Posted on 12/28/2006 1:08:42 PM PST by NYer
I always thought Rhinebeck would be a great name for a beer.
Absolutely. First off, you need to understand how Bishop Hubbard was appointed. It was through the recommendation of Archbishop Jean Jadot, an ultra liberal, who intentionally masterminded a plan to place 'like minded' individuals in key positions, in order to bring about Vatican III which would approve the ordination of women priests, along with other radical changes. Cardinal Mahony was another one of his 'picks'.
It's been more than 30 years since these men were appointed to their respective positions. During that time, they gradually began implementing what Jadot hoped would become the new Catholic Church. To cite an example, Hubbard turns away any orthodox thinking young candidates for the seminary as they don't fit in with his personal selections. The Diocese of Albany is rife with gay priests.
Since the Catholic Church does not allow for the ordination of women, Hubbard, Mahony and several others have used the excuse of 'shrinking priesthood' (which they artifically created) to justify placing 'Lay Ecclesial Ministers' (all women) in charge of parishes.
But I digress. To introduce some links, let me begin with the 'suicide' of Fr. Minkler in 2004. (BTW - one of my coworkers is related to the family through marriage and there is NO WAY this orthodox priest would have committed suicide). The following is an article printed by Crux News. Following the untimely and sudden death of Fr. Minkler, Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful, convened a meeting in Albany for the devout catholics who were in shock. I attended that meeting. This article gives the background and full story.
Priest's mysterious death complicates
Albany bishop's quest to clear his name
Two separate accusations that Bishop Howard Hubbard had homosexual relations, including paying for sex with a 16-year-old minor, have left the leader of the Albany diocese embarrassed and humiliated. At press conferences, in public statements, and on talk radio he has steadfastly refuted both allegations, saying that he has "never had sexual relations with anyone."
But it is the death of Fr. John Minkler that has severely complicated matters for the accused bishop. Fr. Minkler, 57, was found dead in his home on Sunday, February 15. Three days before, the deceased priest was identified in a television news report as the author of a 1995 report addressed to New York’s Cardinal John J. O’Connor. Among other things, the letter detailed "a ring of homosexual Albany priests" including Bishop Howard Hubbard’s alleged long-term homosexual relationships with two younger priests.
Police won’t say how Fr. Minkler died, only that the circumstances surrounding his death are not yet clear. The coroner has yet to release his report of the autopsy.
But that’s only the beginning. Bishop Hubbard appears to be caught in a lie, and according to sources close to the late priest, the bishop may also have forced Fr. Minkler to lie.
In a Feb. 16 press conference (the day after Fr. Minkler's death), Bishop Hubbard announced that Fr. Minkler disavowed authorship of the controversial report in a written affidavit signed at diocesan headquarters two days before his death. The bishop also claimed that Fr. Minkler arrived there of his own free-will and assured everyone that he was not summoned there: "Fr. Minkler made an appointment to see me, and he told me that he did not author the letter, and he wanted to be with me face-to-face and to assure me that he had not written anything to Cardinal O’Connor about me…and he did not know how his name got associated with the letter."
Stephen Brady, head of the Illinois-based Roman Catholic Faithful, was the first to contradict that report of events. Brady revealed that Fr. Minkler had been working with his lay Catholic group for at least three years in order to document homosexual misconduct and abuse among Albany priests, including Bishop Howard Hubbard. "[Fr.] Minkler was scared to death that the bishop would find out," Brady told Albany’s Times-Union. Brady said the priest left him a voice mail message asking for advice the day before his death.
Brady confirmed that Fr. Minkler was indeed the author of the controversial 1995 report. The priest sent Brady a copy of the report in 2001, and although the report itself was signed with the pseudonym "Henry," the fax coversheet accompanying the letter was signed by Fr. Minkler.
According to Paul Likoudis, news editor for The Wanderer, he received a phone call from Fr. Minkler shortly after the priest returned from signing the affidavit. In the course of their conversation, said Likoudis, Fr. Minkler indicated that, contrary to Bishop Hubbard’s claim, he was summoned to the chancery by diocesan chancellor Fr. Kenneth Doyle, former spokesman for the U.S. bishops conference in Washington. According to Likoudis, Fr. Minkler explained that Fr. Doyle had the affidavit all made out and told the priest to sign it during their brief meeting.
Fr. Joseph F. Wilson of the Diocese of Brooklyn also spoke with Fr. Minkler by telephone that same evening. Although the Albany priest made no mention to him of being summoned to the chancery, he did tell Fr. Wilson that "the bishop made me lie." Fr. Wilson said he assumed Fr. Minkler was referring to being forced to sign the affidavit disavowing authorship of the 1995 report to Cardinal O’Connor.
"I talked to Fr. Minkler for about an hour," Fr. Wilson explained. "He wanted advice on how to smooth things over with his bishop. I had no reservations whatsoever about his state of mind when I finished talking to him that night." Fr. Wilson added that the Albany priest also mentioned that he had talked with at least one other priest and a lay canon lawyer to solicit advice that same evening. "Not exactly the actions of a man who’s planning to commit suicide," commented Fr. Wilson.
Likoudis agreed, but admits that he doesn’t know the circumstances surrounding the priest’s death, other than that they seem suspicious. "It’s all speculation at this point," he said. What is not speculation is the fact that Fr. Minkler, a former secretary to Cardinal O’Connor, was asked by the late Archbishop of New York to prepare a brief detailing clerical corruption in the Albany diocese. That report, said Likoudis, was supposedly delivered directly into the hands of Pope John Paul II during a private 1995 meeting with Cardinal O’Connor, who was allegedly trying to facilitate the removal of the Albany bishop.
Likoudis was a featured speaker, along with Stephen Brady, at a public meeting held by Roman Catholic Faithful at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Albany a week after Fr. Minkler’s death. Likoudis told a crowd of 500 that for the past 13 years Fr. Minkler was a trusted source of inside information in the Diocese of Albany. In 1991, Likoudis added, Fr. Minkler was a primary source for a series of Wanderer articles ("Agony in Albany") critical of Bishop Howard Hubbard.
Brady revealed that Fr. Minkler was also a close collaborator with Roman Catholic Faithful: "Fr. Minkler had been seeking RCF’s assistance to help bring about reformative changes in the Albany diocese."
Fr. Minkler is not the first priest associated with Roman Catholic Faithful to die under mysterious circumstances. In 1998 Fr. Alfred Kunz was murdered at his rural Wisconsin parish. His throat was slit by a razor blade, and he bled to death before his body was discovered the next morning. Although the subject of one of the most extensive FBI investigations in Wisconsin history, the murder of Fr. Kunz remains a mystery.
Fr. Kunz was an accomplished canon lawyer who lent his expert assistance to Brady as Roman Catholic Faithful investigated homosexual corruption in the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois. Less than two years after the death of Fr. Kunz, Springfield’s Bishop Daniel Ryan resigned after Frank Bergen, a former male prostitute, identified the bishop as one of his regular high-paying clients for 11 years, going so far as to describe in detail the bishop’s private residence. Bishop Ryan, however, steadfastly denied that charge and others for years before he resigned.
One of Bishop Hubbard’s accusers is also a former male prostitute. Anthony Bonneau, now 40, says he was a 16-year-old runaway when the Albany bishop twice paid him for sex in Albany’s Washington Park. Bonneau told the Times-Union that he recognized Hubbard as one of his johns about ten years ago when he saw the bishop on television. At the time, he said he told only his wife.
Bonneau, a self-described born-again Christian, called the bishop "a Washington Park predator." He came forward with his allegations, he said, only after he saw Bishop Howard Hubbard deliver his public statement of denial about the first accusation of a homosexual encounter. He stated he has no intention of filing a suit against the diocese, and is motivated only out of a sense of Christian duty in hopes of protecting other children.
"I was appalled, I was totally appalled," Bonneau said of Bishop Hubbard’s assertion that he’s "never had sexual relations with anyone."
"There were many times he approached me," Bonneau announced at an Albany press conference. "There were also times when he paid me cash to have sex with him. It hurts me…to think that this person [Bishop Hubbard] could stand there and lie to the public."
Albany Chancellor Fr. Kenneth Doyle responded to Bonneau’s allegations. According to the Times-Union (Feb. 7, 2004), Fr. Doyle "repeated Hubbard’s statement that the bishop has never broken his vow of celibacy, which Doyle said includes any oral contact or fondling."
Bishop Hubbard also found an ally in Fr. Joseph Cebula of Schenectady. Fr. Cebula told the Times-Union that he’s confident his bishop did nothing wrong: "I think [Hubbard] is a man of integrity and honesty. He’s a man of his word, and I think he’s a moral person too."
After two allegations were leveled against Bishop Hubbard, the Albany shepherd was quick to try to clear his name. Once he heard of the first accusation—Albany native Andrew Zalay came forward with a recently-discovered suicide note allegedly typed out by his brother, who claimed to be having a homosexual relationship with a bishop named Howard before setting himself ablaze in his Albany home—the bishop cut short his vacation in Florida to return home to the eye of the storm.
Determined to restore his reputation, Bishop Hubbard said that rather than waiting for vindication in a protracted legal battle, he is planning to appeal to the court of public opinion. Apart from his chancery staff and other collaborators, the public in Albany seems so willing to believe the accusations against their bishop—whether they are true or not—for a number of compelling reasons.
Victims rights advocates, for example, have criticized Bishop Hubbard for his opposition to the U.S. bishops "zero tolerance" policy adopted by the national conference in 2002. That policy states that any priest who has had sexual contact with a child—even if only once—be removed from ministry immediately and permanently. Bishop Hubbard defended his stance in the name of "compassion and forgiveness" for first time offenders.
Many Catholics in the Diocese of Albany and beyond have also been critical of Bishop Hubbard for further reasons, not the least of which is promotion of a homosexualist agenda within the Catholic Church. For example, in 1991 the bishop defended his practice of ordaining known homosexual priests, telling the Times Union: "I believe the Church has a responsibility to all its members…I don’t think gays or anybody else should be excluded from the ministry. Indeed, I think we have a responsibility to reach out to them with sensitivity and compassion" (Feb. 22, 1991).
As detailed in Paul Likoudis’s 2002 book Amchurch Comes Out, a number of priests ordained by Bishop Hubbard (who is, by the way, the episcopal moderator for the National Catholic AIDS Network) have since left the priesthood to "marry" another man, homosexually abused minors, and one—formerly Fr. Dennis Brennan—underwent a sex-change operation and legally changed his name to Denise, all with Bishop Hubbard’s "understanding and guidance" (New York Post, Feb. 15, 2000).
Along with Bishop Hubbard’s neighboring Diocese of Rochester, under the leadership of Hubbard’s longtime friend Bishop Matthew Clark, the Diocese of Albany has long been known as one of the most gay-friendly dioceses in the nation.
Although Bishop Howard Hubbard is setting out with great gusto to prove himself innocent of any and all allegations of homosexual misconduct, his greater challenge is going to be disassociating himself from suspicion that he has anything whatsoever to do with the mysterious death of Fr. John Minkler, the bishop’s longtime detractor.
For those who want to read a detailed history of the damage done in this diocese, go to this link, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Agony in Albany . It is a lengthy document in .pdf format but well worth the read. Is it worth reading? Here's a sampling of what you will find.
Agony in Albany also discussed several other priests and seminarians close to the bishop. Among them:
• Fr. Richard Fragomeni, the bizarre theologian who is now an associate professor of liturgy and preaching at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and who is a regular speaker at Roger Cardinal Mahony’s annual Religious Education Congress.
• Fr. Richard Vosko, the notorious church "wreckovator." Thirteen years ago, Agony in Albany revealed: "When Fr. Vosko goes into a parish he is about to renovate, he ‘educates’ people on the changes the church will go through. The communion rail, he points out in places where he is going to remove it, ‘divides the sanctuary area from the people’s area. In another age, it was used to keep animals from roaming freely in the church. The church wasn’t just for worship; it was a marketplace. . . . There’s no requirement for a railing today’."
In 1990, when the diocesan newspaper, The Evangelist, did a profile on Vosko, the former director of the Diocesan Liturgy Center, and his architectural firm, it reported that he had renovated 170 churches in 20 states, and in 1990 alone, he had 17 projects in 13 states and two Canadian provinces.
As Hubbard’s top liturgist, Vosko began introducing altar girls to parish worship in 1976, and publicly advocated ordaining women. He also implemented a policy that all young women preparing for Confirmation be trained and installed as "acolytes" — even though that order is reserved to men.
• Fr. Kenneth Doyle, who was at the time serving as the spokesman for the U.S. bishops at their Washington headquarters, was described by a priest as "someone to be watched, and someone the bishop will use to his advantage."
• Fr. Desmond Rossi, in 1991, was still a seminarian, but also someone for local Catholics to watch. Agony in Albany reported:
"There is no doubt that Bishop Hubbard is drawing men from other dioceses who want to serve under him because they share his vision of the Church.
"One such candidate is seminarian Desmond Rossi, who was featured April 18, [1991, seven weeks into Agony in Albany!] in The Evangelist’s ‘Focus on Vocations’ section.
"Rossi is from Garwood, N.J., and is currently finishing his fourth year of seminary at the Theological College at Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
"He told Evangelist reporter Liz Urbanski that he wanted to be a priest in Albany ‘because I wanted to become part of Bishop Hubbard’s vision of the Church. I’ve always been very pleased with Bishop Hubbard. . . .
" ‘The modern priest,’ continued Rossi, ‘ is someone who is willing to talk about Christian values in the context of a society which contradicts those values. He is not a moral policeman but someone who walks beside you and helps you in your struggle with your own humanity, as he struggles with his own humanity’. . . .
" ‘What is significant,’ a priest told The Wanderer, ‘is that in this vocations issue, we’re hearing from Desmond Rossi and not from Bishop Hubbard’."
Also: Part IX of Agony in Albany concluded with a quotation from Bishop Hubbard, which was published in the February 22 issue of The Evangelist. This was after he had been informed that Agony in Albany was in preparation, and that one of its themes would be the homosexualization of the local clergy. That quotation follows:
"I believe the Church has a responsibility to all its members. . . . I don’t think gays or anybody else should be excluded from the ministry. Indeed, I think we have a responsibility to reach out to them with sensitivity and compassion but at the same time I also believe that we have to proclaim the Gospel message as we understand it."
And there's plenty more where that came from.
This is very sad, and I am certainly praying for him. I have no love for suicides, because a lot of them do it to make somebody else feel guilty. However, he sounds like he was just seriously depressed.
I looked through the article but I didn't see his name mentioned and he also seems to have been out of the diocese for a number of years. Do you think there was a connection with the bad things that have gone on there (and I personally think there have been murders and crimes committed to cover up certain people), or was this just a horrible but not related event?
Well, goodness. We actually had a bad situation in my parish here, with 3 priests suddenly being "moved" elsewhere, one of whom being said to be seriously ill. Another was subsequently arrested in a park for solicitation of homosexual sex. It was quite a shock, but it was handled. The parish is quite conservative.
The Albany situation sounds absolutely sinister.
Truly sad. I will leave his judgement up to God, but prayers offered for mercy.
Is your church under the Albany Diocese?
I seem to recall that the Ukrainian Catholics have sort of a separate diocese (is this true, on the same canonical terrirtory?)
Is the Albany situation still getting worse, or perhaps improving?
Wow!
How soon for Bishop Hubbard's retirement?
Who was the other?
We're in Mahoney's Diocese, Los Angeles. Where we were RCIA'd, the (very liberal) priest said, "We have a terrible priest shortage. All they send us from Seminary is the orthodox priests. We cannot have THAT, of course."
My husband asked, 'Why is that?' "Well, conservatives are NEVER the creative ones. They are just stuck in old ways of thinking. Who can you even think of who was conservative and creative?" We all three spontaneously said, "C.S. Lewis." He was speechless, for about a second.
I hadn't thought that part of this agenda was 'so they can have lay/ women helpers in the parish' but of course, that has to be part of it. Uck. (We don't attend there now, of course).
La la la la la la...the catholics can't hear you (or read this).
6 more years!
No, we fall under the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn.
The Redemptorists are in a sorry state. I know one man who was kicked out of their novitiate after he debunked the Enneagram, not knowing it was a favorite superstition of the novice director.
very sorry to hear that. Redemptorist Father Pablo Straub is outstanding; I always try to watch his programs on EWTN.
/Sigh/ I was afraid someone would post a comment of this nature. First it was the Jesuits, then the Dominicans, the Franciscans and now the Redemptorists. No wonder so many young men are being drawn to Mother Angelica's priestly order!
As for Fr. Pablo Straub, I too have enjoyed many of his tv lectures. Recently, a very orthodox catholic priest pointed out certain errors in Fr. Straub's material. Don't ask for specifics; I don't have them. Since I don't weigh on Fr. Straub's every word, I will continue to enjoy his overall talks. Is nothing sacred anymore?
The most miserable people in all the world are believers who fall away from the mind of Christ and then wallow in any number of counterfeit thinking mechanisms to avoid a simple faith in Him through Christ.
No matter what the sin, no matter how heinous or public, nothing,..absolutely nothing whatsosever can keep the believer from returning to Christ by his own simple thinking and volition to simply place a little faith in Him. Confessing those sins directly to God through Christ is simple, when one considers every sin and personal sin ever committed in human history was judged on the Cross and was known by God Himself before the judgement was made.
One of the most heinous maneuvers of the Adversary is to confuse our thinking into believing salvation and faith is identifiable with morality. They are completely different issues.
No matter what the sin, whether slight or egregious, known or unknown, lacking any propensity to commit or fully habitually ensnared and tempted,...no matter what temptation exists, unless a believer places simple faith in Him, the believer will sin.
If we fall back from temptation to rely upon morality and the law in order to avoid sin, we immediately stumble into the sin of legalism, which will scar our thinking just as assuredly as lasciviousness.
Amazingly though, if one takes the simple faith of a child, and places faith in Him and remains focused on the mind of Christ, no matter what the temptation we are able to persevere. Place the issue in His hands and let the indwelling of God handle the situation rather than trying to overcome temptation independent of Him.
IMHO, this needs to be stressed repeatedly amonsgt the priests of God as an elementary essential of our faith.
I would differ:
IF a diocese had a priest surplus, then they would be willing to get rid of (retire/defrock) those who were immoral, perverts, misleading, or truly sinful.
It's ONLY when you desperately need priest (empty collars) that you keep those who MUST be weeded out or segregated.
Also, those homosexual priests who are sexual predators will kept was well - or shuffled from parish to parish.
*
The formula here is to assign (what few remaining) orthodox priests as hospital chaplains or to remote parishes. In the latter instance, there was one priest who continued to draw catholics who drove long distances to hear his homilies. He was pulled from that parish and re-assigned to a desk job.
Thirty years has resulted in a 'trimmed down' diocese served by gay priests and Lay Ecclesial (women) Ministers.
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