Last November, I received a copy of the bulletin from a church called Spiritus Christi. It’s a schismatic parish of heterodox Catholics that broke off on their own after the bishop of Rochester, New York, told them they couldn’t have a women concelebrating Mass (among other things). At the time, I noted that the bulletin said that Boston priests Fr. Walter Cuenin and Fr. Bob Bowers had come to visit them and that the people of the church had encouraged them to return to Boston and to start “a new and inclusive Catholic church.”
Recall that at the time, Cuenin’s resignation from his parish for financial misconduct was still fresh. A few months later the Boston archdiocese would have to order Bowers to report to his new assignment after refusing to leave the parish where he’d been saying Masses in Weymouth.
Fast forward to this week’s bulletin from Spiritus Christi and the following announcement in it:
Father Ed Cachia, 57, was thrown out of the priesthood in his Peterborough, Ontario diocese last year for celebrating Mass with a woman priest and for calling for women’s ordination. He and his community are starting a ‘Spiritus Christi-like’ new community called Christ the Servant. Their first Mass will be this Sunday, April 2, at 10:00 AM in Coldsprings, Ontario. Mary and I were featured on a half-hour broadcast from Toronto a while back, indicating that Spiritus might be a model for Father Ed and his people. We wish them all well. The Boston priests are still planning to go ahead with a new community this year, too. Things are really starting to change, thank God.
Oh really? Apparently, those Boston priests would be the same ones who came to visit last year. Are Cuenin and Bowers still planning to set up housekeeping and start their own schismatic church? Stay tuned. And if you happen to run into Cardinal Sean O’Malley this weekend, perhaps you’d like to let him know about this little plan. Maybe he could pre-empt it somewhat and save a lot of people from endangering their souls.
Pre-empt what they want to do??? Their departure may be a blessing because of the lies and heresy and rotten example they set for people trying to live the authentic Catholic Faith.
Finally there is good news from Cardinal Sean O’Malley regarding the direction the Archdiocese will take on the same-sex issue. “Cardinal O’Malley is initiating a new dimension of the Courage/EnCourage program in the Archdiocese of
Boston. Our priests have recently been invited to attend informational sessions concerning the program and the Cardinal has appointed a pastor as Chaplain/Coordinator for these groups.”(letter from Fr. Robert Kickham,3/30/06).
Praise be to God!! Now the call to chastity through the merits of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death will be heard. Since Pope John Paul’s Theology of the Body gives us such a rich treasure of theological support for the way of Courage/Encourage, hopefully efforts will be made to incorporate this study into the way of Courage/EnCourage to present this way in the strongest way possible.
The youth minister at St Agnes before me went with her husband to this church. It’s not the first time I’ve heard about them-seems awhile back they were into marrying gays. At any rate, you can imagine the state of the youth group and the ill-formed adults I inherited. As I look on the webpage, I see that her husband is still there.
No surprise.
PS: From their home page:
“Our Eucharist is a reminder of God’s love for each one of us. We gather around the Lord’s table…it is not a Catholic table or a Protestant table. It is Jesus’ table and he said, “No one who comes to me will I ever reject.” No matter where you are on your life’s journey, you are invited to God’s banquet.”
??? OUR Eucharist? ok, leave that alone. “Catholic or Protestant???” ok, leave THAT alone. … “No one who comes to me will I ever reject????” now you’re just driving me mad!
Dom:
I was much moved by what you said about endangering souls. Leaving the Church definitively is a terrible thing and we should follow the examples of the recent Popes and do everything possible to avoid it.
That doesn’t mean that we have to let everyone do whatever they want; I quite see that. Sometimes people will leave and probably even should, if they are really following misinformed consciences. But we should be loath to let it happen and do everything possible to avoid it.
God bless these poor priests and people and may he inspire them with a deeper understanding of the Cahtholic Faith and a desire to remain in communion with our Holy Mother, the Church.
I wonder if Ray noticed at the Paulist Center any notice about the April 4th lecture that is being given by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton? The current Bay Windows issue announces:
“Pro-gay Catholic bishop to speak at Paulist Center”(http://www.baywindows.com). The author of the article, Laura Kritsy, describes Bp. Gumbleton’s position: “It invites gay and lesbian people to remain an active part of the church and recommends that so-called “reparative therapy to change one’s sexual orientation is unnecessary.”
Never once does Bp. Gumbleton call for those engaged in same-sex sex acts to live chaste lives
in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The message Bp. Gumbleton appears to give is in opposition to that of Courage as can be seen from the website: http://www.couragerc.org .
I wonder if the Paulist Center advertised this lecture previously or is it a situation where Bp. Gumbleton is coming unexpectedly during a time when Cardinal O’Malley is very busy and can’t address the fact that a bishop is coming into the Boston Archdiocese to promote false teachings on such short notice as Tuesday,Apr,4th?
Alice:
Bishop Gumbleton’s visit is very well publicized on the Paulist Center website, including a photo of the bishop.
I honestly wonder what percentage of our bishops are …… eh, frilly.
“It invites gay and lesbian people to remain an active part of the church and recommends that so-called reparative therapy to change one’s sexual orientation is unnecessary.”
That much of “Always Our Children” is consistent with Courage’s position, as far as I know: Courage doesn’t tell people with SSA that they have a duty to seek reparative therapy.
RC, That’s true but Courage calls them to live in a chaste manner according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. I don’t believe that Bishop Gumbleton teaches that those with same-sex attraction need to change and live in a chaste manner. Correct me if I’m wrong,please, I would be happy to hear that Bishop Gumbleton teaches the need for chastity!
If Bp Gumbleton doesn’t see the need for chastity, what does that say about what we can expect from him?