PRIEST'S WORDS SPARK WALKOUT IN CHURCH

Troy Record ^ | March 25, 2003 | Jeff Buell and Kate Perry

[NYer]

TROY - A priest took preaching too far for some parishioners at Sacred Heart Church over the weekend when he used his homily to voice displeasure over the war in Iraq.

Rev. Gary Mercure told the congregation at four Masses Saturday and Sunday that the war in Iraq was evil, immoral and contradictory to Christian doctrine.

According to those who attended any of the services, Mercure called for parishioners to not support President Bush, and said the U.S. should work closer with the rest of the world.

As many as 60 congregants responded by leaving the church at one of the masses, several yelling comments in the priest's direction and heckling him on the way out.

Clem LaPietra, a Troy resident attending a mass for his father, was stunned when Mercure began the homily.

"Father Gary, I think he went a little bit over the edge," LaPietra said. "He said how morally wrong the U.S. was. He told us to remember the Germans, and the English, and the Roman Empire. A lot of the older gentlemen got up and left. Someone stood up and told him he was out of line. There was some heckling."

Rose Romano, a Wynantskill resident, attended the 8 a.m. mass on Sunday, the third time the homily was given. She claimed that Mercure called Americans bullies, and said the people shouldn't support the president.
Romano said the comments were so shocking she had to catch her breath. Three people directly in front of her left the mass immediately.

"I was stunned. After a few minutes I was numb," she said. "I'm going to church for my own welfare and a place to pray. That's no place for a political platform."

Mercure said about three people walked out of that service, and said between 50 and 60 walked out of the following mass at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

Mercure said he was talking about the Ten Commandments, particularly, "Thou shalt not kill," and knew that some of his parishioners might not be of the same opinion. At that point, Mercure said, he offered everyone a chance to leave.

He said he also prefaced the homily by saying that, "we love those serving and want them out of harm's way."

While the war is a political matter, Mercure said it is a moral issue as well. He insists he was not using the pulpit as a platform for his own views, but as a servant of God.
"They don't have to think the way I think," he said. "But as a preacher of God, it is my role to enhance life, to bring more life, and God's life, to people."
He also dismissed the idea that he preached anti-American sentiments or judged the morality of the president. He said he used the phrase "our government" several times, but stopped short of making moral judgments on anyone.

He said it was also his privilege as a patriot to speak out against the war, and his duty as a priest to do so. Mercure said he received many calls Monday, most of them positive, thanking him for the sermon.

Troy resident John Browne was one of those who thanked him.

"I'm a veteran of the Philippines and was a prisoner of war for three-and-a-half years in Japan," Browne said. "The reason we fought over there is so people could do what they did in church yesterday.
"I went up to him afterward and said, 'I'm proud of you father.'"
News of the homily traveled fast, as calls were made to The Record Monday saying kids were being taken out of the Sacred Heart School by angry parents. Mercure said he was unaware of any children leaving the school.
The school principal sent a letter home to parents Monday explaining the issue to parents. While the letter was vague, it did say that all the school teaches is for the children to pray for peace.

Albany Roman Catholic Diocese spokesman Rev. Kenneth Doyle said he had heard of Mercure's homily, but did not want to address it specifically. He did repeat the church's stance on the war.
"I don't know exactly what Father Gary said," Doyle responded when asked for comment. "The position of the Vatican and American Bishops has been very clear against the war. In the church's mind there has not been the sort of imminent threat that would justify a preemptive and unilateral strike.

"Now that the war has begun," Doyle added, "I believe the important thing is to pray that it ends quickly, and with as few causalities as possible and that innocent lives be spared."

[NYer]

The Albany Diocese is filled with liberal priests.

The media were tipped off about his intended "homily". One of the irate parishioners turned to him and yelled, "This is not a homily, this is a political speech."

[NYer]

The local CBS affiliate was tipped off about this and sent a cameraman to film the reaction by the parishioners. It was quite a scene. Dissenters stood up and walked out, some shouting messages to "Fr. Gary", before leaving the church.

You don't get more liberal than the Albany Diocese!!

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

I'm glad they walked out. Now if they would only take the next step and go to, and support, believing churches rather than churches who's leaders don't believe (like this one).

The church I left two years ago had an extraordinarily liberal pastor who used to say "listen to what I say, not what the Bible says..." ACK!!!!

[borkrules]

In the church's mind there has not been the sort of imminent threat that would justify a preemptive and unilateral strike...

Strange. Didn't know that the church was in the business of making geopolitical military judgements. Perhaps the esteemed Bishops and Priests should stick to spiritual matters.

[anniegetyourgun]

Media tipped off as to his 'homily'? An interesting approach to the worship of God.

Doesn't Louis Farrakhan announce his 'sermons' this way too?

[Illbay]

"The reason we fought over there is so people could do what they did in church yesterday."

With respect, it sounds like the Japs broke him down all those years ago.

Sir, why do you think we are over in Iraq today?

[irish guard]

Apparently Fr. Gary never read much of St. Augustine's work.

[isthisnickcool]

Priests should stick to spiritual matters.

Aren't they too busy getting all the child molesters out of the church?

[Grampa Dave]

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

our preacher has been really harping on the need to pray for Sadam and Osama lately. "If you can't pray for your enemies, you're putting the flag before Christ." I think he has a point, but it's really sticky way to make a point.

[ClearCase_guy]

He said he also prefaced the homily by saying that, "we love those serving and want them out of harm's way."

Gee whiz! That's kinda like they whole "I support the troops" garbage that all the atheistic communist peace demonstrators are always shoveling. It's a lie. Is his faith in God a lie too? The guy doesn't even understand the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill".

A disgrace.

[seams2me]

IMHO, the church's role during wartime is to comfort the families of the troops, pray for all combatants, and remember what country they are in.

[tracer]

"Strange. Didn't know that the church was in the business of making geopolitical military judgements."

It would appear that you haven't heard the prouncements emanating from the Vatican on the subject of the war in Iraq. Interesting threads here yesterday....

[jonalvy44]

I wonder if they're this adament in condemning sodomy of altar boys?

[x1stcav]

It's deja vu all over again.

I did the same thing in 1970 when I had to listen to a priest in West LA lecture us over the immorality of the Vietnam War.

Never been back.

When are they going to learn?

[asformeandformyhouse]

"They don't have to think the way I think," he said. "But as a preacher of God, it is my role to enhance life, to bring more life, and God's life, to people."

And what better people than the newly-liberated people of Iraq.

[ILBBACH]

When was the last time the church preached about abortion, co-habitation, divorce, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, motherhood, etc. They pick this war because they are trying to get on the "good side" of the (at least) American people.

They should leave this alone and worry about getting the homosexual and pedophile priests defrocked and/or put behind bars.

[Grampa Dave]

The people in that Parish who disagree with him should refuste to attend any mass unti he apologizes, should stop writing any checks to the church, refuse communion with him and go to this web site and make copies of what is discussed and hand it out to those still going to hear this evil man pretending to be a Priest!

http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:3rmkQW_ENq0C:www.rense.com/general14/rabbi.htm+%22Those+who+are+kind+to+the+cruel+end+up+being+cruel+to+the+kind%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

A Time To Hate - A
Rabbi Speaks Out
By Rabbi Shmuel Boteach
formerly the Chabad Rabbi at Oxford University
http://www.arutzsheva.org
9-22-1

For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace (Eccl. 3).

One of the most frequent themes of my writings is how we - a generation with a fifty percent divorce rate and a professional singles scene - have forgotten how to love. Today I will surprise you by complaining about how we have forgotten how to hate.

The proper response to the cowardly brutes who perpetrated the horrific attacks against America is to hate them with every fiber of our being and purge ourselves of any morsel of sympathy which might seek to understand their motives.

Forgetting how to hate can be just as damaging as forgetting how to love. I realize that, immersed as we are in a Christian culture that exhorts us to "turn the other cheek," this can sound quite absurd. Little do we remember, it seems, the aphorism that those who are kind to the cruel end up being cruel to the kind.

Indeed, exhortations to hate all manner of evil abound in the Bible and God Himself hates every form of immorality because of its harm to mankind. Thus the book of Proverbs declares, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." Likewise, King David declares regarding the cruel: "I have hated them with a deep loathing. They are as enemies to me." Hatred is a valid emotion - an appropriate response - when directed at the truly evil: those who have gone beyond the pale of human decency by committing acts which unweave the basic fabric of civilized living. Contrary to Christianity, which advocates turning the other cheek to belligerence and loving the wicked, Judaism obligates us to despise and resist the wicked at all costs.

About two years ago, I was on the BBC discussing the tragic bombing of a gay pub that left three dead. I referred to the bomber as an abomination, to which Pastor Tony Campalo, President Clinton's spiritual advisor, replied that we had to love the bomber in the spirit of compassion and forgiveness. Similarly, in my years in Britain I was used to hearing victims of IRA terrorist attacks, after having lost fathers or brothers or sons, immediately announce on air their forgiveness and love for the murderers, in the spirit of Christian love. I disagree vehemently. The individual who, motivated by irrational hatred, chooses to murder innocent victims is irretrievably wicked. He or she has cast off the image of G-d that entitles them to love and has forfeited their place in the human community.

Amid my deep and abiding respect for the Christian faith, I state unequivocally that to love the terrorist who flies a civilian plane into a civilian building or a white supremacist who drags a black man three miles while tied to the back of a car is not just insane, it is deeply sinful. To love evil is itself evil and constitutes a passive form of complicity.

Contrary to those religious figures who deny Solomon's proverb and preach that religion is about unconditional love and forgiveness for all, I believe there is a point of no return for the mass-murderers of this world. The Talmud certainly teaches that the true object of proper hatred is the sin, not the sinner, whose life must be respected and whose repentance effected. The Talmud also teaches that it is forbidden to rejoice at the downfall of even those sinners whom it is proper to hate: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth." However, this attitude does not apply to impenitent and hardened monsters who pay no heed to correction. For us to extend forgiveness and compassion to them in the name of religion is not just insidious, it is an act of mocking G-d, who has mercy for all, yet demands justice for the innocent.

I have an a typical Christian artist friend who showed me a picture he painted of Jesus embracing Hitler. I felt the picture to be obscene, "How can you have Jesus holding Hitler?" I objected.

"That's the whole point. That's how far Jesus' love extends."

"But that's not love," I corrected him, "it's disgust. It's like saying that Jesus loves cancerous cells. If you love Hitler, than you are showing contempt for the good and decent people whom he turned into ash and lampshades. The only response to Hitler is utter contempt and violent hatred. The only way to react to incorrigible evil is to wage an incessant war against it until it is utterly eradicated from the earth."

I maintain that any culture that does not hate Hitler and his ilk is a non-compassionate society. Indeed, to show kindness to the murderer is to violate the victim yet again. Thus, in the interest of justice, the appropriate response to the evil person is to hate him with every fiber of our being and to hope they find no rest, neither in this world nor in the next.

The pacifist will respond that fighting hatred with hatred accomplishes nothing, that, as in the old Bob Dylan song, "if we take an eye for an eye we all just end up blind." This is poppycock because the purpose of our hatred is not revenge, but preservation of justice. To this end I wholeheartedly embrace the example of Simon Wiesenthal, one of the most inspirational men of the twentieth century, who has devoted his life to the pursuit of justice by not allowing Nazi murderers go to their graves in peace. We do not hunt Nazis in order to take revenge. We Jews have better things to do with our time than chase a bunch of pathetic, murderous thugs. Besides, our Torah prevents us from taking retribution. Rather, we track them down because G-d at Sinai entrusted us with the promotion of justice, turning the jungle into a civilized society. We seek them out on behalf of all humanity so that all of the world may know that for genocide there is no apology. In the words of Aristotle, "All virtue is summed up in dealing justly."

Justice is not a cultural construct. Neither is it a human invention imposed upon the members of society in order that they treat each other with decency and respect. Justice was not created for some utilitarian end. Rather, justice is intrinsic to human nature. We do not teach our children to refrain from stealing because they might get caught. Rather, we teach them that theft is intrinsically wrong, even if they could get away with it.

In the Hebrew language there are three words for forgiveness: selicha, mechila and kapparah. The essence of the forgiveness is that an individual is so valuable that we allow them the opportunity to start afresh after error. But since repentance is based on recognizing the infinite value of human life, its premise cannot be simultaneously undermined by offering it to those who have irretrievably debased human life. For a murderer to cry in public and achieve instant absolution is an affront to everything forgiveness stands for and that's why we should feel no guilt for our feelings of revulsion and hatred toward these terrorists.

The bottom line is that there are some offenses for which there is no forgiveness, some borders whose transgression society cannot tolerate under any circumstances, and mass murder is foremost among them.

Only if we hate the truly evil passionately will we summon the determination to fight them fervently. Odd and uncomfortable as it may seem, hatred has its place. Although they referred to a different era in history, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., still ring true today: "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."

Let us make sure, therefore, that we never make the mistake of forgiving those whose sin is so inextricably woven with their rotten character that the two can never be separate. Let us love the righteous and fight the wicked. ___

Rabbi Boteach, formerly the Chabad Rabbi at Oxford University, is a well-known author and lecturer on Judaism. http://www.arutzsheva.org/

[HEY4QDEMS]

I checked, there's nothing in the 10 commandments which frowns upon the rape of children.

These liberal pedifile priests sicken me to no end.

[OldFriend]

For a priest to call Americans bullies is a bit beyond the pale.