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 Rochesters 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, Rochesters 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 dioceses 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 mothers 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 mothers 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. Dont 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.
The babies' butts? Ye gads. Just when one thinks one's own diocese has fallen way off track... What is up with upstate NY? Ithaca, Syracuse, Rochester - now all havens of new agey drivel. When I last lived in upstate NY, it was still fairly traditional, more so than PA and as far as I knew, the new agey stuff was limited to a few cities.
That baby knows better, no wonder he/she is protesting! What is so wrong with the anointing and pouring water on the head?
I find this "ritual" downright creepy -- especially the a@@ dunking part.
They are either agents of Satan or pawns, not good either way.
I think it's child abuse, by the spiritual nature.
Are they really baptizing that child "in the name of The Father, the Son, and The Holy Ghost?"
By dipping it's rear end in the water??
Isn't this not against the established practice of pouring water over the infant's head?
Why on earth aren't these parents in the least concerned?
I hope the Vatican has photos/videos or whatever. NYer, do you know the status on any of the petitions by the parishioners there?
Yes. That was my first gut feeling when I read this, and saw the picture. And I did not read the other thread.
They are anti-christ, they are heretics, they are abnormal.
It's one thing to sin (and acknowldege sin), but to mock God directly in his face during a most blessed Sacrament is beyond sinful....God will sort it out.
Just protect the infant, he has no idea what is happening to him.
And don't forget to pass me over that bucket when you're finished.
At least the kid won't have to watch his backside.
That's not correct. If form, matter, or intention are lacking (any one of these three), the Sacrament is invalid and absolutely must be repeated. "All these sacraments are dispensed in three ways, namely, by things as the matter, by words as the form, and by the person of the minister conferring the sacrament with the intention of doing what the Church does; if any of these is lacking the sacrament is not fulfilled" (Council of Florence, Decretum pro Armenis, Denz. 695)
More "gay activism" in the church.
All I can say is...well words can't express what I feel.
Crisis also quotes Kellenyis classmate Fr. Joseph Marcoux as saying, "I certainly never experienced a gay subculture at Louvain. I never saw anything like that." Like what? Fr. Marcoux, ordained in 2001, and now Assistant Pastor at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester, N.Y., himself conducts gay/lesbian workshops. For example, according to the newsletter of the Diocese of Rochesters Gay and Lesbian Ministry, Fr. Marcoux conducted one last year at Our Lady of Peace entitled "Gay and Lesbian People in the Church."
The Diocese of Rochester and Bishop Matthew Clark (Van Durmes and Marcouxs boss) in fact have long bastardized the Churchs teaching on homosexuality. Consider this gem from Bishop Clark during a homily at a highly publicized Mass for "gays, lesbians, and bisexuals" at Sacred Heart Cathedral: "Im afraid the Bible is used in ways that are not life-giving, but destructive, as its quoted about gay and lesbian people. I think we need to learn from the human sciences" (March 1, 1997). According to The Wanderers News Editor, Paul Likoudis, who attended the Mass, during his homily Bishop Clark "not only affirmed the lifestyles of gays and lesbians, saying they had much to teach the wider Church, but delivered a stinging rebuke to faithful Catholics and admonished them to update themselves on contemporary biblical scholarship."
Their "gay issues" agenda: ...working for the "conversion" of those Catholics who still object to homosexuality.
The following year (1998) Bishop Clark hosted the annual conference of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. Participants included a long list of the most radical dissenters from Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Their "gay issues" agenda: blessing same-sex "marriages" in the Church, transforming Catholic high schools into "gay-friendly" schools, adoption of children by gay and lesbian couples, introducing gay themes in Sunday homilies, and working for the "conversion" of those Catholics who still object to homosexuality. (See http://www.aquinas-multimedia.com/catherine/nacdlgm.html for in-depth detail on what was taught at that conference.)
According to a photo-caption in the September 21, 1998, issue of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Patrick Van Durme (Kellenyis accused harasser) attended that bizarre gay/lesbian conference. Theres even a photo in the Democrat & Chronicle to prove it: Van Durme is pictured receiving Communion from Bishop Clark, whose hand oddly rests on Van Durmes shoulder.
The Crisis article also relies on too many assumptions as evidence. For example, Crisis states that Van Durme was once engaged to be married, leading readers to believe that this fact renders any accusations of the man having homosexual attractions devoid of credence. On its own, the fact that Van Durme was engaged proves nothing. After all, notorious homosexual priest/abuser Rudy Kos of Dallas, among others, was once engaged and married.
While Crisis spends an inordinate amount of time on the question of whether Van Durme is "gay" or not, its worth pointing out again that Kellenyi accused him of sexual harassment: an abuse of power. The difference between a homosexual and a homosexualist may be a small one. In his peer review of Kellenyi, Van Durme accuses him of not being interested in "gay issues." Van Durme attended a conference that promoted "gay issues" that radically undermine the Churchs teaching on homosexuality. The bishop who sponsored Van Durme has personally promoted teachings and proposals that are at odds with the Catholic Church on homosexuality. Van Durme is said to have been friends for 15 years with Rochester priest Fr. Joseph Marcoux, who teaches gay/lesbian workshops. And as I quoted Kellenyi as saying in my book, "He [Van Durme] told me one time that the way I was sitting in my chair made him want to fly across the room and grab me." That doesnt necessarily make Van Durme an active homosexual, but any normal, red-blooded male would surely want to avoid such a person, would not want a "close relationship" with him. Theres enough evidence to suggest that Kellenyis impression of Van Durme is not as outrageous as Crisis makes it sound. In the end, whether or not Van Durme is "gay" is irrelevant.
Crisis Fails to Ask Around About Louvain
I talked to others in both Louvain and the U.S. who corroborated Kellenyis "impression" of the Louvain seminary. In fact, I spoke to two successful vocations directors who said neither they nor their bishops would consider sending seminarians to Louvain, one of the reasons being the seminarys "effeminate reputation." Could they prove that there was homosexual activity going on inside the walls of the seminary? No, said both. But that wasnt the point.
(Crisis gets perturbed when I quote unnamed sources. As I stated in the introduction to Goodbye, Good Men, priests fear reprisals from their fellow priests and especially their bishops. Heres a case-in-point: Earlier this year Fr. Bryce Sibley of Lafayette, Louisiana, was censured for six months by his bishop because he publicly corroborated Kellenyis impression of the homosexual clique at Louvain. Fr. Sibley said his impressions were formed while on a week-long visit to the seminary in 1997, during which time he was a student at the North American College in Rome. Shortly after Fr. Sibley posted his article online, a letter of complaint from Louvain Rector Fr. Codd resulted in the swift removal of the offending article from circulation at the demand of his bishop, and Fr. Sibleys subsequent silencing.)
...out of the entire United States, Joseph Kellenyi was the only man to enter the Theologate in the Fall of 1999. In other words, Kellenyi was the only man in his class. He had no classmates!
The vocations directors I spoke with indicated that many of the U.S. bishops have been very reluctant to send their seminarians to Louvain, and that for some bishops Louvain "isnt even on the radar." The statistics bear this out. Crisis neglected to mention that during the year Kellenyi attended, the American College at Louvain had only 14 seminarians. In fact, out of the entire United States, Joseph Kellenyi was the only man to enter the Theologate in the Fall of 1999. In other words, Kellenyi was the only man in his class. He had no classmates! According to the seminarys website, the entire student population of the seminarys Theologate during the 2001-02 academic year had dwindled to seven men with an additional four in the pre-theology program. [The Theologate further dwindled to five men during the 2002-03, making for a student:teacher ration of 1 to 1]. These numbers dont even justify a fraction of the cost of running the seminary. And one wonders if donors to the American College are aware of this. When I spoke by phone with Barbara Henkels, a member of the Advisory Board for the Louvain seminary (and a member of the Publication Committee for Crisis), she seemed genuinely surprised even shocked when I explained that Kellenyi was the only man in his class. Out of the 184 U.S. dioceses, only six sent a seminarian to Louvains American College in 2001-2002.
When wondering why only a handful of bishops send men to Louvain, consider that Louvain "boasts" many world-renowned liberal Church theologians. Prof. Joseph Selling, Chairman of the Department of Moral Theology at Louvain, for example, has become a controversial figure in the U.S. At the pro-"gay" New Ways Ministry National Symposium in Pittsburgh in March 1997 (at which Bishop Matthew Clark was also a guest speaker), Selling spoke of his expectation that the Church will approve of homosexual sodomy. Is the Churchs teaching on sodomy going to continue to evolve, he asked?: "With respect to the homosexual relationship, will it evolve toward encompassing it? Yes, it will!" he emphatically replied.
Thank you, NYer for hand transcribing this Wanderer article.
All I can say is, get these sickos out of the Church now before we have to pay for their crimes later!
Gay and Lesbian Family Ministry |
(First time anywhere on the internet!) 1961 Vatican guidelines on homosexuality and the priesthood
The other couple chose to have their child immersed. The baby's entire body, up to their neck, was placed into the water, and water poured over their head. They were then swaddled in a white towel.
My children also had their chest annointed with oil, with additional prayers.
We went all out. My son had on a delightful white silk and satin outfit, and my daughter has a magnificent long trained dress with pearls, beadwork, and embroidered crosses. They had special socks and even their slippers had white crosses embroidered on them. I have saved their outfits, so that they can baptise their own children in them.
They both wore a bib I made for them with a gold and silver cross of needlepoint, plus a white linen overrobe with a gold trim border, magenta cross on the back, and embroidered candle signifying God's light to the world on the front. It took me days to make these, and I have them still. Their baptism meant a lot to us; we wanted to make it special.
It's kind of funny, now that I look back on it. My children looked like a little king and queen, all trussed up, and the other baby was wearing only a white towel.
Doesn't matter though. The Lord blessed both our families, and brought beautiful little ones onto the earth to enrich our lives. Whether finely dressed or humbly dressed, what matters is their hearts, and their faith in salvation through Christ.
Several years ago, I stumbled upon Mr. Brennan's web site, linked above. At the time, he was submitting petitions to the Vatican, in hopes of salvaging Sacred Heart Cathedral from "wreckovation". He and a large team of devout catholics collected thousands of petitions which were hand delivered to the Vatican. They were unsuccessful and Bishop Clark stripped the Cathedral bare.
The best source of information on the nonsense in Rochester, is Mr. Brennan himself. His email address is posted at the above link. He will respond!
I'm in the Diocese of Albany which, like Rochester, has its own cesspool of radical priests. The two bishops are good friends.
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