Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Can you believe this guy?
He didn't like Louisiana and he let those cajuns know he didn't like having to "waste" his extensive theological education on people who regularly sucked the brains out of crawfish.
Some are furious that the input from the clergy members was ignored and that George may not have been consulted.
________________________________________________
In the days, weeks and months to come, I believe there will be more Bishops and Cardinals replaced by Rome without the consent of the Priests or laity.
ping
Something is very strange about this whole story. I guess maybe "progressives," conservatives and traditionalists all dislike Bp. Braxton.
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).
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.