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Below is a collage of photographs detailing the 33-year tenure of Bishop Matthew Clark, and the downward spiral of the Diocese of Rochester that took place during his reign. Have fun identifying the various events and personalities. To see the full size collage, click on the image below.
Click on the image to enlarge
Readers will probably note our once-frequent interaction with Ray Grosswirth, a local man (illicitly) ordained by Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo. I would humbly ask that in the coming weeks you take a moment to pray for Ray, as he currently is undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. As he writes on his site, the prognosis is good, seeing as how it was detected early and treatment began swiftly. As per Ray, “Latest research indicates that I stand up to a 90% chance of becoming cancer free after the radioactive seeds have run their course. I won’t know for several months if I am cancer free. However, I feel positive about the prognosis given to me by my doctors.”
As every faithful Catholic should do, I hope and pray that the local ordinary, Bishop Clark, will, from time to time, do something . . . I don’t know . . . Catholic. After all, he is a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church and a successor to the Apostles – not some “bishop” of a store-front “church” preaching the Gospel of ecumenism and dialogue. Well, I keep praying. I really do. But it seems that Bishop Clark has a rather bizarre ranking of what’s important to the Church and what isn’t.
Bishop Clark and Ray Grosswirth - How I hope and pray that "faith-sharing" may lead, someday, to something genuinely "Catholic".
Events not attended or referenced by Bishop Clark:
Events attended and/or promoted by Bishop Clark:
There’s a difference between engaging in dialogue and simply ignoring the flock’s actual problems.
Ray Grosswirth, eat your heart out.
Recent polls show that the vast majority of people do not think that the Church's teaching on clerical celibacy is a cause of sexual abuse.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a light-hearted video for you all, so here’s something I think you’ll all like. It’s our favorite “married priest from Rochester, NY” in a dance remix video. Oh yes. Brace yourselves.
. . . the spirit of creativity.
I have to admit, sometimes we “conservatives”/”traddies”/”reactionaries” can lose a little creativity. We don’t think outside the box. I thought we were oh-so-witty when we came up with the “Nod of the miter” and “Smack of the crosier” segments, but I would like to thank Ray Grosswirth for helping us break free of our stale patterns of humor. While we may have the “Nod of the miter,” only Ray can confer the “Nod of the Lampshade.”
Kudos, Ray. You keep the Spirit alive with your labors.
"Hello. I'm Ray Grosswirth, married priest from Rochester, New York. (Insert long pause.) I'd like to give a Nod of the Lampshade (long pause) to the staff of Cleansing Fire. (Vacant stare.)"
A diligent and devoted reader of Cleansing Fire emails us the following snippet of glorious news:
“This evening’s Mass at Our Lady of Victory was among the best I have ever had the pleasure of being present for. To start with, the altar (i.e. “old High Altar”) and the Cranmer table were both decked out with regal simplicity, with green altar linens, simple lace linens, and perfectly symmetrical candles. That’s a big thing with me, having a symmetrical sanctuary, but that’s beside the point. The second dose of awesomeness was the fact that Deacon Scott Caton was the homilist for the Mass – and what a homily he gave! Talk about defending the Truth with “clarity and charity”! His reverence, coupled with Fr. Antinarelli’s customary liturgical decorum, was tops. Had I your tremendous and umlimited authority, I would confer upon the whole lot a “nod of the miter.”
But that’s not even the best part. At Communion, my ears were greeted, not with a Eucharistic hymn, per se, but something absolutely transcendent. It was today’s Communion antiphon, chanted in Latin, with an English verse. Now that’s “mutual enrichment.” The cantor’s love for the ancient musical traditions of the Church was undeniable. I commend him on it. For anyone not familiar with this weekend’s proper communion antiphon, it can be found here (in English).
Our Lady of Victory is the best parish in the diocese when it comes to enacting what Vatican II intended. Rather than tacky hymns glorifying the created, there is a sense of awe at the contemplation of the Creator. The use of Latin is just so that it enriches the soul without seeming heavy-handed or politically-motivated. There’s no sense of hesitancy, impropriety, indecency, confusion, disorder, or division. All those present do the same thing, say the same words, believe the same thing. Absolutely tremendous. I hope that this introduction of some of the Gregorian propers of the Mass will continue and grow in time. Fr. Antinarelli deserves to be commended by all for his untarnished fidelity to the liturgy and the Church which is its guardian. The seeds have been planted, and I look forward to seeing them burst into bloom.”
I yield to our brother’s request – an official Nod of the Miter goes to Fr. Antinarelli, David O’Donnell, the parishioners at Our Lady of Victory, and anyone who has the audacity to prove their literacy by doing what the documents of Vatican II actually say.
Alright folks. Usually we leave Mr. Grosswirth alone once one of his videos comes out, but circumstances dictate that we revisit the poor man once more this week. You’ll recall we posted about his potty-humor a couple of days ago (see here) – well, he felt the need to make a second video. And this video is so much more entertaining than the first. It involves banjo music and further claims that the Vatican is “stupid.” They accent each other so well, in my opinion.
When I showed it to my spouse, the first time through she was silent, mouth wide open. The second time, I looked up and noticed that she was laughing so hard she was crying. When you put redneck music and liberals together, the comedic result is greater than anything Lucille Ball could have imagined.
We aren’t making fun of Mr. Grosswirth – we’re just presenting his videos to a larger audience than he receives normally, and we’re doing so to make his dreams of “dialogue” come true. True charity consists of presenting people with the means to make an educated choice between two competing sides. Sorry all – I don’t have any banjo music to make a witty come-back to Ray. I guess he’ll have the final word, while we’ll have the last laugh.
From the man that perpetually touts “honest and open dialogue,” and condemns those that appear to be too “black and white,” comes a new video which surmounts his previous achievements in the realm of theological and ecclesial lunacy.
Here is his video, in which he declares, “Communication from the Vatican? Give it a flush!” What absolutely adolescent behavior from a man trying to be the champion of his cause. How can you claim to want genuine dialogue, then call the Successor to St. Peter stupid? That’s not dialogue. What it is, however, is sticking his fingers in his ears while yelling “I’m Ray Grosswirth, married priest from Rochester, New York!!!! I’m not listening!!!! I’m not listening!!!!”
Enough games, Ray. People tire of the same old toilet humor antics. Then again, it is a fitting metaphor that liberal thoughts and efforts for “reform” have their seat in your bathroom, whereas ours starts before the Blessed Sacrament.
One of the new “grave delicits” named by the Holy See may be of extreme interest to you. It reaffirms the teaching of the Church regarding the sanctity of the Sacraments, in particular The Holy Mass and Holy Orders. I quote:
Art. 5
The more grave delict of the attempted sacred ordination of a woman is also reserved to the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
1° With due regard for can. 1378 of the Code of Canon Law, both the one who attempts to confer sacred ordination on a woman, and she who attempts to receive sacred ordination, incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.
2° If the one attempting to confer sacred ordination, or the woman who attempts to receive sacred ordination, is a member of the Christian faithful subject to the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, with due regard for can. 1443 of that Code, he or she is to be punished by major excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.
3° If the guilty party is a cleric he may be punished by dismissal or deposition.
How much clearer could it be, folks? Women’s ordination is absolutely and unequivocally banned, and will be for ages unending. Amen.
For the Canon of the Mass, methinks this gal would be inclined to say, "Te igitur, clementissima Mater . . . "
Buried among all the liberal politicking and the liturgical problems at the Diaconate Ordination, there were a couple gems I should like to share with you all. The one in the video below was particularly enjoyable. Bishop Clark is thrilled to be ordaining a married man to the priesthood next year, but I think we all know that the bishop isn’t getting a liberal poster child of dissent. He’s getting a loyal son of the Church. For this reason, when Dr. Caton knelt in front of Bishop Clark, and the bishop told him “Scott, believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach,” a little burst of glee had to be suppressed in my throat.
Just a reminder for you all – there will be deaconate ordinations tomorrow at 10:30 at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Normally, I would consider the Cathedral a no-fly zone for people who have genuine regard for the Liturgy. However, Dr. Scott Caton will be ordained to the transitional deaconate at this Mass. He is definitely worthy of your prayers, as are the seven other men who will be ordained to the permanent deaconate. Your prayers are one of the sources of much-needed grace and strength for our ordained ministers.
If you can make it to the Cathedral for this special day, I would strongly urge you to do so. Show your support for ordained ministry. I find it extremely ironic that the diocese pitches the “we want vocations” shpeal so often, but the Master of Ceremonies is a nun, vested in alb. Only in Rochester do we have a Mistress of Ceremonies in lieu of a Master of Ceremonies, who is typically a monsignor. What message does this send to the young men in the diocese? “We want vocations, but it’s nothing special to be a priest – anyone can play the part.”
You can have the nicest posters, the most reverent priests, the most intimate conversations with discerners and seminarians, but without the proper liturgical and sacramental formation, vocations die. And when vocations die, so do parishes and schools. When the Mass is corrupted, so too are the minds of those young men who are called to ordained ministry in the deaconate or the priesthood. We have seen this in so many instances in Rochester – I can state with certainty that Jim Callan had a vocation to the priesthood, but look at how he was warped! That was not his doing, but the doing of a lacklustre administration in his formation years. There is a glimmer of hope in every heretic’s heart, and that glimmer is the Call they received from God. If only human politicking did not obscure God’s plans so easily.
So come to the ordination, tomorrow, Saturday, at 10:30 AM at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Show your bishop that you support our ordained ministers. Be there for Dr. Caton on this blessed day, and give him your prayerful support. And in the long-term, do all that you can to let the young men in your parish know that the priesthood is something so transcendent that it cannot be restricted to “sacramental ministering” and parish administration. To be a priest is to love the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and through this piercing and all-consuming love come the sacraments of the Church, and through them, the singular grace which only can be attained through them. Without the priesthood, there are no sacraments and no Church.
Pray for vocations. Support our young men, our seminarians, our discerners, our Becket Hall residents, and even your own sons. Put your sons into the altar serving program at your parish, because there is no surer fountain of vocational awareness than being in the sanctuary of Our God, aiding the priest who makes God incarnate again and again, each and every day reenacting that bloody sacrifice of Calvary. To serve at the altar of the Lord is to kneel shoulder to shoulder with the choirs of haven, the hosts of angels, and the saints who have gone before us in Faith. Show your sons that a vocation to ordained life is a manly, noble thing, not something to be toyed with for political gain. Pray for our priests, and pray for our deacons, and pray for our religious. May God bless them in their ministry, and may He bless Dr. Caton and his fellow soon-to-be-deacons in their zeal for God’s Church.
For anyone who caught Brother Wease’s interview with Dr. Scott Caton, you will have noticed that a little piece of you died. No one should be made to deal with such a lewd, shallow, dull-witted individual as Wease. I mean no offense to the man, but when he refers to Dr. Caton’s children as “little packages” that drive him insane, and when he professes to be a Jehovah’s Witness because he let them in his house, and when he says that all priests should have the ability to have a sexual outlet with their wives, he loses his veil of innocence and charity.
Dr. Caton – you have all of our sincere admiration for dealing with such an insipid and tactless man on live radio.
Brother Wease – stick to your station’s celebrity bikini contests (do not click if you value your soul), and leave religion to those who actually take it as something serious, and not an amusement for communal jocularity.
The Catholic Courier has put up a story about Dr. Scott Caton, potentially soon-to-be licitly ordained married priest for the Diocese of Rochester. We first broke this story a week ago here. The Courier article can be accessed by clicking on the following link:
Dr. Caton is a former Protestant minister who has received permission from the CDF and the Holy Father to pursue ordination as a Roman Catholic priest. His ordination to the priesthood, provided everything goes well, will take place next June. He will be ordained a transitional deacon next month.
More than one source has informed us that the Diocese of Rochester may soon be ordaining a local married man as a Latin rite Catholic priest. According to our sources, the man will be ordained a transitional deacon this June, and would then be ordained a priest in 2011. The candidate is a father of six children, and (presumably) a former Protestant minister, who converted to the Catholic faith a little over a decade ago. I believe this will be only the second married priest to be licitly ordained for the Diocese of Rochester (the other being Melvin Walczak, a former Polish National priest who has since returned to that schismatic religion). There have been a couple married priests from Rochester who have illicitly sought ordination. It is believed that the Vatican has granted permission for this ordination to occur.
Prior to this news story, the Diocese of Rochester was about to embark on three straight years of no priestly ordinations.
Cleansing Fire will continue to investigate this story, so stay tuned.
Day Care Worker Charged with Abusing Child
Irondequoit Police said a Marion man is facing charges for allegedly sexually abusing a child at an Irondequoit day care.
Police investigators charged Joseph Calabrese, 24, of Mill Street in Marion, with sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police said the arrest followed the disclosure of a 7-year-old girl that Calabrese allegedly sexually abused at Generations Early Care and Education on Empire Boulevard.
Police said Calabrese has worked at all seven Generations locations since 2007.
Police said the investigators developed information that Calabrese may have been connected to a similar incident at Generations in Fairport.
Irondequoit Police and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office are asking parents of children who may have had contact with Calabrese to call local police if they have any reason to believe there was inappropriate contact.
Police said Generations is cooperating fully with the investigation. Bridget Shumway, the president of Generations issued this statement:
“We are fully cooperating with the police and district attorney in the investigation of Mr. Joseph Calabrese, who worked until yesterday as an assistant teacher at our Irondequoit Child Care Center, and was employed by Generations for three years.
Upon hearing of his arrest late yesterday, we immediately notified the Office of Children and Family Services and Child Protective Services. We are notifying parents of children at all Generations centers today. We are able to assure our parents that because of our team teaching approach, Mr. Calabrese was very seldom alone with children, and that they already would have been contacted if the police investigation had raised a concern about their child.
Despite thorough background checks and references before being hired, along with our ongoing training and performance reviews, it appears that Mr. Calabrese was not to be trusted. This incident is personally upsetting to me, and to everyone in the Generations family.”
Calabrese is being held in the Monroe County Jail on $20,000 bail.
“If only he didn’t have to live with mandatory celibacy in a male-dominated daycare system.”
The following is taken from The Cross Reference, and answers Ray Grosswirth’s 40 feces theses with clarity and precision. A major nod of the miter to The Cross Reference for doing something I had been planing on, but hadn’t quite gotten around to.
This post is a response to Ray Grosswirth’s “40 Theses on Mandated Clerical Celibacy” from his Toward a Progressive Catholic Church blog. (Note: this blog is not something I regularly read, but it was brought to my attention today, and this post in particular caught my eye.)
The numbers preceding my comments relate to his individual theses. I’m not repeating his theses, and I try to make my responses self-contained, but you may need to read his post for mine to make sense.
1. In Luke 18:29, Jesus says that some of them have left even their wives to follow Him. So while He did not require them to do so, it seems clear that some of them did. (This should not be interpreted to mean that married men should separate from their wives to seek ordination, but that the demands of discipleship sometimes require us to make great personal sacrifices.)
2. What “natural law” does mandated celibacy violate? See Matt. 19:8-12 and 1 Cor. 7:32-34.
3. The argument that clerical celibacy “celebrates a male hierarchy and diminishes the role of women” is baseless, because you have provided no evidence for it. In addition, this argument would fail immediately if celibate women could be ordained: no longer would male hierarchy be celebrated and the role of women be diminished.
4. Celibacy is a gift from God and requires co-operation with His grace. It can lead to other graces and good things; it is meant to be a spiritual help. (cf. Catechism 915) On the other hand, celibacy can have disastrous results if the person attempting it is not disposed to practice it. But just because something (e.g. celibacy) can lead to a negative result (e.g. sexual frustration and even abuse) among other positive results, that does not mean the thing is negative or bad or evil in and of itself. Take free will as a more general example.
5. I’m not sure what you mean by the “primary beneficiary of mandated celibacy” being the hierarchy.
6. Not everyone is called to the ordained priesthood (cf. Catechism 1599); put another way, there are more vocations than simply the ordained priesthood. Although these vocations differ, and some vocations are “higher” than others, a layman does not have less dignity (spiritual or otherwise) than a priest simply because one is a priest and the other is not. Indeed, some laymen have more dignity than priests.
7. Celibacy is a higher calling than the married life, it is true. Vatican II said as much: “[Seminary students] ought rightly to acknowledge the duties and dignity of Christian matrimony, which is a sign of the love between Christ and the Church. Let them recognize, however, the surpassing excellence of virginity consecrated to Christ, so that with a maturely deliberate and generous choice they may consecrate themselves to the Lord by a complete gift of body and soul.” (Optatam Totius 10) But what does it mean for marriage to have a “secondary status”? Is there something wrong with marriage, then, because it is not the most excellent?
8. It is true that during the first millennium of the Church there were married priests; there were also married bishops. But the whole Church eventually moved away from married bishops (seen in both the East and the West) and the Western Church eventually moved away from married priests as well. I would not call this “obscur[ing]” the past. Could it be that the Church is closer to attaining something now than it was in its first millennium?
9. The commandment to “love one another” does not take on a “love only thy self” dimension in the midst of celibacy; this is another baseless claim. Can you only love a person to whom you are married? Can you only love another person well if you are married?
10. It is true that with less priests, the Eucharist is offered less frequently (both to God as a sacrifice and to the people as Holy Communion), and this is a very sad thing. But the solution is not necessarily to increase the number of people who can be priests; perhaps we are not nurturing those whom God is calling to the priesthood.
11. How is clerical celibacy a “state of subjective pacifism” for priests? How is a life of celibacy opposed to “active participation”?
12. Mandated celibacy could, I suppose, create an unhealthy fear of women; I don’t have the statistics. I bet it does create a healthy fear of sexual temptation, though.
13. What about the married-and-divorced-and-remarried Catholics who are “on the sidelines” because of their decisions? Should the “policy” on remarriage be changed to accommodate them?
14. Same as #13. It should be pointed out that the Church has, to my knowledge, never permitted men ALREADY ordained to then marry. Eastern Catholic (and Orthodox) priests were married before they were ordained. The men who enter the priesthood should have been informed of the life they were entering and its demands; if they were not, shame on those in charge of their formation.
15. What evidence can you supply to support your claim that the “leadership roles” of women in the first four centuries were “distort[ed]” by the 5th century Church Fathers, let alone for the purpose of allowing a future mandate of celibacy?
16. Luckily, celibate priests need not be the “primary source” for marriage counseling. We have other married couples (include permanent deacons and their wives) to turn to. But still, a celibate priest could have some wisdom to share with those who are married. St. Paul did. (cf. Eph. 5)
17. Whatever St. Thomas Aquinas (or any other Church theologian — Father or Doctor or whatever!) said about women being “misbegotten males”, or other such nonsense, patently ignores the fact that God made man male and female in the beginning before there was sin at all. While the discipline of celibacy may have led to this conclusion, it does not strictly follow from it.
18. I do not know how well the “Fishers of Men” campaign succeeded (or how badly it failed). If it was “a dismal failure”, there could be any number of reasons. Again, just because celibacy is counter-cultural or hard (to fathom or to live!) does not mean it is bad and should be done away with as an obligation of the priesthood.
19. Through the “pastoral provision” of Pope John Paul II, some married ministers from Protestant denominations who, upon entering the Catholic Church, discern that their ministry in their prior community was a response to a true priestly vocation, may request ordination in the Catholic Church. Some, not all, who request this receive it. I do not consider this “hypocrisy” any more than the fact that the Eastern Churches have married priests “hypocrisy”.
20. It is not merely by the pope’s authority that clerical celibacy is an obligation for priests in the Western Church; centuries of tradition, Scriptural admonitions, and experience also come into play. I personally think that the avenue of allowing individual bishops to permit married men to the priesthood is a poor one; maybe allowing individual bishops’ conferences is better, but still, I am wary of it.
21. Women’s ordination is completely out of the question, and advocates of a change in the discipline of clerical celibacy would do well to detach themselves from advocacy of women’s ordination.
22. Scripture seems to say that Jesus was dining with “the twelve disciples” (i.e. the Apostles), not with His whole retinue. (Matt. 26:20; cf. Mark 14:17,20; Luke 22:14,30) These men were (by virtue of His words) priests. Married priests can confect the Eucharist too.
23. The miracle of turning water into wine at Cana was interpreted by the Church Fathers as a “blessing” of marriage (as a sacrament) by Jesus. Apart from His disciples who were present, I do not think the wedding guests recognized it as “a witnessing event” to “go out and preach the good news as an inclusive discipleship.” This event has absolutely nothing to do (as far as I can see) with celibacy or the priesthood.
24. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes has a Eucharistic character to it. Nevertheless, it itself was not the Eucharist. The feeding of the spiritually hungry is not solely the task of priests; celibacy is not a prerequisite for it.
25. The Holy Spirit descends upon the bread and wine when a validly ordained priest prays the epiclesis.
26. Again, women’s ordination is out of the question.
27. Why did men stop feeling called to the priesthood? What caused the drop in vocations?
28. Some seminaries are experiencing growth. And men who are entering the seminary should be made aware early on (if they are not aware already) of the celibate life expected of a priest. (cf. Catechism 915)
29. Priests are not selected “on the sole basis of promised obedience to a bishop and a promise to live a celibate life.” Seminary formation is far more comprehensive in breadth and depth than that.
30. No one says that mandated celibacy “give[s] a priest a special status” in God’s Kingdom.
31. You can frame your desire for a policy of optional celibacy however you wish.
32. Not all priests are “victims of burn-out”, and a married priest is not immune to burn-out either.
33. The Vatican’s answer to the parish-closing situation is to challenge all of us to foster priestly vocations in our young men all the more fervently.
34. Clerical celibacy does have to do with theology, as any balanced reading on the topic would reveal. See Vatican II’s documents for a start: Lumen Gentium 42; Optatam Totius 10; Perfectae Caritatis 12; Presbyterorum Ordinis 16.
35. Not being based on the Bible alone, the Catholic Church’s tradition has taught us that Jesus was celibate; I would not expect He is a homosexual. But priestly celibacy is based not only on Jesus’ example but on His teaching (see Matt. 19:8-12) and on that of St. Paul (see 1 Cor. 7:32-34).
36. I do not know how many priests are secretly living double lives of clandestine relationships, but they shall answer to God for it, whether or not their situation is revealed to the Church. Perhaps the question should be: why do some priests have such great difficulty with celibacy? Could there be some cultural or societal pressures or defects which cause or worsen this problem?
37. St. John the beloved Apostle was also at the foot of the cross. Jesus did not make St. Mary of Magdala, nor His Mother, a priest. Was Jesus committing acts of “injustice” thereby? Why is it necessarily injustice for the priesthood to be instituted for men only? Is it an injustice for motherhood to be instituted for women only, or fatherhood for men only?
38. Clerical celibacy is a discipline (or, as you put it, a “policy”), not a doctrine nor a dogma. Nevertheless, it is a discipline which demands our adherence to it. It is not forbidden to discuss the matter of celibacy, but that discussion cannot be carried out by/in disobedience. I agree that open and honest dialogue on this topic should be encouraged; but that dialogue requires honest education and catechesis.< /span>
39. “We want change, and we want it now!” is quite a revealing battle cry. It is certainly not one which sounds ready for “open and honest dialogue” which requires one to listen and learn. The Church could change its stance toward clerical celibacy, but it seems as though “those of [you] committed to reform” in the issues of clerical celibacy are completely unwilling to change your stance.
40. I do not believe that “mandatory celibacy is a hindrance” to the Gospel. I think that society (modern or not) is a hindrance far more than Church disciplines are or could be.
I have spoken with some of you, regarding yet another project the administrators of this site have embarked upon. We hope to have this done by our 1 Year Anniversary, which is on June 10, 2010.
What exactly is this project?
I’ll summarize it without leading you to a full revelation. Let it suffice to say the following:
We are blessed by generosity and supprort in our endeavors, and we have all of you to thank for it. We will keep you informed as to when the transformation will take place.
Ray Grosswirth, here’s your Third Vatican Council. Eat your heart out.
Today’s Democrat & Chronicle features a story about Rochester’s first married priest. Yes, you heard me correctly. Melvin Walczak was ordained a priest in the Polish National Catholic Church, a schismatic group which broke from the Catholic Church in the late 1800s. In 1985, Walczak, who was already married, converted to Roman Catholicism and became the Diocese of Rochester’s first married Catholic priest. In fact, he was the first married priest in the country who had not converted over from the Episcopal church. His conversion to Roman Catholicism did not require re-ordination. Walczak served in various diocesan roles, including at Penfield’s St. Joseph parish. In the mid 1990s, Walczak left the priesthood behind to take on a secular job with the local Republican party. He and his wife separated in 1990.
The article states that after reading about St. Casimir’s dire situation (they have roughly 20 parishioners and face the decision whether or not to close their doors), Walczak decided to rejoin the schismatic parish. Walczak contacted the Polish National bishop, and was assigned to lead St. Casimir’s once again. The former Roman Catholic convert who served as a Diocese of Rochester priest has essentially rejoined a schismatic sect. I believe this results in the man incurring excommunication latae sentiae for leaving the Catholic Church. The Diocese of Rochester probably does not need to make a public statement on this situation since Walczak hasn’t served in public ministry for over 15 years.
Photo from Democrat & Chronicle.
Several more Diocese of Rochester personalities have affixed their names to the “What If We Just Said Wait” petition since the last installment. As always, here are the latest priests, deacons, religious, and lay “ministers” to sign the petition calling for a delay if not derailment of the revised English translations of the Roman Missal. By the way, they have until Advent of 2011 to prepare.
Latest ordained/religious to sign the petition (a LOT of sisters have signed since last time):
-Fr. Paul J. Ryan – Priest – No idea who he is, where he’s stationed, or if he’s even a priest anymore. Used to be pastor out in Hamlin.
-Diane Branch – Religious
-Kathleen Ann Kolb RSM – Religious
-Rita Jongen SSJ – Religious
-Catherine Pfelger RSM – Religious
-Nancy Whitley RSM – Religious
-Anonymous – Religious
-Mary Louise Mitchell SSJ – Religious – The president of the Sisters of St. Joseph.
-Catherine Heverin – Religious
-Margaret Deegan RSM – Religious
-Anonymous – Religious
-3 named lay ministers and 3 anonymous
Total new signers: 17
Note- An obvious Spiritus Christi priest is not included.
So, the updated totals now of people who have signed the petition from the Diocese of Rochester:
Priests- 18
Deacons- 3
Religious- 23
Lay “Ministers”- 28
Updated lists in image form (click to enlarge) as copied and compiled from the petition are all available online for everyone to see at their site:
