Priests Speaks Truth - Clears Pews

[thessalonian]

Sad they all left but I have to ask whether they were really with us in the first place. Gotta love our new Archbishop who is cleaning up some of this mess in the Archdiocese MPls/St. Paul. In time this priests efforts will bear fruit. He will attract people who want truth.

[url="http://www.startribune.com/local/39596282.html?elr=KArksUUUU"]http://www.startribune.com/local/39596282.html?elr=KArksUUUU[/url]

Father Joseph Williams came "from the farm to the hood" less than a year ago, to a congregation in a spiritual crisis and a neighborhood riddled with poverty and crime. He is only 34, but as he sits in a low-ceilinged office in the basement of St. Stephen's Catholic Church, it seems like the weight of the 110-year-old structure, and the centuries-old institution itself, sit squarely on his shoulders.

When Williams arrived in April, there were 350 families at the church, maybe more. On a recent Sunday, during the only remaining mass in English, coughs echoed off the empty pews as a couple of dozen people mumbled through the service.

That's it, he said.

The rest have fled, or just given up.

Williams, under the direction of a new pope and new archbishop, has steered one of the country's most liberal churches in a more orthodox direction. No more services in the "egalitarian" school gym. No more laity saying mass or celebrating the eucharist. No more prayers to "our father and mother in heaven."

The collection plate is down 90 percent. This spring, the priest who not long ago led a congregation in an idyllic small town, will tell the charter school known for a peace-and-justice curriculum that it must go because the church needs more rent.

Williams -- smart, witty and likable -- talks about providence, his faith that God is directing this drama. But when asked if the congregation could continue if it did not grow, he frowns.

"No," he said. "We're taking on water."

• • •

Former St. Stephen's priest Ed Flahavan says that two tsunamis have hit the church, which towers over the Whittier and Phillips neighborhood a half-mile from downtown Minneapolis. The first was in 1968, bringing with it the flotsam of the era.

I lived across the street, was an altar boy and graduated from the Catholic grade school. My first job was cleaning up the basement, where homeless people crashed on floor mats.

I saw the first guitar mass, the start of the American Indian Movement and gay rights. We sang Bob Dylan songs instead of hymns. Except the answer, my friend, was living in all men.

In protest, the traditionalists handed out fliers, Defenders' Trumpet, saying things had gone crazy. I sometimes had to squeeze through picket lines to serve mass, as barriers to worship came down, or went up, depending on your view.

Eventually, the church stopped being the center of the neighborhood, which crumbled. A man was killed in my back yard. The fourplex where I grew up became a crack house after my parents fled to Staples, seeking a different kind of sanctuary.

• • •

The second tsunami hit last winter, exactly 40 years later.

Henry Bromelkamp was in the forefront of the new exodus, starting an offshoot called "The Spirit of St. Stephens" when the parish turned back to tradition.

Bromelkamp personally likes Williams, "but I think he thought what St. Stephen's did for the poor was charity," he said. "It's a demand for justice, not just for the poor, but for all of us. Hierarchy acts like the route to God is only through its hierarchy. That doesn't make us believe it."

A deeper anger

The new priest thought there was "no opposition between a shared liturgy and a radical passion for social services. Maybe I was naively optimistic to that end," Williams said. "I began to realize the anger with the institution was deeper than I thought. They didn't see that people were hurt by the liberties taken with the liturgy."

"Some people said I was hand-picked by the bishops to dismantle the church," he continued. "If I was, they didn't tell me about it."

Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is firm on that question: "Absolutely not."

While McGrath has seen lots of rifts inside churches, "I can't think of another situation like this. It's not a conservative or liberal issue, though that's part of it, it's a question of the veracity of the church."

"We knew we were drifting across the line," Flahavan said. "Some who left kept going. They left Rome."

I left the church, in both senses of the word, years ago. I followed the prophets that seemed to speak to me at the time, whether it was Sartre, Rand or Hunter S. Thompson. My own Church of One. Unlike those who recently left, however, I never expected the church to come with me.

"This is more than I bargained for," admits Williams, who again mentions providence.

He sees promise in the new influx of immigrants (Williams is fluent in Spanish) who can rejuvenate St. Stephen's as the Irish did decades ago: "Lovely people."

"While there is a sense of loss, there is also great hope for renewal," Williams said. "Our doors are open."

Jon Tevlin • 612-673-1702

[T-Bone _]

How lonely those who stayed must feel.

[CatholicCid]

The generation today wants to hear the voice of opinion over the voice of G-d.

[Apotheoun]

As Christ said: "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

[LouisvilleFan]

Hunter S. Thompson... I may be seriously uncultured, but I don't know very much about him, except that he's from Louisville and lived in our "hippie" neighborhood. But he apparently was a huge figure for his generation. Sometime I'd like to read up on him just to find out what people find so inspiring... and maybe how the same tactic could be used for the opposite ends.

[Noel's angel]

Fair play to him! Pope Benedict did say he would rather have a smaller, more faithful Church.

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='Noel's angel' post='1782672' date='Feb 16 2009, 06:16 PM']Fair play to him! Pope Benedict did say he would rather have a smaller, more faithful Church.[/quote]
Quality over quantity.

[CatherineM]

Speak the truth. That's what Jesus did in John. He just repeated the same thing over and over again, and basically said, "take it or leave it." Many left. The Apostles didn't. That's what we should do. Speak the truth, and let people take it or leave it. If we have to consolidate 75% of our parishes, then so be it.

[homeschoolmom]

Thanks for posting this, Thess. I don't get the Strib.

Now... if we could just do something about St. Joan's...

[eagle_eye222001]

How lonely the priest and few faithful must feel.

Reminds me of St. John Vianney. Came to a town full of sin, celebrated mass with about 5 people...........and after a long battle converted the whole town.

As sad as it seems to see so many desert, one must only echo what has already been asked - where these people really ever with us?

The transition from quantity to quality certainly won't be convenient.



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Listening to: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/harry+gregson-williams/track/only+the+beginning+of+the+adventure"]Harry Gregson-Williams - Only The Beginning Of The Adventure[/url]
via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url]

[cmotherofpirl]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1782756' date='Feb 16 2009, 07:17 PM']Thanks for posting this, Thess. I don't get the Strib.

Now... if we could just do something about St. Joan's...[/quote]
Its STILL open??????? LHM!

[mortify]

The wheat is being separated from the weeds.

[dominicansoul]

we can recall what happened to Jesus Christ when He announced to His followers, "You must eat my Body and drink my Blood"

perhaps 90% left him that day....

[tinytherese]

Yea, it's great that those who are not committed to the church left. Honestly, if people witness what real catholics are all about then we may bring in more converts. Sometimes I wonder why some people haven't just left the church like these people. Their ways of thinking do not match up to the church's.

For example, my roommate is catholic but I don't think that she even has a catholic bible. She has multiple protestant ones. Also she is "church-shopping" by attending protestant churches and perhaps believes in sola fide. Why she hasn't just become protestant or at least non-denominational is beyond me. She's also believes in "whatever works for you" in terms of religion. I don't say this to sound judgmental but it strikes me as odd that she still calls herself catholic. At least she still prays the rosary.

[eagle_eye222001]

[quote name='tinytherese' post='1782955' date='Feb 16 2009, 08:20 PM'].... Also she is "church-shopping" by attending protestant churches and perhaps believes in sola fide. Why she hasn't just become protestant or at least non-denominational is beyond me. She's also believes in "whatever works for you" in terms of religion. I don't say this to sound judgmental but it strikes me as odd that she still calls herself catholic. At least she still prays the rosary.[/quote]

Sola Fide? Rosary? Whatever works? That seems like an odd mix of beliefs.

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Listening to: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/relient+k/track/from+end+to+end"]Relient K - From End To End[/url]
via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url]