The local newspaper for Dedham, Mass., has named Fr. Stephen Josoma it’s man of the year, naming him “the keeper of the faith.” For anyone familiar with the archdiocese of Boston, Fr. Josoma is one of the most visible of the “progressive” priests. Right now, he is pastor of St. Susannah’s parish, which is on the closing list, but previously he was stationed with his good friend, Fr. Ron Coyne, the pastor of now-closed St. Albert’s who publicly denied the doctrine of hell.
Let’s look at some of Fr. Josoma’s statements just from this article.
[The change from Latin to English in the Mass] was one of the changes to Catholicism that Josoma saw as positive, “making it more tangible.” He also supported a movement of no longer studying the Bible strictly in the literal sense. “Once you open that door, it changes everything,” he said.
He’s more right than he knows and in a way that I don’t think he means. Once you open the door, and throw out the literal sense, then you have the Protestant reformation, i.e. anybody can say any verse of the Bible means anything they want it to mean. We all become our own pope and magisterium, and that’s where the dreaded fundamentalism comes from.
In many ways, Josoma has carried the spirit of a more approachable church and faith to his parishioners even today. “We’re taught that the church has all the answers, but there’s no room for individual growth that way,” he said.