Agitprop in Altoona?

Catholics used to opening their web browsers and reading the Outrage Of The Day were greeted with this manifesto today, purporting to be the work of gay priests in the Altoona diocese. The document criticizes Bishop Adamec for kowtowing to the demands of “conservative” Catholics, ordaining men of “rigid” views as priests, and failing to defend the interests of priests accused of sexual abuse. Now, this is strange, because the “conservative Catholic” activists in that diocese, including the folks at the “Diocese Report” web site, have been making more or less the opposite complaints against the bishop for some time.
It looks like the folks at DR believe it’s for real, and even Dom of CWN took it at face value for a while, but the text doesn’t look legit to me. The writing’s bad and it doesn’t use the terminology you’d expect to find. It reads like some critic’s not-too-sharp idea of “this is how the liberals really think”.
So be on guard. My guess is that the statement is disinformation from some “conservative-Catholic” activist, somewhere between a joke and a smear. More at Dom’s.

“The Inclusive Community”

One of the points of concern mentioned in Cardinal Maida’s letter below is this:

Most distressing however, is the fact that Dr. Padovano continues to celebrate Mass publicly at “The Inclusive Community” as “Pastor” in Nutley, NJ, although he was laicized in 1974 and married soon afterwards.

In case you’ve never heard of it before — I hadn’t — “The Inclusive Community” is a congregation of the United Church of Christ, whose directory lists Dr. Padovano as a pastor.

In 1986, an ordained UCC pastor, a woman whom I had taught at Ramapo College of New Jersey, invited me to share with her the co-pastorate of First Congregational Church in Passaic, New Jersey. A year-long dialogue had led the Protestant community there to invite a Catholic priest to lead them, together with the Protestant pastor. The Community would re-name itself The Inclusive Community and it would invite Catholics and Protestants to join it as Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic priest would be evaluated by a search committee, the Church Council and, finally, by the Congregation. If the candidate was approved by these three bodies, he would be appointed by the Congregation as the Catholic Pastor of The Inclusive Community. This process was completed after a vote of the Congregation on November 2, 1986.

So not only does he celebrate Mass unlawfully, he appears to have formally assumed a pastorate in a Protestant denomination, which would be an act of schism, an offense that incurs automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication. (Correct me, Pete, if I’m going too far.) That the professor continues to describe himself as Catholic and ministers to Catholic members of The Inclusive Community probably doesn’t diminish the seriousness of that.
This Community meets in the chapel of a regular UCC congregation in Nutley, New Jersey — and surely there couldn’t be a more fitting place name. Dr. Padovano himself, on the Catholic Light evaluation scale, ranks as a solid 8, earning the rating Nutrageous.

Help wanted!

This came in the mail today:

Want to join the missions without leaving home: by offering your creative skills to evangelize and catechize?
Founded in 1998 by the Legionaries of Christ, Catholic World Mission seeks to effect long-term transformation of poverty of body, mind and spirit by bringing emergency aid, education, the Gospel, and spiritual and human support to those most in need. Our aim: To Conquer Poverty with the Richness of Our Catholic Faith.
Catholic World Mission supports over 10,000 poor children in 18 Mano Amiga (“Helping Hand”) schools throughout Latin America, as well as over 1,000 Lay Missionaries working full-time in more than 600 parishes and 40 dioceses in Latin America, bringing the Faith to over one million people, and sends medical missions and aid to parishes serving the poorest of the poor.
Will you help us to help our poor brothers and sisters in Christ?
Here’s what you can do:
* Catholic World Mission has launched a series of bi-lingual children’s coloring books telling the lives of the saints and generating enthusiasm to support their mission work. The first two books have already shipped over 25,000 copies and the next three books will be released in time for Christmas.
* These books are also made into radio dramas called “Glory Stories,” which have already been played on Catholic radio stations coast-to-coast.
These books and radio dramas are a series–each one teaching a Truth of the Faith, a Catholic virtue, and energizing children (and their parents) to spread the Faith in their families, parishes, and through Catholic World Mission–among the destitute throughout the world. Funds raised through donations for these items goes to support our mission work, building schools, supporting local priests and bishops, and sending medical missions wherever they are needed.
Are you a writer? Would you volunteer to write a 1,000 word children’s coloring book, capturing a child’s imagination with the excitement of the saints?
Are you an artist? Could you create 30 line drawings to illustrate a coloring book, illuminating the wonder of the Gospel in action?
Are you a recording artist? Would you lend your voice or musical talents for a “Glory Story” to bring beauty and enchantment to young listeners?
What a great project to have your talent and name linked with–and you’ll get full credit for your creativity with your picture and biography inside every product you help us produce.
Contact Ken Davison, Executive Director of Catholic World Mission at 203-287-6323 or via email. Visit us on the web at www.catholicworldmission.org.