Posted on 11/27/2007 10:37:24 AM PST by NYer
Ping
I say that as a parishioner who confronted a similar "priest" in the midst of a similar "homily" and read him the riot act.
What happened?
I contrast, my parish’s homily last week was about the holiness of confession and the Eucharist. The priest talked about how he experienced the Presence leave a church when he found out that church no longer had confession.
Yeah, that happened?
If you don’t mind sayin’, how did he respond?
He basically told us, punctuating his speech with vulgarities and some of the famous Seven Dirty Words (in front of the sanctuary, no less), that in the bad old days before Vatican II the Church had all kinds of repressive rules, but nowadays Catholics have the freedom to make their own decisions about what is right or wrong, including whether or not to use birth control.
So I briefly corrected his false teaching by citing the Catechism, told him I didn't appreciate his vocabulary, told him that it was rude to change the schedule of the pre-Cana at the last minute without telling anyone and without apologizing, and I told him that if I did my job as well as he was doing his job my boss would call security to escort me out of the building.
I also told him I would be in touch with the ordinary.
The other engaged couples were clearly uncomfortable both with his lecture and my reaction. He cut short his talk and handed things over to an adoring fan of his, one of the "lay facilitators" of the pre-Cana.
The lay facilitators gave me and my fiancee the cold shoulder and a wide berth for the rest of the day, and the "priest" came up to me and engaged me in a conversation that was alternately angry, syrupily condescending and attemptedly ingratiating.
The upshot was that I composed a letter to his ordinary and two weeks later he took a leave of absence from his parish "for personal reasons."
It later got back to me that there was a rumor that he had had a "nervous breakdown" and at least some of his parishioners personally blamed me for his problems, making me a persona quasi grata in my wife's parish for a while.
I should emphasize the fact that my outburst took place in a group of 75 people at a pre-Cana "evening meditation" at a different parish church rather than in the middle of a Sunday Mass at my local parish.
In brief, Tibesar was informed by the same Fr. McGrath quoted in the above article, that a gay-friendly talk which Tibesar had organized for his parish, to be given by a father and lesbian daughter, was out of line. As a result the talk was canned.
McGrath lowered the boom on Oct 18 and Tibesar's homily mentioned in the article above occurred on Oct 27 just over a week later.
Tibesar is throwing a hissy fit coz he had his butt kicked.
-Jesus of Nazareth
The bishop actually did something??? The age of miracles is not past! :)
Know when the Church started doing those? Do they or did they include "mixed" couples? I ask, cuz I wonder why my premarital counseling was so minimal & mostly aimed at getting me to sign off on allowing any children we had to be raised Catholic.
He’ll soon be “ordaining” womynpriests.
He became very ingratiating toward me when he began to realize that I was not just a stupid mook who somehow managed to read the Catechism, but was actually somewhat knowledgeable about canon law, well-off enough for my regular contributions to matter to my local parish, and capable of composing a reasoned and forceful letter to his boss.
I doubt he would have taken such a simpering attitude toward a Neanderthal like myself to the extent that he did later if he wasn't already having problems.
Presumably in the early 70s.
Do they or did they include "mixed" couples?
Indeed they do. There were several mixed couples - I suspect that part of the liberal speeches being given that weekend were intended as marketing to the non-Catholics in the crowd.
cuz I wonder why my premarital counseling was so minimal & mostly aimed at getting me to sign off on allowing any children we had to be raised Catholic.
Was your premarital counseling more recent than say, 1975?
1976!
Sounds like I would have probably stood up myself . . . it also sounds like, as you say, the poor man was already on the verge of a nervous breakdown and you just happened to be there. I can't imagine a priest using foul language in front of the Blessed Sacrament . . .
Interesting that "pre-Cana" counseling took place in a group. Of course, when my hubby and I were married back in 1977, I was a Piskie and he was still a Methodist. But pre-Cana counseling was private, the priest meeting with the engaged couple 3 or 4 times to discuss matters. My husband remembers it very well, but I seem to have somehow wiped it out of my memory banks because I have no recollection of any of the meetings or anything that was said. The priest was my favorite Canon of the Cathedral, a wonderful counselor and celebrant but an absolutely dreadful preacher. He was much better one-on-one, the best. Prayers for the repose of his soul; he was an old man when we got married and he would be over 100 if he were still alive.
You were probably on the cusp. By the mid-eighties I believe it was required in every diocese.
A memorial service for the Rev. Francis M. (Frank) Bulloch, a canon of the Cathedral of St. Philip from 1959-80, will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the Cathedral. Visitors will be received beginning at 1 p.m. in the Gould Room.Canon Bulloch died Jan. 22. He was 91. Survivors include his wife, Mary Bulloch, of Atlanta, a member of Church of the Atonement.
A graduate of Georgia Tech and the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, he was ordained a priest 50 years ago in the Diocese of Mississippi, where he served briefly before returning to Atlanta.
Godspeed, Canon B. I didn't even realize he was a Tech man!
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