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.
-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.
Kudos on handling this in the proper manner. How truly sad, however, that we have to confront our priests in the first place.
Well, good for you. We are called to speak the Truth, after all. It always makes the too-nice ones uncomfortable and the accused ones livid. They burned the prophets, after all. And crucified our Lord. It’s the least we can do for Him.