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

Written press release mailed to diocesan bishop, priests, media outlets of Diocese of Altoona-Johnst | 5/15/03 | Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown

[Polycarp]

[bold emphasis in original document]

Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

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 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 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.

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.

Sincerely in Christ,

Priests Federation of Altoona-Johnstown

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

[Aloysius]

You have chosen a worthy apostolate. God bless you.

[Polycarp]

Thanks Aloysius.

[Palladin]

Keep up the good work, Polycarp! You are getting to them.

I'm so glad that Dr. Brown is out on his ***. Don't let them reinstate him.

Keep on fighting the good fight; running the good race.

May God bless you always, and prosper every work of yours!

[Palladin]

Amen and amen to your powerful prayer!

[SuziQ]

Full of themselves, aren't they? Isn't it amazing how they describe those who simply want the Bishops to pass on the Deposit of the Faith fully, and without change, as TALIBANIC! They've become so used to doing things their way without being challenged that when someone questions them, it is the questioner who is in the wrong, or wants to drag the Church back into the 'bad old days'.

[ninenot]

ahhh--PP---we refer to him as "Stato"--Secretary of State...you gotta get these terms down, my man...

[St.Chuck]

Given a choice, I'd NOT attend any Diocesan Mass where one of these 24 could naturally or supernaturally harm me or my children. Get it?

I get that you are easily manipulated by the mass media and internet forums. There is much more than meets the eye here.

[ninenot]

Since we share a Diocesan address--perhaps you'd like to expand a bit on your dark hints about 'faction fighters' here in Cheeseland...

You do know, of course, that the most underhanded, sneaky, and vicious person here is Rembert Weakland, OSB...or don't you?

[Polycarp]

Thanks for your kind words, Palladin.

I'm so glad that Dr. Brown is out on his ***. Don't let them reinstate him.

See my post # 233. It appears Brown was never kicked out, a strange error on the part of the letter writer(s).

[Polycarp]

There is much more than meets the eye here.

Do you know anything more about this? I've been searching the Catholic blogs and news wires. So far its only been reported on in the Centre Daily Times (State College, PA) and on the WJAC TV Johnstown 6:00 and 11:00pm news Fridy. Today, 3 priests sent around a letter to their fellow priests claiming they had nothing to do with it.

Its the single most bizarre thing I've ever seen in this messed up diocese.

[Polycarp]

Comments from a Catholic blogger who posted comments on this letter:

Thanks for your e-mail, Dr. Kopp. I appreciate getting your "take" on
the statement. Whoever wrote the thing can at least be credited with
giving us an entertaining puzzle to think about!

The statement deserves a really Machiavellian analysis, to figure out
who benefits from its publication. Honestly, I'm probably not very
skilled at that sort of thing. But anyway, as far as I can tell, the
statement gives the public these messages:

1: "Gay" priests in the AJ Diocese support accused molesters

2: Bp. Adamec is enforcing the policy on sex-abuse cases

3: The bishop is encouraging orthodox men to advance to the
priesthood, and the "progressives" are losing the dominant
influence they had.

I find it hard to believe that a bunch of dissenting homosexual priests
would want to announce message #1 to the world. It would tend to hurt
their cause rather than advance it.

But anyway, I'm just speculating from afar, and probably all wet.

Best wishes--

[dsc]

"According to the Catechism of our Catholic Church, every human being has the right to the protection of their reputation; this includes both the living and the dead, and even includes ordained people and even sinners. See Catechism #2477-2479."

I do not believe that is intended to extend to creating a good reputation where none is warranted or to covering up crimes.

The protection of one's reputation means protection against undeserved slurs, not protection against the truth.

The reputation of an obdurate wrongdoer should be just that: a reputation as an obdurate wrongdoer. I see no obligation to deceive people by hiding and denying the truth.

This seems particularly obvious where hiding the truth results in handing a wrongdoer the opportunity to continue preying on the innocent.

[St.Chuck]

Do you know anything more about this?

My comment to narses, that "there is much more than meets the eye here " was in response to his literal reading of this fraudulent letter. He indicated that there actually is a secret cabal of queer priests that would publicly acknowlege their homosexuality and lobby for protection of their sinful activity in the midst of a national witchhunt. It's ludicrous. The authenticity of this letter can only be believed if there is a link between sexual depravity and profound stupidity.

What is sad is that it feeds into the negative stereotype of every Catholic hating protestant and every anti-Novus Ordo Catholic as evidenced by the subsequent posts on this thread. I was just saying to narses....caveat emptor.

[Desdemona]

They've become so used to doing things their way without being challenged that when someone questions them, it is the questioner who is in the wrong, or wants to drag the Church back into the 'bad old days'.

Much worse than that. I'm willing to bet they thought they had the laity lulled to sleep. Something else that occured is that influence from the dissidents over the archbishop is now gone - if he himself did not write this.

This whole thing is fairly intriguing - especially in light of the molesters being retired and removed. It says that Adamec isn't as complacent as it was thought. The comfort level is quickly disappearing and it would be a guess that the living conditions are far from unlivable, just spartan. These guys probably feel like they are in jail. They should consider it a stroke of luck that they aren't.

My money is on the "nuns" with one or two incredibly stupid priests along with them. If they are the sorts of women Poly claims them to be they have no shame and no inhibitions. The only thing that's not right is that I've never met a nun who made grammar errors. They just don't do that.

It's all very interesting because outside of the individual archdioceses there's this huge silence. Nobody hears about anybody else outside of the internet. Here, things have been open and completely accessible. If a priest was removed, it was announced on the news.

Keep fighting Poly.

[ninenot]

While the origin of the letter remains to be determined (and the bets are that such determination will NEVER come to pass,) a few observations.

First, the sea-change has originated in Rome, albeit in the typical fashion (e.g., ssslllloooooowwwwwlllllyyyyy.) Thus, it is clear to dissidents that their days are numbered. With their future prospects now limited, it's not too surprising that some will take action to protect what they already have.

Secondly, it should be remembered that Ordination does not confer either literacy nor elegant writing style--further, regardless of the capabilities of the individual who dictated the letter, the transcriptionist could be a product of PublicScrewls...

Third, we are all aware of the 'fringe' types who inhabit every movement--the NRA member who insists on dressing in camo even at church; the homosexual who insists on mincing and pushing the envelope at formal social occasions, etc., etc. This behavior is also manifested in ill-considered letter writing or phone calls. Neither Ordination nor religious vows precludes such activity.

As to "cui bono?"--who benefits?--the FIRST question is whether the letter was INTENDED to benefit someone/group beyond the prima-facie. If the intention was simply to quash further investigation, suspensions, and 'retirements,' then there's no Machiavelli present, except through accident.

If on the other hand, someone decided to make the homosexual priest community a pariah, this letter is a good way to do it. Thus, someone with an axe to grind against the homosexual priests would be a potential suspect. It's also possible that the Bishop, faced with a very difficult situation, may have decided to ignite a fire--but I think that Bp. Adamec does not have 'the right stuff' for this sort of action.

We are thus faced with two possibilities that are realistic: an enemy of the group of priests, or the priests themselves.

Given that Poly has testimony from a reliable source that the priests 1) had a meeting to discuss their position; and 2) ideas similar to those expressed in the letter were part of the discussion, it is fair to conclude (without MORAL CERTAINTY) that the "camo-wearer" in the group decided to throw the first grenade. This demonstrates that prudence is ALSO not a fruit of Ordination.

[Desdemona]

No arguments with your post 274 at all, but as I've been thinking about it this morning, the sea-change didn't start until Bernardin died. Not even in Rome. There were rumblings, but nothing major and nothing on liturgy was touched.

Now, all of a sudden, the medium-sized archdioceses, don't have cardinals, but very orthodox bishops. All sorts of problems are being cleaned up. The Vatican has released one document after another re-emphasizing orthodoxy. Some of the most liberal of the cardinals - but not all - have stopped toeing the dissident line. In the US, it has something to do with Bernardin dying. Don't ask me what, but he must have had some huge hold on others in the hierarchy.

The dissents are seeing the handwriting on the wall. There's no doubt of that. Where this is going to get sticky is in the next few years as the Mass returns, partially at least, to old form. It has nothing to do with this thread, but I've heard enough comments to know that this is going to be a fight.

It's intriguing to watch, that's for sure. At least Adamec removed the molesters. That's something.

[Polycarp]

My money is on the "nuns" with one or two incredibly stupid priests along with them.

A priest not involved in this debate said essentially the same thing from the pulpit last night in State College, in response to the fact that the State College paper was the only one to cover the story.

More and more my money is on exactly what you said here. The priest, in his sermon, said priests wouldn't write like this but nuns would.

[Polycarp]

It says that Adamec isn't as complacent as it was thought.

Adamec WAS complacent until, like in Boston, public exposure of his malfeasance FORCED him to act.

[Desdemona]

Hey, at least Adamec is acting, unlike a few other bishops.

How strong of an individual is he?

[Land of the Irish]

and every anti-Novus Ordo Catholic

"The do-it-yourself Mass is ended. Go in peace."

Cardinal Francis Arinze