Posted on 06/04/2004 12:00:16 PM PDT by AskStPhilomena
In his explanation for the decision, Maida cited the growing influence of schismatic groups within his archdiocese.
"We have much activity by schismatic churches in the Archdiocese. We have children in our Archdiocese attending schismatic schools and being drawn away from the Church. Some of our faithful are crossing the border to go into Windsor or other dioceses for the celebration of this Mass," the cardinal is quoted as stating.
Maida did not mention at the meeting that in addition to laity joining schismatic groups, he is also faced with a major emigration of seminarians from the archdiocese, and the crisis shows no signs of abating. In the year 2007 there is only one man scheduled to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Detroit, a native-born Filipino.
During the meeting Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley said the Tridentine Mass may be allowed in two parishes before the fall, but neither the parishes nor the frequency of the Masses has been decided.
Hurley is quoted as stating, "We are not looking to catechize new generations into the Tridentine Rite, but we are seeking to respond to those people who have identified this as a pastoral need In moving in this direction, there are certain things that must take place as we proceed. The first is that Vatican II, its authenticity, and its liturgical reforms have to be accepted as a legitimate work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. We do not want to set up something that would be divisive. We are not seeking to undermine or unravel the reforms of the Council."
The celebration of the Tridentine Mass will be coordinated under the auspices of the Archdiocesan Worship Office. "We do not want to see this as a work of a specific group of people, but rather an extension of Cardinal Maida's ministry as chief shepherd of the Archdiocese," Hurley is quoted as saying. "… All of our regional auxiliary bishops have indicated their willingness to celebrate this liturgy. The framework here is pastoral. We will not identify this as a "specific niche" of a parish; rather, this is simply something that would be offered at a parish."
The decision has been met with guarded optimism by those who have worked for the Tridentine Rite in the archdiocese, mainly because the rite – until now -- has been bitterly opposed by Maida and his chancery since Maida arrived as archbishop in Detroit in 1990. Additionally, the auxiliary bishop and chancery staff who are implementing his new decision are long-time chancery veterans who have no track record whatsoever of embracing traditional initiatives.
Many suspect the Tridentine Mass may be sparingly offered at small parishes in inconvenient locations, perhaps even in parishes hostile to traditional aspirations.
For at least the last 15 years there have been hundreds, if not thousands of requests to Maida to grant permission for the Tridentine Mass. A group of Catholics in the early 1990s filed a canonical lawsuit in the Signatura, the Vatican Court, to force Cardinal Maida to abide by Eccleiasia Dei, in which Pope John Paul II pleaded with the world’s bishops to allow a "generous application" of the indult for the Tridentine Mass. The St. Joseph Foundation assisted in that effort.
Maida opposed the lawsuit vigorously, and the legal effort ended when the Vatican ruled that with the death in 1994 of Thomas Marshall, the main signer of the complaint, the rest of signers of the petition to Rome had no standing to pursue the case.
It is noteworthy that the primary opponent of the Tridentine Mass at that time was Fr. Gerald Shirilla, professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and director of the Worship Department. Fr.Shirilla told a reporter for the Michigan Catholic that, regarding those who want the Tridentine Mass, "We have to fight them tooth and nail."
Fr. Shirilla was relieved of his post in 1993 when he was identified as a serial child molester, who favored young altar boys, going back more than 20 years. He never quite lost favor with Cardinal Maida, however, and was secretly re-assigned seven years later as pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan.
Meanwhile, as the cardinal and his priests argue about the merits of the Tridentine Mass, the Detroit chapter of gay organization Dignity continues to hold its weekly Masses at Marygrove College every Sunday, and openly advertises that priests of the archdiocese celebrate its Masses. Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
Cardinal Maida has always had different standards for different groups throughout his tenure in Detroit.
(Excerpt) Read more at cruxnews.com ...
Meanwhile, as the cardinal and his priests argue about the merits of the Tridentine Mass, the Detroit chapter of gay organization Dignity continues to hold its weekly Masses at Marygrove College every Sunday, and openly advertises that priests of the archdiocese celebrate its Masses. Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
Priests of the archdiocese have never been forbidden to celebrate those gay Masses.
"a correct theology of worship demands a correct anthropology of worship."
Pluriformity in unity?
The SSPX and "independent" parishes must have had a fairly large number of parishoners for the Cardinal to make this move after 14 years of opposition.
They do. As a critical aside, the ASSETS of those organizations are free of claims against the NO heretics, apostates, sodomites and criminals who have infested the American hierarchy. When the sodomites have destroyed the modern structures, what will remain is the REMNANT faithful to Our Lord Jesus Christ and the true Traditions of Holy Mother the Church, His Bride.
Catholics are voting with their feet. People are fed up--and angry. There comes a time when common sense kicks in and tells you that blind obedience is unCatholic and that Lefebvre was right after all.
Archdiocese sued over abuse
Cover-up alleged; suit could be class action
May 13, 2004
BY DAVID CRUMM, CECIL ANGEL AND CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR.
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The Archdiocese of Detroit, which has scrambled for two years to remove priests accused of sexually abusing minors, is the target of a lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of people who claim to have been abused as children.
"There's been a long-standing pattern of concealment in Detroit," attorney Jeffrey Anderson of St. Paul, Minn., said after he helped file the case in Wayne County Circuit Court. He is seeking class-action status.
The legal strategy is an attempt to get around statutes of limitation on such abuse that have stalled other legal actions, Anderson said. "We've used this kind of lawsuit very sparingly. One is pending in southern California against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and a lawsuit has been certified as a class action in Covington, Ky., against the Diocese of Covington."
This the first such lawsuit to be filed against Catholic leaders in Michigan. For the lawsuit to proceed as a class action, the plaintiffs' lawyers must convince the judge that there are many others who were similarly abused by area priests.
The Wayne County suit includes harrowing stories of sexual abuse from four men, though only three are named and only two spoke with reporters Wednesday.
John Fruciano of Clinton Township, a retired General Motors employee who said he was abused by the Rev. Robert Burkholder in the 1950s, said in a phone interview that he joined the suit because what happened to him "was wrong. I was offended. Other people were offended, and the church hid it."
Burkholder, now in his 80s and reportedly disabled, served 30 days in jail in 2002 after he was convicted of past abuse. Another civil lawsuit against the archdiocese, filed on behalf of an alleged Burkholder victim, is pending in the state Court of Appeals.
On Wednesday, Timothy Hassett of Kalamazoo took part in a sidewalk demonstration in downtown Detroit with others who said they've been abused. He held a photo of the Rev. C. Richard Kelly Jr., the priest who he said abused him in the early 1970s at St. Mary of Redford parish in Detroit.
Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida removed Kelly from St. Thomas a'Becket parish in Canton on Feb. 26, citing allegations of past abuse. The archdiocese never revealed the victim's name, and it was unclear whether Hassett's claims led to Kelly's removal.
In the suit, Hassett said Kelly pulled him out of a third-grade class at St. Mary's School, took him to a rectory and sexually abused him. The abuse allegedly went on for more than two years in the parish and during outings.
The Archdiocese of Detroit was named as the sole defendant, but the lawsuit listed the names of 16 priests, including Burkholder and Kelly, who Southfield attorney Justin Ravitz said were involved in the pattern of abuse. Ravitz joined with Anderson and Southfield attorney Cyril Weiner in filing the lawsuit.
When pressed for details, Ravitz said he does not represent victims of many of the priests named. "I believe that with everyone listed there, we can produce supportive evidence," he said Wednesday.
That led to a series of charges and countercharges. At least one of the named priests has never been publicly accused of abuse. Late Wednesday, Ravitz explained that he has heard from a woman who said she is a victim, so he included the priest's name in the lawsuit.
Ned McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit, said that one accusation was made against the priest a year ago, but after an investigation, was not deemed credible.
Another of the named priests does not appear in published lists of archdiocesan clergy. When asked about him, Ravitz said he believes the priest may have passed through Detroit "in a very clandestine way."
McGrath said archdiocesan officials had not seen the lawsuit and could not respond to it.
None of the named priests nor their attorneys could be reached for comment.
The lawsuit was filed after a demonstration staged in downtown Detroit by Ravitz and alleged victims of sexual abuse who are part of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
"The few victims named in the lawsuit today are representative of a larger class. These few are filing the lawsuit to allow any victims in the Archdiocese of Detroit to know that it's now time to come forward," said Barbara Blaine of Chicago, founder of SNAP who stood with others who said they were victims.
Anderson said that if a judge allows the lawsuit to proceed, attorneys expect to enlarge their investigation through court-ordered discovery of archdiocesan records.
The archdiocese previously acknowledged that it has paid settlements to abuse victims totaling about $1.4 million. The suit filed Wednesday asks for an unspecified amount.
Contact DAVID CRUMM at 313-223-4526 or crumm@freepress.com, or CECIL ANGEL at 313-223-4531 or angel@freepress.com. Staff writer David Zeman contributed to this report.
Lefebvre couldn't wait 45 days before ordaining his bishops, one of whom was the Nazi-loving Williamson.
Lefebvre was a self-aggrandizing old fool, and succumbed to the pride of celebrity.
Statutes of limitation will militate against these lawsuits.
And you believe that why? Time and again the REVULSION these sodomites in roman collars engender has caused courts and legislators to CHANGE those statutes. Is this like your claims about St. Emmerich? Just your biased hopes pouring forth? Sorry Deacon, but the monied structures that PROTECTED, and ENCOURAGED these horrific and satanic abuses will PAY through the nose, and they should.
Courts can't change statutes of limitation; only legislatures can, as California's did.
I have no problem with anyone who can sue the pants off a diocese for covering up the abuses of priests.
But, the law is the law.
Williamson again? At least he's Catholic--which is more than can be said for Novus Ordo bishops. As for "pride of celebrity", don't make me laugh. Seminarians were getting kicked out of seminaries all over Europe for being too devout and too orthodox. They begged the Archbishop to give up retirement to help them--and because he did so and moved into the breach, he infuriated the Tradition-wreckers in Rome and elsewhere. Nevertheless, against all odds he succeeded in founding the one place in the world where Catholicism might still be taught and practiced. Thanks to him, Catholic Tradition is once again flourishing in over 60 countries and will someday even conquer Rome.
"Courts can't change statutes of limitation; only legislatures can, as California's did."
BWAHAHAHAHahahaha, yeah, sure. Explain Roe-v-Wade then.
Don't kid yourself. Any parish that offers a Traditional Latin Mass, on a regular schedule, will be supported.
The supporters will be those who are fed up with the new order and it's never-ending policy of introducing novelties and rejection of Tradition, courtesy of JP II, himself.
Well, that wouldn't be true in our parish, the second largest in our diocese.
There is no demand for a Tridentine Mass.
However, all six of our Novus Ordo Masses are full, every single Sunday.
That's what Maida had been saying for years.
You really have six Masses on Sunday? What are the times? I wouldn't doubt that two of your "six" Masses are the Saturday afternoon golf masses.
P.S. My church is full every Sunday.
I guess I didn't ask my question very well. What do you see as the unique value of the Novus Ordo. I'm not trying to be agumentative. I am interested in your thoughts on the matter.
In this case I think you are wrong. The Cardinal was approached by a fairly young priest from a parish in one of the northern suberbs. The Cardinal told him to make his case and the priest did his homework. The Cardinal has actually been given a lot of flack from those under him and at one point had to say "I am the Bishop and it is my decision." He took the information the preist had provided and by the next Presbyteral Council Meeting had decided to give the Indult albeit in a very limited fashion. It is true that one of the reasons he used was because there are people going to Tridentine Masses within the diocese which are not approved but also because some travel to Canada and Flint which do have Indult Masses. Another reason was because this young priest made a good case for the Mass and it didn't hurt that there are 6 seminarians from his parish in the seminary.
As did Pope St. Pius V?
"There is no demand for a Tridentine Mass. However, all six of our Novus Ordo Masses are full, every single Sunday."
Coulda fooled me. Mass attendance in the U.S. is now around 17%--and only around 5% in Europe. (The preconciliar Church boasted 80%+ attendance.) More Protestants now attend worship services than Catholics now attend Mass. Instead of bragging about how full your six wonderful churches are, you might ask yourself where all the Catholics went.
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