Posted on 05/31/2005 4:16:22 PM PDT by NYer
Most of you have seen the picture of a priest baptizing a naked baby by dipping its butt into a baptismal "pool". It constituted a thread here on FR and we all wondered where this had taken place.
The full story appeared today in The Wanderer. Here it is, hand transcribed.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Diocese of Rochester’s Sacred Heart Cathedral, which Bishop Matthew Clark insists is the model for Catholic worship for the entire diocese, was the setting for a bizarre baptismal ritual of questionable validity on Pentecost Sunday, as Rainbow Sashers received Communion.
Sometimes known as The Coalition in Defense of Church Teaching, the Ushers of the Eucharist, Rochester chapter, encountered more than they bargained for.
Members of the Rainbow Sash had warned the nation that they were storming the cathedrals and churches to protest the “homophobic” Pope Benedict XVI, to defy Catholic doctrine, and to commit sacrilege in the process. However, Rochester’s local chapter was very low key this year, although members had been welcomed at Sacred Heart Cathedral for the last four years with their red, blue, green, yellow, and orange sashes wrapped around their shoulders and waists.
Upon entry to the cathedral atrium prior to the 9:30am Mass, an Usher of the Eucharist, Rochester encountered the head usher, Mr. Stevenson (city councilman), and Fr. Murphy and stated he was looking for Rainbow Sashers. He was promptly told they had not been seen nor heard from.
Curiously, Charled Mudge, leader of the Rochester Chapter of Rainbow Sash (as well as Dignity), was sitting in a chair (chairs replaced all pews during the “wreckovation” designed by Albany priest Richard Vosko) in the cathedral with his sash proudly displayed.
Mudge pops up every year at this time to exhibit his talents for defying Church teaching with the blessing of Bishop Clark and the priests and staff of Sacred Heart Cathedral, and so lay Catholic observers were ready with their cameras and video-recorders to document the event.
Fr. Joseph Marcoux, a recent graduate of the American College at Louvain, the diocese’s “poster boy” for vocations, as well as an activist for gay rights in the Church, was in front of the new baptismal font with three families preparing them for the Baptisms of their infants.
Some kind of preparatory liturgy was performed at 9:30am, when Mass was scheduled to start. It was a joyous gathering with much inclusion of those observing from their chairs.
Mass began and after the offertory, Fr. Marcoux marched to the large baptismal font (which looks like an overdone sauna) near the front doors, and proceeded to start a strange baptismal ritual for three infants.
Fr. Marcoux took each of the naked babies from each mother’s arms and carried the infants naked one after another to the “pools of living waters”.
At that point, individually, each one of the naked infants’ backsides was dipped into the water three times, while Fr. Marcoux called out in sequence to each dip of the backside, “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
It appears the “forward-looking” Diocese of Rochester has invented its own form of Baptism.
This reporter turned to an off duty priest who happened to be standing near and said: “Father, that is not a valid Baptism.” The priest responded: “Yes it is, it is an immersion, how do we know how Jesus was baptized?”
I followed up laughing, saying that what we had just witnessed was not an immersion; we had witnessed the dipping of infants’ bottoms.
Fr. Marcoux then proceeded to read further from a book he had with him related to the scenario we had just witnessed. He then went to each infant and poured an excessive amount of water over their heads (they were in their mother’s arms at this point, naked but wrapped in a white towel). However, Fr. Marcoux said absolutely nothing while doing this, which is confirmed by the video-audiotape.
He then massaged the water into their heads and then kissed the infants individually.
A “liturgy” followed which included some illicit rubrics by Fr. Marcoux, including lifting a four inch diameter host high over his head and breaking it in two for crumbs to spill everywhere, and adding at the end of the Agnus Dei, “Welcome to the banquet of love.”
At Communion time, Mudge, in his Rainbow Sash, left his chair to proceed to the Communion line. This reporter approached him and stated: “Mr. Mudge, you should not do this. It is an insult to the Holy Father, a sacrilege and a political attack on Church teaching.”
Immediately, Tom Riley (a local ferryboat entrepreneur, whose business involved shttling gay cruises from Rochester to Toronto), and his wife Barbara Kelly (a PR specialist with Bausch & Lomb, and leader of the cathedral wreckovation committees), rose and pushed me aside, and stepped in front of Mudge. I did not push back but continued in the Communion line.
Fr. Marcoux was giving Communion on the right and a female extraordinary minister next to him was giving Communion for our line. We were all in the middle aisle. Fr. Marcoux leaned over to the extraordinary minister and advised her as we were approaching them. I raised my arms and informed the extraordinary minister and Fr. Marcoux that a “political protest and attack on Church teaching was behind me. Don’t give Communion to Rainbow Sash.”
Fr. Marcoux ignored me and the extraordinary minister blinked and her eyes went blank.
I moved aside to take pictures if necessary, but was blocked by staff and Riley.
Tom and his wife, Barbara, left the Communion line in front of Mudge, but positioned themselved fore and aft of Charles as they walked to their seats; nevertheless, I was able to photograph Charlie in his sash, Barbara in front of him and Tom following as they moved away after receiving Communion. However, the staff and the husband/wife team were paying so much attention to me that our video camera man got the whole scenario from the “Baptisms” to the reception of Communion by Mudge with his sash clearly wrapped around him.
They fought valiantly for many years, sending petitions to the Vatican and even attempting to have the Cathedral declared an Historic Landmark ... all to no avail.
Throughout this process, Michael Brennan videotaped all aspects of the transformation from the initial meetings with Fr. Dr. Vosko, to the arrival of Hillary Clinton who spoke at another Rochester church - St. Michael's - where catholics were turned away to accomodate busloads of Salvation Army customers planted to cheer Mrs. Clinton on.
To learn more about these events, visit Mr. Brennan's web site:
To grasp the agony suffered by so many of us reside in the Dioceses of Rochester and Albany, where Clark and Hubbard continue to inflict their liberalized agendas on the faithful, visit this link:
Still Proud Of Bishops He Gave U.S. Archbishop Jadot At 93 ...
Both bishops Clark and Hubbard were appointed bishops at the recommendation of Archbishop Jadot, 28 years ago. Both were quite young at the time. Both have at least 7 or 8 years before mandatory retirement.
Please pray for the catholics in these two dioceses who have been subjected to the worst forms of liturgical abuse with no hope for change in sight.
These families have placed their faith and confidence in the bishop and his priests. This is what they were "taught" was an appropriate form of baptism. Sadly, many catholics do not question what they are "taught".
Please also remember these babies and their families in your prayers.
NYer do you have a link to this article? I'd like to post it on AQ.
Thanks.
Interesting comments from a Web site about the building:
http://amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/2005/05/renovating_roch.html
We do immersion in the Orthodox Church and that ain't it!
Considering his proclaimed "gay activism" (if I read it correctly), I wonder if he was blessing only the baby's buttocks.
Why he would do such a thing remains a subject of speculation, of course...
Fairyboat?
LOL!!!!!!!
To give the padre the benefit of the doubt, the immersion pool is a piss poor design. What can you hope to do with such a monstrosity?
Would it be overly paranoid of me to suggest that parents keep their children away from this priest. The very description of how he "baptized" these infants gives me the willies.
Somebody needs to mail this video to Rome pronto! I'm sick to death of this nonsense. We faithful Catholics need to form our own "Voice of the Faithful" -- this time the name will actually mean what it says.
Thank you, franky! For the post and its link which is taking forever to download on dialup. A travesty has been inflicted on the parishioners at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Sure, one can always find beauty in renovation but it is necessary to look below the superficial to understand its purpose. A simple click on the link provided above will do just that. It was a vendetta by the bishop against the faithful.
As anyone who subscribes to The Wanderer knows, they include no links at their web site. This thread was personally hand transcribed.
I have great respect for the reporter who has monitored, videotaped and tracked all the shenanigans going on up in Rochester. May his efforts, some day, be richly rewarded! Michael Brennan is dauntless and unrelenting.
This is nuts...
I know...let's do what is pleasing to us rather than what is pleasing to God.
Another Sodom and Gomorrah await his calling.
And they are in danger of losing their eternal souls.
There has to be more of us then of them, don't you think? If something doesn't happen soon, the American Catholic Church is going to turn out exactly like the American Episcopal Church. We talking schisms galore!
I have a question for my fellow Catholic Freepers. Do you believe that your bishop to is a holy man and is sincerely faithful to the Majesterium? Some of you will sincerely (and correctly) say "yes, absolutely!" But a whole lot of you will say, "no."
It feels like we're living in pre-Reformation Europe. I remember reading accounts of 15th century convents and monasteries that portrayed them as little better than whore houses and witches covens. I once thought these accounts were just the fantastical imaginings of a more primitive Christianity. I have since changed my mind. I can very easily believe that convents turned into covens (look at the IHM nuns with their wiccan rituals or these new agey priests with their quasi-paganism) or that monasteries and abbeys became the site of bacchanalias (think of the disgusting sexual escapades of the lavender mafia and the lesbian nuns).
This filth needs to be excised soon.
I'm ready to puke. I hope Pope Benedict XVI crushes them. They're not Christians, they're not Catholics, they're not Normal. They are anti-christ, they are heretics, they are abnormal.
The remnant will remain faithful to God, The Church, the Pope, the Magisterium, the Traditions and the Holy Scriptures.
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