Jesus a Hermaphrodite?

Today's Democrat and Chronicle contains a Letter to the Editor that typifies the radical feminist ideology that passes for catechesis in some of our parishes these days. In Gender shouldn't be a qualifier, author Mike Bleeg tells us,

As a male Catholic, I was amazed by the April 17 essay defending why only men can be priests in the Roman Catholic Church. The writer stated that Jesus was male. Therefore, only men can be priests. Sisters and fathers taught me that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. As fully human, Jesus had all the characteristics of males and females. As fully divine, Jesus is the creator, sustainer and lover of all of us. (emphasis added)

It sure looks like Mr. Bleeg was taught that Jesus is some kind of a hermaphrodite.

Kyrie eleison.

Fr. Tyman Leaving OLM, Will Not Be Replaced

Fr. Gary Tyman has announced to his parishioners at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Greece that he will be leaving the parish at the end of June. His new assignment will be Sacramental Minister at the clustered parishes of St. Anne and Our Lady of Lourdes in the SE Rochester-Brighton area.

Sr. Joan Sobala, SSJ is the Pastoral Administrator of the cluster. Fr. Tyman, with his penchant for vertical inclusive language, ought to get along famously with Sr. Joan. I can just see the scene now: Sr. Joan, wearing her alb and standing near Fr. Tyman "during the Eucharistic prayer, extending her hands [and] giving the appearance of con-celebrating." Charming.

According to two OLM parishioners who heard last Sunday's announcement, there will be no new pastor assigned to the parish. Instead, Fr. John Gagnier, currently Pastor at Holy Name of Jesus will also become Pastoral Administrator at OLM. Weekend Masses will be covered by Fr. Gagnier, as well as priests from Holy Cross and Our Mother of Sorrows. There were conflicting reports concerning weekday Mass coverage, but with Fr. Gagnier currently out of the country many such details are still up in the air.

If my sources are correct this would mark a departure from the Eastern Greece/Charlotte Pastoral Plan that I and a couple dozen others helped draft 3 years ago. That plan calls for at least one priest to be assigned to each of the 6 parishes through 2014, with that priest acting as either Pastor or Sacramental Minister. Of course, with both OLM and HNOJ each averaging just over 400 weekend Mass attendees, it's possible the diocese decided to jettison the plan and allocate its resources elsewhere.

I guess we'll just have to await further developments.

Nap Time in Washington

It's just as I feared.

Bishop Clark is back from his trip to see the Pope in both Washington and New York City and is sharing some of his observations with us in this week's Along the Way column.

While taking almost 1,000 words to touch on a variety of topics addressed by His Holiness, our good Bishop totally avoids the two that are of utmost importance to many of his flock.

First, on the subject of Catholic schools, the Pope told the nation's bishops

In an age that is saturated with information, the importance of providing sound formation in the faith cannot be overstated. American Catholics have traditionally placed a high value on religious education, both in schools and in the context of adult formation programs. These need to be maintained and expanded.

There's not a word in the Bishop's column on schools. Perhaps, as I feared, he was nodding off here.

Second, on the subject of declining vocations, raised in the Q&A following his address to the bishops, His Holiness pointedly stated

Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local Church. There is no room for complacency in this regard.

Again, it must have been nap time. According to this papal standard, DOR's almost zero rate of vocations has to qualify it as critically ill. And yet our Bishop doesn't see this diagnosis as worthy of a mention.

I hate to say I told you so, but ...

DOR in Violation of Canon Law?

In its section dealing with Catholic schools, the Church's Code of Canon Law states: “Associations and meetings of parents are to be set up and held in high esteem" (No. 796, Section 2).

There certainly can be differences of opinion over just what holding groups of parents “in high esteem” means in practice. At the minimum, however, it must mean giving parent groups some kind of a voice whenever major decisions are being contemplated. Otherwise, it is just an empty platitude.

DOR has ignored parents who recognized the impending crisis in our Catholic schools and approached them with offers of help (Noelle D'Amico, Mike McDougall, et al.). Furthermore, it deliberately denied parents any active role in its decision-making process and did not even make an attempt to get their input.

If this behavior does not constitute a violation of Canon Law, then that law is not worth the paper on which it is written.

Common Sense Meets the"Experts"

While during a bit of surfing I came across an item posted by the Holy Family Catholic Community, based in Wayland, NY. It seems that they were looking for some guidance from the diocese regarding the formulation of a strategic plan for their school and so had met with three diocesan officials last October. According to the meeting notes,

The diocese representatives noted that there are three primary factors which need to be assessed regarding the health of any Catholic school: 1) how many parents are ready and willing to enroll their children in the school, 2) the educational viability of the school, 3) the financial viability of the school.

Now that just seems to be plain common sense.

One can only wonder how the Bishop's panel of "experts" could take something so simple and obvious and transform it into the Mother of All Reorganizations that we are now dealing with.

Maybe its something only another "expert" could understand.

Leading Them Home

A Current News item over at RochesterCatholic.com jogged my memory regarding one of the most powerful evangelization tools I have seen in a long time, if ever. It is a 2-minute video aired by EWTN several times during last week's visit of Pope Benedict XVI to this country. Targeting inactive Catholics, the video stresses the history, the beauty, and the spirituality of the Church. Some people have forgotten the true value of what they have left, while others never knew or understood it in the first place. Either way, this video brings all of that to the forefront in an an extremely effective presentation.

The video is entitled Epic and is produced by Catholics Come Home, Inc., a 10-year old apostolate “that creates effective and compassionate media messages and broadcasts them nationally and internationally, in order to inspire, educate and evangelize inactive Catholics and others, and invite them to live a deeper faith in Jesus Christ, in accord with the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Epic encourages people to visit the Catholics Come Home web site where they will find a wealth of information about the Catholic Church, much of it in video format, along with other things such as the testimonials of 17 people who have recently returned to the Church.

Epic is also on the web site. Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page where you will find it along with two other great productions, Movie and Testimonials.

Floaters & Nomads

Dr. Knowledge, a frequent commenter here, has a thought-provoking observation posted over at the D&C site. In a response to a post critical of those who say they will no longer financially support even their own parishes - let alone the diocese - Dr. K. writes,

Many of us have already lost the church we belong to (thanks to our buddy the Bishop), so this isn't technically true for everyone. A lot of us are floaters now, wandering from church to church to find one that meets our individual needs, and being disturbed with what we find at many of the churches during our journey.

The good doctor is not the only nomad of whom I am aware. I know of at least three others on similar journeys, initiated either by the closing of their old parish or by a change in pastors accompanied by unacceptable changes in the liturgy or in preaching.


I, too, almost become a floater last summer. That was when I decided I could no longer abide the vertical inclusive language my pastor insisted on incorporating into the Mass and the readings. Not only was he making a fool of himself, but he also insisted that our deacon do likewise.


Fortunately I did not have far to go - in either space or time - to find a new home at Holy Cross. By that time I had been teaching junior high religious ed there for 3 years and had come to know that the priests there were about as loyal to the Church as any you'll find anywhere.


And so a word to the floaters and nomads: There still are good, solid parishes out there. If you haven't found one yet, why not give Holy Cross a try?