[CatherineSiena]

ping

[sinkspur]

I would think that Egan, who's more of a CEO than a spiritual shepherd, would be sending the sheriff to arrest the school administration, given that they are over $600,000 in arrears to the archdiocese!

They are clearly bad fiscal managers, as well as horrible overseers of Catholic religious education.

But, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Egan can't stand in O'Connor's shadow.

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[johnb2004]

I have heard nothing good about Egan. I though all the new Vatican appointments were more Catholic than the Pope? I guess this one slipped through?

[Unam Sanctam]

Finally a priest who tries to fix the tremendous problem of faulty catechesis, and look at what they do to the good pastor (a true shepherd indeed!).

[ELS]

Interesting find. Are you a member of this parish?

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Very interesting. That was my wife's parish in NYC. She lived at 227 E. 96th St. - one block down.

[Siobhan]

Everybody and their brother read this! And call Cardinal Egan's phone till it melts.

Ping your list if you have one, please....

So, Siobhan, what do you think of Cardinal Egan?
When he stops smoking with Satan I'll tell you.

[NYer]

Another refuses to teach her students to make the Sign of the Cross.

When my daughter returned home on her first day in catholic school Kindergarten, pinned to her uniform was a picture of a child making the Sign of the Cross. Her homework assignment was to practice that for the following day. I still have that beautiful reminder from her catholic school days.

God bless Fr. Murr for making a sound decision. His reward will come later.

[TradicalRC]

This is so sad. Why, why, why do the good get punished by those who know better and the bad are allowed free rein?

[livius]

I'm very impressed by the pastor's actions and words in this letter, as well as the actions of the Parish Council and others. Now the ball is in the Cardinal's court.

Egan is a very confusing person, as far as I can tell(although I no longer live in NYC, so I only get to find out what's going on there when I visit). He seems basically orthodox, but he certainly hasn't been very responsive on a lot of issues. He also has all the personal charm of a frozen mackeral, from what I have seen, and seems to make a habit of simply not responding.

[narses]

"Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and as administrator of the Parish of St. Lucy."

[Cicero]

I had some acquaintance with Cardinal Egan when he was bishop of Bridgeport. He is personally impressive, gives a good sermon, and appeared to be theologically sound. I read his monthly columns in the diocesant paper, and they were always sound.

There were problems in the diocese, but it's hard to know how much of that a bishop is responsible for. He certainly showed NO signs of being a liberal or of being sympathetic to dissent.

But I have to say that he has NOT done a good job in New York. Maybe the job is too much for him. Maybe he lacks the necessary determination that Cardinal O'Connell had. In any case he has certainly made some terrible mistakes.

The ostensible reason for giving Fr. Pavone a parish was that all priests should pitch in and help, and that's hard to argue with. But Fr. Pavone was far too important doing the job he was doing (and still seems to be doing). It sent the wrong signal.

No doubt parishes needed to be closed. But did he close the right ones? It seems not.

I have to admit that I also knew Cardinal Law many years ago, and HE seemed to be sound too. He had a reputation as a conservative. The liberals didn't like him. But he obviously had huge problems nevertheless. I hope Egan doesn't follow the same path.

[hellinahandcart]

This is the school where I was sent to close polls last election. Didn't know I was walking into a den of iniquity. :-/

[RitaP]

I have already written the Cardinal's office, the Diocese of Boston and discussed this situation with my confessor. He reminds us of the following: All four gospels come down to two words: Take Action!

And giving aid and comfort to the spiritual enemy is not action but appeasement. In my view, it would be better to act in truth and be wrong, than to fail to act and be wrong. To be condemned by history is one thing; to be condemned by the truth is quite another.

Consider James Ch 1:

2. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials,

3. for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

4. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.

6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

7. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

I feel strongly on the subject as I have been sending my granddaughters to Catholic School for years. I do not live in this particular diocese, but must believe this is not unusual. It reminds me a a couple instances which were dismissed by me in the past. For example, a lay Religion teacher telling the one in high school there is no reason for women to be denied ORDERS as they were allowed in the early Church--deaconess. This one also spoke of an assembly with abortion as the topic. She said many of the girls told the priest giving the talk that women "had the right to choose." The eight grader said she had never heard you could sin in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED. Said she knew nothing about the THOUGHT thing. Or how about avoiding sex because they were TOO YOUNG; nothing about SIN. I did question the principal regarding the last--it was denied, and I was assured it was discussed as a sacramental matter. I will admit the other things mentioned, and more I chalked up to "sleeping in class". After reading of Fr. Murr's situation I really do wonder. Perhaps the time for presuming, or assuming the children are receiving the same solid teachings we received as children is long gone.