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

[mercy]

To those just happening across this thread as it scrolls down the ever-gushing main page ...

You MUST read this thread. There is more here than I could ever tell you about. It just goes on and on.

I know this will be taken as Catholic bashing but believe me it is not. You dear RC people ... you are astonished at the evil infecting your church at pandemic levels and yet you refuse to see that you openly invite it every day of your lives. It is indeed sad. Of all your doctrinal probems and quirks none of them are actually a slap to the face of God ... except your deification of a mere woman.

I know it hurts. You hate me and I shall be reported for catholic bashing. Probably get a 'knock it off' from Jim as you have seen to me getting before. I could even be banned. Oh well. I must do my duty and speak the truth.

Look in the Old Testament to what happend to the Jews who insisted on praying to the Queen of Heaven. God can not just look over this one as he looks over so much else we mistakenly do in His name. This one brings demons.

You really must stop being surprised that Sodomites have taken over your church. It is such a shame that you also cause good men such as Polycarp to sacrifice so much just so you can continue praying to your goddess. Oh well. It's always the same.

[Desdemona]

The church is infected with evil, not because we invite it, but because Satan himself has tried to destroy it. It didn't work. Asking for intercession from the Blessed Mother is not an issue.

You may mean well, but please understand that this one episode in 2000 years worth of fighting evil. One.

It's always such a shame that people who are not Catholic try to tell us that we do know our own faith, but we do. We know that we are under attack and we will not surrender, except to God, His Son, The Holy Spirit and the company of Heaven, including the Blessed Mother.

Thank you for your imput.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP

[Land of the Irish]

just so you can continue praying to your goddess.

The Blessed Mother is not a goddess. She is the Mother of God, the Son, Jesus Christ.

"...Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

[mercy]

Sorry, 'a rose by any other name'. If you are praying to it ... it is a god. Read the Bible. It's a story. Any child can understand most of it. There is NO female deity in the Bible. "You have made void the Word of God by your traditions." Since it is made void the Devil is free to invade.

[Loyalist]

Has no one in your church ever been asked to pray for anyone else?

Who better to ask for prayers than those holy souls, including the mother of Our Saviour, who have gone before us and are eternally in His presence?

[mercy]

It's not biblical. Making tradition equal to scripture is the root of all evil as is taking up the practices of false paganistic religeons. Study the conversations of Jesus with the jewish leaders of his time. The parallel is exact.

[Polycarp]

It is such a shame that you also cause good men such as Polycarp to sacrifice so much just so you can continue praying to your goddess.

Like I've said, Satan knows the right address, and his minions do his bidding, some knowingly, like the SOBs I'm fighting here locally, and some unknowingly, like you. I'll pray for you every time I pray for them, which is daily. You and they are both attacking Christ by attacking His Church.

May God Bless you abundantly, illuminate your darkened intellect, and have MERCY on your soul.

[Loyalist]

The canon of the Bible wasn't fixed until the end of the 2nd century AD, more than a century after the Apocalpyse of St. John was completed.

How could the earliest Christians have used the Bible as the sole source of proper teaching when it hadn't even been completed?

If Our Lord had wanted Scripture to be the sole source of teaching and foundation of His Church, why didn't He leave us a completed Scripture?

[Polycarp]

The authenticity of this letter can only be believed if there is a link between sexual depravity and profound stupidity.

Well, to paraphrase St. Aquinas:

"Sin makes you stupid."

[mercy]

I'm sure your motivations are spiritual, in the greatest sense of the word. But your thinking and your methodology is political, as is most of the posting on this board by RCs. You cannot think that the 'roaring lion' got into the sheepfold just because he wanted to. He was given entrance.

The very idea that there is such a thing as THE church when there exists today several main branches of what purports to be THE CHURCH ... all descending from the one Messiah ... is obscene. There is one Faith not one church.

The parameters of that Faith were clearly laid down by The Christ as he lived his life. To add to this 'methodology' as the RC church has done is the reason your denomination is not just infected but rather rife with disease. Repent.

The Faith is today TORN and SUNDERED with the politics of human beings but God is not mocked. The faithful will remain and will be transmogrified but they will not come out of any particular political eclesiastical system. By their fruits ye shall know them.

[ninenot]

Well, Roman Catholic Faithful thinks they know the answer about the "hold" B. had on other Bishops. Look up their website and your hair will fall out when you read their take on it.

However, it is impossible that RCF's analysis explains ALL of the power held by B. The rest of the explanation, I think, is that B. held the USA's "blackball" (directly or indirectly) for the appointment of Bishops. They all owed him something, to one degree or another, and since Rome didn't seem to care about practices/policies, what's to quibble about?

One last thing: B had a "hold" on at least a couple of bigwigs in the Curia. Dead men tell no tales, as they say; with the threat out of the way, Rome will NOW have its say.

[mercy]

If you think much of the dreck added to the RC church as it is seen today can be traced back to the first and second century you are illinformed. Ignorant. It is much more recent than that. If Peter was the first Pope he was a poor one as the replacement Apostle outshone him a thousand fold. There is no Apostolic successeion. Saints do not answer prayers. Female deities do not send prophets to add to scripture. Celebacy was not practiced in the early church by church leaders. No. The roaring lion entered the church with Constantine and he has never left.

[ninenot]

I believe that TA was referring directly to sexual sins when declaring that such "darkens the intellect."

It certainly would explain the fact that a whole lotta Catholics of my acquaintance, ordained and not, can't construct an intellectually-compelling argument for the abuse of the Liturgy and other foofoodust they spread around.

In fact, their arguments generally read like your "letter" to Adamec.

[Palladin]

Stop picking on God's mom. She's my mom, too, and if you don't knock it off, I'll give you a black eye!

[mercy]

Funny, I seem to recall The Messiah's last reference to her was merely 'woman' as he put her in the care of an Apostle as he was dying on the cross. Another time he refused to go out and even speak with her as he was busy teaching his true kin ... his flock. I'm not picking on her I'm picking on the practice of putting her between the individual and God. There is nobody between me and God as the Messiah IS God.

[Desdemona]

I looked up what the RCF had to say about B. It's best to take it in small doses.

It just seems that since he died, all sorts of dams have broken. He was slick and there are many who still defend him, but with so many stories coming out I don't think it's posible any more.

[american colleen]

Last year I was buying rosary materials from a nice priest (although in a shirt and khaki pants [?!], no collar) who is the caretaker of the Worldwide Fr. Patrick Peyton Rosary Apostolate at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Anywho, this priest was really sweet and showed me a movie about Fr. Peyton's life and blessed some crucifixs (that can't be the right spelling -- crucifixi ???) I had purchased and spent a lot of time with me. I happened to notice that he stocks the biography on Cardinal Bernardin (who confuses and confounds me) and remarked that I was surprised that of all the cardinals biographies available, they would stock one on Cardinal Bernardin (and it was a flattering one). The priest was kind of surprised I said that so I elaborated and said that there are so many dodgy stories about Cardinal B. and a lot of Catholics think he courted dissent although quietly and in ways not readily apparent. I mentioned that Cardinal Law had locked horns (no pun intended) with Cardinal B. over Cardinal B. being so welcoming of Call To Action and a couple of other things. Well the priest was very surprised and said he thinks that Cardinal B. was a very good man and he had not heard differently from anyone else.

An enigma.

[Desdemona]

Once, during the time B was under assault from the man dying of AIDS, I heard a homily about him which just glowed. Considering the source, I should have suspected then.

He was slick. He was smooth. It's been kept really quiet, but if half of what RCF claims is true, he was also evil. Just too many coincidences surround his name.

[Polycarp]

Like I've said, Satan knows the right address, and his minions do his bidding, some knowingly, like the SOBs I'm fighting here locally, and some unknowingly, like you. I'll pray for you every time I pray for them, which is daily. You and they are both attacking Christ by attacking His Church.

May God Bless you abundantly, illuminate your darkened intellect, and have MERCY on your soul.