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Christian Witness, Perspective,

Pontifications est fine

The Rev. Al Kimel has discontinued his blog, Pontifications.

In his final article, Namárií«, he notes:

Becoming [Roman] Catholic has brought many blessings, but it has not healed the sorrows of my heart. Indeed, in some ways it has intensified these sorrows. But this is all very private. All I need say is that I often find them overwhelming. God is silent. I am reduced to silence.

While reading his last lines I was struck by an allusion to the film Moscow On The Hudson.

As you might recall, Robin Williams character, Vladimir, defects to the United States. At first he is overcome by the vast differences between his experiences in communist Russia and life in the United States. He is joyful and giddy, full of dreams. As the film progresses he is overcome by remorse over his decision to defect. He wants to return to his ‘home’. But, he cannot go back. In his dread he cannot go forward.

To a certain extent I imagine that the Rev. Kimel faces such a struggle. We have an inherent discomfort with our decisions, especially when faced with the realities of the world.

Past the decision, you must find your place. The Rev. Kimel will certainly find his one day. The Lord is always merciful and just.

quaerite Dominum et virtutem eius quaerite faciem eius semper recordamini mirabilium eius quae fecit signorum illius et iudiciorum oris eius semen Israhel servi eius filii Iacob electi illius ipse Dominus Deus noster in universa terra iudicia eius recordamini in sempiternum pacti eius sermonis quem praecepit in mille generationes

Current Events, Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Sad end to a rich history

It appears that seven predominantly Polish R.C. parishes will be closing on Buffalo’s East Side. For more check out Seven Buffalo churches to merge into two: East Side closings stir some protests from the Buffalo News.

Among the churches to be closed is Holy Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, my mother’s home parish and the parish my grandparents helped to found. It was initially a mission parish for St. Stanislaus, the mother church of Buffalo’s Polonia – a parish designed to serve the Poles who had moved to farther flung neighborhoods.

The most shocking closure is that of St. Adalbert’ Basilica.

Yes, a Basilica.

St. Adalbert’s was the first church designated as a basilica in the United States (1907). You don’t find many of those laying about in the United States.

The genesis of the independent Catholicism in Buffalo occurred at St. Adalbert’s as noted in the history section of the Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral website:

An Independent Polish Catholic parish was first established in Buffalo in August, 1895, when a rejected group of parishioners at St. Adalbert’s Parish decided to form a separate church just a block away. These discontented souls were forced to decide their own fate when their requests were rejected by the Roman Catholic Bishop and his advisors.

More on the history of St. Adalbert’s and its tie in to the PNCC here, here and here.

As a grade school student I attended a magnificent Mass at St. Adalbert’s. It was held in honor of the International Eucharistic Congress which took place in Philadelphia in 1976. I had family who attended Holy Mother of the Rosary and St. Adalbert’s.

It would appear that those who chose to have a voice and a vote in the destiny of their parish made a better choice. Their parish still exists.

Here’s a photo from St. Adalbert’s 120th Anniversary celebration in 2006. The next to last celebration.

adalberts_120.jpg

Current Events, Perspective

Tingling ears – gnats or drats

I couldn’t resist this one 🙂 .

Shawn Tribe, of the very classy NLM Blog, posted Roman Ears are tingling on June 25th.

This is, of course, about the long awaited Motu Proprio from the Bishop of Rome re-establishing the Tridentine form of the Holy Mass for (most) Roman Catholics.

His article points out that ‘sources’ were convinced that the Motu Proprio was being printed and was ready for release.

According to the NY Times, BBC, AP and others the sources were right, at least in part: Pope Tightens Voting Rules for Election of Successors

ROME, June 26 —” Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing a pope by reinstituting the traditional requirement that two-thirds of the cardinals in the conclave agree on a candidate, no matter how long the process takes.

…

In a document [given Motu Proprio], in Latin, Pope Benedict said he was returning to the traditional voting norm, requiring a two-thirds majority throughout. The document was signed by the pope and dated June 11…

Should the other Motu Proprio ever come, I imagine it won’t be for a while. They don’t release these things like candy…

Then again, I haven’t been left wanting. I already have the Traditional Rite of the Holy Mass, in the vernacular, as has always been practiced in the PNCC.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.

Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Annoying Polish spam

The Young Fogey has written a few posts commenting on the spam he receives.

As a person attached to organizations with the word “Polish” in them, being part of Polish newsgroups, and perhaps by my Polish last name alone, I get hit with Polish E-mail spam.

Everyone knows something of the Nigerian scams, the I’m the wife, daughter, girlfriend, cousin, of a deposed dictator, and the have we got meds, potions, cures, and ‘enhancers’ for you pitches.

As Serge has often said, the poorly crafted language is enough to let you know these aren’t genuine.

Anyway, let me tell you about Polish scams.

In a way, they are the most devious and cruel of all scams.

They play on the long tradition in the Polish-American community of helping our poor, suffering, downtrodden brothers and sisters in the old country.

We all recall grandma and grandpa, or a parent, or an aunt or uncle sending money to cousin Jan. You may have known Jan as your poor rural cousin, down on the farm. He allegedly had nothing and needed everything. In many cases this was true in the years following the Second World War and under communism. í‰migrés were exceedingly generous, and those dollars stored in cupboards or in the mattress really helped in bringing Poles out from under the economic destruction caused by the Communist system.

The typical Polish scam has these lowlights and variants:

  • The person lives in a small community (although I’ve seen a few from major cities).
  • The family is poor and the father (if one exists) is unemployed.
  • Someone has a serious medical condition (typically a small child, sometimes a woman with several children – and the husband is desperate).
  • There is a picture of the sick person (typically black and white, with a seal or stamp of some type in the corner of the picture – hey it must be authentic…).
  • There is cryptic medical documentation attached, and sometimes a lot of it (statements from doctors, usually from the big city, clinics, specialists – all stamped, sworn to in front of a notary, and certified).
  • There is a request for money so little Magda can get medicine, rehabilitation, or specialized therapy.
  • There is information regarding a bank account and instructions for initiating an electronic transfer of funds to help the poor waif.

Just prior to leaving for Poland for the first time, back in 1991, our group leader, Dr. Ryszard Sokolowski (Ричард Соколовский) (the link is from the Tver/Твери group he founded), gave me some of the best advice I ever received. “Don’t be romantic about Poland” or words to that affect. He joked that we wouldn’t be met by girls in ethnic costumes dancing the Polka.

The communist system in Poland had just breathed its last breath a year-and-a-half before. There weren’t many consumer goods, that is, there wasn’t a vast selection of stuff. But there was stuff. I remember buying cans of Coke for about thirty cents off the back of a truck. There were VCRs in almost every home. There were mini satellite dishes on homes and apartment buildings (how many folks in the U.S. had mini dishes in 1991? Back then we were still buying the giant dishes that took up your whole backyard).

In other words, our perception of our poor cousins was part truth and part the fabrication of cold war propagandists. I’m not downplaying the suffering that existed and the repression that was very real, but we tend to paint things very black and white, and they weren’t.

If you are ever hit by one of these Polish scam artists looking for help ask this all important question: If they are so desperate for help, and entangled in illness and suffering, how did they find the time to establish a bank account, set-up electronic transfers, and mass spam thousands of folks (with scanned documents) from their poor rural village? The bandwidth alone would eat-up their life savings…

Current Events, Perspective, Political

Of Joe and Paris

…or it’s all about being handled.

I really don’t have much to say about the whole Paris Hilton saga, but…

I felt the typical outrage as I saw a system that’s supposed to be relatively blind kowtow to money, sex, and celebrity.

Not that I’m so naive to think the system isn’t played on a daily basis (OJ with that thought anyone) by those with money and a cult of celebrity. Nevertheless, I still believe that some semblance of what is core to the civil justice system will prevail and am disappointed when it doesn’t.

More than the outrage at a corrupt system, for me, it was really the utter disgust at the thought of all the pre-release crying, wailing, psycho mumbo-jumbo and the sheriff’s tie in to his feelings on those matters.

I understand dear, here’s a pass.

Of course that doesn’t apply to the prostitute they arrested while he or she was trying to make enough to feed their crack habit, or the petty thief who hears voices and sees visions.

Ask anyone in the criminal justice field and they will tell you that the majority of the incarcerated are drug addicted and/or mentally ill. They are welcome to partake of ‘state services’ or worse yet, contracted out state services (jails being a big industry in the U.S.).

The whole post-release breakdown thing appeared to be a reaction, not to the sentence or the process, but rather to the lack of handlers. Mom and Dad, no help. Makeup artist, couldn’t find ’em on one minutes notice. Clothing, not runway chic. Paris lost her security blanket.

It took about two days for her handlers to overcome the shock. Then we had Barbara Walters and the whole I’ve found God mockery going on.

I don’t know, a night in jail and her catechetical learning was resurrected? Oops, none of that back there. Her cellmate, a black woman from Louisiana, she brought Christ to Paris? Oh, that’s right, no cellmate. Maybe the Gideons left a bible for her?

My daily blog reads have worthy comments on the whole Paris issue. From the Young Fogey see: Picking on Parish Hilton and from Fr. Martin Fox’s Bonfire of the Vanities see: Reality is a harsh mistress.

On to Joseph Lieberman, Senator for the State of Connecticut.

The press typically places an “(I)” after his name to denote the fact that he is an “independent” i.e., not a Democrat or Republican. Well, independent would be an oxymoron in his case. I’m thinking that “(I)” stands for Israeli stooge.

The Senator found himself in the hands of the handlers this past weekend. He knew just how to look, and just what to say. The script was clear – threaten Iran with a military strike. Interestingly enough:

Over the weekend, Israel officials indicated that a strike against Iran was an option being considered if diplomacy fails.

You can read the whole sorted tale at the Christian Science Monitor in: Talk of attacking Iran escalates tensions.

I’m just wondering when, and if ever, the handlers are going to get a grip on reality.

There’s plenty of money in reality.

Earn it in helping the mentally ill, the incarcerated, the addicted. Rush to the front lines in defense of our borders, not Israel’s or Albania’s, or Korea’s, or Sudan’s, or…

The handlers are at heart cowards, afraid to step into the light and even more afraid of taking a stand. They live in hollow places that only God can fill. May God have mercy on us all and may He fill the vacuum in their lives.

Perhaps Judge Reggie Walton poked a little hole in their air filled arguments when he called on the handlers and the handled to step up to the plate on behalf of the poor and defenseless. From the Boston Globe see: Law scholars appeal to judge for Libby

WASHINGTON — A dozen of the country’s most respected constitutional scholars have leapt to the aid of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby , asking a federal judge if they could try to convince him about critical legal questions that favor letting Libby remain free while he appeals his conviction in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak case.

Within hours of Friday’s filing from the scholars, US District Judge Reggie Walton wrote back , granting their request . In a footnote, he said he was delighted to know that such a distinguished group was available to help argue on behalf of criminal defendants on “close questions” of the law.

Walton promised he’d ring them up soon when — instead of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff facing the threat of incarceration — there might be poor defendants who need big legal minds to avoid imprisonment…

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective, Saints and Martyrs

More martyrs

As linked to by the Young Fogey from AsiaNews: A Chaldean priest and three deacons killed in Mosul:

Fr Ragheed Ganni, 34, was hit by gunfire in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit. Three deacons, who served as his aides, were also killed.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) —“ An armed group gunned down and killed Fr Ragheed Ganni and three of his aides. The murder took place right after Sunday mass in front of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul where Father Ragheed was parish priest. Sources told AsiaNews that hours later the bodies were still lying in the street because no one dared retrieve them. Given the situation tensions in the area remain high…

…which follows on his links to Iraq’s Catholics are being crucified.

The Assyrian News Agency reports that the martyrs are:

Father Ragheed Ganni,
Sub-deacon Basman Yousef Daud,
Sub-deacon Wahid Hanna Isho, and
Sub-deacon Gassan Isam Bidawed

Eternal rest grant onto them O Lord, and may the perpetual light shine upon them.

Lord, welcome home your martyrs who have washed their robes and made them white in Your blood.

Blame the Muslims? Certainly they bear responsibility for their inhumanity and the murders they have committed. But as several have pointed out, this didn’t happen under Saddam.. but rather right under the nose of George Bush’s regime.

This further supports my contention that Evangelicals of Mr. Bush’s ilk and his neo-con supporters cheer as Catholics die.

But woe…

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’
Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Christian Witness, Perspective

Thankful for technology?

No, it would appear that Jan Grzebski is just thankful for life. From AFP: Polish man wakes up to new world after 19 years in coma

A Pole who spent 19 years in a coma has woken up and will now have to adapt to a country where the communists are no longer in power, a television station announced Friday.

Railwayman Jan Grzebski fell into a coma after he was hit by a train in 1988, the private channel Polsat said.

In an interview, Grzebski said that he owed his survival to his wife, Gertruda.

“She’s the one who always took care of me. She saved my life,” he said.

Grzebski was a father of four at the time of the accident. He is now making the acquaintance of 11 grandchildren.

Doctors had not expected Grzebski to survive, let alone emerge from the coma.

“I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot. Those who came to see us kept asking: ‘When is he going to die?’ But he’s not dead,” said Getruda.

Poland’s communist regime was still clinging onto power when Grzebski had his accident, only losing its grip the following year, in 1989.

On the brash neon-lit streets of new European Union member Poland, the period seems a distant memory.

“What amazes me today is all these people who walk around with their mobile phones and never stop moaning. I’ve got nothing to complain about,” said Grzebski.

Based on current trends in Western secularist society he would have been euthanized after his accident, against his and his family’s wishes. Perhaps that would have served secular society’s purposes. Rather, Mr. Grzebski is a witness to the rapid changes (some of which are not at all good) that our complacency covers over.

Christian Witness, Current Events, Perspective

OK, I’m confused

As I noted in my article, Rules are rules, especially if we don’t like you, The Roman Catholic Church uses its prerogative (which it is perfectly entitled to) to discharge folks who don’t follow its beliefs.

There have been numerous articles on the subject. Examples include the firing of unmarried pregnant teachers and the subject I wrote on, the firing of a devoted church youth music director (who happens to be the wife of a PNCC priest on active duty with the U.S. Air Force), and so on.

My feed reader caught two articles today that show the discrepancies and unequal treatment practiced from diocese to diocese.

From NineMSN: Catholic schools in bid to ban non-Catholics

Tasmanian Catholic schools have applied for an exemption to the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act in a bid for the power to turn away non-Catholic students.

Archbishop Adrian Doyle has outlined the new plan, which aims for all Catholic schools to have at least 75 percent Catholic students.

He said the policy would ensure “very strong Catholic ethos and vision” in Tasmanian Catholic schools, and would be slowly rolled out across the state…

— versus —

From RTí‰: Presbyterian gets top Catholic Church post

The Catholic Church in Ireland has appointed a Presbyterian as the head of its child protection unit.

Ian Elliot, Director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Belfast, is to become the first Chief Executive of the Church’s National Board for Child Protection.

When he takes up his duties in a month’s time, he will have completed two years on secondment to Northern Ireland’s civil service where he has led a major reform programme for child protection services.
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Church sources say he is the first non-Catholic to be appointed to such a senior post in Irish Catholicism.

OK, so there’s a shortage of Roman Catholics in Ireland!?!

I get that I’m being sarcastic, but doesn’t the Roman Church’s inconsistent treatment of folks make it look all subjective and vindictive?

Again, no problem if the Church chooses to solely hire Roman Catholics, and solely Roman Catholics who follow Church teaching. That might actually represent something – a strength of witness. Instead it looks like it is all ends justify the means Machiavellian. That’s unfortunate.

Perspective, ,

Pontifically Ecumenical

I’m not really sure as to what happened to Fr. Al Kimel’s Ponifications Blog, but it appears to be gone. He had a temporary space at WordPress.com, and perhaps, that is where he’s going, but who knows.

I recall reading that he was planning on moving the blog – and he well may have, but I’m not going to perform an exhaustive search for it.

As one of my web design mentors, Dean, at Heal Your Church Website might say, mystery meat navigation is bad enough, but non-navigation is completely wrong. If you are going to move a site, at least leave clues (Col. Mustard in the library with a pipe 😉 ).

I searched a few of the usual suspects like Sacramentum Vitae, but no news. While there I did find a pointer to an argument Fr. Kimel and his Orthodox correspondents were engaged in (see: Not talking about God) which pointed to Not Yet Ecumenical from Energetic Procession.

It was the typical point and counter-point of the filioque, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, etc. Nothing I want to cover in this post though. The PNCC and Orthodoxy are on the same page on these issues anyway.

The quote from Not Yet Ecumenical that struck me was as follows:

Third, Fr. Kimel’s —ecumenical— approach isn’t yet ecumenical. To be ecumenical he needs to recognize the legitimacy of the other in terms of the other. Orthodoxy has to be seen to be legitimate on its own terms. It cannot be ecumenically engaged by either reducing its teachings to some other Latin expression in a dismissive fashion or arguing contrary to fact that its distinctives don’t hold the weight of the teaching authority of the Orthodox Church. These are both strategies that Fr. Kimel has employed rather routinely.

Nor is it ecumenical to dismiss Orthodox commentators as —polemicists— who are only interested in seeing Rome as heterodox. It never enters Fr. Kimel’s mind that they might have some measure of rational justification for thinking so. And yet the Orthodox are supposed to take seriously the dogmatic claim by Rome that the Orthodox are at least materially heterodox. What Fr. Kimel’s whine amounts to is the old canard that the Orthodox are just instrinisically [sic] sinful and schismatic. To even speak of the same common faith that we are to work towards presupposes the Catholic view of things, that we do in fact have a common faith. That has to be demonstrated, from the Orthodox view, rather than assumed. And this I think picks out a major difference between us. Communion for the Orthodox will depend on a demonstration and not the judgment of a singular authority.

That’s it in a nutshell. That is why great care must be taken when speaking of dialog with the Roman Church.

The table you sit at, with the Roman Church, allows for the dialog – it is conducive to that. The table allows for on-going grievances and difficulties to be aired, but the table, regardless of its shape, still represents sides and positions.

The Roman Church, by its sheer size, weight, and attachment to certain stumbling block dogmas, while at the same time adhering to (albeit in an unspoken way) extra ecclesiam nulla salus is not in a position to bind up wounds and heal divisions. All of us, in the Catholic fold, excepting Rome, are inherently schismatic in their eyes, and anyone who lives apart from the Pope is not fully Catholic.

I’m not saying these things because of Fr. Kimel’s positions. He is certainly a top notch apologist and polemicist. He has personal axes to grind with the folks in TEC that let him down. He found solace in the strictures and rule books of Roman Catholicism, which is fine for him. At some point the hurt will lessen, the polemics and staunchness will wear down, and faith, the core element of hope will come out on top.

As to the general theme of dialog, the final quote from the Not Yet Ecumenical post sums up the problem of ecumenical dialog with Rome:

And to even ask when Orthodoxy dogmatized this question is to measure Orthodoxy by [Roman] Catholic standards. It didn’t and doesn’t need too because it is in the Fathers and the Liturgy. It’s called Tradition, not a dictionary.

Indeed the Roman Church’s sine qua non for unity is adherence to its terms, conditions, and definitions.

When the PNCC, or Orthodoxy for that matter, are admitted in the door as full living Churches with their own character and practices, which are at heart fully Catholic, then I’ll believe it is otherwise. Else wise we must continue to pray and talk.

Perspective, PNCC,

Lead us not…

From the BBC: French villagers back priest with partner

A Catholic priest in south-west France has been forced out of the clergy after admitting to the Church authorities that he was having a sexual relationship with one of his parishioners. The BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby says this has set off a fresh debate about celibacy in the Church.

There is a wonderful sense of stillness in the mountains overlooking the little village of Asson – a few swallows surf gently on the upwind currents and a shepherd sits quietly watching his flock of fat, thickly pelted sheep graze on the velvet grass.

It is a bit like one of those bucolic woodcut scenes you find in ancient bibles. But, in this religious landscape, those who break the rules are quickly cast asunder.

To a passer by, Fr Leon and his partner Marga probably look like any other middle-aged couple taking an evening stroll together.

He is twinkly eyed and looks a little like Dustin Hoffman. She seems warm and open and is still a very attractive woman. But in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, Leon and Marga are sinners.

‘Closer to God’

For the past 22 years, the couple have been in a sexual relationship, which is forbidden to a Catholic priest who has vowed to remain celibate. Fr Leon admits he has broken his promise but claims that being in love has brought him closer to God and his congregation.

“I haven’t been strictly faithful to all my vows,” he says.

“And I worried that by breaking some of those vows I had hurt Our Lord. But I think God can see that my relationship with Marga has brought real fruits to the Church – far from being a handicap to my mission as a priest, she’s been a great support. I just wish the Church could see that.”

There is no doubt that Fr Leon has been an excellent parish priest…

Let’s do some parsing out of the good Father’s problem.

Now certainly living with and having a sexual relationship with Marga is sinful and improper. Father and Marga are committing adultery – and Father, who is in a position of some authority (including social stature and economic resources) is committing a sin against her by not engendering his love for her in the state of matrimony.

There’s that nagging question though, are Father and Marga completely at fault for their actions? Let’s see if the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church can shed some light on that question.

II. RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF PERSONS

Respect for the souls of others: scandal

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Mt 18:6; cf. I Cor 8:10-13.) Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing. (Cf. Mt 7:15.)

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to “social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.” (Pius XII, Discourse, June 1,1941.) This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, (Cf. Eph 6:4; Col 3:21.) or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.

2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!” (Lk 17:1.)

We’re getting there.

As I have often said, demanding gifts from the Holy Spirit doesn’t work. The Holy Spirit is not going to give the gift or grace of celibate living to every priest. In addition, I recall no calling down of that gift from the Holy Spirit in the Roman Church’s Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate or Priesthood. There is a promise made in the Ordination Rite to the Order of Deacon, but, that is a human promise, subject to the maturation of the person making that promise.

Priests in the Roman Church are put in a lonely and difficult position. Is the grace given to some, to fulfill their calling as part of a celibatecelibacy means no marriage, as opposed to chastity, which we are all called to practice (i.e., Thou shalt not commit adultery) life actually necessary for all? My Church certainly doesn’t think so, nor do most Catholic bodies in the world.

I fully support clergy members who are given the grace of celibacy. I think we all pray for them and support them in their ministry. However, it is not necessary onto salvation.

In part, the good Father’s sins are his own making. In part, they are not, but caused by a man made system that applied absolutely, damages more than it helps.

Pray for Fr. Leon and Marga.

Father Leon, if you ever come across this article, write to us. Our Church would be happy to welcome you and Marga.

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