Fr. Eugene Heidt and Archbishop Levada (A diocesan priest's experience)

Priest Where Is Thy Mass, Mass Where Is Thy Priest? | January 2004

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Every time I went to see him, I’d go in and argue with him. I think there is only one pastoral letter he wrote, supposedly on the Mass and the Eucharist. I read the thing and I took it to his office, and I said, “Did you write this? Is this supposed to be a complete treatise on the Eucharist and the Mass? How did you manage to get through this whole thing without once mentioning Transubstantiation?” “Well, that’s such a long and difficult term anyway,” he said, “and we don’t use that term anymore.”

Meet our new guardian of orthodoxy.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

They used to have three-day seminars, once a year. I went to the first one, and I stayed the first morning. At mid-morning, we met with the Archbishop, and we could ask him any kind of questions that we wanted. Well, the Archbishop started out with one of the directives that came from Rome, and he said that the Masses of priests who use anything other than unleavened bread and sacramental wine are to be questioned. But the Archbishop himself was pooh-poohing the idea. So these priest go the idea that they could go ahead and use pita bread, cookie dough, whatever. You could go down to Safeway and get a jug of wine or even grape juice! It didn’t seem to make too much difference to him.

[murphE]

Well, in my book that’s unacceptable!” and I got up and walked out the door and went home. And that’s the last one I attended.

Hey that's pretty much what I did when I was in a pastoral [mal]formation class offered by my diocese.

[murphE]

Then, I asked Fr. Laisney if I could help him out in the chapels in Portland and Venata, and he said, “Welcome aboard!”

I just met Fr. Laisney. He was giving a lecture on the Shroud a few weeks ago. It was excellent.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

More Levada information in this old FR thread -

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/700876/posts

Among his [Mahony] former classmates, to name a few, are William J. Levada, archbishop of San Francisco; George Niederhauer, bishop of Salt Lake City; Justin S. Regali, archbishop of St. Louis; Manuel D. Moreno, bishop of Tucson, Arizona; Tod D. Brown, bishop of the Diocese of Orange, and John T. Steinbock, bishop of Fresno.

--snip--

New Times has learned that Mahony chum and longtime Zieman friend and fellow St. John's alum William Levada, the archbishop of San Francisco, is playing a prominent role in supervising Zieman's "spiritual rehabilitation." This, despite heated denials by Levada's spokesman that the archbishop has had nothing to do with Zieman's supervision in Arizona. Levada publicly lauded Zieman on the day he resigned his Santa Rosa post, even as the bishop insisted that the allegations against him were false. Even the location of Zieman's exile hardly seems coincidental. The bishop in whose jurisdiction the monastery is located is none other than Manuel Moreno, a classmate of both Mahony's and Levada's at St. John's and another longtime Zieman friend.

--snip--

Archbishop Levada of San Francisco, a longtime Zieman friend and another of Mahony's chums from St. John's, issued a statement that sounded more like a testimonial than a farewell to a disgraced spiritual leader. Levada said he joined "friends throughout California and beyond in thanking [Zieman] for the energy and gifts he has shared far and wide. Our prayers and good wishes go with him."

--snip--

Church officials' reluctance to discuss one of American Catholicism's most notorious bad boys is understandable, considering his close ties to Roger Mahony. Take Levada, for example. Sources say that before former San Francisco archbishop John Quinn resigned prematurely in 1995, he submitted the names of 10 bishops to the Vatican as possible successors and that Levada (St. John's class of '61), then bishop of Portland, Oregon, wasn't among them. Rather, within church circles Mahony is widely credited with having exerted his influence with the Vatican to win the coveted San Francisco appointment for Levada, his longtime friend and former St. John's classmate.

--snip--

And despite the vigorous denials by Healy and another San Francisco archdiocese representative that Levada has played a role in his friend Zieman's supervision, both Wagner and Quinn revealed the opposite. Indeed, the two church leaders say Levada -- along with no lesser personage than the papal nuncio, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States -- is directly involved in supervising the activities of the group charged with helping to restore Zieman to spiritual health. Levada consults with one or another member of the group after each session with Zieman and has met personally with Zieman and the group at least twice. Asked if Zieman is welcome to attend the meeting of American bishops that was to begin in Dallas on June 13, Quinn says he supposes "that he [is], but I doubt very seriously that he would attend given his circumstances." Meanwhile, when asked if he foresees a time when Zieman's role as a bishop may be normalized, Wagner, the vicar general, concludes, "We never like to say never."

[murphE]

I bumped it out of the archives...pinged you to it.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Got it.

I should add, prayers are requested for Fr. Heidt. The word is that he is in poor health and not expected to survive much longer. Ironic this news comes on the day Levada is appointed to CDF and the first day of Our Lady's apparitions at Fatima.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Ping

More info on Levada here.

[Dajjal]

sad bumpus ad summum

[kstewskis]

I have this book, but haven't gotten to this part yet.

It sounds like we're screwed....unless the Holy Ghost hears our S.O.S. very soon.

[Diago]

I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps Cardinal Ratzinger actually did want the job of Pope and actually campaigned for it. And perhaps, one of the deals he cut before hand was to promise to pick a liberal American as his own replacement. The same way presidential candidates pick a VP who will balance the ticket. This whole thing is quite heartbreaking.

[Siobhan]

Thank you for this ping. This is just the sort of thing I knew was out there but couldn't put my fingers on.

[Siobhan]

More than heartbreaking. Diabolical -- unless I am really missing something here.

[Diago]

According to other reports:

On the morning of his election, Ratzinger had breakfast with four cardinals from Asia and Africa and also Roger Mahony of Los Angeles. At breakfast, and throughout all the meetings leading to the conclave, Ratzinger was able to address each cardinal by name and spoke to them in shared languages, according to Mahony.

[Siobhan]

The slime trail always leads to Mahony.

[Arguss]

I think the honeymoon is over and we are getting a clearer vision of where Pope Benedict will be taking the Church. No place new apparently.

All those good feelings and hopes I had are starting to wear thin. Somebody once made the comment here, and that I had long held, that the office of CDF was charged with simply slowing down, not stopping, the creep of modernism in the Church. To allow it (modernism) to play out unchecked would destroy the Church overnight rather than allow it to morph into a modernist tool. That apparently was Ratzinger's job, and now falls on Levada.

[murphE]

All those good feelings and hopes I had are starting to wear thin. Somebody once made the comment here, and that I had long held, that the office of CDF was charged with simply slowing down, not stopping, the creep of modernism in the Church. To allow it (modernism) to play out unchecked would destroy the Church overnight rather than allow it to morph into a modernist tool. That apparently was Ratzinger's job, and now falls on Levada.

[sigh]

Ping

[Pyro7480]

Arugss,

I believe you meant to ping Diago to your post #17, not Diego.

In the words of the character Zorg from the movie "The Fifth Element," "I am very... disappointed," to say the least. Thank you Debbie for posting this. I have this book too, but it's been a while. I agree with kstweskis that we need to pray, and pray HARD, particularly to the Holy Ghost. Between this, his connection to Mahoney, and the pagan prayer that his archdiocese had posted, Levada's posting to Ratzinger's old post is not a good development at all. As with all things, we should be vigilant.

[Frank Sheed]

Caution all!

Sin of Despair, St. Thomas, Summa

Frank