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To: saradippity
I must be on the wrong thread. I thought we were talking about the priest who allowed the non-Catholic minister to distribute the Eucharist.

If that's the way Olmsted handled THIS matter, that's great.

Suspending Cunningham is a bit much, IMO.

32 posted on 05/02/2004 3:53:17 PM PDT by sinkspur (Adopt a dog or a cat from an animal shelter! It will save one life, and may save two.)
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To: sinkspur
I don't know which one of us got our thread tangled. Fr. Cunningham was one of the nine priests the Bishop asked to disassociate with the group of priests who signed the Phoenix Declaration in support of rights for gays,lesbians,transgendered and transvestites,or something close. Fr.Cunningham also had a suspension of privileges while Canon lawyers reviewed his irregular liturgical activities.

Father Cunningham is so often in the news for some type of kooky idea/activity or another,that it is hard to keep track of just what he is up to in any one particular week.

One article published in the last two weeks quotes another priest as reporting that when Cunningham was the ass't vocations director he left a $500.00 tip in a rstaurant. He had taken the seminarians (and we have never had many) out to dinner. When questioned about the size of the tip he responded:"the service was good and the waiter was cute".

Several years ago fr. Cunningham concelebrated Mass with a female Episcopalean minister. At that time we heard that he was suspended,then we heard his family put so much pressure on Rome as well as our bishop, that the suspension or defrocking,or whatever,was rescinded.

About the same time he invited the Jesus seminar people in to hold a conference at his church. The bishop said he couldn't and it was held at an Episcopalean church in the area. Fr.Cunningham was in snit over that one.

Around Christmas fr. C. devoted one of his columns in the Tribune to his idea of "sprituality". There was not even a resemblance of anything Catholic in it. I am trying to find it because it was so gnostic. Basically,when you ended your search for God,i think he concluded by saying,we would find god was us,or something equally goofy.

His old parish is into enneagrams and mazes and other interesting things.

Finally,a short while ago,he officiated at a wedding at another Catholic Church,whether the minister concelebrated or gave out the Eucharist wiith him does remain unclear,which is probably why they are investigating.As you probably can see,or at least imagine,fr.Cunningham's indiscretions were widely publicized,many by virtue of his own public letters,columnsa and advertising.

i hope this helps you to understand that whatever Bishop Olmsted did could never possibly been reportd correctly by the media,due in a large part to the spinning and swirling of the fr. himself.It's hard for anyone to hit a moving,weaving noisy target.

33 posted on 05/02/2004 4:56:48 PM PDT by saradippity
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To: sinkspur
Suspending Cunningham is a bit much, IMO.

The Bishop is just following the new Instruction:

[172.] Graviora delicta against the sanctity of the Most August Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist are to be handled in accordance with the ‘Norms concerning graviora delicta reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’,[280] namely: ...

c) the forbidden concelebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with ministers of Ecclesial Communities that do not have the apostolic succession nor acknowledge the sacramental dignity of priestly Ordination; (Redemptionis Sacramentum)

And it was a "concelebration", not "serving communion" as the column reports:

"In the language of the church, Father Cunningham allegedly engaged in the forbidden concelebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice with a non-Catholic minister," said a statement released by the diocese Wednesday night. It was termed "celebrating the Mass in a manner that is inconsistent with Catholic teaching." (Priest Suspended Over Communion)

35 posted on 05/02/2004 5:13:24 PM PDT by gbcdoj (Et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi)
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