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Attorney E-Mails Pope, Defends Fired Priest
MichNews.com ^ | 05/13/2005 | Sharon Bourassa (ed. Matt C. Abbott)

Posted on 05/13/2005 8:01:01 AM PDT by Aristotle721

All is not well in the Archdiocese of Miami. Attorney Sharon Bourassa of Sunrise, Fla. sent the following (edited) e-mail to a number of individuals, including Pope Benedict XVI:

“I was told the Archbishop of Poland met here in the Archdiocese of Miami with Archbishop John Favalora and Monsignor William Hennessey [vicar general of the archdiocese] concerning the firing of a good and holy priest, Andrew Dowgiert. According to one of my priest sources, Archbishop Favalora is requesting that the polish archbishop suspend Father Andrew from the priesthood.

“This is an abomination. This is retaliation because we, the faithful, are fighting the archdiocese's sexually active gay clergy.

“Father Andrew did nothing wrong when he was appointed to All Saints as Parochial Vicar to the new pastor, Anibal Morales. Father Andrew was only at All Saints four weeks when he noticed that things were very wrong. If he were a homosexual priest like so many of the others, Father Andrew would never have complained about what was going on and would still be working at All Saints. Sadly, it is becoming a common practice for Archbishop Favalora and Monsignor Hennessey to fire a priest when they speak the truth.

“It appears that our archdiocese will be ruled by the gay clergy. The good priests tell me the gay clergy is now in the majority. With a few exceptions, only gay applicants are accepted into St. John Vianney Seminary.

“What did Father Andrew do? All he did was threaten to complain to the archbishop about the overspending of monies at All Saints. He did not like working for an actively gay pastor, Anibal Morales, because Morales had his boyfriend constantly at the church. He had him teach a seminar to the staff on ‘How to treat a new pastor,’ and Morales was not coming home until 3 a.m. (when he did come home). Father Morales was not there to say his morning masses. Father Morales was living with his boyfriend, Carlos Insignares, a former seminarian, in the house they owned in Miami. To this day, Morales lives with Carlos Insignares in the home in Miami.

“Fr. Morales was the third gay pastor that poor Father Andrew has had to deal with. One did not pay him and the other made a homosexual advance and numerous sexual comments to him. Then he gets Father Morales.

“My priest sources tell me that the archdiocese is about 70 to 90 percent gay. The straight priests are working under persecution and oppression. Because we, the parishioners of All Saints, are standing up for this good and holy priest … the Archbishop is retaliating like he has done to so many others who have spoken up.

“Archbishop Favalora does not want us, the faithful, to fight this ‘cancer’ in our midst, so he is going after Father Andrew to show us and him that we cannot question the issue of homosexuality and stealing of massive church funds. Many of the gay priests are living in beautiful homes away from their parishes with another ‘single’ male and we have no right to question that. We then become persecuted and oppressed. My priests' sources tell me that even if Father Andrew could bring this issue to the ‘tribunal,’ it is heavily weighted with sexually active gays.

“I am sending a copy of this e-mail to our beloved pope so he can see a very small picture of what is happening here in the Archdiocese of Miami, and all over the United States.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt C. Abbott is the former executive director of the Illinois Right to Life Committee and the former director of public affairs for the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. He is a Catholic journalist and commentator. He can be reached at mattcabbott@hotmail.com.

Copyright© MichNews.com. All Rights Reserved.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: catholic; church; clergyscandal; fired; florida; homosexuality; homosexualpriests; miami; priesthood
Found this while searching for news on the Holy Father. Thought it was interesting enough to merit posting. Know nothing about any of the individuals involved in the story, so I am withholding judgement.
1 posted on 05/13/2005 8:01:03 AM PDT by Aristotle721
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To: EdReform

ping


2 posted on 05/13/2005 8:56:08 AM PDT by Rytwyng (I'm still fond of the United States. I just can't find it. -- Fred Reed)
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To: Rytwyng
These are bizarre claims. We all know that there are many homosexuals in the Catholic clergy. Estimates range from 10 to 30 percent. NO one has EVER claimed 80 or 90 percent. For a large archdiocese like Miami to have 80 to 90 percent of its priests homosexual would be impossible unless heterosexuals were kept out of the seminaries with almost perfect efficiency for several consecutive decades. Frankly a figure of 90 percent is ridiculous. Moreover, most clergy of homosexual orientation are not so obvious about it. So how would the person making these claims be able to know that 90% was a true figure even if it were? These claims sound hysterical. The shock of the clerical abuse scandal seems to have caused some people to come unhinged.
3 posted on 05/13/2005 9:13:34 AM PDT by smpb (smb)
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To: smpb
We all know that there are many homosexuals in the Catholic clergy. Estimates range from 10 to 30 percent. NO one has EVER claimed 80 or 90 percent.

Globally or even nationally, I'm sure the figure is much lower, but it's not impossible that in certain places, there may be a local concentration -- a "nest" of them.

For a large archdiocese like Miami to have 80 to 90 percent of its priests homosexual would be impossible unless heterosexuals were kept out of the seminaries with almost perfect efficiency for several consecutive decades

Well, insider accounts suggest that this indeed happened in some seminaries. With a large supply of homo-priests available, and with, perhaps, some of them controlling local assignments, this COULD happen.

The new Pope, hopefully, will get rid of them all.

4 posted on 05/13/2005 9:25:24 AM PDT by Rytwyng (I'm still fond of the United States. I just can't find it. -- Fred Reed)
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To: Rytwyng

I'm sure there are many priests who have gay tendencies but are chaste and are in fact good priests. Its always the bad apples that make the whole basket look bad!


5 posted on 05/13/2005 9:58:10 AM PDT by JustMytwocents70
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To: JustMytwocents70

Hmmm interesting article.


6 posted on 05/13/2005 11:09:23 AM PDT by Aleighanne
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To: Aristotle721

BTTT


7 posted on 05/13/2005 10:03:22 PM PDT by murphE (These are days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed but his own. --G.K. Chesterton)
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To: Aristotle721

Interesting story, but I wonder why we, at least I, have never heard about it. This kind of story tends to get a lot of play in Catholic circles, or the us versus them crowd. Or has this kind of story happen all too much lately, and is not newsworthy any longer?


8 posted on 05/14/2005 9:06:30 AM PDT by Arguss (Take the narrow road)
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To: Arguss
You could not make this story up. I've been a priest 41 years with more than a nodding acquaintance of the U.S. Catholic Church.
I am not convinced that american catholics (inc.SNAP) realise the depth of corruption and cover-up there is.
9 posted on 05/22/2005 1:30:08 PM PDT by tubel
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To: Rytwyng
Globally or even nationally, I'm sure the figure is much lower, but it's not impossible that in certain places, there may be a local concentration -- a "nest" of them.

You're right. It's very possible. Miami is a gay hot spot like San Francisco and West Hollywood. There is a huge gay community. It makes sense that the seminary there was infiltrated like this. It is a "nest" indeed.

10 posted on 05/22/2005 2:26:58 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: tubel

What's SNAP?


11 posted on 05/22/2005 2:27:56 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: GipperGal

An interesting article on SNAP.

http://www.tfp.org/TFPForum/catholic_perspective/votf.htm

Maybe I'll post the whole thing as a seperate article.


12 posted on 05/22/2005 2:44:02 PM PDT by Diago
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To: Diago

Oh. Thanks. It's sad that the very people who have been hurt the hardest by the priest scandal are the ones who are so blind to the obvious cause. It's like they're suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.


13 posted on 05/22/2005 2:58:13 PM PDT by GipperGal
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To: GipperGal

SNAP = Survivors network of those abused by priests.


14 posted on 05/23/2005 12:37:02 PM PDT by tubel
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