Posted on 09/02/2009 9:30:11 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
RED SPRINGS - There's dissension in the church.
Three days after being padlocked out of his parish, Father Walter Ospina returned to give the Wednesday evening Mass at the Iglesia Catolica San Andres on the outskirts of this rural Robeson County town.
By order of the Bishop of the Raleigh Diocese, it will be the last Mass held in the church until a review of any parishioner's concerns is complete.
Earlier this week, St. Pauls Police Chief Tommy Hagens said the Robeson County District Attorney's Office is looking into an allegation made against Ospina.
Assistant District Attorney Joe Osman, who is handling the case, said Wednesday it remains "in investigative mode."
Osman declined to discuss particulars involving the case. He said no charges have been filed against Ospina, who has denied wrongdoing.
Temporary locks had been removed Sunday from the doors of San Andres, or St. Andrew Catholic Church. Four Red Springs Police officers stood watch under a large oak tree Wednesday evening in case things got heated as they had during a Sunday morning protest in the parking lot.
Inside, the church was filled to near capacity with two factions from the Spanish-speaking community: members of the parish and community who are urging the Raleigh Diocese to remove Ospina as their priest; and another group of about 65, largely from Lumberton and St. Pauls, who support the Colombian-born Roman Catholic pastor.
Ospina, who is 33, has been priest of the Red Springs church for nearly 13 months. He celebrates the Spanish Mass at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Lumberton and the missionary station of St. Andrew in St. Pauls.
Ospina entered the sanctuary Wednesday evening with Monsignor David Brockman, former pastor at Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Fayetteville, and Carlos Arce, vicar for Hispanics in the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh.
It was a show of support from the diocese.
The diocese has stated it has no reason to remove Ospina and that he will remain pastor of St. Andrew where he has been assigned to serve the Hispanic population of Robeson County.
After a subdued, weary-looking Ospina delivered Mass, Brockman read from a prepared statement issued by Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh.
He told the congregation of about 250 people that Ospina "remains in good standing and has my support and confidence," according to an English translation of the statement.
But because of the concerns of some parishioners, celebration of any regularly scheduled Masses at St. Andrew will be postponed, Brockman said. A facilitator will be appointed this week, he said, and "will gather together with Father Ospina and the lay leadership to address each of the concerns in a timely matter."
Following the service, three churchgoers who want Ospina removed from the parish said Brockman ignored a letter that they requested he read to the congregation.
"He didn't pay attention to us," said 27-year-old Julio Sanchez of Red Springs.
Part of that letter reads, "... we do not understand how after so many problems of communication, mistreat and injustice which are well known by the 'Dioceses' of Raleigh, the Rev. Ospina continues oppressing a community."
Frank Morock, who is spokesman for the Raleigh Diocese, said Ospina will remain pastor of the parish during the fact-gathering process.
"I'm speechless in the way I think this is an injustice (that) they're staging here," said parishioner Maria Perez, who is 25 and a 14-year member of St. Andrew.
But Lourdez Salazar was among the flock who disagreed.
Salazar, who is 29 and from Lumberton, called Ospina a spiritual man who loves the Eucharist.
"We worked with him," she said. "He worked with us. They don't have what they want. They want him out. They don't want his service. We do."
Many Hispanic Roman Catholics who worship at the Red Springs church are unhappy with Ospina. He does not, they say, make time for them, he's disrespectful and a poor communicator. And, they say, he's not active in the the Hispanic community like his predecessor, Carlos Arce.
"I cannot receive the body of Christ and the blood of Christ with his dirty hands," said Gabriela Sanchez, who is 22. "I'll have to go to another parish."
Fourteen-year-old Ana Martinez disagreed.
"They're wrong, man," she said. "They don't like him."
Earlier this week, St. Pauls Police Chief Tommy Hagens said the Robeson County District Attorney's Office is looking into an allegation made against Ospina....
In a follow-up story dated August 29, the Fayetteville Observer reported this:
The Robeson County District Attorney's Office has concluded its investigation of a Red Springs Roman Catholic priest and says no charges will be filed.The office said Wednesday it had reviewed an allegation that Father Walter Ospina of Iglesia Catolica San Andres in Red Springs acted inappropriately.
"The evidence, based upon our review - there was insufficient amount of evidence to warrant prosecution," said Joe Osman, who handled the case for the District Attorney's Office.
I read the article but I’m not sure what the allegation is and what could be considered criminal?
The protesters, who numbered about 150, then swarmed around the priest, many of them holding signs. "We don't want a priest that mistreat(s) a community!" one poster said.Also, the blog The Lair of the Catholic Cavemen discusses Ospina's tale in (vulgar) detail. The question of Catholic support for illegal immigration seems to be at the forefront here.Ospina has served as priest of the Red Springs church for about a year, and he also delivered the Spanish Mass at St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Lumberton and the missionary station of St. Andrew in St. Pauls.
Many of the Hispanics who attend San Andres feel betrayed by this man of the cloth.
They say he fails to embrace his Mexican parishioners, a flock of lower-income people who, in many cases, have made their way into this country illegally. They say he is aloof and sarcastic to them.
They say he is not a man of the people.
Same here.
Must have been typed in tongues.
This is what happens when you have the Church catering to every whim of illegals, at the same time that the government does likewise.
There was a time when there was only one Mass and things were fine. Then, the Church LIBs took over and it was open season on change. Now, there’s a Mass in every language, rock and folk Masses, “Catholics for abortion”, etc.
Kind of like our government, eh?
Is it that Colombians consider themselves superior to Mexicans and treat the latter with disrespect?
Or is it that Mexicans simply feel inferior to Colombians?
Part of that letter reads, “... we do not understand how after so many problems of communication, mistreat and injustice which are well known by the ‘Dioceses’ of Raleigh, the Rev. Ospina continues oppressing a community.”
Me thinks I smell a gay rat.
More likely an undocumented rat.
“There was a time when there was only one Mass and things were fine.”
______
1. Not so sure. Wasn’t there an Italian Catholic Church in the Italian neighborhood and an Irish Catholic Church in the Irish neighborhood, etc.? What happened if you went to the wrong one? Did they ever try putting the “wrong” priest in the “wrong” parish? What happened? (I actually don’t know, but I imagine it wasn’t necessarily a warm welcome.)
2. If this is a conflict between Colombian and Mexican, it reminds me of my home parish in the 1970s. Because there were a lot of Spanish speakers, the bishop sent a spanish speaking priest. Only he was from Spain, not Mexico. He was arrogant and “my way or the highway”. He was not used to parish councils and didn’t think it was his job to convey any warmth. Having just lost an American Franciscan hippie priest who spoke fluent Spanish, this was a tough transition, and many parishioners were upset. Ultimately, the bishop moved the priest. It was a culture clash that had brought out the worst in all concerned.
I stand corrected. But it is interesting that both groups use the language of victimization so beloved by lefties.
And I think we can humanely enforce our immigration laws even while working to reform them as needed. I hate the assumption that to enforce current policy and law is somehow so inhumane the Christian response must be disobedience.
The Mass was the same in whatever community or country you were in. Only the sermon was in the vernacular. And there were no hyphenated Catholics, just as there once was a time when there were no hyphenated Americans. Both are recent phenomena designed to divide and destroy.
my colombian born adopted sons disliked Mexicans for being vulgar and pushy...
Colombians tend to be more polite and their Spanish is closer to Castillian...
The priests “disdain” is probably a cultural politeness...
Think formal strict German versus volitile Italian and you will get it right.
actually, in the past there were a lot of “immigrant” churches because the immigrants felt closer to a priest from their country.
When I lived in Pennsylvania coal country, the locals got angry at church closings....a lot of the churches being closed were “Polish” or “Italian” or “Hungarian” churches...I know of one small town that had six “catholic” church of the Roman rite.
People should turn to God and not man.
I repeat - the Mass was the same; only the sermon was in the vernacular. There were NO hyphenated Catholics and no hyphenated Americans.
The ethnicity of the priest had absolutely nothing to do with their religion; it was a means of communication until the people learned to communicate in English.
Today, everyone has been tagged with a hyphenated name to denote race, religion, sex, politics, etc. It is PC to divide and destroy.
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