Posted on 10/23/2002 10:59:47 AM PDT by Maximilian
Edited on 05/07/2004 8:07:34 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
While it's too early to know precise details, the reordering of resources ordered by Bishop Matthew Clark likely will lead to hard decisions on a wider scale than Catholics have known. The planning comes as the diocese struggles to deal with shifting demographics and a steadily falling number of priests.
(Excerpt) Read more at democratandchronicle.com ...
4 Masses on Sundays in my parish... 2 priests (one of the two is retired in residence) and one visiting priest. So the pastor says 2 Masses on Sunday the retired one says one and the visiting says the other, one of them says the Mass Saturday at 5 and one or the other says Mass each day at the 9AM. Tons of EEM's helping out of course (95% of them are women) although the priests are next door at the rectory. The whole parish goes to communion.
No chance of burn-out when you think of them compared with Padre Pio. Empty "recon" room each Saturday from 3:30 to 4:00. Didn't Padre Pio hear confession for hours each day?
Yes, I think it was in the neighborhood of 12-16 hours a day!
Thanks!! Weakland basically turned down all requests for a third Mass. Not that long ago, if a priest didn't say three Sunday Masses, the churches would explode due to overcrowding.
My great uncle, the former Vicar General of the Diocese in the late '50's must be turning over in his grave.
The bible states "Woe to those Spiritual leaders who lead their people astray". Pray for the conversion of Bishop Clark. He has done terrible damage.
Did he work with Fulton Sheen?
Actually, Fulton Sheen was later in the sixties after Vatican II. And it appears that Sheen was responsible for much of the trouble in Rochester today. Here is a review of the recent Sheen biography:
Bishop Fulton J. Sheen was beyond doubt the most celebrated Catholic cleric of his time, and remains a hero to many today. The end of his life trailed off toward the inglorious, however. After clashing with Cardinal Spellman of New York, he was appointed Archbishop of Rochester, New York, which some (perhaps Sheen as well) viewed as a form of exile. The Second Vatican Council had recently concluded, and Sheen declared his ambition to make Rochester a model of Vatican II reforms.James Hitchcock, St. Louis University historian, reviews Thomas C. Reeves Americas Bishop: The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen, and offers this reflection: During the council he had supported most changes, at one point even exulting that the gathering undid four hundred years of history, although prior to that time he had given no public, and few private, intimations that he thought the Church needed change. Now he seemed often to lose his critical faculties in a rush of euphoria (including President John F. Kennedy in an account of modern saints, for example).
His brief career in Rochester was a sad story, full of obscure conflicts the full nature of which are not known, partly because the Sheen archives there are in disarray. What seems to have happened is that he attempted to establish himself as a leader of change, at one point even getting maneuvered by a television interviewer into saying that contraception might be a permissible practice, then found that he had unleashed forces that he could not control. Attacked from both left and right, he was practically forced to retire, and his personally chosen successor went on to make Rochester perhaps the most liberal diocese in the United States, an ironic legacy from a man who for decades epitomized Catholic orthodoxy for millions of people.
Reeves made the point that his biography is not a hagiography of Sheen, but includes his faults as well. He said that Sheen's strengths did not include diocese administration. Sheen was a brilliant mind that was able to effectively communicate the beauty and wisdom of the Catholic Faith to the masses in an appealing way.
After clashing with Cardinal Spellman of New York, he was appointed Archbishop of Rochester, New York, which some (perhaps Sheen as well) viewed as a form of exile.
Actually, Sheen was given the choice (by Pius XII) of six or seven locations around the world. Sheen chose Rochester because it was close to NYC, which he loved (and NYers loved him). He could have stayed in the NY archdiocese, but the tension between him and Spellman was so great that he didn't want to remain under Spellman. They are both laid to rest under the altar of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
That excerpt was from First Things, although you can see that Neuhaus is also quoting from James Hitchcock's review of the book.
Sheen was infected with "Americanism." This was a heresy condemned by Pope Leo XIII. During the strong administration of Pope Pius XII, it was kept under control. But after Vatican II it broke out in a lethal manner.
One doesn't have to be a good administrator to avoid designating oneself "an agent of change in the Catholic Church." Why would he chortle with glee at the destruction of 400 years of Catholic history, and how can one be tricked into supporting contraception?
The dispute between Sheen and Spellman that was mediated by Pope Pius XII was over money. Who got to keep all the money, Sheen's organization or the diocese? Sheen gave away tens of millions of dollars, but he wanted to control the giving away.
Here is the encyclical by Pope Leo XIII condemning the heresy of "Americanism":
Pope Leo XIII Testem Benevolentiae "On Americanism"
I made no such connection. I was referring to the daily logistical, structural measurements of effectiveness. He had had very little experience running a parish or a diocese. As bright as he was, that doesn't automatically mean he could effectively administer a diocese. The only time in Sheen's career prior to Rochester that he was an administrator was when he was pastor of a parish in Illinois before earning his doctorate degree.
You seem to make him out to be a Modernist in orthodox clothing. I don't think so. Mr. Reeves said that although he started out gung ho regarding the implementation of VII, he soon became very disheartened (which may have been a reason he asked to retire ASAP, so he could go back to speaking, writing, etc.) with what was actually happening. There was a convent in the diocese of Rochester that he refused to visit because the "nuns" had become so radical.
I haven't read Reeves' biography, yet. But, I will be obtaining a copy and reading it soon.
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