Letter of Rev. Fr. Charles Murr to Parish and Parents

April 5, 2004 | Rev. Fr. Charles Murr

[CatherineSiena]

ST. FRANCIS DE SALES CHURCH
135 EAST 96TH STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10128

April 5, 2004

To the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and the Children and Parents of the St. Francis de Sales School/St. Lucy Academy:

On Friday, April 2, 2004, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales. I am writing to you now to explain the circumstances that led me to make this decision.

Our parish school, the St. Francis de Sales School/St. Lucy Academy, currently faces some grave problems. One concerns financial management. Contrary to the policies of the Archdiocese, no financial statements for the school have been prepared for any period after August 31, 2001, and thus no one knows what the financial condition of the school actually is. It is clear, however, that for several years the school has not been making required payments for insurance and pension benefits, and the Archdiocese calculates that the school owes the Archdiocese over $638,000. Although I attempted to work with the administration of the school to prepare the needed financial statements, the school’s administration consistently failed to cooperate with me, and, on the advice of the Parish Council, I notified the Archdiocese in January that I intended to replace the principal and vice principal of the school. The Archdiocese accepted this decision and last week resolved to send officials from the chancery to begin preparing and auditing financial statements for the school.

The second problem at the school concerns religious instruction. On the most recent administration of the Archdiocese’s standardized religion test last June, approximately 66% of our students failed. The major reason for this was that several of our teachers were not committed to teaching the Catholic faith. One teacher, for example, was taking her students to non-Catholic religious services on Sunday mornings. Another refuses to teach her students to make the Sign of the Cross. Others do not teach those doctrines of the Catholic faith with which they disagree. To rectify these problems, I appointed a new Director of Religious Education for the school this year, but the teachers who were hostile to Catholic doctrine disrupted his classes, belittled him in front of his students, instructed his students to ignore him, and even spread slanderous reports about him. I thus determined that the employment contracts of these teachers would not be renewed for the coming academic year, and on April 1, I informed these teachers accordingly.

It has been reported to me that, on April 1, at least some of these teachers held their students after school, read to them my letter declining to renew their employment contracts, and provided their own comments on the matter. Predictably, they reduced many children to tearful hysteria. The behavior of these teachers was reprehensible; they intentionally inflicted harm on innocent children in order to advance their own private interests. On behalf of the school, I apologize to these students and their parents for the grossly unprofessional conduct of these teachers.

On Friday afternoon, Msgr. Thomas Gilleece, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, informed me without further explanation that, by order of the Cardinal, I was to renew the employment contracts of the principal, the vice principal, and all the affected teachers. Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and as administrator of the Parish of St. Lucy. On Saturday, April 3, the members of the Parish Council wrote Cardinal Egan informing him that they shared my views regarding the need to reform the school and had concluded that they could not in good conscience as faithful Catholics be associated with his order to reinstate the principal, the vice principal, and the affected teachers. The members of the Parish Council thus resigned their positions. The Parish Trustees likewise resigned. As of the date of this letter, none of us has received any reply from the Cardinal.

It has been a great honor to serve as your pastor. You will all remain in my prayers.

Servus, in Christo Jesu,

Fr. Chas. Theo. Murr

[sinkspur]

I put Egan in the same boat with McCarrick. They are to me political animals who care little about their own souls or the souls of their flocks.

That's too harsh. McCarrick is a very good man, who very much cares about the souls of his flock.

Egan does too, he's just not a very effective shepherd.

[NYer]

Another refuses to teach her students to make the Sign of the Cross.

When my daughter returned home on her first day in catholic school Kindergarten, pinned to her uniform was a picture of a child making the Sign of the Cross. Her homework assignment was to practice that for the following day. I still have that beautiful reminder from her catholic school days.

God bless Fr. Murr for making a sound decision. His reward will come later.

[Desdemona]

A preliminary "headline" search of Egan and a quick scanning of a few articles gives us:

Support of marriage and the unborn

No cooperation with the national review board for the USCCB or with lawyers trying to depose him in a sex abuse trial in 1999 in Connecticut

Scathing rebukes from SNAP (although, Rigali got those too), and some pretty clear dissing of the whole sexual abuse victims

Good credentials including Gregorian in Rome, although in the 1950's.

He did spend time in the Vatican under this pope and was known to him.

My guess: David Souter type appointment. A wildcard that wasn't detected. I also saw one article that he fancies himself the chief kingmaker here in the USA. Somehow, I doubt that at the moment.

In the meantime, keep an eye out and see if he shows up on EWTN. Has he? That's usually a pretty good indication of how orthodox a bishop is.

[TradicalRC]

This is so sad. Why, why, why do the good get punished by those who know better and the bad are allowed free rein?

[old and tired]

Does McCarrick or Keeler oversee Emmitsburg? Does McCarrick oversee the seminary at Catholic U? And isn't that (the seminary at CU) one of the Pink Palaces? I know from my sons and their friends that the Catholic U seminary was loaded with homosexuals back in the seventies and eighties, but I suppose many were then.

I was personally acquainted with McCarrick while living in Metuchen back in the eighties. As the bishop of Metuchen, McCarrick was in a position to correct many abuses (of which I am CERTAIN he knew)while there. He chose to do nothing. Furthermore, while McCarrick was living in the cathedral parish, the priest at the head of the CYO there was a fairly well known homosexual predator. He was finally removed from ministry last year. (In fairness to McCarrick, I don't know for a fact that he knew about that priest, but if he didn't, he wasn't listening to his flock).

[dangus]

CU is a pink palace.

[livius]

I'm very impressed by the pastor's actions and words in this letter, as well as the actions of the Parish Council and others. Now the ball is in the Cardinal's court.

Egan is a very confusing person, as far as I can tell(although I no longer live in NYC, so I only get to find out what's going on there when I visit). He seems basically orthodox, but he certainly hasn't been very responsive on a lot of issues. He also has all the personal charm of a frozen mackeral, from what I have seen, and seems to make a habit of simply not responding.

[DPalm]

[ I am starting to believe that the Pope will allow Boston, Los Angeles, and other liberal areas be literally God-forsaken, so that they may fruitfully be compared to the more orthodox areas.]

I forgot to add one more detail. How does this theory hold up in the face of the Arlington, VA example, in which a string of orthodox and fairly forceful bishops has now been followed by what appears to be the ecclesiastical equivalent of an Al Quaeda agent? Honestly, I fear for us here in the La Crosse diocese and who we'll get to replace Bishop (now Archbishop) Burke. Some things are turning around here. Are we going to get a subversive now to put a stop to that, like they did in Arlington?

"johnb2004" wrote:

[ Well said. Too often, words like yours are misread as disloyal. ]

Thank you, John. What an unpleasant reality we are faced with, eh?

God bless,

David

[johnb2004]

Truth is seen as error and error is seen as truth. If one even questions that Rome should consider cracking down on dissent one gets the standard arguments about a terrible schism may occur, as if there is not one now, or the heterodox are left in place for some grand scheme.

I pray and hope. I do not follow the logic of allowing heresy and error to be propagated for so long.

[Pyro7480]

Honestly, I fear for us here in the La Crosse diocese and who we'll get to replace Bishop (now Archbishop) Burke.

Do you go to St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, where the Institute of Christ the King has the Traditional Mass?

[DPalm]

[ Do you go to St. Mary's Oratory in Wausau, where the Institute of Christ the King has the Traditional Mass? ]

No, I go to St. Mary's Ridge, WI where the Institute of Christ the King has the Traditional Mass. See the beautiful church, the gorgeous surrounding countryside, and even a photo of my oldest son at his First Holy Communion in the photo gallery here:

http://www.institute-christ-king.org/cashton/index.html

Speaking of this, any of you intrepid souls who have wanted the traditional Latin Mass in a truly rural setting, think about moving to be with us. Several families already have and there are several more in the wings. You can contact me at:

djpalm64@yahoo.com

[Pyro7480]

I'd love to, if I was married, and if I had a different profession/degree. I have lived all of my life in big cities, and wouldn't mind the change.

[nickcarraway]

I was talking to someone the other day and they said your diocese had the most lattitude as far as Tridentine Mass. Did the bishop approve these on a case-by-case basis, or did he give free license to do Tridentine Mass. How many Tridentine Masses are there in the diocese?

[dstoker]

That was funny. Who was it that said that the American bishops think being conservative means being to the right of Walter Mondale?

[dstoker]

You're right--but to hear some Conservatives tell it, it is springtime in the Church. You can't shake them from that over at EWTN.

If this is springime, then I would like to see what they call the dead of winter.

I once remarked to a Liberal male religious, a male nun, as some of my priest friends joke, that we owe no obedience to heretics. His response: "That's the first time I've heard that." I kid you not.

[AAABEST]

This "springtime in the church" is modernistic propaganda BS. Just because they say it and wish it doesn't make it so.

Besides sounding good and catchy it means absolutely nothing. Like Clinton's "bridge to the 21st century". Coming up with shiny keywords accomplishes zero.

I'd love to know what actions are being taken to bring about this "springtime". What is being done doctrinally, dogmatically and at the command level to clean up some of the nonsense we read about every single day? NOTHING.

The document coming out (supposedly) this week to address liturgical abuses is mere lip service with no teeth whatsoever. Bloviation, nothing more. The heretics are left to their heresy and the homosexuals are left to their destructive ways. The scandalous bishops are left to decimate the flock and spit in God's face.

Meanwhile "orthodox" types make a sport out of bashing trads, who seem to be the only ones worthy of excommunication anymore. The bad guys are the ones who worship as Catholics have been doing for hundreds of years, while the good guys are the ones that worship with heathens.

Jesus warned us of this. "Springtime" my foot.

The reason this person you describe doesn't know anything is because he wasn't taught anything. An acquaintance of mine went through 4 years of Catholic High School and was shocked to find out just a few weeks ago that Catholics fast on Fridays. Nobody told ever him because they don't teach Catholicism anymore. The catechism and the Catholic schools are an abject disaster and getting worse as we speak.

Do these "springtime" wordsmiths think that things will just fix themselves when we continue to devlolve and welcome the devil into the front door? If so they're fools.

THERE IS NO SPRINGTIME

And there won't be one until we start taking our church back from the leftists, heretics and homos who seek to destroy it.

[narses]

"Since I could not in good conscience, as a pastor charged with the care of souls, comply with this order, I resigned as pastor of the Parish of St. Francis de Sales and as administrator of the Parish of St. Lucy."

[cpforlife.org]

David,

Just read through this thread. A very warm welcome to FR!

[Maximilian]

any of you intrepid souls who have wanted the traditional Latin Mass in a truly rural setting, think about moving to be with us. Several families already have and there are several more in the wings.

Beautiful website and beautiful photos. I heard that the editor of "Full of Grace" newsletter of simple living for Catholics was thinking of moving to your parish. I thought of it when I saw the horse-drawn buggy in front of the church.