable. So I finish my post thinking that this letter from DS was really quite a gift to expose those attached to Fr. Ring.
And ‘DS’ has the nerve to tell you and your fellow parishoners that you are being unchristian? This ‘DS’ character has quite the nerve and to think that Fr Ring is allowing him/her to use the pulpit during the Holy Mass to attack people is beyond the pale.
“Fr. Ring…even denied my being a sponsor of a 70 year old man seeing Baptism and to enter the Catholic Church, who as a result has stayed affiliated with a Protestand denomination.”
Wow, Diane. What a low low for Fr. Rings. If he in fact did this out of spite, as it certainly seems he did, it is abuse, not care of souls, and he should answer to a bishop who cares, for this. But unfortunately I don’t know of our Bishop caring about any “good of a soul” matters.
This particular story strikes me because I am a convert. I have devout Evangelical friends who would respond easier to conversion if leadership in our diocese acted in any kind of a Catholic manner. Unfortunately, these Evangelical friends are more “Catholic” – as in genuinely Christian – in their living and being than is Father Rings or the other like DOR minions that Bishop Clark turns out, and favors so highly.
It is another reason why I count the days. I thirst for the New Springtime in our Diocese, when we in the DOR can begin to reflect what is truly Catholic – not just from anonymity in the pew but from the pulpit and from the Bishop’s chair – and we can be a safe port for the many many truth seekers in the local Evangelical churches.
Nerina wrote:
“It seems a person is “welcome at the table” as long as they toe the party line. Otherwise, shut up and volunteer (oh, and make sure you give to the CMA because the church still has to make the goal). Despite the rhetoric of “everyone is welcome” the reality is is that only certain opinions and viewpoints are allowed.”
And this is the absolute truth. This is clearly what the DOR is all about.
DS sure sounds angry and bitter in this diatribe, yet that is what he says his that those who oppose him are. But this is all not so ironic in the realm of the Narcissist. Whatever a Narcissist says you are, turn the mirror around to them – you will realize the comments are exactly what they are – and then crazy the comments make sense. Try reading it that way; it sounds much less insane. Don’t know DS, but if the shoe fits…
Tonight at Mass Fr. Antinarelli reminded us, “Its darkest before the dawn.” There was a murmur of approval for that word of hope.