Posted on 03/03/2006 8:40:09 AM PST by NYer
We note that the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, for all practical purposes, has silenced a priest named Father Robert Altier. It is an interesting action, at several levels. We find it noteworthy at the same time that, as always, we urge obedience.
Father Altier is a rare one indeed, at 45 a relatively young priest who unabashedly speaks strong stuff -- including prophetic stuff, and including exposes of alleged wrongdoing -- from the pulpit. As it was, he had been relegated, at the Church of St. Agnes, in the city of St. Paul, to the 6:30 a.m. Mass (although the church's website disseminated his homilies).
On weekdays, it has been the six a.m. shift -- a Mass that regularly attracts between 75 and a hundred despite the early hour. Some of his homilies, including a recent one, have been surprisingly open in their criticism of bishops.
He may be a bit strong, and naturally we're not sure of all his views (we all have different ideas), but so popular and unusual have been his homilies that for a while now they have been disseminated over the internet via a website called "A Voice in the Desert." That website has now announced the bishop's closure.
"In obedient compliance with the expressed written request of Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA [left], Father Altier’s homilies and spiritual presentations can no longer be published on www.desertvoice.org or broadcast on Relevant Radio," says the website. "Please be assured that this action of the archbishop is not related to any scandal or sexual misconduct on the part of Father Robert Altier. We regret any inconvenience and humbly ask for your prayers."
Father Altier has expressed a number of views that some in mainstream Catholicism consider strong and controversial. We have contacted the diocese for comment.
"They say you can't preach like that because the collection will go down," said Father Altier, who is a third-order Carmelite and who before becoming a priest, at age 28, had attained a degree in computer programming.
But his "tell-it-like-he-sees-it" approach, he says, has not hurt. "Parishioners seem to be fine with it, but I'm not sure other priests like it," he told Spirit Daily a while ago. "Priests are into materialism and worldliness. And if you want the material, you can't have the spiritual. Priests have gotten into a lot of worldliness."
As a local newspaper notes, Altier is a prominent voice in conservative Catholic circles and has spoken out against a sex-abuse prevention program being taught throughout the archdiocese, including to schoolchildren. He says the program is too explicit. Such programs were mandated in all dioceses by U.S. bishops as part of their response to the clergy abuse crisis.
It is Father Alitier's contention that there is a simple and real truth behind scandal. "I got sick and tired of all the lies. I just laid it out. There are three groups that have infiltrated the Church, the Masons, the Communists, and the homosexuals, who came in 1924," he alleges. "85 percent of all the abuse cases are homosexual. There is rank homosexuality. Homosexuals chose the best and brightest and best looking and put them into the priesthood."
As for our times, Father Altier views it as relating to the Gospel reading on cleaning the temple -- but this time with the Blessed Mother, who will "clean it like a woman, not like Jesus did (when He threw out the merchants); she is being more deliberate and every nook and cranny will be cleansed," he says insightfully. "When it is done, it will "not be pretty but it will be immaculate.
"I have been speaking about this since the early 1980s, but after 9/11, I said, 'Now the birth pangs have begun.'"
They are like labor pains that will get closer together and more intense, contends the priest, who spends hours each day in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
Why is he controversial? And why do people -- including many priests -- reject the idea of purification?
"I think because people don't want to deal with sin," he says. "The loss of the sense of sin is one of the great tragedies of our time. They don't want to deal with the idea that God would allow any kind of purification. We focus on His mercy so much that we forget His justice. The devil is resisting the idea of chastisement. If we can explain it scientifically, it denies the spirituality of an event, and what the devil desires most is to remain hidden. Certainly he is going to be involved in some of these things, whether directly or from chaos at spiritual level. He is inspiring chaos at spiritual level.
"And some of it -- wars as well as storms -- we are doing to ourselves. Nature reflects the chaos in the spiritual order. You see that right from the Garden of Eden. There was peace until they sinned, and that continues. The chaos that we see -- the storms and tsunamis -- continue to get more intense and closer together and it is because sin is getting worse. We can't keep killing babies and violating human dignity and think that nothing is going to happen to us. We're doing it to ourselves. It's a natural consequence of what we're doing."
These days, when it comes to Christianity, he says, "we only want the parts we like."
The priest has also harped on the need for deliverance.
"I did an awful lot of deliverance work, and the bishop shut it down," claimed Father Altier. "He said he didn't want any priest in his diocese doing this."
He's also moving out of DC, IIRC.
"However, he has control issues."
That alone should disqualify a man from any position of authority.
We know about exercising episcopal authority for the sake of exercising authority. Regards from Arlington, VA.
 |
Pray for A Voice in the Desert
|
 About Father Altier and the Desert Voice Website |
A Statement from the Webmaster at Desert Voice Is this the reason Father Altier was silenced? Archdiocesan spokesman confirms Father Altier innocent of any impropriety|
Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA This action of the Archbishop is not related to any scandal We regret any inconvenience and humbly ask for your prayers. Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn |
The Rev. Robert Altier of St. Agnes Catholic Church has condemned the children's component of the Virtus program, which is mandated for all Catholic schools and religious education programs.
Altier's "Voice in the Desert" website, which on Friday bore a new address with a commentary embedded -- www.desertvoice.org/Censored.html -- said he has chosen "obedient compliance" with Flynn's request to refrain from posting commentaries or broadcasting them on Relevant Radio, 1330 AM.
"Father Altier is an honored priest, and has not committed any improprieties," archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said. He said Flynn will not discuss the issue publicly because it is a "personnel matter, but I surmise that Father Altier's contrarian position on Virtus is the issue."
Altier and the St. Agnes office did not return phone messages Friday.
The Virtus program, for adults who work with children, and its children's component are being implemented in the archdiocese's 220 parishes to comply with a 2003 mandate by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in the wake of the clergy-sex-abuse scandal.
Along with Oregon Bishop Robert Vasa, Altier has gained a national following among curriculum foes, many of whom are associated with Catholic Parents Online, based in St. Paul. They believe that the program violates Vatican teachings (the magisterium) and that only parents should talk to children about sex.
Darrel Kloeckner, of Marine on St. Croix, who is associated with Catholic Parents Online, said he has closely followed Altier's web and radio ministries and is "very disappointed" that they're on hold. "What it comes down to is we're trying to be faithful to the magisterium," he said. "We believe Archbishop Flynn has been misled on this issue."
He said he was heartened to hear that parishes that object to the program can petition Flynn for an alternative program that is more home-based.
Pamela Miller • 612-673-4290
Dear nanetteclaret,
Book Mark this site. It will not disappear in the near future at all. I am quite confident.
It is literally a Treasure Trove of all of Father Altier's Homilies from 2001-2006. If you need any others, you can always freepmail me whenever you want.
http://desertvoice.excerptsofinri.com
In Jesus and Mary,
Dear nanetteclaret,
Book Mark this site. It will not disappear in the near future at all. I am quite confident.
It is literally a Treasure Trove of all of Father Altier's Homilies from 2001-2006. If you need any others, you can always freepmail me whenever you want.
http://desertvoice.excerptsofinri.com
In Jesus and Mary,
Thanks so much! It really is a treasure trove!
By the way, thanks also for your reports from India. It's good to have honest reporting from the actual location.
Dear nanetteclaret,
Many Thanks for your response.
I have with me Two Homilies of Father Robert J. Altier dated the 2nd of March 2006 that is "Thursday after Ash Wednesday" and Friday, the 3rd of March 2006 respectively.
You will not get this at all at the Mirror Site that I sent you and not at all at the "Internet Way Back Machine".
These are the last two recorded text version Homilies of Father Altier for 2006 which were sent to me by a Friend who lives in Atlanta. They are not available anywhere on the Web.
Would you like me to send them to you via Freep Mail ?
Please keep me in your prayers as well as all Indian Catholics specially Catholic Missionaries in India.
Your Brother in Jesus Christ and in his Holy Mother Mary,
SOLDIEROFJESUSCHRIST
**But at that time the Bishops were not part of Satan's conspiracy.**
Presnetly, it seems this way for some bishops too!
Or living in the catacombs! I have had a dream about that!
Dear Soldier:
Why not post them separately as articles here on FR? Just entitle them "Fr. Altier's Sermon of **whatever date**". That way, they will be accessible to us and to anyone else who searches for them on the Internet. I know it will be much appreciated by everyone, and they will be permanently archived here on FR.
Thanks!
nc
Dear nanetteclaret,
Greetings. It is done. Please check Catholic Caucus Readings for 3-23-2006 Optional Memorial of Saint Turibius de Mongrovejo. I have posted both the Homilies.
In Jesus and Mary,
"Coincidentally, this week, Alejandro Bermudez from Catholic News Agency, suddendly shut down his blog -
Catholic Outsider. He said his goodbyes, departed and the blog has been completely removed."
"What is happening?"
Welcome to the underground Catholic Church!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
