Posted on 03/15/2008 5:50:26 AM PDT by NYer
BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Nearly four dozen priests in Belleville's diocese want Bishop Edward Braxton to step down.
A letter signed by 45 priests and sent to Braxton says his resignation would be for the good of Braxton and the diocese.
In January, Braxton publicly apologized for spending about $18,000 from restricted diocesan and Vatican funds.
The letter by the priests says they've become "increasingly frustrated by the lack of collaborative and consultative leadership" from Braxton, who took over the diocese in mid-2005.
The diocese covers Illinois' 28 southernmost counties and has more than 100,000 Roman Catholics.
The letter will be forwarded to the archbishop of Chicago and the Vatican's representative in Washington.
Braxton isn't commenting.
Ping!
The ,ost important part of the story doesn't say HOW he spent the funds.....feeding the poor or gambling? Big difference.
Braxton also may have bought a wooden chancery table and chairs with $10,000 from a "Future Full of Hope" fund for children and adults, the Belleville News-Democrat reported this week, citing a motion criticizing Braxton passed by the fund's board.
In the pretty small diocese of Belleville, if nearly four dozen priests put their signitures to something like this, the wheels have fallen off the train.
According to Catholic-hierarchy.org, there are 110 diocesan priests and 42 religious priests in 124 parishes in the diocese. (Does the petition include religious priests, since they do not “work for him”?)
I do know that there was nary a complaint, and indeed national prominence (top post in the USCCB) and even an Archdiocese given for Braxton’s heretical and politically correct predecessor, Wilton Gregory. And while it sounds very bad for Braxton (IOW, I do NOT mean this as a defense of him), his appointment was one of Rigali’s in the territory of Cardinal Bernadin and his lavendar mafia.
The wheels probably fell off the train when Gregory was bishop. These rebellious priests have no right to expect to be “consulted” or to expect the bishop to “collaborate” with them. They have the obligation to sit down, shut up and submit in humble obedience to their bishop. If they have a legitimate complaint, i.e., that his governance of the diocese is not consistent with Catholicism, then they should bring that to the attention of the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican not to the attention of the local radio station. No one in actual Church authority asked for the impudent opinions of these priests and no one ought to ask. They evidently operate under the assumption that the Catholic Church is some sort of democracy which, thenk God, it is not and never will be.
Amen. You read my mind.
Good comments on this thread from knowledgeable folks. As the sins of bishops go in recent years (pedophilia, heresy, apostasy, liturgical abuse, breaking immigration laws, opposing our military, funding pro-abortion and pro-GLBT groups, mandating sex-ed classes for 6-year olds, ETC) buying expensive vestments ranks pretty low on the list of offenses, it seems to me. For this many priests to get together in an act of disobedience, I suspect what they really don’t like is that he doesn’t do things their way. The real story may not even be here.
The protest technique worked against Cardinal Law. It remains to be seen if it will work against this bishop. Although the padres are apparently not following correct procedures, the bishop also has no right under Canon Law to divert donations made for a specific purpose to other purposes. If he did this, he is just another example of a bishop placing himself above church law.
Wasn’t he from the Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana before going to Belleville?
As to Boston and Law, don't you think that the main role of the priests there was behaving scandalously as did the late Fr. Geoghan and that they had little to say that was relevant and that they could not discipline their diocesan ordinary if they wanted to???
The issue was theft. Some bishops, especially ones who view themselves as a corporation sole, don’t really believe that they’re stealing when they dip into Peter’s Pence, or hijack the Priest’s Pension Fund to pay off people who have dirt on bishops.
What is probably happening in Belleville is that people are starting to rethink giving to the Church. The crunch is on, but the bishop, with neary an apology, is still sending his bills to the parishes (Diocesan Stewardship) to pay up or else, and threatening to get rid of the guy who exposed the theft, and the priests have to get up there in the pulpit and tell people this is all on the up and up. They can’t do it anymore.
I’m glad the priests are fighting this, liberal or conservative. The alternative is that they can lay down and somebody else can board up their windows in a couple years.
You're absolutely right. That's exactly how the Catholic Church is supposed to work.
However, that train left the station many, many years ago and it's never coming back.
There's just too much corruption and incompetence among the Church clergy for the authoritarian model to work anymore.
The best that we can hope is that the authority related to theology and dogma is protected, but the kind of authority of which you speak will never return. It's just wishful thinking.
I live in Belleville...this case is nothing less than a challenge by some 1970s left-overs to the authority of an orthodox bishop. They want the happy-clappy 70s back...and Bishop Braxton is an orthodox man...and the rebels don’t like it.
Liturgical abuse is rampant in this diocese...as is all sorts of heterodox hoo-hah. Between Sister-I-Don’t-Wear-Your-Patriarchal-Habit and Father listing the bishop’s “faults” during Holy Mass, there is a lot of work for His Excellency to do. Bishop Braxton has my full support.
A link to that article is:
According to this article, 37 priests met with the Bishop, then they went off to write a letter after this meeting.
These priests decided that Bishop Edward Braxton no longer had moral authority to lead and govern the Diocese since he spent money meant for the poor.
There is a priest, in this article, Father Weidert, who is supporting the Bishop and opposing these priests.
This priest, Father Weidert, has bought an ad in the newspaper in support of the Bishop.
Father Weidert was a lawyer before bcoming a priest. He was ordained a priest at age 63 and is now 75.
[One time ping to let folks on this thread know about the other article and a little bit more information about how this has come about...]
Given the rebellious orientation of the Belleville Diocesan priests and the fact that the diocese was misgoverned by Wilton Gregory before Braxton, if Braxton, for any reason, is no longer bishop at some point in the future, then the Vatican should let St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke choose the new bishop. urke understands authority and its use and can choose someone to clean out the nest of vipers in Belleville.
I don’t think any train has left the station. Rather, we have lived through a thankfully brief period in which the lunatics have been in charge of the asylum. Review the appointments of American bishops in recent years and it is reasonably clear that the days of AmChurch ecclesiastical leftism are numbered. The restoration of genuine authority with real punishment of vipers in clerical garb reflects not wishful thinking but hard current analysis coupled with the virtue of hope, given to us by our Founder. It WILL be how the Church will be governed as it is how the Church has been governed through most of its history.
1. Unless you are a Roman Catholic in communion with the Holy See, this controversy is none of your business. Are you a Roman Catholic in communion with the Holy See??? I did not think so. Being a disgruntled ex-Catholic does not count.
2. The issue, only according to the rebellious loudmouth priest faction (in violation of their massacred oaths of obedience to ecclesiastical authority) at Belleville and their supporters, is theft. The remedy for that issue lies with the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops which acts against the misbehavior of bishops with regularity. The unspoken issue of these rebellious vipers in Roman collars is that they are being expected for the first time in decades to act as though they were Catholic rather than as free-lancing, free-thinking "Enlightenment" philosopher kings organizing politically for the Demonrats which was the standard under the leftist predecessor of Braxton, Wilton Gregory. They are shocked, shocked (!!!) that reflexive Kumbaya is NOT Catholicism.
3. There is nothing wrong with the dissenting priests and their supporters that cannot be cured by the Congregation for Bishops (IF and only IF there was misconduct by Braxton) and (regardless of that issue) silencing and/or defrocking and/or excommunicating the rebel priests. Catholicism is not a democracy and, thank God, never will be. Of course, a restoration of the powers and methods of the medieval Holy Office would be icing on the cake.
4. When these rebellious priest trash are disciplined and hopefully excommunicated, you can recruit them to be clergy in whatever denomination, if any, you may belong to and Catholics can say good riddance to each and every one!
5. The purchase of vestments for the saying of Mass (allegedly the "wrongful" application of the funds) is certainly a legitimate function of the Church whose ordained priests in good standing say Mass at the specific instruction of Christ Himself, whether you think so or not.
6. There is no reason whatsoever for Bishop Braxton to apologize to anyone for buying liturgical vestments. Abny "catholic" who would violate the precepts of the Church by refusing the obligation to contribute to the support of the Church because (horrors!!!) the bishop has purchased liturgical vestments is not much of a Catholic, anti-Catholic opinions of the Church's enemies notwithstanding.
7. Long after the loudmouths have died and been buried, the Church will continue to the end of this world, as guaranteed by Jesus Christ Himself. Neither the very gates of hell nor these disobedient pipsqueaks will prevail against the Church.
8. If I am wrong in perceiving you as non-Catholic and you happen to be Catholic and happen to agree with these priests, no one is barring the exit door or forcing you to stay.
9. If, for any reason whatsoever, Braxton ceases to be bishop of Belleville, then the Vatican should let St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke choose the successor and choose someone as Belleville's next bishop one who can and will wield the power of bishop as vigorously as possible to crush such dissent and re-establish and vindicate the authority of the Diocese of Belleville and its ordinary. Of course, it would be just as worthwhile for Braxton to purge every one of these dissenters personally, silence them, defrock them, and excommunicate them. Whichever.
10. As you well know, there is no real danger that any of these rebels are conservative or that, like SSPX schismatics, make believe they are.
11. Hang 'em high!!!
I was certain it was something like that! Where we have the bad bishops (won’t name names, we know) the “new Church” priests are either in cahoots with them, or the good priests are too busy trying desperately to catechize their flocks in the truth. Only where you have an orthodox and strong bishop do you get a bunch of Code Pink style priests, with the cooperation of the media, making public complaints, causing a scandal and confusing the faithful. If there were really issues of leadership or faith, they would go through the proper channels and not try to stir up dissent in the pews.
Easy on the Irish whiskey.
You hedged on #5. If a bishop takes money, say, from donations ear-marked for the liberal freakshow agenda also known as the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, and uses that money to buy vestments which add dignity to the celebration of the unique sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is the Holy Mass, is it theft?
It depends on facts not in evidence. Is there a formal trust fund arrangement of some sort??? Passing money along to CHD is always questionable and I would like to see bishops refuse to do so and refuse to allow its collection in their respective dioceses which would solve the problem at the outset. The USCCB has no authority whatosoever over the governance of the respective dioceses by their Vatican appointed bishops, as Lincoln, Nebraska Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz has told the liberal USCCB to their faces. In any event, any Church discipline of any bishop who is a diocesan ordinary is reserved to the Vatican’s Congregation on Bishops or the pope himself. For similar reasons, appeals from the decisions of federal district courts in Los Angeles are not taken to traffic courts in Cincinnati. No jurisdiction means no jurisdiction.
NIXON: You know what happened to the Romans? The last six Roman emperors were fags. Neither in a public way. You know what happened to the popes? They were layin' the nuns; that's been goin' on for years, centuries. But the Catholic Church went to hell three or four centuries ago. It was homosexual, and it had to be cleaned out. That's what's happened to Britain. It happened earlier to France.
Let's look at the strong societies. The Russians. Goddamn, they root 'em out. They don't let 'em around at all. I don't know what they do with them. Look at this country. You think the Russians allow dope? Homosexuality, dope, immorality, are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the Communists and left-wingers are clinging to one another. They're trying to destroy us. I know Moynihan will disagree with this, [Attorney General John] Mitchell will, and Garment will. But, goddamn, we have to stand up to this.
EHRLICHMAN: It's fatal liberality.
NIXON: Huh?
EHRLICHMAN: It's fatal liberality. And with its use on television, it has such leverage.
Amazing what a little piece of tape can do, isn't it?
Nixon may be your idea of a religious authority but he is not mine. He also seems to have been factually confused. If the popes were laying nuns and the Church was homosexual, does Nixon mean to suggest that the popes were lesbians or male lesbians or ...........???? Did Nixon know what he was suggesting??? Neither do you or paleoPaulie.
"There were also many Christians in ancient Romebut we Catholics buried the Roman Empire long ago.We will also be here when the USA is over with. "- BlackElk
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