If he is a priest in the Diocese of Phoenix then he is direct defiance of the bishop.
Also, his refusal to read it is tell-tail. He is probably a liberal Democrat and dissident of the Church. Please tell us his name and the parish.
Not Phoenix but Diocese of Green Bay where, as I understand it, all parish priests were also supposed to read the letter. However, I don’t know how much, if any, leeway our Bishop Ricken gave the local parishes.
I am debating what to do about it.
By the way, the reading of the letter and controversy surrounding all of this was the lead story on our local news. The news story showed our Bishop receiving a standing ovation after reading the letter today.