Letter to the Editor Church liberalization led to abuses

Schenectady Gazette | June 2, 2003 | George Yacur

[tridentine]

The sexual abuse scandal definitely has undermined the credibility of the leadership of this diocese and most others in the nation. Apologizing time and again does not alleviate the responsibility and negligence involved. The tremendous increase of abuses began after Vatican II with the loose interpretation and drastic changes in the 2,000-year-old Mass, and with the loss of faith and morality that resulted in the proliferation of homosexuality, gay/lesbian and bisexual activities portrayed as normal and acceptable. To hasten the return to morality, these abnormal and sickly disorders must be rooted out of all diocesan offices.

Secondly, we need to implement and enforce the new church policy today. There is no need to fumble around for a year to distort and study to death these rules and regulations, which are simple to understand.

The primary responsibility of an ordained priest is to be a pastor and celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass. No parish can exist unless an ordained priest is pastor. No "parish life director" can take his place, per Pope John Paul II. The office of director of prayer and worship shall be a priest by reason of his ordination, with which he has been given the capacity and facilities to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. No deacon, nun nor any other lay personnel shall have authority over him.

There are 290 active priests in this diocese, which is plenty for placement in every parish.

GEORGE YACUR Saratoga Springs

[Desdemona]

The abuse problems were there long before Vatican II. It was more of a catalyst than a cause.

[NYer]

The office of director of prayer and worship shall be a priest by reason of his ordination, with which he has been given the capacity and facilities to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. There are 290 active priests in this diocese, which is plenty for placement in every parish.

"This diocese" would be mine - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. Our shepherd, Howard Bishop Hubbard, was elevated to this post 26 years ago. He is one of a group of extremely liberal bishops and cardinals, including Mahony in Los Angeles and Clark in Rochester, NY.

The diocese is filled with homosexual priests and run by liberal thinkers. Here, the Diocesan Director for Liturgy and Divine Worship is a layperson, Elizabeth Simcoe

Welcome to the Office of Prayer and Worship for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. The ministry of this department includes preparing for and coordinating the Bishop’s diocesan liturgies like the Rite of Election, the Chrism Mass and ordinations. We also serve as an information resource for parishes and individuals in the vast area of worship: responding to questions on liturgical seasons, sacramental celebrations, liturgical practice and history, music for liturgy and Catholic prayer and spirituality. She also fields questions on liturgical abuse.

And here is the individual for "staffing" the parishes:

Sister Kathleen Turley, RSM, a planning leader with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, is about to receive a national award for being “the finest and perhaps most nationally recognized (Catholic church) planner in the United States today.”

Those were the words of Sr. Kathleen’s colleague, Bob Burke, director of pastoral planning with the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis.  Burke will be presenting Sr. Kathleen with the Yves Congar Award at the annual convention of the Conference for Pastoral Planning and Council Development (CPPCD) in

There is much more to this article than meets the eye. I know the bishop is planning a diocesan campaign on clergy sexual abuse, with speakers and the like. Hmmmm .... thanks for posting this.

[american colleen]

On June 30, the Troy Record — the Albany region’s second largest newspaper — interviewed Sr. Kathleen Turley, chancellor of the diocese, and asked her how the drastically declining number of priests serves Bishop Howard Hubbard’s vision of Vatican II as a call for a lay-run church.

Reporter Anne C. Fullam opened: "In a room hung with prints of medieval cathedrals, Sr. Kathleen Turley explained the twin dilemma of modern-day American Catholicism: Fewer priests and more parishioners.

"Like the period when the spires of the great European cathedrals rose, the church is undergoing tremendous change.

"But the change is almost a complete reversal of what occurred during the Middle Ages and through the mid-20th century, when the church started to diminish as the major route to education and power for those born into Catholicism.

"In America today, Catholics are mainstreamed.

"No longer do they need to take lifelong vows of chastity and obedience to get an education. No longer do they need to rely on a pastor for his/her education. They have their own. No longer do they need immigrant churches on every corner of major cities. No longer do they need to envision a better life in the hereafter. They have one now."

Sr. Turley’s office, Fullam continued, is where "the rubber meets the road" — the aspirations of the faithful for more power and Bishop Hubbard’s desire to involve more lay people in "ministry."

"Prior to Vatican II, the church was known for its stability," Turley explained. "Since then, the church is known for its changes. And the pace of change is going to accelerate in the new millennium. . . . The most significant change is in the staffing of priests. What we were used to was one full-time resident pastor in every parish. Today, 54 parishes share a pastor."

Turley, and Fullam, explained to the readers of this once-heavily Catholic region — which once supplied most of the nation’s railroad steam engines — that for the past ten years, St. Bernard’s Institute has produced nearly 1,000 lay ministers to staff parishes, so Albany is more than sufficiently prepared for the dearth of priests — though Turley did admit that St. Bernard’s might lower some standards for more students.

The priest shortage, in Albany and elsewhere, also provides a way to advance feminist mythology concerning the history of the early Church. For example, Fullam quotes Turley explaining that in the early Church, women were ordained.

Of the diocese’s 192 priests, serving an estimated 400,000 Catholics, 75 will retire within the next four years, and another 30 will be eligible to retire.

These 105 retiring priests will be replaced by ten, if the current crop of seminarians remains until Ordination.

To Sr. Turley, this dire situation is an opportunity to "look at different models of staffing," and to help the Church evolve from a hierarchical to a more democratic structure.

"We live as Jesus did, we’re trying to be of service to others and each other," she said. "We’re more about developing community than building buildings. We need to have adequate facilities that will help us implement that vision, but the emphasis is on the qualities Jesus had in his life and how he served people in his time and how he listened to them.

"Today, we’re called ever more to listen to one another and to hear people’s stories and be with them in their pain and their joys as well," she said.

Turley, Albany Catholics inform The Wanderer, stands in as Hubbard’s surrogate church-closer. When parishioners meet after being informed their church is to be closed, or no longer staffed by a priest, Turley is said to harangue parishioners for not accepting the plan.

"She just doesn’t hear our voices or pain," one said, "or share our faith."

[american colleen]

The above is an excerpt from "Priests Disappear And Lay Church Emerges".

Sr. Turnley needs a visit from the Inquisition guys.

[american colleen]

Oh... I hate to do this to you and I really should attach a "BARF ALERT" but this is your Director of the Office of Prayer and Worship, in the flesh.

Beth

The husband of the Director of the Office of Prayer and Worship, Bill, has a real nice guitar. Bet he can rip out a groovy rendition of Kumbaya.

Bill

And a little background.

WILLIAM & ELIZABETH SIMCOE

William and Elizabeth Simcoe live in Albany, New York. They met on St. Valentine’s Day at DeSales Catholic High School in 1970 and were married on St. Patrick’s Day in 1973. They have raised three children - Renée, Tom and John.

Elizabeth Simcoe has been reading ever since she got her first library card in first grade. She has two degrees in English literature. She is a frequent public speaker and a lector for worship services. She is a former resident Catholic chaplain at RPI. She is currently the Director of the Office of Prayer and Worship for the Diocese of Albany.

William Simcoe started playing guitar at age 15, and began playing the classical guitar in 1987, studying for several years with Anthony Sano. Since 1998 he has been an actively performing as a soloist and in a variety of ensemble settings. In 2002 he released his first recording, Studies, Memories, and Moons, and he is currently working on a second recording, which will include Demian by Jaime Zenamon.