Murky Message from Massachusetts Bishops

If you do not yet understand why we have been making such a fuss over the search for the new head of the Mass Catholic Conference, the meaningless statement on voting Catholic just issued  from the four Massachusetts bishops and this video from Michael Voris at RealCatholic TV should  confirm exactly why.

Take a couple of minutes to watch the RealCatholic TV video.

Voris describes the statement as something you would “read, put it down, and wonder why be a Catholic at all…Its murky messaging offers nothing in the way of guidance.”

The statement concludes by saying, “Go to the polls on Election Day and, through your choices at the ballot, act on your vision of a better society.”

To which Voris responds it’s exactly the lack of clarity and guidance of that “vision of a better society” that is the problem.  Supporters of Planned Parenthood, abortion, or the gay agenda all think they are voting for a better society.  He asks rhetorically, “Who goes into a voting booth and acts on their personal vision of a ‘worse society’?”

Voris rightfully says there “isn’t one shred of help in there that helps Catholics understand that the life issues are of primary importance.”  Yes, the statement mentions the importance of defending the sanctity of life, and family based on marriage between a man and a woman, but then it continues in the next breath with religious freedom and the well-being of the poor as equally important.  It’s classic Fr. Bryan Hehir “seamless garment.”   Voris calls it “innane.” Fed up yet?

Compare this to what Cardinal-designate Archbishop Raymond Burke just said about voting Catholic:

Speaking on the contentious topic of abortion in the upcoming mid-terms, Cardinal-designate Burke said one “can never vote for someone who favors absolutely the right to choice of a woman to destroy a human life in her womb or the right to a procured abortion.”

You may in some circumstances where you don’t have any candidate who is proposing to eliminate all abortion, choose the candidate who will most limit this grave evil in our country,” he explained, “but you could never justify voting for a candidate who not only does not want to limit abortion but believes that it should be available to everyone.”

The Vatican prelate also addressed the issue of same-sex “marriage,” asserting that maintaining the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman is not unjust discrimination.

“Where there is unjust discrimination –for instance, where you say that a fellow human being, because of the color of his skin, is not a part of the same race as someone, say, who is a Caucasian, that is a kind of discrimination which is unjust and immoral,” he said.

However, he added, “there is a discrimination which is perfectly just and good, and that is the discrimination between what is right and what is wrong.”

“Between what is according to our human nature and what is contrary to our human nature. So the Catholic Church, in teaching that sexual acts between persons of the same sex are intrinsically evil, are against nature itself, is simply announcing the truth, helping people to discriminate right from wrong in terms of their own activities.”

Try getting Archbishop Burke’s words from the Massachusetts Catholic Conference and Massachusetts bishops.  And as long as we have two members of the search committee, Sr. Annette McDermott and James Brett, who have records of supporting pro-abortion politicians and others who dissent from the faith, the search effort for a new “faithful Catholic” leader (who can hopefully help drive better statements from the Massachusetts bishops) is tainted.

While we’re at it, frankly the Mass Catholic Conference Executive Director position should also report directly to the bishops, with no reporting relationship to Fr. Bryan Hehir or oversight by him.  And Fr. Hehir and Sr. Annette should also be removed from the MCC board.

But for now, let’s focus on getting the two controversial figures off the committee.  If you haven’t yet sent a letter off to the Papal Nuncio, Massachusetts bishops, and Holy See, just click on the FedUp button to the right.

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Fed Up on Mass Catholic Conference Search Committee

If you’ve been following the saga of the tainted search for the new head of the Mass Catholic Conference, you know by we still have two people on the committee with backgrounds of support for pro-abortion politicians and/or Catholics who publicly dissent from Church teachings.  That does not seem a good way to go about picking a new faithful Catholic head for the Catholic Conference to represent the Massachusetts bishops on Beacon Hill.

We ask you once again to let the Holy See and Massachusetts bishops know that you are FedUp.

Here’s the updated letter reflecting the latest on Sr. Annette McDermott.  As you may recall from our last post, a couple of years ago Sr. Annette wrote that she was inspired  in her religious experience by figures like Anthony Padovano, Mary Luke Tobin, Joan Chittister, Christina Vladimiroff, Teresa Kane, Elisabeth Schussler-Firorenza, and Pierre Theilard de Chardin.  We documented in our last post how those who inspired her are all a veritable “Who’s Who” of public dissidents including members of Call to Action, people reprimanded by the Vatican or U.S. bishops, and people like Anthony Padovano, Joan Chittister and others who have publicly dissented from Church teachings on such issues as women’s ordination, voting for pro-abortion Catholic politicians, doctrine of original sin, who should celebrate the Eucharist, and more. 

So, we have now updated our FedUp campaign message.  Whether you filled it out before or not, please give it another try.  Here’s the letter.  Just click on the FedUp button.

I am writing to ask that you intervene in the search process for the new Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference to remove two search committee members with backgrounds of support for pro-abortion politicians and Catholics who publicly dissent from Church teachings.

The search committee announced October 13 includes Sr. Annette McDermott, SSJ representing the Diocese of Springfield and Mr. James Brett representing the Archdiocese of Boston.

Sr. McDermott was a member of the George-Soros-funded Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, whose main purpose was convincing Catholics it was permissible to vote for pro-choice Democrats in the 2008 U.S. national elections. Cardinal Frederick George criticized the “fraud” of CACG’s “common good” approach and banned their materials from parishes. After the 2008 campaign, the Diocese of Kansas City newspaper reported CACG was an instrument of the Obama presidential campaign, and the CACG chair personally raised $350,000 for Obama. Sr. McDermott has also been a consultant to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which funded ACORN, an organization that supported pro-abortion and pro-gay causes. In 2005, she published an article describing how she has been inspired in her religious experience by “wisdom figures” including notorious Call to Action members and dissenters from the faith on matters such as ordination of women and voting for pro-abortion Catholic politicians.

Mr. Brett has personally contributed to pro-abortion politicians including Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Michael Capuano, and Rep. Edward Markey. As head of the New England Council, he presented the 2009 “New Englander of the Year” Award to Sen. John Kerry.

The search announcement says candidates must be “a faithful and committed Roman Catholic, in good standing with the Church.” Since Sr. McDermott and Mr. Brett have been involved supporting pro-abortion political candidates in recent years, their continuing presence on the committee risks discouraging faithful, committed Catholics from even applying.

Two individuals with such controversies in their backgrounds should not be on a committee to select a “faithful and committed Roman Catholic” to represent the public policy voice of the church.

Thank you for your immediate intervention to ensure that this search process and committee is not tainted from the start by this concern.

So folks, have at it.  Click the FedUp button, fill out the form, click submit letter, verify you have entered the correct info, click submit once more, and let the bishops and Holy See know how you feel.  

For extra credit, drop a dime to Bishop McConnell’s office in Springfield at 413- 732-3175.  Tell them you think Sr. Annette should be removed from the MCC search process because she was a part of a committee that pushed for Catholics to vote for pro-abortion Catholic politicians–and because she’s on the record as viewing as “wisdom figures” some of the Catholic Church’s most prominent dissenters from the teachings of the Church.  Ask them what Bishop McConnell is doing about this problem and tell them you’d like to call back on Monday afternoon to get an answer.

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Update on Tainted Search for New Mass Catholic Conference Head

Thank to everyone who has written to the Massachusetts bishops and Holy See via our latest FedUp campaign, “Take Action on Tainted Search for New Mass Catholic Conference Head.” We have gotten some feedback from the bishop’s staff and other channels that we want to share with you as the campaign continues, and we have more on committee member, Sr. Annette McDermott, SSJ that may leave some of you even more FedUp!

Feedback from Diocese of Fall River

A Bryan Hehir Exposed reader forwarded this response they got from the Diocese of Fall River’s Communications department:

At the outset of their decision to form a search committee for the selection of an Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the bishops of the four dioceses in the state agreed that each would appoint one person from his diocese to make up membership of that committee. Bishop Coleman agreed to chair it. Bishop Coleman then appointed as his delegate on the committee Father Michael McManus, who is chancellor here in the Fall River Diocese. The other members on the committee were appointed to it by his/her respective bishop, not Bishop Coleman.

In other words, we are told that Bishop Coleman just took whomever the other bishops put forward and did not feel as “Chairman” of the committee that leadership role called for any review of the background of the people before he went on the record saying, “I look forward to working with such a respected group to advise the bishops in selecting the next Executive Director for MCC.”  Thanks a lot, Bishop Coleman, for the value-added, er, leadership on this one, making sure the group you publicly said you respected you really did respect.

More on the Committee Members

We told you before that in view of the mission of the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good (giving air-cover to pro-abortion Democratic Catholic politicians) and their funding from George Soros, Sr. Annette McDermott’s membership in CACD should flat-out disqualify her from serving on the search committee for a faithful Catholic MCC leader.  But this is not the only reason we are calling for her removal from the committee.

We did not have time or space in the earlier posts to mention that in 2005 Sr. Annette wrote about contemplative prayer (or centering prayer a la Thomas Keating) as a grounding force in her life. Here’s a link to the piece, called “In the Quiet of the Morning.” She says she was inspired as a teen by a book by Antony Padovano, and her “search for a deeper relationship with God has also been strengthened by the wisdom figures that have graced my religious experience.”

I feel so privileged to have had the blessing of opportunity to experience and know of the works and lives of Mary Luke Tobin, Joan Chittister, Christina Vladimiroff, Teresa Kane, Mary Daniels, Helen Wright, Maria Reilly, Sandra Schneider, Elizabeth Johnson, Elisabeth Schussler-Firorenza.

She also names Pierre Theilard de Chardin.  A 10-minute session with Google gets you the following:

• Anthony Padovano: banned from speaking in the Archdiocese of Detroit by Cardinal Maida, for theological views “clearly in opposition to the authoritative teaching of the church” including advocacy for the ordination of women and his view that the celebration of the Eucharist need not be limited to ordained ministry
• Mary Luke Tobin: a former head of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and advisor to the Womens Ordination Conference
• Joan Chittister: A supporter of Call to Action who promotes women priests. The Vatican asked her not to attend the 2000 Womens Ordination Conference but she went anyway.
• Christina Vladimiroff: who received the Call to Action Leadership award in 2002 and defied a request from the Vatican to prohibit Sr. Joan Chittister from attending a dissident women’s ordination conference in Dublin
• Elisabeth Schussler-Firorenza: feminist theologian and Call to Action national conference speaker.  Was on a panel with Fr. Bryan Hehir at Harvard where she complained about people who criticized Catholics that voted for pro-abortion politicians
• Teresa Kane: best known for her 1979 speech to Pope John Paul II in which she asked for women priests.   The Holy Father responded negatively.  In 2009, she criticized the Vatican for their visitations to women’s religious communities saying: “Regarding the present interrogation, I think the male hierarchy is truly impotent, incapable of equality, co-responsibility in adult behavior…In the church today, we are experiencing a dictatorial mindset and spiritual violence.”
• Pierre Theilard de Chardin: From Wikipedia, we see that he abandoned traditional interpretations of creation in the Book of Genesis in favor of a less strict interpretation. This displeased certain officials in the Roman Curia and in his own order who thought that it undermined the doctrine of original sin developed by Saint Augustine. Teilhard’s position was opposed by his Church superiors, and some of his work was denied publication during his lifetime by the Roman Holy Office

So, what we have is Sr. Annette saying that most of the people who represent “wisdom figures” for her are pretty much objectively “off the reservation” in terms of their public adherence to Church teachings.  Sr. Annette is on-the-record as being inspired by these people, of course along with being involved in the Catholic Alliance for the Common Good and the ACORN-funding Catholic Campaign for Human Development.  We are not criticizing Sr. Annette as a person–she may be very nice. But, should someone like her who feels these people are “wisdom figures” and who felt OK being involved in the CACG for whatever period of time she was a member really be on the search committee for a faithful Catholic leader of the public policy voice of the Massachusetts bishops? Can’t the Diocese of Springfield do better and find someone less controversial to serve on the committee?

We are updating our campaign letter to mention this. In the meantime, try dropping a dime to Bishop McConnell’s office in Springfield at 413 732-3175.  Tell them you think Sr. Annette should be removed from the MCC search process because she was a part of a committee that pushed for Catholics to vote for pro-abortion Catholic politicians–and because she’s on the record as viewing as “wisdom figures” some of the Catholic Church’s most prominent dissenters from the teachings of the Church.  Ask them what Bishop McConnell is doing about this problem.

Check back later today for the updated FedUp buttons this evening.

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Take Action on Tainted Search for New Mass Catholic Conference Head

Last week we told you that the search for the new leader of the public policy arm of the Mass Catholic Bishops  is tainted from the get-go by having two people on the search committee who have supported pro-abortion Catholic politicians. People have called and emailed Bishop George Coleman of the Fall River Diocese, who is heading the search.  Though the people answering the phone have been pleasant and have forwarded messages on to the Bishop, as far as we can tell, nothing has changed.  Today we raise the volume level up a couple of notches with our FedUp campaign. Click on the button now–it will take only 1 minute of your time.

Why would solid faithful Catholics want to even throw their name in the application process when you have 2 of 5 search committee members they’d have to meet who have opposed the Catholic Church by publicly supporting pro-abortion Catholic politicians?  This is absurd!!  If you’re FedUp, today is the day to ratchet-up the complaints to the Holy See by sending a letter via Fax or email to the Holy Father, Bishop Coleman, the Papal Nuncio, the prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal O’Malley, and Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke (Congratulations to him!!)

Here is the letter we have prepared that you can sign and fax/email off with the push of a button.

I am writing to ask that you intervene in the search process for the new Executive Director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference to remove two search committee members with backgrounds of support for pro-abortion politicians.

The search committee announced on October 13 includes Sr. Annette McDermott, SSJ representing the Diocese of Springfield and Mr. James Brett, President and CEO of the New England Council representing the Archdiocese of Boston.

Sr. McDermott was a member of George-Soros-funded Catholic Alliance for the Common Good, whose main purpose was convincing Catholics it was permissible to vote for pro-choice Democrats in the 2008 U.S. national elections.  Cardinal Francis George criticized the “fraud” of CACG’s  “common good” approach and banned their materials from parishes.  It was led by former advisors to Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. After the 2008 campaign, the Diocese of Kansas City newspaper reported that CACG was an instrument of the Obama presidential campaign, and that the board chair of CACG personally raised $350,000 for the Obama Campaign.  She has also been a consultant to the Catholic Campaign Human Development, which has been broadly criticized for funding ACORN, an organization which in has used portions of those Catholic funds to support pro-abortion and pro-gay causes.

Mr. Brett has personally donated funds to pro-abortion politicians including Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Michael Capuano, and Edward Markey.  As head of the New England Council, he presented the 2009 “New Englander of the Year” Award to Sen. John Kerry.

The announcement about the search says candidates must be “a faithful and committed Roman Catholic, in good standing with the Church.”  Since Sr. McDermott and Mr. Brett have personally been involved supporting pro-abortion political candidates in recent years, their continuing presence on the committee risks discouraging faithful, committed Catholics from even applying for the position.

It seems clear that two individuals who have supported political candidates who favor abortion should not be on a committee to select a “faithful and committed Roman Catholic” to represent the public policy voice of the church. 

Thank you for your immediate intervention to ensure that this search process and committee is not tainted from the start by this concern.

You can read all of the details about these two people in our last post on this issue, Mass Bishops Flubbing Search for Catholic Conference Director.  What’s not covered there are Brett’s political donations to pro-abortion politicians.  Although he voted pro-life while he was serving in the Massachusetts legislature and donated $250 to pro-life Rep.  Stephen Lynch in 2001, it’s the $1,800 in contributions to the likes of abortion supporters Sen. John Kerry, Rep. Michael Capauno, and Rep. Edward Markey and the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (which funds other candidates) that remain troubling about him. (see FEC listing of political contributions to the right).  Plus, there are all of his associations with Jack Connors and Fr. Bryan Hehir documented last time.  We also see at another blog that he has connections to Chancellor Jim McDonough and the Hanover crowd, who are basically doing the will of Jack Connors.  Mr. Brett may have a fine record of community service, but that does not mean he is the right person to help select a faithful Catholic to be the voice of the Massachusetts bishops.

FedUp yet?  Just click on the FedUp button right now, fill in your name and address, verify your information is correct, and click submit one more time.  It will take only one minute. 

The Mass Catholic Conference is the public policy voice of the Massachusetts Bishops on a variety of concerns—the culture of life, family, and an array of social issues–and the head needs to be a faithful Catholic.  Period.  Since the head is to be a faithful Catholic, then all of the search committee members should be also, with nothing in their records that suggest otherwise.   Let’s not let them screw this one up!  

Do share this with friends and family members as well and encourage them to send the letter. And do encourage great people you know to apply for the job.  Instructions for applying can be found here.

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Theological conservatives unafraid to blog and call out fellow Catholics

October 22 Update: We are having tech difficulties on the blog and some readers are not seeing today’s important post about taking action on the Mass Catholic Conference situation.   Please click here to read our October 22 post.

 

Word of what faithful Catholic bloggers and people using new media are doing to help clean-up the Church seems to be spreading across the country.  This article, in none other than the Arizona Daily Star, highlights this blog along with other efforts.  Here are a few excerpts from “Theological conservatives unafraid to blog and call out fellow Catholics”:

Pressure is on to change the Roman Catholic Church in America, but it’s not coming from the usual liberal suspects. A new breed of theological conservatives has taken to blogs and YouTube to say the church isn’t Catholic enough.

Enraged by dissent that they believe has gone unchecked for decades, and unafraid to say so in the starkest language, these activists are naming names and unsettling the church.

• In the Archdiocese of Boston, parishioners are dissecting the work of a top adviser to the cardinal for any hint of Marxist influence.

• Bloggers are combing through campaign finance records to expose staff workers of Catholic agencies who donate to politicians who support abortion rights.

• RealCatholicTV.com, working from studios in suburban Detroit, is hunting for “traitorous” nuns, priests or bishops throughout the American church.

“We’re no more engaged in a witch hunt than a doctor excising a cancer is engaged in a witch hunt,” said Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com and St. Michael’s Media. “We’re just shining a spotlight on people who are Catholics who do not live the faith.”

John Allen, Vatican analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, has dubbed this trend “Taliban Catholicism.” But he says it’s not a strictly conservative phenomenon – liberals can fit the mindset, too, Allen says. Some left-leaning Catholics are outraged by any exercise of church authority.

Yet on the Internet and in the church, conservatives are having the bigger impact.

Among Voris’ many media ventures is the CIA – the Catholic Investigative Agency – a program from RealCatholicTV to “bring to light the dark deeds of evil Catholics-in-name-only, who are hijacking the Church for their own ends, not the ends of Christ.”

In an episode called “Catholic Tea Party,” Voris said: “Catholics need to be aware and studied and knowledgeable enough about the faith to recognize a heretical nun or a traitorous priest or bishop when they see one – not so they can vote them out of office, but so they can pray for them, one, and alert as many other Catholics as possible to their treachery, two.”

The work of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is another frequent target.

They got us just partially right, and perhaps only looked at the more recent posts where they saw our exposing Marxist influence.  Our exposition of Fr. Bryan Hehir goes way back to his advocating that the Church’s teachings on contraception be kept as a matter of private morality rather than public morality in the early 1970s.  Then we got into his:

• Initial work on the socialist-themed program that led up to the “Call to Action” movement and conference  in 1976
• Involvement with the Communist/Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies in the early 1980s
• Key role in Cardinal Bernadin’s “seamless garment” and “consistent ethic of life” which downplayed the Church’s teachings on abortion and has given air-cover to pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians such as the Kennedys for decades.
• Honoring of the pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage Mayor of Boston at a Catholic Charities fundraiser
• Presiding over the brokering of adoptions to gay couples, even though the Vatican said this was doing violence to the child by depriving them of an environment conducive to full human development.
• Publicly contradicting and criticizing Cardinal Ratzinger’s 2004 statement regarding voting for pro-abortion politicians
• Telling a Boston College forum he was concerned Catholic conscience rights for healthcare workers opposed to abortion could harm the woman who “needs” abortion services.
• Praised the “intelligent and courageous leadership” of the Catholic Health Association immediately after they helped pass the Obama-backed healthcare legislation actively opposed by the U.S.C.C.B. because it allowed funding for abortions.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the performance?

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Archbishop Burke: Public Repentance is Required for Pro-Abort Politicians

Archbishop Raymond Burke spoke at the Human Life International World Prayer Congress Saturday and received sustained applause when he noted that Catholic politicians who support abortion are required to repent publicly. 

What Archbishop Burke said makes milk toast of the dismissive approach Fr. Bryan Hehir, Vicar General Fr. Richard Erikson, and Cardinal O’Malley have displayed to those standing up for the pro-life teachings of the Catholic faith in recent months and years.

According to LifeSiteNews, in speaking to pro-life leaders from 45 nations, the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the highest Vatican court) also noted that those who recognize the scandal caused by such public, dissident Catholics assist the Church in repairing a serious breach, but are nevertheless often ridiculed for it.

Let’s pause here for a moment. This is EXACTLY what happens here in Boston.  Remember the reaction of Cardinal O’Malley where he criticized faithful Catholics who complained about the 2009 Caritas Christi/Centene financial partnership that involved abortion referrals?  Remember his criticism of faithful Catholics who complained about the coronation-style funeral for the late Sen. Ted Kennedy?  Remember the Vicar General’s criticism of this blog?

Achibishop Burke stressed that:

both bishops and the faithful” must be obedient to the Magisterium – which he described as the teaching of Christ as handed down through the successor of Peter and the bishops in union with him. “When the shepherds of the flock are obedient to the Magisterium, entrusted to their exercise, then surely the members of the flock grow in obedience and proceed with Christ along the way of salvation,” he said.  “If the shepherd is not obedient the flock easily gives way to confusion and error.”

Turning to the issue of scandal within the Church, the archbishop said,

We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage.  It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner.”

To resounding applause Burke said, “When a person has publicly espoused and cooperated in gravely sinful acts, leading many into confusion and error about fundamental questions of respect for human life and the integrity of marriage and the family, his repentance of such actions must also be public.”

The Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura then voiced a concern that struck a deep chord with many of the Catholic pro-life activists present at the conference. 

One of the ironies of the present situation is that the person who experiences scandal at the gravely sinful public actions of a fellow Catholic is accused of a lack of charity and of causing division within the unity of the Church,” he said.  “One sees the hand of the Father of Lies at work in the disregard for the situation of scandal or in the ridicule and even censure of those who experience scandal.”

The Vatican prelate concluded the point stating:

Lying or failing to tell the truth, however, is never a sign of charity.  A unity which is not founded on the truth of the moral law is not the unity of the Church.  The Church’s unity is founded on speaking the truth with love.  The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life.  Were he not to experience scandal at the public support of attacks on human life and the family, his conscience would be uninformed or dulled about the most sacred realities.

(Read the complete talk – in PDF format – here)

In Catholic Bloggers faithful to the Magisterium causing harm to the community? we recapped how faithful Catholics who complained about the scandal of the over-the-top Kennedy funeral were criticized by Cardinal for their “zeal,” and their “attitudes and practices [that] do irreparable damage to the communion of the Church.”  

When Caritas Christi announced a joint venture with Centene Corporation and faithful Catholics complained that it included provisions for referring patients to abortion providers, Cardinal O’Malley responded that anyone who suggested Caritas would ever do anything to promote abortions or participate in actions contrary to Catholic moral teaching was “doing a great disservice to the Catholic Church.”

When this blog highlighted and documented in extensive detail the scandalous comments by Fr. Bryan Hehir that undermined Church teachings at the risk of leading souls from salvation, Vicar General Fr. Erikson responded, ” I believe there is much on your blog that is untrue and harmful to individuals and to the Body of Christ.”  He never came up with even one example to back his unfounded claim.

“The person who experiences scandal at public actions of Catholics, which are gravely contrary to the moral law, not only does not destroy unity but invites the Church to repair what is clearly a serious breach in Her life.”

We invite Cardinal O’Malley and Vicar General Fr. Erikson to prayerfully consider the dramatic difference between their attitudes and the message of Archbishop Burke. 

Inspired by Archbishop Burke’s comments, very shortly we are going to up the volume level of our campaign to Bishop Coleman and the Holy See asking them to remove two people from the search committee for the new Mass Catholic Conference head who have histories of support for pro-abortion political candidates.  As Archbishop Burke said, it’s part of what we must do to invite the Church to repair what clearly poses a serious breach in Her life.

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Mass Bishops Flubbing Search for Catholic Conference Director

Yesterday the Massachusetts Bishops announced
members of the search committee to select the new Exec. Director of the Mass Catholic Conference.  They’re looking to replace the previous head, Ed Saunders, who passed away due to cancer–and who had been hired under a search process led by and rigged by Fr. Bryan Hehir (see Fr. Hehir and the Muting of the Church’s Public Policy Voice).  You would think that with all of the blogging underway lately and the controversy over how Fr. Hehir picked Saunders, they’d be a bit more careful this time around.  Nope.  It’s so bad that we are converting our FedUp campaign today to tell the Holy See how the Massachusetts Bishops are flubbing this one already.  One reader already said to us, “The Massachusetts Bishops need basic instruction in how to do a Google search.”  We agree.

The search for the leader of the public policy voice of the Mass Catholic Bishops  is being led by Bishop Coleman of the Fall River Diocese.  But the search committee announced yesterday includes Sr. Annette McDermott, SSJ from the Diocese of Springfield; James Brett, President and CEO of the New England Council; Rev. Michael K. McManus, Chancellor of the  Diocese of Fall River and Msgr. Thomas Sullivan, Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester.  Bryan Hehir Exposed has no comment on the two priests.  But Sr. McDermott and James Brett spell trouble, and suggest the fingerprints of Fr. Hehir are all over this one once again. See Tenth Crusade (formerly ThrowtheBumsOutin2010 for Carol McKinley’s perspective on this).

Here’s what we learned about Sr. McDermott within 1 minute of getting the news.  She was a member of the left-wing George-Soros-funded Catholic Alliance for the Common Good.  CatholicCulture.org describes Catholic Alliance for the Common Good as follows:

Voting for the Common Good: A Practical Guide for Conscientious Catholics published by Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good — which is led by former advisors to Senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton — is nothing other than a well-funded attempt to try to persuade Catholics that it is morally acceptable to continue to vote for the “personally opposed” pro-choice candidates who have swindled them in the past.

As the Catholic Key Blog (from the staff of the Diocese of Kansas City newspaper) summarized it in 2008,  their purpose was convincing Catholics it was OK to vote for pro-choice Democrats.  They describe how Cardinal George slammed the “fraud” of CACG’s  “common good” approach and banned their materials from parishes.  (Here’s a link to Cardinal George’s letter, critical of their approach, without naming names).  After the 2008 campaign, it came out that CACG was actually an instrument of the Obama presidential campaign, and that the board chair of CACG personally raised $350,000 for the Obama Campaign.  If you are not already FedUp with the prospect that Sr. Annette, a member of CACG, is on the search committee to select the new head of the Mass Catholic Conference, hold onto your seat.  There’s more.

As if Sr. McDermott’s membership in Catholic Alliance for the Common Good wasn’t bad enough, she is also listed as a consultant to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in this 2006 newsletter.  Those are the guys that funded ACORN for years, and you can either check out our post on them, or just do a Google search of “Catholic Campaign for Human Development” and ACORN and you’ll find articles like these:

     US Bishops Anti-Poverty Arm Defunds Accused Group (March 25, 2010)

     CCHD Pushes Pro-Abort Groups in Lent Stations of the Cross (March 2010)

     Green Bay bishop questions Catholic charities (March 2010)

     Time to Start Answering Questions about Catholic Campaign for Human Development (Feb. 2010)

     More Proof the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Should Be Eliminated (Sept 2009)

    The Bigger Scandal: Catholic Church Funding of ACORN (Sept 2009)

     Catholic Campaign for Human Development and ACORN – Rotten to the Core (Oct 2008)

 This combination of items in Sr. Annette’s background should not only have disqualified her from the search committee, but is grounds for her being removed from the board of the Mass Catholic Conference.  Fed up yet?  There’s more.

Let’s look at James Brett.  Carol McKinley over at Tenth Crusade (formerly throwtheBumsOutin2010) weighed in on him and the whole situation saying:

Boston appointed James Brett, President & CEO of The New England Council.  In 2009, James Brett’s New England Council presented “New Englander of the Year” Awards to some folks whose names might ring a bell to readers of Boston Catholic Insider and Bryan Hehir Exposed:  John Kerry of Massachusetts, Jack Connors, Jr., Founding partner and Chairman emeritus of Hill Holliday and John Fish, CEO of Suffolk Construction Company.

The former President and CEO of The New England Council is also Bryan Hehir’s friend and former member of Catholic Charities,  Peter Meade.    Peter resigned Catholic Charities to ‘protest’ the Bishops asking for a religious exemption so that Catholics could continue in the adoption business without disobeying our faith.  Coincidently, James Brett is also a Catholic Charities colleague of Bryan Hehir’s.

These two people must be removed from the search committee for the new Executive Director of the Mass Catholic Conference, and whomever nominated them from each diocese should be removed from their position as well. 

We are working to updated our FedUp campaign petition, but that will take another day, so we are asking all readers to drop a dime today to Bishop George Coleman’s office in Fall River at 508-675-1311 and let him know you think his committee needs to immediately lose Sr. McDermott and Mr. Brett.  You can also try sending email to their Director of Communications, John Kearns (jkearns@fallriverdiocese.org), but we suggest you make the call to Bishop Coleman’s office ASAP.  Check back later today for our updated FedUp campaign.

ps. Beyond the Catholic Conference search, we got an anonymous tip last evening that the Jack Connors’ hand-picked choice for Secretary of Development, Kathleen Driscoll, may have been settled on.  If so, we have a huge crisis on our hands beyond MCC, but we’re just focusing on MCC for now until we learn more).

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Recap on Archdiocesan Social Justice Conference

For everyone following the situation of the Boston Archdiocesean Social Justice Conference that took place on Saturday, we’re pleased to give you a recap on what happened.

As blog followers know by now, this conference featured Fr. Bryan Hehir and Fr. Thomas Massaro, SJ of BC, who publicly supported the pro-abort Gov. Sebellius for Health and Human Services Secretary in the Obama administration.  Several hundred people sent faxes and emails to the Holy See and Cardinal O’Malley protesting the conference.  Though the event still went on, your efforts made a huge difference to minimize the potential harm to the Body of Christ!

Several Bryan Hehir Exosed readers attended the conference and shared details.  Attendance was only about 100 people, including archdiocesan staff, so the ruckus raised apparently helped keep people away.  We’re not sure why a Boston police officer was stationed at the front door early in the day.  Either the archdiocese was worried about this blog trying to disrupt their festive gathering,  or perhaps they thought the social justice people who are used to protesting things would form a protest to commemorate the day. 

Both Fr. Hehir and Fr. Massaro still spoke, and they avoided saying anything in their talks that was nearly as egregious as what we have documented  here on the blog.   

Fr. Hehir talked on the topic of “Charity of Justice.”  He said “to be Catholic is to be scriptural, sacramental, and social,” and his 4 themes were around life, dignity, work, and vocation.  He said in the Church’s public ministry we must be a voice for  the defense and promotion of life at every stage of life, and then said the bishops of the U.S. over the past 2 decades have said we must cultivate a ”consistent ethic of life” across the entire spectrum of life.  (Of course, as we know, the “consistent ethic of life” is an equivalent way of saying “seamless garment, ”  which is the way of having abortion be considered no more important than other issues like poverty, pornography, and capital punishment). 

One reader told us they cannot understand how Fr. Hehir has become so adept at failing to match his words and deeds.  Fr. Hehir reminded this audience that October is “Pro-Life Month” and acknowledged we need to protect life at all stages from conception to natural death, yet at a BC forum earlier this year, he said he was concerned that conscience exemptions for Catholic healthcare workers could harm the ability of a woman to get abortion services.  How can we protect life starting at conception if you are concerned about how women will get abortions that end the life before the baby is born?  And this is the second year when the Boston Archdiocese has stalled and stone-walled volunteers looking for just a modest top-level endorsement from Fr. Hehir’s secretariat  in  support of  the “40 Days for Life”  initiative supported by dozens of other dioceses.  Fr. Hehir, what gives?  When all eyes are on you, you find a way of saying the right words, but when you are not being watched closely or the rubber hits the road with actions that happen behind closed doors, it’s a different story.

Fr. Massaro’s talk  on Catholic Social Teaching never mentioned abortion specifically.  Here’s Fr Marraro’s handout.  Near the end of his talk, he briefly discussed 9 fundamental themes of Catholic social teaching,  starting with the “Dignity of Every Person and Human Rights” (see page 2 of his handout, bottom of the page).   He verbally referenced protection of life at every phase of life under the “dignity of every person” section and claimed the Vatican documents Pacem in Terris, Centessimum Arrus, and Gaudium et Spes were references for that, but our read of all 3 documents found their focus is not at all about protecting life from conception to natural death.  And Fr. Massaro, the nationally-recognied expert on Catholic social justice made the exact same mistake that Fr. Bryan Hehir made back in 1975, saying that  Pope Paul VI’s Octogesima Adveniens is also known as “A Call toAction .”  In fact, “Call to Action” is merely the title of the 4^th section of the Pope Paul VI’s letter, not the name of it. 

Most of the other breakout session speakers at the event had nothing as overtly controversial in their backgrounds as those in past years, so it’s clear the Boston Archdiocese was being more careful this time around to avoid additional criticism.  Nonetheless, two names still jumped out at us—both habitless religious sisters.

Sr. Margaret (Peggy) Cummins, of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) , which helped to pass the abortion-funding Obamacare, was there, speaking on Human Trafficking.  And Sr. Honora Nolty, OP, of RENEW International was there to speak on  faith sharing.   Sr. Nolty is from the Dominican sisters of Amityville, NY.  Here’s their vision:

As prophetic witnesses in collaboration with others, we will call ourselves, the Church and society to credibility. We will be responsible members of the universe. We will promote the dignity of marginalized persons. We will reject violence in ourselves and in society in order that all Generations will grow and cherish life.  With the world as our frontier, we are open to the Spirit.

Whichever reader is the first person to find “God” in the vision statement gets a free copy of the ARISE workbook, courtesy of Bryan Hehir Exposed.   Sr. Nolty was also quoted in a NY Times article in 2005 that talked about how the sisters had to have a ‘tag sale” at the Long Island estate they owned and sold for $35 million:

In recent years, the order held non-denomination retreats and events run by a variety of organizations, but could not raise enough funds to pay the maintenance costs for the building and the grounds….Sr. Margaret said, “We walk away now trusting in the creative power of the universe to create the next thing.”

Perhaps if they had tried holding Catholic retreats there, or maybe they had replaced the “the bronze statue of a Lakota Indian woman carrying a peace pipe”–which stood outside the entrance to the Hakamé house used by the order for art classes—with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, they would have found more success. As for “trusting in the creative powers of the universe,” we are at a loss for words.

Major appreciation to the hundreds of people who signed the letter to Cardinal O’Malley, the Papal Nuncio, and to the Vatican.  Our message got through loud and clear, and it’s obvious that they cleaned-up their act for this event to ensure that the speakers didn’t  say anything heretical or scandalous. 

But, as long as certain people are still in influential roles, there are yet more important battles ahead.

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Top 10 Reasons to Protest Boston Social Justice Conference

For everyone following the “Boston Catholic Tea Party”
protest against the dissident Catholic speakers slotted for the Boston Archdiocese’s Social Justice Conference this Saturday, we are in the homestretch and need you all to help keep the pressure up today.

As of 8:30am Friday, we will have updated our letter to the Holy Father, Papal Nuncio, Cardinal O’Malley, and others, and are asking everyone who is FedUp with the Archdiocese of Boston to click the FedUp button now and send the new letter. (If you signed it once before, please go ahead and sign the new one again!).

Two priests speaking at Saturday’s conference, Fr. James Massaro, SJ and Fr. Bryan Hehir, have records that include supporting pro-abortion politicians, supporting those who advance the gay agenda, or spreading false teachings in ways that can lead people from salvation and harm unity in Christ.

Why is this important for those in other parts of the country as well as Boston?  Because as Boston, MA goes, so goes the country.

It’s been happening since they first dumped the tea.  Now in the 21st Century, it’s continuing but it’s a mirror image – as the angels of darkness pretend to be angels of light. Boston’s a hub for higher education, with the Marxist/socialist ideas long promoted at Harvard and elsewhere  propagating across the country via Boston-educated leaders who have fanned out into government/politics, education, the Catholic Church, and business. 

Massachusetts gave the country gay “marriage.” A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.  Boston’s Catholic Charities caved into the gay agenda, and now Boston Catholic schools have as well.   As this blog has documented, Fr. Bryan Hehir is a linchpin in Saturday’s conference, and  more importantly in propagation of a brand of “Kennedy Catholicism” and so-called “Catholic social justice” that’s often at odds with the teachings handed down by the Magisterium. 

For the sake of the unborn that are killed every day and for the sake of the Body of Christ, we can’t let this continue!

To summarize the case against them and this conference, here are our Top 10 Reasons to Protest Boston’s Social Justice Conference.

1. Fr. Massaro signed a widely-publicized statement supporting the pro-abortion Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary in the Obama administration. (Sebelius had vetoed pro-life legislation multiple times, and Kansas City Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann asked her to not receive Communion until she repudiated her stance on abortion and make a “worthy sacramental confession.”  She refused).
2. Fr. Massaro is co-chair of the Cambridge Peace Commission that gave annual awards to two gay activists in recent years for their work spreading the GLBT agenda in elementary schools and society
3. Fr. Hehir spoke at a pro-Communist think-tank in a series “Matthew, Marx, Luke, John” and also accepted an award named after a Chilean communist
4. Fr. Hehir made “substantive contributions” to a socialist-themed program that corrupted Catholic social doctrine and led to the 1976 “Call to Action” conference
5. Fr. Hehir was a key architect of the “seamless garment” concept that has downplayed the importance of abortion by the Catholic Church and has given air-cover to pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians such as the Kennedys for decades.  He also was a reviewer of Mario Cuomo’s intellecually mischievous 1984 Notre Dame speech (“I’m personally opposed, but I can’t impose my views on a pluralistic society”), which the Hehir/Bernadin “seamless garment” concept helped validate politically
6. Fr. Hehir honored the pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage Mayor of Boston at a Catholic Charities fundraiser
7. Fr. Hehir was President of Catholic Charities when they were brokering adoptions to gay couples, even though the Vatican said this was doing violence to the child by depriving them of an environment conducive to their full human development.
8. Fr. Hehir publicly contradicted and criticized Cardinal Ratzinger’s 2004 statement regarding voting for pro-abortion politicians
9. Fr. Hehir told a Boston College forum this spring he was concerned that Catholic conscience rights for healthcare workers opposed to abortion could harm the woman who “needs” abortion services.
10. Fr. Hehir praised the “intelligent and courageous leadership” of the Catholic Health Association at their 2010 conference immediately after they helped pass the Obama-backed healthcare legislation that was actively opposed by the U.S.C.C.B. because it allowed funding for abortions. USCCB President, Cardinal George, called the CHA’s actions a “wound to Catholic unity.”

We are frankly FedUp with the Boston Archdiocese and so are thousands of other Catholics.  Among the concerned Catholics who have  written to the Archdiocese, here is one who pleaded,

for the sake of the unborn children who are murdered every day thanks (in part) to the support that abortionists receive from those who call themselves ‘Catholic, ‘please intervene and ask the Cardinal to withdraw the invitation to Fr. Massaro.”

He received no response.

The leadership of the Boston Archdiocese is continuing to thumb their noses at faithful Catholics like you and me.  They seem to be very comfortable protecting and promoting speakers with documented histories of breaking unity with Christ, undermining the faith and leading souls away from salvation with false teachings–rather than halting the dissent and instead making sure those they put on a podium have a history of spreading the saving gospel of Jesus Christ and the true teachings of the Church via all of their words and deeds.  

This affects everyone in the country.  Are you FedUp?

Sign the letter today by hitting the FedUp button to send an email or fax message to the Holy See and Cardinal O’Malley about this ongoing travesty.

After you send the fax, drop a dime to the Papal Nuncio in Washington, DC, His Excellency Pietro Sambi at  (202)333-7121. Tell the woman who answers that you sent a fax and email asking for him to intervene and remove these two speakers from the Boston conference agenda (along with whomever approved those speakers), and also ask her if she can report to you on how specifically His Excellency is handling this situation. 

If you have time to drop a second dime, call Cardinal O’Malley’s office at 617-782-2544 and tell them the same thing.

And please, spread word to at least 5 other friends and family members today, and ask them to do the same. 

The visibility you are helping generate in the Holy See to the Boston problems–which also affect the rest of the country–is unprecedented and will only help build a stronger Catholic Church ahead!

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What Do the GLBT Agenda, Pro-Abortion Politics, and Marxism Have to Do With Boston Social Justice Conference?

Revelations about the featured speakers at the
Boston Archdiocese’s Social Justice conference this coming Saturday are getting worse every day, and more and more Catholics from across the country are sounding the alarm bells as part of our “Boston Catholic Tea Party” protest.  Today we hear more about support for gay activism and Marxism by the two featured speakers, Fr. James Massaro and Fr. Bryan Hehir, respectively. Yes, we said Marxism. Read on to see details of Fr. Hehir’s infamous talk in the “Matthew, Marx, Luke, and John” series at the left-leaning, Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies.  Could the Boston Archdiocese possibly pick two worse speakers to place on the speaking podium?  Click on the FedUp button now to sign out letter of complaint to the Holy See.

By now, many people know that on October 9, the archdiocese is sponsoring a Social Justice Conference, featuring Fr. Thomas Massaro, SJ from Boston College along with Fr. Bryan Hehir. We told you how Fr. Massaro was one of 26 signatories to a public letter supporting the nomination of pro-abortion former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration.  Her position opposing the Church on partial birth abortion resulted in Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann asking her to not receive Communion until she repudiated her stance and make a “worthy sacramental confession.”

Marxism and Fr. Bryan Hehir

We’ll get to more on the GLBT agenda supported by the commission Fr. Massaro co-chairs, but first, the Marxism angle and Fr. Bryan Hehir.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know about Fr. Bryan Hehir’s undermining Church teaching for nearly 40 years, and thus helping lead souls from salvation–including his presiding over Catholic Charities of Boston when they brokered adoptions to gay couples and when they honored the pro-abortion/pro-gay mayor of Boston, and his undermining Catholic teachings on abortion, Catholic conscience exemptions, women priests, and voting for pro-abortion politicians.

What you may not have known is Fr. Hehir’s past involvement with the Marxist-oriented, gay-agenda-supportive Washington, DC think tank, the Institute for Policy Studies.  Fr. Hehir gave multiple talks there in the 1980s, including speaking in their Washington School series, “Matthew, Marx, Luke, and John” in October of 1983.

As you’ll see by this content on Religious Left Exposed, during the 1980s, the IPS served as a base of operations for those opposed to President Ronald Reagan’s anti-communist foreign policy. It was dedicated to the establishment of revolutionary Marxist and anti-American regimes in Central and Latin America and elsewhere and describes itself as the nation’s oldest progressive multi-issue think-tank. A New York Times Magazine article from April of 2001 exposes IPS as founded on radical, revolutionary and Marxist principles, talking about one contingent described by the IPS director as coming from a Marxist of almost completely comes from a Marxist or liberation basis. One IPS journal has featured “articles celebrating Communist victories in Laos and Angola.”

Anyway, so we were going through the Bryan Hehir archives and found this information about the Washington School series he spoke in (see p. 2).

Matthew, Marx, Luke and John: Theology of the Oppressed

Worldwide poverty and exploitation have brought religious ideological support for conservatism to a crisis.  Liberation theologies—particularly black, feminist and Latin American—provide an ideological counterthrust on behalf of the insurgent resistance.  This course, while focusing on the present through the prism of Vatican II, will discuss ancient and medieval precedents of peasant insurgency and rebellion, together with the practical and ideological leadership provided by priests and lay Christians who, basing themselves in the Bible, defined and ideology for the oppression, not the oppressors.  Topics will include:

• …ancient and medieval theology: practice and theory
• parallels in feminist and Latin American theology
• the Catholic Bishops’ Letter on War and Peace
• the future of the Christian alliance with Marxism

For attending that series, participants got a free pass to their series on liberation theology. Among the other speakers in the 1983 series was the radical lesbian feminist theologian, Mary Hunt.  Hehir also spoke with her on a panel in a 2002 program at Regis College, where he said, “in 20th century Catholicism, teachings on sexuality have been “a chronically afflicted area.”  You can read more about that program and Mary Hunt here.

In case you think this is just a matter of “guilt by association,” this was not just a one-off talk; Fr. Hehir spoke at the IPS more than once.  We could go on and on about the IPS’s involvement with Marxist and Communist causes and activism.  Here is a short  IPS slide presentation from Religious Left Exposed that highlights a number of troubling revelations we barely have time to share.

As you can see, the IPS was involved in a wide range of left-wing activities. In 1984 they hosted “Sister Boom-Boom” of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” a group of “Queer Nuns” who mocked the Catholic Church.  The history of the IPS on their website proudly conveys how “Rita Mae Brown wrote and published her path-breaking lesbian coming-of-age novel Rubyfruit Jungle while on the staff in the 1970s.”

Cardinal O’Malley, we know you see Fr. Hehir as a “trusted advisor” and Vicar General, Fr. Erikson, we know you recently described Fr. Hehir as a “good friend.”  Is the background reported here not sufficient to disqualify him as a speaker at the upcoming conference?  Or do we need to remind you about how he told a Boston College forum this spring he was concerned Catholic conscience rights could harm the freedom of women to get abortions?  And do we need to remind you of how he praised the “intelligent and courageous leadership” of the Catholic Health Association at their conference immediately after they helped pass the Obama-backed healthcare legislation that was actively opposed by the U.S.C.C.B. because it allowed funding for abortions?

GLBT Agenda and Cambridge Peace Commission where Fr. Massaro is Co-Chair

If that isn’t enough to disqualify Fr. Hehir from speaking, and if Fr. Massaro’s support for the pro-abortion Kathleen Sebelius wasn’t enough to disqualify Massaro from speaking at an archdiocesan-sponsored forum, here’s more.  In our last post we covered Fr. Massaro’s service as co-chair, of the Cambridge Peace Commission, an organization linked with the GLBT agenda which has honored several gay activists in recent years. Fr. Massaro joined the commission in 2003, and in 2006, they gave an award to Emma Howe, who “planted ‘seeds’ of diversity in Cambridge for school families and GLBT communities.” An alert reader noted that Ms. Howe played a key role introducing a GLBT curriculum to school children from kindergarten on up in a Lexington’s elementary school.

Does Fr. Massaro advocate what Emmy Howe achieved when she implemented the curriculum “Making Room in the Circle” into the Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington? Read the Bay Windows article: “Show and Tell” by Ethan Jacobs (6/22/2006 ) to see exactly what she achieved. Read the Glossary of the curriculum “Making Room in the Circle” to see how the children have been indoctrinated into the LGBT way of life! In the Bay Windows article it states: ”She praised Lexington’s efforts at creating an inclusive classroom and said schools need to accept that whatever the feelings of individual parents, same-sex marriage is the law of the land.” Emmy Howe also teaches courses in how to implement the GLBT curriculum for teaches taking courses at Wheelock College.

Fed up yet?  This past May the Cambridge Peace Commission held its 12th Cambridge Peace and Justice Awards and an award was given to Sarav Chidambaram of the Cambridge GLBT Commission “for his work as an advocate and activist within the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community.”  Blogger Paul Melanson asks, “Did Father Massaro vote to award Mr. Chidambaram for his pro-homosexual activism? If so, how does he reconcile such an action with being a Roman Catholic priest who is supposed to demonstrate a submission of mind and will to the Magisterium of the Church (Lumen Gentium, No. 25).

Faithful Catholics are Fed Up with how the Archdiocese of Boston is ignoring objections and allowing this conference to proceed with these two speakers, whose history is one of dissenting from or undermining Church teachings, breaking unity with the Body of Christ, and thereby helping lead souls away from salvation.  Both speakers should be removed from the agenda and whomever invited and approved Fr. Massaro as a speaker should be removed from their position.

Hit the FedUp button to send a message to the Holy See and Cardinal O’Malley about this ongoing travesty. After you send the fax, we also suggest that readers drop a dime to the Papal Nuncio in Washington, DC, His Excellency Pietro Sambi at  (202)333-7121. When the nice woman, Sr. Mary, picks up the phone,  let her know that you sent a fax, and ask her if she can report to you on how specifically His Excellency is handling this situation.

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