Posted on 05/31/2006 9:27:03 AM PDT by petkus
Police called after she was told not to come; she wants documents
A Hopewell woman, a vocal critic of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, was escorted by police from her parish church over the weekend after she refused to leave.
Lynn Allgeier, 58, who has attended St. James Catholic Church in Hopewell for eight years, has tried to get the diocese and her parish to make their financial records available for inspection by the laity. She also wants to read the personnel file of Saint James' pastor, the Rev. Frank L. Wiggins Jr.
"They wouldn't give me a line-by-line budget showing how money is spent. I want that, and I want to know the history of the priest," Allgeier said.
William Etherington, an attorney for the diocese, said Allgeier has been disruptive.
"She accuses people of things that are not true and demands she be able to interview the pastor. The pastor has said, 'I don't want you here.' And he has the right to say that."
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
It is a tricky situation for sure. Being that I live in an area where folks walk to Church from home, it would be easy for me to stand on a public street handing out leaflets. Its more difficult if you have a parking lot on Church property, which is likely the case here.
Too late. The thread goes where it will. It has apparently gone a direction you don't like, so perhaps you should move on.
For what purpose?
It is a mortal sin for a Catholic to fail to attend Mass on Sundays. If I were married to a Protestant, I could certainly attend a service with her as well as my normal Catholic Mass.
But not instead of.
Additionally, engaging in communion at a Protestant church is an expression of indifference to the importance of the validity of the sacraments in the Catholic Church.
SD
Sorry, forgot the smiley face.
Now I'm not a supporter of Osteen for a host of reasons, but the size of his paycheck isn't one of them. Are we dabbling in class-warfare arguments now? What's your threshold for when a pastor's/priest's salary is considered excessive or unjust?
I notice nobody is responding to you, so maybe the thread is going in a direction YOU don't like.
This thread could be moved to the religion forum, where it would die for sure.
You responded.
Ergo, you must be nobody.
Actually, this lady is talking about deserting the Catholic church and taking up membership in a Protestant community. This is a little different than just "simply attending" as you put it.
A Catholic could attend services of other Christians and engage in prayer and song with them. But he should never partake in their sacraments.
SD
That's up to the individual pastor or priest. But, clergymen who live like rock stars are hardly examples of Him who had nowhere to lay His Head.
Says it all.
They publish their reports in the bulletin as well.
That's the problem...
You have certain characters that hate the church but will never leave... The Catholics for a free choice and the contriarian liturgy chopper-uppers as well as new age RCIA catechists and those who will get buses and march for illegal rights but attack you for attempting to get a bus for the March for Life.
I'm just not praying hard enough I guess.
What a bummer! Abraham (Gen 13:2, 14:4), Isaac (Gen 26:12-13), Job (Job 1) and Solomon (1 Kgs 3:13, 2 Chr 1:12) have just been condemned as "hardly examples" for us to follow. And I'm guessing that Deuteronomy 8:18 has been rescinded in the New Testament era?
Not from across the street he couldn't. But that is not her point anyway.
"This is an MSM report..."
In a paper with pretty darn conservative editorial page.
You want to follow Jesus? "Sell what you have, give the money to the poor, then come follow Me."
Conspicuous consumption by those who preach in His Name takes away from their message, AFAIC.
It appears that this lady did not interupt the liturgy of the Mass or any religious service! I did not read anything that said she was disrespectful of any of the sacratments or did anything to violate the tenants of the Catholic church?
If she questions the priest, why should she be kicked off the church property?
Should the pastor of the church post a list of questions that parishioners cannot ask regarding the financial operations of the church or the personnell of the church with the caveat that if you pursue any of these issues you will be forced to leave this church!
Well, that's always a good way to start a fight. But since I was whisper-pinged to a Protestant, allow me to say this:
On the one hand, this is not a Protestant, brought up with all sorts of (false) teachings to close her mind to Catholicism. This is not schism, this is simply apostasy. She is not saying, "wow, I found a way God speaks to me at this church, so I'm going to follow it." This is, "I am going to judge my church unworthy of having me, so I'll go elsewhere where I can continue to play Christian because it makes me feel good."
On the other hand, the diocese of Richmond has long been a nest of heresy, sin, and corruption. The state of affairs is depsicable. Bishop Lorenzo was actually known in Honolulu as being quite liberal; the fact he seems conservative to anyone tells us all that the last bishop was so liberal he was probably to the left of ELCA. I've been in two churches in Richmond; both had literally dozens of flat-out, obvious to any 8th-grade catechumen, canon abominations going on. I can only hope Lorenzo was just playing it cautiously slow.
The pastor has acted in a way to deliberately subject one of his own lambs to the threat of Hell, with, unless there were huge omissions in the article, no basis whatsoever. Unless this woman somehow disrupted the mass, or somehow desecrated the procedings, by denying the woman of access to the Eucharist, he bore unto his own soul fantastically grave consequences.
The Bishop should not rest; he should immediately take action to mediate the situation. Doing so would also help others in the diocese have comfort in knowing that they have an attentive bishop; ignoring the situation makes it seem only more likely that if something were going on, the bishop would not know of it or would look the other way.
Hey, shepherd... time to leave the flock and tend to the lost sheep. She may currently have a very weak faith, but there may be a good reason it is so badly shaken. And don't ask, "what, is the bishop supposed to scramble after every situation where a layperson suspects something's fishy?" The answer, after all we've been through, is "yes." The fact that priest (if the report is at all fair) acted so abominally, however, highlights this instance.
But again, for the sake of all lurkers, let me emphasize that we don't know if there are other episodes which prompted the priest to act so harshly; and any church that does not believe that apostasy from its own sect does not jeopardize the soul does not believe in anything at all. She is not searching for something new; she is quitting (if she does quit). If she sticks it out as a Catholic, her reward in Heaven may be great.
hmmm....what would you say the average congregation size in a catholic church is?...if it's anything like the one we have in town...20 tops on a regular basis...the parish priest will be hard pressed to earn a good living. Joel Osteen's church is upward to 20,000 with multiple services each week. I am sure is in charge of many different ministries within his church. His congragation takes care of him. I am sure Osteen's church has an annual business meeting where his salary is negotiated. It is his church that blesses him out of their abundance. Smaller churches do not have that luxury.
I would love to be able to pay our Pastor what he is truly worth. He is on call 24/7 to help with the needs of our church. He makes more than our family brings in....but he also has put in more hours... Listens to more gripes, and ministers to the healing of marriages under attack....he takes time with our children and is lead laborer in any church building project...among many other things. He is on the go everyday with only 160 in the congregation...I can only imagine what pastors from larger churches must be doing.
My Pastor not only tithes to our church...he also tithes to the Ministry he was ordained in....not to mention missionary and other offerings. Joel Osteen is also an author...and I am sure if he is anything like my Pastor...he tithes on his earnings from that as well as his salary.. He sows into a ministry and he reaps from what he sows...that is God's economy.
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