Back to the troubles in the Church. Diogenes posts in CWN’s Off the Record (select March 22 from drop down.) Two priests of the Rochester, NY, diocese have received new appointments which, considering their backgrounds, are troubling.
Bishop Braxton, head of the American bishops’ committee on Louvain, has chosen Father John DeSocio, the priest in charge of the Diocese of Rochester’s pre-theologate and seminarian formation programs, as vice rector of the American seminary in Louvain. According to this article, the new head of the Rochester pre-theologate program is Fr. William Donnelly, and the new head of the Rochester seminarian formation program is Fr. Jim Schwartz.
Diogenes recommends people make their views on such appointments known in writing to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Congregation of Bishops. Canon law says we have a right to make our concerns and needs known to the Church’s pastors and so perhaps if they heard more of our concerns, more action might be taken.
Now Fr. Donnelly is pastor of a parish where just last Sunday a nun preached the homily—a regular occurrence, to judge from the homilies posted on the parish website. And Fr. Schwartz is pastor of a parish where first Confession takes place two years after first Communion. Any bets on how quickly orthodox seminarians in Rochester will be screened out and dismissed?
