You’ve heard of the phrase “cut off your nose to spite your face.” Here’s a nice illustration of it. The parishioners at Our Lady Help of Christians parish in Newton, Mass, are withholding their donations until Fr. Walter Cuenin is reinstated. (Boston Globe)
Now the obvious result is that the parish will have to begin cutting expenses. And what is the obvious albatross hanging around the neck of the parish? What is likely the single biggest expense of the parish that can most easily be cut? How about a bloated pastoral staff? On the parish’s web site I count five pastoral associates plus a youth minister. Seems like a lot, even for a big parish. I’d be willing to be that many parishes, even most, have none.
And considering that all these people were originally on Cuenin’s staff, what are the odds that they are actually teaching and preaching the whole, unvarnished Catholic faith and not the watered-down, heterodox Gospel according to Walter Cuenin?
