Posted on 04/30/2005 8:21:18 PM PDT by BizzeeMom
On Valentine's Day, a dozen or so Belleville priests gathered to discuss what kind of bishop would best be suited to lead their diocese.
Belleville's former bishop, the Rev. Wilton Gregory, had been installed as the new archbishop of Atlanta just a month before.
The members of the Presbyterial Council had been asked by Cardinal Francis George of Chicago to assess three things: the qualities they would like in their next bishop, the current state of the Belleville diocese and the future needs of the diocese.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The little I know about Belleville is that it is very German which usually implies frugal, hardworking, stoic people.
Braxton may be hardworking, I don't know. Never got that impression. Definitely anything but frugal. What a mismatch of temperaments.
He was on the board of directors (maybe still is, I'm not sure) of the American College of Louvain, prominently featured in Goodbye, Good Men (and not for good things).
****
Oh my, I didn't know that.
the best mud bugs in the country..
Back in the mid-80's, Bp. Braxton was theologian-in-residence at the N. Amer. College in Rome for a semester, where I met him a few times. He surely considered HIMSELF a up-and-comer, and was supercillious and paraded both his doctorate, how work with Salier (?) publishing, and his expensive clergy garb. He considered himself the superior African-American priest of the entire US, and was appalled that Bp. Gregory was held in higher esteem with Cardinal Bernadin. He is almost the directional opposite of the sort of priest whom I admire, who is devout, prayerful, humble and calm. From my experience with him, he is the opposite of all 4 traits.
I just moved from the Belleville Diocese to Chicago. It is nothing like St. Louis and it is in really bad shape. There is a critical priest shortage and vocations are practically dry. Ironically, the region is very conservative but the diocese is basically run by extreme heterodox priests and religious. Liturgical abuse is rampant and in some parishes it can make you sick.
I am not sure what to make of Bp. Braxton, but the Fellowship of Southern IL Laity is the Call to Action contingent down here. Furthermore James Margason is currently in charge of two parishes- one consecrates honey cakes- the other stands for the during the consecration. Anything to make them unhappy is great. Of course they wanted a "pastoral" bishop like Gregory that they could manipulate and brow beat.
He really needs to put an end to the parish clustering. This spread the priests out and of course Bp. Gregory allowed feminist unhabited nuns to be pastoral associate. The old parish I attended is one of those clustered- the first thing she did was put her name at Pastor and referred to the priests who conducted masses as "sacramental ministers"
This kind of story is scary for those of us in the diocese of Raleigh. Our bishop turned 75 last month and his letter of resignation sits on the Holy Father's desk now. Our diocese has been riddled with heretics and all sorts of liturgical abuses for 30 years now and we have got to get somebody good down here.
Thanks for your insight into this wierd situation! I had not heard about the heterodoxies going on in the Belleville diocese. I guess I had assumed that Gregory was running a tight ship. It just amazes me how often radical liberal clergy are able to get a foothold in conservative areas.
good grief
I hope you get someone good!! I'm sure you will.
Thanks! We keep praying! :)
Gregory is like most bishops who will not stir the pot one way or the other- It appeared as if the dissenters took over long before he came in. Reading the diocesan newspaper is like reading the NCR or the NYT editorial page. When he came in he lost like 10 percent of the priests due to sexual problems- so he did have his hands full there.
Hey--Milwaukee's new Archbishop brought over a Louvain guy to head up vocations-director at the Seminary here.
If you thought that Gregory was an orthodox RC Bishop, you missed a large part of Church history. Gregory was WAAAAYYYY too close to Joey B and his boyzzz to be orthodox.
Uh, no. You should have heard my relatives this afternoon - some German and some not. They are NOT happy about this and fully expect protests at his installation Mass.
He seems to offend conservatives and liberals alike...what a guy!! I am sorry for your relatives. I don't know much about Belleville but my dear Grandma and step-Grandaddy are buried there, it was his hometown.
I hope things won't be as bad as we fear.
They will be. Don't worry. At least it will take some of the heat off of Burke in this town.
In my family, we on this side of the river (Missouri) are in the minority. I just can't imagine listening to the relavtives on the topic for the next few years, though.
Well, I'm still a newbie at church politics and stuff. The only reason I knew about Braxton's affiliation was because of that one homily of his that I heard. Until my husband and I started watching EWTN about 8 years ago we were oblivious. (don't watch it now, but listen to it on the radio--got rid of all tv in our house)
One fact that made me think Gregory was on the right side of things, was a statement he made when the priestly pederasty scandal first broke open. Something to the effect of....this is primarily a homosexual problem.....apparently he backpedaled on that statement as time went on. But I thought, okay, this guy "gets it".
Wrong. I have a lot to learn!
Gregory...underneath, I think he was probably okay, but he was too easily influenced by powers around him. Belleville was in BBBAAAAADDDDD shape before he took over there and some of the rumors that are around indicate that he did some cleaning up of some stuff that had nothing to do with sex abuse. It had nothing to do with Liturgical correctness, either, but there was at least one previous bishop who practically bankrupted the place and it had to do with property.
The people in Belleville need our prayers. I hope George can be of some influence. For Heaven's sake, Braxton wants a pool! There's no money for that and I doubt they are going to get the money out of the people.
At least it will take some of the heat off of Burke in this town.
****
There you go looking on the bright side!
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.