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Church Musician Fired: Refused Vow of Chastity
Rockford Register-Star ^ | 6/25/02 | Edith Webster

Posted on 06/25/2003 9:49:27 AM PDT by ninenot

Edited on 05/07/2004 6:24:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

ROCKFORD

(Excerpt) Read more at rrstar.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; General Discusssion; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: catholicchurch; churchmusician; homosexual; rockford
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To: ventana
I live in the vicinity of Rockford and sometimes attend the mercifully brief and conveniently timed NO Masses at Holy Family. This week, we learned that the pastor, Monsignor Thomas Bales who has personally expressed his displeasure with my eight-year-old kneeling to receive on the tongue, as do her siblings, was apparently on some health-related leave. Fr. Grady, a considerably younger priest of apparent orthodoxy was saying Mass and may have been dealing with the culture shock of being assigned to what has been a rather materialist Kumbaya congregation. He noted that there was no musical director and that we should encourage each other to sing (even though the only hymnals are full of the usual chalk on the blackboard modernist stuff).

Perhaps, Monsignor Bales can retire now and leave Fr. Grady and the quite saintly and orthodox Nigerian priest to, ummmm, counterreform Holy Family all the way back to Catholicism despite its naked warehouse architecture. I did notice on Sunday that what I believe to be the tabernacle despite its avante-garde style, was visible to everyone in the Church and I had not noticed that before Fr. Grady's arrival.

Regrettably, those who are terribly concerned about the beastly behavior of the CHURCH OF ROME towards Lance and Bruce and their ambitions to "adopt" would still be able to find a few friendly priests and pastors.

St. Edward's is also mentioned in the article. That parish has a very elderly Monsignor as pastor who ran diocesan schools 45 years ago and an absolutely wonderful young priest and they unfortunately allow an elderly and dottily liberal former pastor use of the premises to brag about his personal charities in homilies otherwise dedicated to berating the parishioners for insufficient attenmtion to his dead dreams of ecclesiastical revolution from within. The parishioners are too kind to tell him what they think.

21 posted on 06/25/2003 11:28:30 AM PDT by BlackElk (Viva Cristo Rey! Modernism and other forms of Kumbayaism delenda est)
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To: BlackElk
Thanks for the explanation. Apparently, Bales hired this music director, and the interim pastor used the occasion of his absence to fire the guy.
22 posted on 06/25/2003 11:34:03 AM PDT by sinkspur
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To: sinkspur
Dear sinkspur,

You're right to ask why he got to have his job for five years, assuming that it was known at the time he was hired that he was an active homosexual.

But whatever the reasons are for his being dismissed now, we ought to be grateful for his dismissal, anyway.


sitetest
23 posted on 06/25/2003 11:37:23 AM PDT by sitetest
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To: ninenot
From writing that Stein was fired because he "refused to take a vow of chastity" (BS, Edith, and you know it, you freepin' looney tune) to quoting Stein using that buzzward of "gay" Catholics, "dignity," this is nothing but a dissident hit piece.
24 posted on 06/25/2003 11:39:27 AM PDT by eastsider
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To: sinkspur
The interim pastor had an obligation to do so.
25 posted on 06/25/2003 11:40:10 AM PDT by B Knotts
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To: Desdemona
He wants dignity with his deathstyle.

These sodomites are hellbent on destroying the Church, and their apologists, whether ignorant or cognizant, are in perfect league with them.

They all need to be ruthlessly kicked out.
26 posted on 06/25/2003 11:41:20 AM PDT by Thorondir
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To: sinkspur; B-Chan; ninenot
When this diocese finds them, they are history as ought to be the case. From what do you conclude that this guy made no secret of his perversions. When he and his "husband" sought to acquire someone else's child to play make-believe family, he outed himself.

Trust, since I have attended Masses at Holy Family (to meet the Sunday obligation and to do penance) as you have not, that nothing about the music there is so memorable as to make anyone other than the choir bother to become acquainted with Stein. Those who are complaining are the usual gang of Kumbaya chronic malcontented suspects who think that Holy Family should be Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. It's the usual case of too much money and a vacuum where the common sense and the IQ points used to be. Wait until Fr., Grady mentions sin, hell or reverence. Then the used food will really hit the air-conditioning supply.

Ohhhhh, it was just soooooo terrible and all the weeping and the sniffles and the hugs, ohhhh the hugs, and Stein, so noble, so martyred, sniffling that he would get a job somewhere and that those who sniffle should keep whatever faith they might think they have. Stein expressed so generously his concern that their "faith" might be "shaken" by the diocese putting an end to the scandal. He kept his "dignity" if not his job. Was this a play on words? I don't think that any actual Catholic's faith would be shaken by common sense.

B-Chan: Thanks for reminding us (#14) that it is still possible to be Catholic in your diocese. You have hit the proverbial nail on the head.

This Stein fellow probably did not approach even Monsignor Bales for approval of his, ummmm, amorous relationship and the ambition of Stein and his husband to "share their love" with a child, whatever that may mean.

Of course, the music director at the local Unitarian Universalist whatever they have that poses as a church also shot her mouth off in support of Stein and in attacking the Church upon her discovery that Catholicism is not the church of the swinging single of whatever inclination or perversion.

In any event, Bishop Doran proves once again that a bishop CAN deal with these problems and do so effectively. For those kinder than I, the point ought to be made that the diocese loved Stein without liking or embracing his sins. He could keep his job, as Lucifer could have, if he made the standard acceptance of the obligation to sin no more and backed it up by waving a fond and permanent farewell to his, ummmm, partner. If he would refuse, as he did, then it is not love to say, "Hey, no big deal, I'm OK, you're OK", but rather it is the corrosive evil of low expectations.

27 posted on 06/25/2003 11:59:46 AM PDT by BlackElk (Viva Cristo Rey! Modernism and other forms of Kumbayaism delenda est)
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To: sinkspur
Drawing public attention to himself as a "partnered" lavender queen trying to adopt a child while living off the Church's nickel has a name: the sin of scandal. You think this queen walked in off the street, filled out a job application, notified the diocese or parish that he had a "husband" and that they just sat back, kicked off their shoes and said: "Doesn't everyone?" You don't know us very well. This is Doran's turf and AmChurch he is not.
28 posted on 06/25/2003 12:08:09 PM PDT by BlackElk (Viva Cristo Rey! Modernism and other forms of Kumbayaism delenda est)
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To: sinkspur
Yeah--but the key phrase regarding your intelligent questions is "temporary Administrator"--Mgr. Kagan, who evidently had a mission to 'clean house.'

29 posted on 06/25/2003 12:33:31 PM PDT by ninenot (Joe McCarthy was RIGHT, but Drank Too Much)
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To: sinkspur
It would appear to have been a firing by the diocese. I am not certain but I believe that Bales is very ill. He is not all that old. I would suspect no older than 60. While he is not my particular cup of tea, he gave no obvious evidence of being troubled for whatever that is worth. Fr. Grady seems to be feeling his way around in this parish. He arrived late last week. He will want for nothing that the collection plate can purchase but he does have some challenge ahead. Holy Family is a Church which has bled off several families to St. Mary's Oratory in Rockford (the Tridentine Mass facility).

The Masses at Holy Family have been somnething of a mixed bag. The Nigerian priest may be one of the very best. He has an evident sense of the sacred, preaches memorably, says a very reverent Novus Ordo. Monsignor Bales is 6 or 7 on a scale of 10 as to reverence but the sermons are like Chinese food and do not stick to the ribs. I think Father Grady is trying to get used to the idea that he has the opportunity to ignore monetary concerns. He gives a good sermon and says a good Mass.

My reservations are about the seventy-ish man who is an "Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist" and stands behind the Monsignor during Mass flashing peace signs at the congregation. [Hi, I'm Abby Hoffman, and, if you don't strategize, I might be serving you the Wafer], and the female lector who raises first one arm and then the other on alternating petition prayers, emulating a Saturday Night Fever dance maneuver of John Travolta while bearing his current waistline and bugging her eyes out in imitation of the Hildebeast which I think is designed to make us think she has some sort of authority. These are two examples of the lay staff at Holy Family.

Monsignor Kagan is actually temporarily in charge of the parish itself. He is a major figure in the Chancery and I would be very surprised if Father Grady did this firing but find it much more likely that it was Bishop Doran or that the bishop designated Kagan so he could drop the axe. In matters potentially legal, it is best for the bishop to create buffers. Why talk to Stein directly and run the risk of being lied about later?

I suspect that you mean well here and that you are trying to apply the rules fairly to all but if anyone is going to be blamed or praised, I think the Chancery, the Bishop and Monsignor Kagan did the firing. Today's paper may have more.

The reporterette, Edith Webster, is the religion editor of the Rockford Red Star and a moron. We have had articles, for example, attributing the annual Life Chain demonstration (actually Protestant in origin) as solely Catholic although the Evangelical Free Church, the conservative Lutherans, Baptists and numerous independent churches probably contribute as many or more participants since we are only 25% Catholic in Illinois and hereabouts.

30 posted on 06/25/2003 12:33:43 PM PDT by BlackElk (Viva Cristo Rey! Modernism and other forms of Kumbayaism delenda est)
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To: BlackElk
Looks as though Doran is employing a 'hit squad' of orthodox priests (or at least one...) who have the terrible job of firing flagrant scandal-causers.

Nice technique. It takes a bit longer to get things done that way, but if the first-string can't do the job, you bring in the bench.
31 posted on 06/25/2003 12:39:18 PM PDT by ninenot (Joe McCarthy was RIGHT, but Drank Too Much)
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To: BlackElk
My reservations are about the seventy-ish man who is an "Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist" and stands behind the Monsignor during Mass flashing peace signs at the congregation. [Hi, I'm Abby Hoffman, and, if you don't strategize, I might be serving you the Wafer], and the female lector who raises first one arm and then the other on alternating petition prayers, emulating a Saturday Night Fever dance maneuver of John Travolta while bearing his current waistline and bugging her eyes out in imitation of the Hildebeast which I think is designed to make us think she has some sort of authority. These are two examples of the lay staff at Holy Family.

ROFL!

32 posted on 06/25/2003 12:46:48 PM PDT by WriteOn
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To: BlackElk
B-Chan: Thanks for reminding us (#14) that it is still possible to be Catholic in your diocese. You have hit the proverbial nail on the head.

Thanks, but I can't take the credit for any of that. I myself am a pretty poor example of a Catholic, truth be told. Fortunately for me, our parish is full of pious, orthodox Anglican Use Catholics to take up the slack!

33 posted on 06/25/2003 12:48:06 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: ventana
**The most disturbing thing is that these fellow parishoners would show any form of support for a homosexual couple, and, moreover, their intent to adopt a child. Breathtaking and shocking. V's wife**

Exactly!

From The Catechism of the Catholic Church

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices.

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved

34 posted on 06/25/2003 12:57:44 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: B-Chan
When Archangel Lucifer Morningstar

Funny and appropriate; but Lucifer wasn't an archangel.

35 posted on 06/25/2003 2:08:10 PM PDT by Technogeeb
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To: ninenot
Perhaps he refused to bang an altar boy in a three-way?
36 posted on 06/25/2003 2:52:04 PM PDT by John Beresford Tipton
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To: B-Chan
Excellent and brillant!!

Thanks for making this comparison. It is absolutely, brillant!

37 posted on 06/25/2003 6:31:07 PM PDT by crazykatz
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To: B-Chan
?;^)
38 posted on 06/25/2003 6:40:35 PM PDT by Barnacle (Refuse to be a Useful Idiot. Read Free Republic.)
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To: BlackElk
"stands behind the Monsignor during Mass flashing peace signs at the congregation."

I'm afraid I'd just have to do something about that, even if it came down to breaking his arm.
39 posted on 06/25/2003 6:56:02 PM PDT by dsc
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To: ninenot
Great to hear that some authorities are striving to keep the Church Catholic. I just wish our new bishop here in Lexington, KY would do something about the priest who recently baptized the four in-vitro fertilized children of a homosexual CINO couple here (surrogate mother and all) at our cathedral parish. It is clear that these guys have no intention to raise these children in anything remotely resembling the Catholic faith. That is an essential promise in order for the baptism to take place, if I am not mistaken. It was in the news a few weeks ago that they even want to do it all over again!

Our esteemed new mayor, also a CINO, proclaimed in the local bird cage liner that she has never been prouder to be a Catholic! We're in trouble here.

40 posted on 06/25/2003 7:30:31 PM PDT by GenXFreedomFighter (I keep chasing the carrot, but all I get is the STICK!)
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