Regarding Fisher More College and what you're reading in Rorate Caeli:
Now that the Bishop of Fort Worth has weighed in (and is now being maligned), after much prayer, I feel that I should break the silence.
First off, I love the students at Fisher More College (FMC). I love them so much. It was heartbreaking for me to leave FMC. Last summer (2013) was very difficult for me. I also love the Latin Mass and write about it often on my blog and talk about it publicly (my family belongs to a FSSP parish – Mater Dei parish in Irving, Texas).
For the record, I resigned as Chancellor of the College at the beginning of June of 2013—only days after our seventh baby was born. I had no job prospects and no income. I did it for the sake of conscience. I felt it would be a danger to my soul to remain at Fisher More College.
I resigned when moral, theological, and financial discrepancies came to light regarding the presidency of Michael King. I was an ex officio member of the Board so I knew what others did not. From May to early June of 2013, five of the eight College Board Members also resigned for two reasons:
1) Mr. King refused to disassociate himself from the public statements of faculty member Dr. Dudley that claimed in his Year of Faith lecture that Catholic professors have the duty to teach young people that Vatican 2 is not a valid Council (he also endorsed other “resistance” positions regarding the Novus Ordo, John Paul II, etc.)
2) Mr. King, after selling the original FMC campus to Texas Christian University for millions of dollars, had imprudently entered into a real estate deal that financially crippled Fisher More College.
Much of the politicization around the “Latin Mass and FMC” is Mr. King’s careful attempt to distract attention away from his financial misdealing at FMC. The college is currently teetering on bankruptcy and this latest entanglement with the bishop will lead to a public statement: “Fisher More closed down because the new bishop of Fort Worth persecuted the Latin Mass!” when in reality the College is failing because Mr. King entered into a dubious real estate deal that washed out college’s endowment AND all the proceeds from the sale of the original campus.
How did a College sell its extremely valuable campus to TCU for several millions dollars in 2012 only to announce at Christmas 2013 that it might be closing without an immediate fund raising campaign through Rorate Caeli?
Rorate Caeli has just released their sensational “exclusive” report on how the new Bishop of Fort Worth is persecuting the traditional Latin Mass in the person of Michael King. They included the (private) letter of Bishop Olson to Michael King and offered their speculation.
This controversy created by Rorate Caeli with the help of Michael King’s letter is not about the Latin Mass or Summorum Pontificum.*
FMC hosted a public repudiation of Vatican 2 and the Ordinary Form of the Mass in April of 2013 that was so offensive that my wife and I walked out of it before it’s conclusion. That did not do much to heal the breach with the local diocese or presbyterate and it contributed to the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) discontinuing their support and presence at FMC. The current FMC website advertises that the FSSP provides a chaplain, but this is not true.
At the same time, Michael King estranged himself from the diocese of Fort Worth by not allowing the Ordinary Form (as stipulated by the previous ordinary Bishop Vann of Fort Worth). He also contracted an irregular/suspended priest without faculties, and hired “trad resistance” faculty while there was no bishop in Fort Worth to check these developments. Mr. King was able to create a community in his image (he affectionately referred to himself the “father” of this community) during the episcopal inter-regnum of the diocese of Fort Worth.
Clearly, a bishop's intervention was inevitable. The current controversy really has nothing to do with the Latin Mass per se. The Latin Mass is at the center because Michael King is politicizing the Latin Mass in his favor, knowing that “bishops vs the Latin Mass” is red meat for some traditionalist blogs.
Bishop Olson says in the letter that he is doing this for Michael King's "soul." The bishop understands that this is a personal intervention – and not an attack on Fisher More College or its students or the Latin Mass.
It's a serious pastoral problem. Mr. King no doubt leaked Bp Olson’s letter via one of his few supporters to build sympathy before the inevitable financial collapse that will expose his mishandling of Fisher More College. Mr. King, more than anything, would like to blame the inevitable collapse of FMC (within only weeks or months) on the bishop’s “persecution of the Latin Mass.”
Hold your peace. Watch for how it unfolds, and most of all pray for the students that are still dutifully studying and praying. There are some GREAT students at Fisher More College.
As one who loves and prays the Latin Mass, please don’t curse or blame Bishop Olson for this one. He is a new bishop who inherited a TOUGH pastoral problem. Pray for him. And if you love the Latin Mass, don’t be so quick to judge the bishops or cite canon law. Sometimes there are things behind the scenes that you don’t know.
1 Cor 11:1-2 If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
*Regarding Summorum Pontificum in this situation. It doesn’t apply here since the college chapel does not have a priest requesting to say the Latin Mass and the chapel therefore falls under the direct pastoral control of the bishop. It’s the case of a layman (Michael King) asking for it. Those accusing Bishop Olson of breaking canon law or despising Summorum Pontificum should be more careful. Moreover, be assured that Bishop Olson supports the FSSP in his diocese and has nothing against the Extraordinary Form.
BTW, I'm just trying to push info out on this issue...I do not pretend to have first-hand info
Just finished reading this on FB, cannot say I am surprised since Dr TM would not leave without good reason. I was hoping that he would speak out.
comment at:
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2014/03/fr-zs-first-reaction-to-bp-olson-banning-extraordinary-form-at-fort-worths-fisher-more-college/
“” lindarobinson says:
3 March 2014 at 3:01 pm
Dear Father et al,
Some have suggested that this was a hasty action on the part of a new bishop. In fact, the episcopacy in Ft. Worth had been vacant for quite a while (more than a year, I believe) and the apostolic administrator had been quietly accumulating a dossier on Fisher More and Michael King. I was myself an employee of the college until I could remain no longer on grounds of conscience. My friends who remained employed there have given me a lot of information over the eight months since I resigned and so I have a good idea concerning the information that is in the dossier; it’s not pretty stuff. In fact, rather than being shocked at the stern tone of the letter, I congratulate the bishop on his gentlemanly restraint.
Also, I find it amusing that so many are citing Canon Law on SP; does anyone really suppose that Bishop Olson has no canon lawyers of his own? I’m sure he knew that liturgical ideologues would crucify him in the blogsphere once the fact of his disciplinary action was public; isn’t it quite likely that he consulted with his own canonists before he took action? Thank God he drew courage from the graces of his office and did the right thing.
Those who love the EF should understand that the EF is being used, as were good priests and people, for bad ends.
Many, many, good Catholics have been devastated by Fisher More College — good Catholics who love the EF. They have all borne their crosses in silence, trying to avoid scandal. Whoever sent the Bishop’s letter to Rorate Caeli unleashed a sickening firestorm of slander and hysteria against Bishop Olson and the people who have been quiet are now in a position of having to speak out lest they become an accessory to sin. Catholic World Report is preparing an in depth report as we speak; I urge everyone to wait for the article and give Bishop Olson the benefit of any doubt, both now and after the article is made public.
Linda Robinson””
I am especially grateful for Dr. Marshall coming forward to lay context to the sad conditions unfolding at FMC. His experience based on the facts as he saw them has “wised me up”, because certainly I am one who has become wounded by the never ending dismissal of Summorum Pontificum in the US; the endless waiting for bishops and priests to comply with it, and the marginalizing of anyone who longs for the Extraordinary Form to be restored to its rightful place within the context of Vatican II. I really appreciate your post. Thx, Rita
The more I read about FMC and Michael King the more I am impressed by them.
Sounds like sour grapes from a late convert who wanted things his own way or no way. What does a financial transaction have to do with the offering of the TLM? I’m glad Mr. King replaced people like Mr. Marsh.
>>He also contracted an irregular/suspended priest without faculties,..<<
In the above, he appears to be exaggerating about Fr. Gruner, who neither offered Mass or heard confessions.
Good riddens to Mr. Marshall; if he’s still looking for a job let him go back to his media outlets like EWTN, the Network Gone Wild. The school is better off without him.
>>Moreover, be assured that Bishop Olson supports the FSSP in his diocese and has nothing against the Extraordinary Form.<<
Another exaggeration. The FSSP priests come from the Diocese of Dallas, not the Diocese of Ft. Worth. As a matter a fact, many of the FMC students are children of the parishioners who attend Mater Dei Church, in Dallas, which is serviced by the FSSP and offers only the TLM. These parents are not at all pleased with Bishop Olson’s brutality against their children.