Catholic State Senator in New York Jim Alesi claims he was applauded at Mass and was embraced by his priest after his vote for gay marriage in New York. And then he gets even more offensive.
Check out Thomas Peters at Catholic Vote for more details on this very disturbing story.
July 13, 2011 at 10:03 am
Alesi is not part of a Catholic Church. He is a member of Spiritus Christi Church which was formerly part of Corpus Christi Church in Rochester, NY. Spiritus Christi and its parishioners were excommunicated in 1998 for supporting the ordination of women, blessing same-sex unions, and inviting people of any denomination or faith to receive the Eucharist.
July 13, 2011 at 1:33 pm
This is the same comment I made on Peters' post:
It seems Alesi identifies himself as Catholic. While Ratzinger's arm-twisting forced Bishop Clark to take action on Fr. Callan's nonsense, it was clear where his allegiance was. It is still clear today where he stands on the issues. While Thomas made an error at first (the same oversight seems to have been done here), this story is not all for naught. There most certainly IS A LINK between Bishop Clark and Jim Alesi's ability to say "I'm a Catholic, people applauded me at mass, and my priest embraced me".
for more see here:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/2011/02/bishop-clarks-protective-umbrella/
In this priest's (Fr. Callan) own words: "Bishop Clark, too, showed his support by sending notes of encouragement for our ministry. Diocesan officials told us how supportive he was when he had to answer Vatican inquiries about the video tapes or church bulletins that spies had sent to Rome. As one reporter said, Bishop Clark held up a 'protective umbrella' over us for years. Our people were very aware of his support. His visits to Corpus Christi were marked by standing ovations and expression of gratitude, for we knew we sometimes put him in awkward positions with the Vatican." keep in mind this "Catholic" church at the time had women playing priests, were blessing same-sex unions, encouraged all to receive communion (including protestants), etc. Bishop Clark endorsed that church until Ratzinger stepped in.
more on Bishop Clark here:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/2011/06/cleansing-fires-worst-hits/
disclaimer: I am a contributor to the CleansingFire blog.
July 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm
I morphed this comment into a post here:
http://cleansingfiredor.com/2011/07/after-ssm-vote-sen-alesi-went-to-mass-and-received-communion/
July 13, 2011 at 2:47 pm
The leadership there claims there is little support for prolife in the pews since it is the law of the land and so many who identify as Catholics supposedly poll that they want abortion, and because it is a political issue. But outreach to gays has been preached from pulpit, from diocesan leadership, from media in these places going back to the 80s. That is their choice obviously to make that pastoral ministry though without widespread need or consensus for the political agenda found in the pews. But it can't be said that prochoice must be tolerated any longer under the cover given for decades having to do with political issues or lack of consensus in the pews or theology or anything else. The Church is prolife, it is as simple as that and supporting the culture of death in parishes has been a plague. If they want the way of Democrats all fine and good but then use the same pulpit, media and advocacy powers as has been employed for decades in these dioceses to rally the annointed party.
July 13, 2011 at 5:25 pm
During a certain area, the Church was all about the problems of nuclear weapons proliferation, about divesting in unjust systems and many of these concerns captivated at university levels and other areas. The moral voices that guided in those days know well that there are ways to orchestrate support for things which may be easily written off as politically unpopular or threatening to the moneyed status quo. So likewise now our leaders if they are genuine about reflecting the goodness an love of God for all of God's people will roll up sleeves in similar fashion and get to work at dismantling the fundamental injustice of our time in which innocents are led to slaughter in order to feed the consumerist mentality through big abortion. Sometimes one needs to speak truth to power and leaders who witnessed to the need for peace and justice through these past decades are in the best position to now advocate and organize even though to certain interests it may first strike as unpopular. If you can get Wall St to divest from unjust systems then anything is possible and of course as far as possibility with God it goes without saying, almost.
July 13, 2011 at 10:01 pm
There is no such thing as "SPIRITUS CHRISTI", or Spiritus Christi Church in theology, the "spirit" of Christ. The SOUL of Christ is the Holy Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. The HOLY SPIRIT, the Paraclete is the Spirit of God. Does anybody think that God will bless heresy?
Mary De Voe