Gay priests of Diocese A-J in revolt; demand Bishop conceal molesters, sue Catholic activists

Whereas the rights and dignity of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown are threatened by forces both external to the community of believers and internally by our bishop and his staff.

Whereas, in response to this threat, the Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown was secretly formed by 26 clrgy of this Diocese to demand the rights and dignity of all priests be respected and protected by our bishop.

Therefore, we, the Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown, joined with our fellow clergy, ask the following from our bishop:

Whereas our bishop insists on publicly defending lawsuits against this diocese and thus increasing the threat that more names of our priests be exposed in the media, we demand that our bishop cease and desist his public defense of any and all lawsuits concerning alleged priestly misconduct and instead settle these cases out of court so as to protect the reputation and well being of those priests so named and others that may be revealed in the course of any trial.

Whereas our bishop threatens and harasses homosexual priests into fearing for their office, we demand that our bishop cease and desist any and all harassment of homosexual clergy and instead work to protect the reputation and well being of clergy of all sexual orientations.

Whereas our bishop ignores the actions of certain priests who consistently act against the unity of this diocese, we demand our bishop suspend Fr. James Foster and Fr. John Nesbella immediately, for repeated and constant acts which threaten the unity of our community of faith.

Whereas our bishop removed Dr. David Brown [of "GoodBye, Good Men" book fame] from his position as intake psychologist and from candidacy for the permanent diaconate program due to the incessant demands of several Talibanic conservative clergy and laity, we demand our bishop reinstate Dr. Brown both to his position as intake psychologist and to the permanent dioconate program.

Whereas our bishop has ordained several men to the priesthood over the last several year who are unfit to serve the modern, post-concilular (sic) church, we demand our bishop conduct a complete review and overhaul of the priestly recruitment program:

I. Review the psychological reports of the men ordained since 1995 and order to counseling all those who are deemed to have serious mental deficiencies or proven inability to serve in the church of Vatican II.

II. Cease and desist sending seminarians to the present rigid seminaries used by our diocese and begin to use more pastoral seminaries for formation.

III. Deny orders to the present candidate for ordination to the priesthood because of a very negative psychological report and his inability to serve the present day church.

IV. Examine all present and future seminarians in greater psychological depth to determine their fitness and desire to serve the modern church.

We believe that it is better to have fewer clergy and more lay involvement than to have many rigid and juridical priests who drive women and men away from the community of believers.

Whereas the present staff our (sic) diocesan finance office (Larry Sutton, et. al.) shows no respect for our clergy and little if any knowledge of the day to day life of our clergy and our parishes, we demand that our bishop retrain or replace the staff of the finance office so as to respect the dignity of our clergy and their office.

Whereas our chancery shows little care or concern for our retired priests at Dimitri Manor or elsewhere, we demand that our bishop review and overhaul the priests retirement program so as to provide them with the comfortable retirement due to them after many years of thankless service:

I. Immediately increase the present monthly retirement benefit payment to $1,500.00.

II. Fully fund all future retirement needs 20 years into the future in a pension trust fund so as to guarantee monthly payments regardless of the future financial state of the diocese.

III. Separate all retirement monies from diocesan funds so as to protect them from being taken in lawsuits.

IV. Immediately form a committee to examine the deplorable living conditions at the Dimitri Manor priests retirement home.

Whereas the compensation of our priests under the present formula is inherently unjust as priests whose workload is heavy due to parish size are paid the same as priests in small parishes, we demand that our bishop install a new payscale to reflect a more appropriate and just salary based on workload and parish size.

We believe this list of demands is the same list Jesus himself would ask for if he were a priest of this diocese.

If our requests are not met, we ask our fellow clergy to prayerfully consider ways of peaceful protest. Ech should follow his or her conscience in discerning ways to show civil disobedience to our hierarchy until our voice of change is heard.

N.B.: The PFAJ is a group of priests of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown united in a pursuit of justice and sworn to complete secrecy to avert the very real threat of retaliation by our diocesan bishop.

CC:
Brother Priests & Deacons
Concerned Laity
National Catholic Reporter
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Johnstown Tribune-Democrat
Altoona Mirror
Centre Daily Times
WTAJ TV
WJAC TV
WWCP TV
WRTA Radio
WNTJ Radio
WRSC Radio

No one in authority wants them dead, locked up or in concentration camps.

I never said they did.
What I did say was that I, and others who shared my beliefs, were repeatedly accused of wanting gays dead, locked up or in concentration camps because of our convictions that the Bible was accurate in describing homosexuality as sexual immorality and a sin.

Most Americans are more than a little sick of the perpetual lavender campaign to be in our faces 24/7 demanding equality for perversion.

I don't know where you live, but I have not been aware of any 24/7 "lavender campaign" demanding "equality for perversion".

But then maybe it's because I am not as obsessed with this issue as some others seem to be.

I am aware of and agree with equal rights under the law for gays as well as all Americans...this is not the same as supporting the normalization of homosexuality...and in any case I still don't see this issue being shoved in my face 24/7.

To the extent that you wish to express respect for the lavender queens by calling them homosexuals or "gays"

Let me see;
I believe homosexuality is a sin and a bioliogical perverion of the created intent by God for human sexuality...yet you claim the term homosexual is a title of "respect"????? Huh?

(what on earth is gay about the habitual abuse of the nether end of the digestive sustem?)

I don't know. But a simple search of the internet will bring up far more heterosexual sites dedicated to the abuses you describe above, than it will homosexuals sites.

To the extent that you want to marginalize normal folks who marginalize the perversion in question, it is hard to discern a rational excuse for your priorities or how those priorities fit within a conservative rather than a libertine mold.

What on earth are you talking about?
I'm not even going to try to untangle the above convoluted sentence....but I don't see how you can dispute that belief in the Biblical definition of homosexuality as a sin in God's eyes does not fit perfectly with conservative Christian views.

Your so-called "clinical definition" is of course not the dictionary definition, nor is it the accepted meaning of the term "homophobe" as it is understood in our society.

It’s NOT my so-called definition it’s the APA’s, go to their web site and look it up. Homosexual activists in 1969, to demonize anyone who thinks their behavior is wrong, coined the “dictionary” definition. The pejorative comes from the Stonewall riots that spilled into the annual APA meetings. In psych circles it was defined as anxiety experienced by people with unacknowledged homoerotic proclivities and repressed homoerotic feelings. Current use of the word is just a pejorative to straight people which suggests they should seek remedial counseling. You’re nothing more than a public schooled lemming believing what ever the left wing media/homosexual propagandists tell you to.

So to avoid verbal contortions, I was of course refering to the *normal usage* of the term.

The only contortions are your tap dancing around the truth of you parroting homosexual propaganda. You might as well call us “breeders” while you’re at it.

Everybody on both sides of the debate knows what the term "homophobe" means..

Not really, I had to explain it to you and its propaganda connotations. Apparently your education doesn’t go any further than slang words out of the dictionary.

I am only accused of being "one of their propagators" by people who either don't have a clue as to where I actually stand,

Yes, we’ve read them over and over…YAWN.

or they are completely unable to respond to my challenges and therefore must resort to personal attacks.

Identifing your use of homosexual propaganda is hardly an attack. You being simple-minded enough to accept its genre is quite telling. Your words have consequences…grow up.

So because you don't know anyone who's made such accusations therefore nobody ever has and I'm lying. LOL. Well you're wrong. I've encountered individuals online who've made precisely this claims.

You specifically addressed it personally as “Polycarp’s pedophile threads” NOT other “individuals” online. (Sound of Texas Two-step in background)

And while the threads I refer to above may not have stated outright that ALL gays are pedophiles...

Ummm…you referred to Polycarp’s threads but I’ve read a high percentage of “other” threads so maybe you can cite who you’re talking about.

they implied as much by claiming pedophilia is a normal, accepted and integral part of the homosexual community.

Now you’re just being a liar… YOU implied Polycarp says ALL gays are pedophiles. “How many people do you think you're winning to your side with these kinds of positions?” And what kind of positions are “these”??? ALL GAYS ARE PEDOPHILES…you have no credibility only sophistry.

Nice work, Polycarp. You know it's starting to hurt when they're ripping you by name and mentioning your FReeper handle. No doubt, these sodomite priests are monitoring everything you write here at FR.Well, at least if they're stalking you via Internet, they have fewer waking hours to stalk young boys around the confessional. I think your forceful writing on organized sodomites, both inside and outside the Christian pale, is starting to hit home. I know a number of FReepers admire your writing style, your concise assembly of facts, and your efforts to turn always in your commentary from the deplorable 'modern' situation back toward Christian orthodoxy.

Hah!! I have always maintained that the forces of deliberate personal destruction levied against Dr. Kopp (which we have discussed privately, and whose harassment is entirely real IMHO) were more likely external anti-Christian adversaries from the ranks of the so-called "Christian Liberals", than harassment from the FReeper Calvinist Brigade (at least, if any so-called "calvinist" has ever accosted Dr. Kopp in private life, I am both shocked and abysmally disappointed).

For us Calvinists... our disagreements with Orthodox Roman Catholicism are always Business (theological, that is), never Personal. You cannot trust the "theological liberals" to observe such norms of "lawful theological warfare", and so I do not trust them.

At this point, I elect to dissect the "Declaration of the Priests-Federation" according to Orthodox Presbyterian opinion -- of which I arrogantly choose to consider myself qualified to speak, as a diligent Son of Orthodox Presbytery. (My Traditionalist Protestant biases will be readily evident, so I shan't apologize for them).

Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown Johnstown, Pennsylvania

We, the bastard-children of "apostolic succession", claiming Roman Ordination as our defense against any reasonable Test of Christian Orthodoxy according to Scripture and Tradition...

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord: Whereas the rights and dignity of priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown are threatened by forces both external to the community of believers and internally by our bishop and his staff. Whereas, in response to this threat, the Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown was secretly formed by 26 clergy of this Diocese to demand the rights and dignity of all priests be respected and protected by our bishop.

...do hereby declare, protest, and Whine like a Bitch: that any reasonable Test of Christian Orthodoxy according to Scripture and Tradition -- whether promulgated by the Laity below, or the Epsicopacy above -- is both "intolerant" and "politically incorrect" to our enlightened modern sensibilities, and we shall incorporate subversive Pacts to undermine them. How do ya like them apples?

Therefore, we, the Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown, joined with our fellow clergy, ask the following from our bishop: Whereas our bishop insists on publicly defending lawsuits against this diocese and thus increasing the threat that more names of our priests be exposed in the media, we demand that our bishop cease and desist his public defense of any and all lawsuits concerning alleged priestly misconduct and instead settle these cases out of court so as to protect the reputation and well being of those priests so named and others that may be revealed in the course of any trial.

We therefore do hereby insist and demand, that any attempt by the Laity (mouth-breathing cattle that they are) to require Lawful (let alone Priestly) Conduct on the part of Priests, be Denied any succor and support whatsoever from Rome...

Whereas our bishop threatens and harasses homosexual priests into fearing for their office, we demand that our bishop cease and desist any and all harassment of homosexual clergy and instead work to protect the reputation and well being of clergy of all sexual orientations.

We further insist and demand, that any attempt by the Episcopacy (doddering old fools that they are) to require Lawful (let alone Priestly) Conduct on the part of Priests, be Denied any succor and support whatsoever from Rome...

Whereas our bishop placates those who attack our diocese and its priests, we demand that our bishop turn the attention of his legal representation towards stopping the hateful and homophobic actions of George Foster, Brian Barcaro, Dr. Brian Kopp [FReeper "Polycarp"], et. al., who are set upon destroying the reputations of homosexuals priests and this diocese. Whereas our bishop ignores the actions of certain priests who consistently act against the unity of this diocese, we demand our bishop suspend Fr. James Foster and Fr. John Nesbella immediately, for repeated and constant acts which threaten the unity of our community of faith.

...And last but not least -- indeed, foremost above all -- we insist and demand that any who dissent from our position be Silenced, as the Haters that they are, professionally disenfranchised and personally destroyed. It's the only Christian thing to do.

Whereas our bishop removed Dr. David Brown [of "GoodBye, Good Men" book fame] from his position as intake psychologist and from candidacy for the permanent diaconate program due to the incessant demands of several Talibanic conservative clergy and laity, we demand our bishop reinstate Dr. Brown both to his position as intake psychologist and to the permanent dioconate program.

And one thing more... we insist and demand that Heretics be not only re-instated, but indeed Venerated. At the very least, you owe us a few Icons in the Vestibule, and a Beatification or two. For truly, WE are not here to serve the Mother Church, you reactionary, Taliban-esque idiots; rather, the Mother Church is here to serve US.

Whereas our bishop has ordained several men to the priesthood over the last several year who are unfit to serve the modern, post-concilular (sic) church, we demand our bishop conduct a complete review and overhaul of the priestly recruitment program: I. Review the psychological reports of the men ordained since 1995 and order to counseling all those who are deemed to have serious mental deficiencies or proven inability to serve in the church of Vatican II. II. Cease and desist sending seminarians to the present rigid seminaries used by our diocese and begin to use more pastoral seminaries for formation. III. Deny orders to the present candidate for ordination to the priesthood because of a very negative psychological report and his inability to serve the present day church. IV. Examine all present and future seminarians in greater psychological depth to determine their fitness and desire to serve the modern church. We believe that it is better to have fewer clergy and more lay involvement than to have many rigid and juridical priests who drive women and men away from the community of believers. Whereas the present staff our (sic) diocesan finance office (Larry Sutton, et. al.) shows no respect for our clergy and little if any knowledge of the day to day life of our clergy and our parishes, we demand that our bishop retrain or replace the staff of the finance office so as to respect the dignity of our clergy and their office.

And another thing more... as truly, WE are not here to serve the Mother Church, you reactionary, Taliban-esque idiots; rather, the Mother Church is here to serve US... you shall re-make the Mother Church in OUR IMAGE. For though you who were "Orthodox Christians" were First on the scene for some twenty centuries, now you shall be Last... Times Change, and the "Deposit of Faith" evolves. Get with the program.

Whereas our chancery shows little care or concern for our retired priests at Dimitri Manor or elsewhere, we demand that our bishop review and overhaul the priests retirement program so as to provide them with the comfortable retirement due to them after many years of thankless service: I. Immediately increase the present monthly retirement benefit payment to $1,500.00. II. Fully fund all future retirement needs 20 years into the future in a pension trust fund so as to guarantee monthly payments regardless of the future financial state of the diocese. III. Separate all retirement monies from diocesan funds so as to protect them from being taken in lawsuits. IV. Immediately form a committee to examine the deplorable living conditions at the Dimitri Manor priests retirement home. Whereas the compensation of our priests under the present formula is inherently unjust as priests whose workload is heavy due to parish size are paid the same as priests in small parishes, we demand that our bishop install a new payscale to reflect a more appropriate and just salary based on workload and parish size.

Oh, sorry for the oversight, there's just a wee bit more.... You really must give us your Money.
We want YOUR Money in OUR Pockets.
And we want it immediately, you selfish reactionary Capitalist thieves. How do you expect such Noble, Self-less, un-Employed, Progressive Shepherds such as we are to guide the Flock to new Revelations of Tolerance and Universal Brotherhood unless you quit bitching and give us your MONEY??

By the virtues of Apostolic Succession, we are your trustworthy Shepherds. Would you PLEASE fork over the F***ING cash, already??

We believe this list of demands is the same list Jesus himself would ask for if he were a priest of this diocese.

Thanks, that'll be all. For now. Jesus would back us, you know... He threw the money-changers outta the temple, or something like that... and since you're the "Temple", and we want your MONEY...

Cough it up. Jesus would approve.

If our requests are not met, we ask our fellow clergy to prayerfully consider ways of peaceful protest. Each should follow his or her conscience in discerning ways to show civil disobedience to our hierarchy until our voice of change is heard. Sincerely in Christ, Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown

One last thing... in the spirit of christian brotherhood: Simon the Zealot, a Revolutionary against the Established Government, was an Apostle of Jesus Christ. We are, of course, great believers in Apostolic Sucession.
So unless you submit to our Demands (and by the way -- did we mention the Money?)... we're gonna go Revolutionary on your arse.

After all, we believe in a "Church that Serves". WE ain't here to serve the Mother Church; the Mother Church is here to serve US.

That's probably rather Cynical on my part. As an Orthodox Protestant, I am cynical about a great many Roman Catholic affairs.

But that is how I read the "Declaration of the Priests-Federation" -- at least, according to my own Orthodox Presbyterian opinion.

best, OP

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.