1) ATTN,OLQA PRIESTS CASTING CALL,WANTED:
PEOPLE 2 PLAY RICH PARISHIONERS...priests @ olqa (our lady queen of angels,newport
beach) wants people to dress perfectly like well-to-do neighborhood people to
play church. No poor-looking people need apply. Must also have a disdain for
poor-looking people,or disdain for people assigned to play poor,whether theyare
actually poor or not. You must have perfected the snobbish rich act,regardless
of whether you are actually wealthy or not. At the same time you must verbally
& prayerfully express concern for the poor,just not the poor at the olqa
parish.
2)
The
PRIESTS @ OLQA are not HOLY BEGGARS,they are highly
educated,dedicated persons who are underpaid. But would they do what they
do,without any pay at all? How dedicated are they? Would they truly die for
their faith? Would they spare a $10 bill for a hungry lady? None of them
look
underfed by the way.
I forgive OLQA,
OR am trying to do so
Olqa,
our
Lady Queen of Angels,
newport
Beach,
And I
pray for whatever is the internal issue at the church to be resolved. There are
obvious problems.
SADLY,I finally have 2 admit there are corrupt catholic
priests and/or parishes...after years of defending
priests & catholicism,I have finally come to the 1st-hand realization that
there actually are some corrupt priests,and the sad correlation is that corrupt
priests lead to corrupt parishes.
The
paradox of parish life is that the priest is,in general,the sole purveyor of
"truth".So important is the priest (according to catholic rules)
,only he can conduct the eucharist ritual (or occassionally a deacon,I forget
if they are allowed to prepare eucharist) & usually it is the priest who
writes the messages in the bulletin,and approves any other submissions.
And of
course,only the priest can preach a homily (&occassionally a deacon). So,as
you see,the priest literally controls "truth" in the parish. If that
priest capitulates to sinful tendencies & becomes
selfish,self-indulgent,succumbs to human ego issues such as power &
control,envy,jealousy,maybe personal prejudices he is or is not aware of,etc,
those on the wrong end of the stick are not included in the "truth
according to priest x" and thereby become suspect,marginalized,etc.
Unfortunately,many
parishioners just want to belong & be accepted no matter the cost,& too
many of such passive parishioners simply become "chameleons" in order
to keep riding the bandwagon.
Therefore,if
the priest marginalizes person A ,the parish sooner or later,in general,does
the same (ie that's the way popularity contests happen in teen cliques. If
popular "person A" doesn't like the new kid,person A enlists his or
her pals to not like the new kid as well).
The
priest can marginalize in subtle ways,or even directly thru
staring,intimidation,bullying, overtly or covertly,including more invisibly by
writing notes,emails,etc (of course any other churches of other traditions can
become compromised likewise as well depending on the pastor & their
infrastructure,but my most recent negative experience has been at a catholic
parish (or two) (see some previous posts).
I will
be writing more on this...
3) LET US PRAY that OLQA Priests
(newport beach) aren't becoming TOO SELF-INDULGENT:
fr kerry,et al,including the white-haired elderly priest who takes
a lot of boat cruises,& also the vietnamese priest who can't say his r's (I
think Fr Kerry likes having him around as a "foil" (ie if you are a
bit weak or deficient in one way or another,but having a person a bit weaker
working next to you,makes you appear to be stronger; its a hollywood scheme).
I'm just VERY concerned about the way OLQA is going. They didn't
really need a new church building but built one anyways,just because. Now they
have a new building but it seems tht attendance is declining, and yet the same
group of priests remain. Nothing changed at the annual "priest shift"
(ie priests get re-assigned around the end of June every year).
Maybe building a new church gets a priest extra points so they get
the option of staying in place if they choose. But then also the elderly
priest's homily this morning was disturbing. He actually warned the
congregation to beware of people who say they "know the Bible". He
warned of the danger of "certitude".
That's a strange thing to say. People can absolutely have a strong
sense of certitude about the Bible,even if they don't know it inside out &
upside down. Its not about knowing all the people & places in the Bible.
Its about gaining a sense of certainty about the character of God,about His
love,His Spirit,His care for His Sheep. That's a certitude we can express
without ambivalence or hesitancy or apology whatsoever.
Finally,I am concerned about the note that one of the priests or
staff taped to the door about "please do not give homeless people
money". It bothers me because when I go to OLQA I sit in the outer hall
& listen to the service rather than going inside & sitting in the pew.
I don't like sitting in view of the priest because they tend to
have a piercing,domineering 100-yard-stare that makes me very
uncomfortable.Yet I want to come in & pray & recite the liturgy. I want
go up for the eucharist because of the way the priests look at me.
Thus,now with the sign on the door,when people come in & see
me sitting on the bench in the outer hallway at the same time they read this
note they think I'm the homeless person,even if I'm NOT homeless,and have never asked for money or a
handout.
I am a college graduate with honors, & a seminary graduate. I
also have done missionary work,among other things. I am
currently the CEO of my own ministry and do
a lot of online evangelistic blogs,as well as pro-life activism,among other
things.I remember when I first came to OLQA,there was an immediate feeling of
discomfort I had around Fr Kerry. I felt he was looking "down" upon
me,and ever since then it has never gotten better,despite me coming to mass on
a periodic basis,well-behaved,properly dressed,etc.
I actually believe he feels insecure around me,perhaps due to my
masculinity.
Anyways,whatever the case may be,the priests will be held
accountable by God for how they treat or mistreat parishioners. They have the
"bully pulpit" for better or worse.I noticed they also have an adult
assistant at the mass with them every morning who also has that 100-yard stare.
You can be at the very back of the church & the minute you
enter their field of vision,you feel as if you are a deer
in their rifle scope.
Its
eery.
I pray that the priests will loosen the reigns and allow
parishioners to feel a little less burdened.
These priests take a lot of nice vacations & cruises, &
trips to Israel,etc & shouldn't make the parishioners more burdened than
they (we) already are,as if our salvation depends upon it. Shame on these
priests.We are ALL feeling the weight of too much gravity @ OLQA. I pray for a
new wave of the Holy Spirit,a new awakening @ OLQA.
James "Jimmy" Ross
4) LET US PRAY FOR THE PRIESTS OF OLQA (our lady queen of
angels,newport beach),some who may have come out of POVERTY,...These are not
persons who were born-rich,so I am wondering why some of them play the part of
"rich snobs" now that they are priests. Ironically,the true rich
usually are not snobs. Its the cling-ons who want to be associated with wealth
who like to "play rich" and play it wrong by playing the hollywood
script of "rich snobs". Its unfair to the true rich,many who are very
generous and good-hearted.
Ironically,I saw the same phenomenon happen @ Beverly Hills Good
Shepherd when the new priest,Fr Tom,arrived,and he assumed we were all rich
parishioners in the pews,and he started playing the part of a priest of a rich
parish,when what we really wanted was just a priest to bring us all
together,not a priest to write a script in which all the parishioners would
have to act like rich parishioners for the next two years. Its really,really
hard to find people & places that are not opportunists,
(unfortunately,including priests & pastors in some cases)
IRONICALLY,the REAL RICH usually are NOT snobs!...Its the
cling-ons who become the snobs...those who want to be associated with
wealth,and want to "play the part" of being wealthy.
5) I'm CONCERNED about PRIESTS
@ OLQA (our lady queen of angels) who THINK THEY ,themselves, ARE financially
"RICH" b/c they work at a parish that is located in a financially
wealthy neighborhood (Newport Beach). Its similar to the poor latino working in
the Angel baseball gift shop who thinks she is wealthy because she works for
the Angels ,and thereby becomes snobby towards the customers.
Let's pray for
all people who come from modest means but find themselves in employment that is
associated with wealth (there's plenty of examples). Let them remember who they
are and their purpose. I know the so-called "rich" people who give to
OLQA do so because they want to be generous to people in general,not b/c they
want the priests to start thinking they themselves are rich and thereby act
like snobs towards so-called poor people. The priests,of all people!
Go figure.
