Do you want a true measure of how bad things are with so many of our priest and bishops? I read a story concerning a priest who came out against the California Prop 8 which supports traditional marriage. And I found it completely unshocking. I mean, we can be sad, ashamed and even perplexed. But can any of us even work up real surprise anymore at something like this?

I’ll let you know what my actual thought was when I read the following from California Catholic Daily:

Another priest has broken ranks with California’s bishops on the Protect Marriage initiative, telling his parishioners in the church’s weekly bulletin, “I cannot in conscience unequivocally support Proposition 8.”

The remarks came in a “dear parishioners” letter published Oct. 5. by Claretian Fr. Steve Niskanen, pastor of San Gabriel Mission in the Los Angeles archdiocese.

The same day that Fr. Niskanen expressed his opinion in San Gabriel, Fr. Geoffrey Farrow told parishioners at the St. Paul Newman Center in Fresno following his Sunday morning homily that he opposed the marriage initiative – and admitted during a television interview before the Mass that he was a homosexual.

In his “dear parishioners” letter at San Gabriel Mission, Fr. Niskanen went through each of the ballot measures endorsed by the Catholic bishops of California one by one. He said he supports Proposition 4 – the family notification before a minor’s abortion initiative…But when it came to Proposition 8, which would amend the state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriages, Fr. Niskanen disagreed.

This is pretty sad stuff from a priest. It confuses the faithful and does damage to families. But my honest thought after reading that was “Hey, good news! He’s for family notification for a minor to get an abortion. He might just be pro-life!”

Sadly, that gives you an idea how far we’ve fallen.

I wonder what Cardinal Mahony will have to say about all this. I fear that when he hears about this he’s going to be really mad. He’ll scream, rant, and rave: “What! This is outrageous. We have a pro-life priest?”