Fr. Peter Romeo at Our Lady of Las Vegas

I just received an email that Fr. Peter Romeo passed away. He was the Pastor at Our Lady of Las Vegas. Let us keep him, as we keep all our priests and Bishop, in our prayers daily. May he come to his eternal rest in the Glory of God.

When a person who dedicated their life to Christ passes away it is a true loss, but is especially hard in a Diocese with so few priests.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise; upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the ranks of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, the poor man, may you have eternal rest.

Priests Recieve Thousands of Extra Dollars

The Diocese of Las Vegas promotes novenas for All Souls Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day (and in some parishes, Christmas and Easter), and accepts thousands of dollars for these Mass intentions. The faithful are given the opportunity to participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice and add to it a sacrifice of their own as a form of almsgiving while the fruits of the Mass benefit their intentions. The theology behind accepting financial offerings is sound. But there is a limit to the amounts that can be accepted.

According to a trusted inside source, in the Diocese of Las Vegas the money collected from these novenas do not go to the general parish finances. Instead, the funds from these novenas are divided up and given to the priests of the parish.

The parishes of the Diocese of Las Vegas are allowed to have two checking accounts:

1. A main checking account into which all parish money is deposited (including the parish collections, fundraising, parish organization funds, etc.)
2. A Mass stipend/offering account. This account is only for offerings made for the celebration of Mass. So for example, you go to the parish office and request a Mass be offered for your deceased grandmother and give $10.00. The money is deposited into this account. Then when the Mass is celebrated, the priest is paid $10 for the Mass celebrated. This is a legitimate part of the priest's support and income.

This second checking account is not required to be reported in the parish financial reports, and this is the account used for processing the money for the novenas. The pastor then cuts a check from this account and either writes it out directly to the priests or writes this check out to payroll and the money is processed through payroll. Sometimes the money is handled as cash with no records and is not even deposited into the Mass offering checking account.

In our large Las Vegas parishes with populations often ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 families, this results in thousands of dollars being given to the priests beyond their usual salary at least three times a year (All Souls, Mother's Day, Father's Day). It is a serious matter of large sums of money precisely because of the large size of so many of the parishes in the Las Vegas Diocese.

This practice means that virtually all of our parishes are operating outside of the law of the Catholic Church in this respect. Canon law states that a priest is limited to accepting only one Mass offering per day. The amount of the Mass offering defined for the San Francisco province (which includes Nevada) is $10. Therefore, if a priest celebrates seven Masses in a week, he ordinarily receives $70. This is correct and is part of his income. For collective intentions, where various intentions are combined into a single Mass offered or into a series of nine Masses, the same basic principles apply. The priest may only keep the usual amount. So if he celebrates a novena of Masses, then he should receive $90. Not thousands of dollars.

The Congregation for the Clergy issued a decree On Collective Mass Intentions in 1991, and canon law provides the limits on accepting Mass offerings. You can read more here:

• Canon Law on Mass Offerings
• On Collective Mass Intentions, 1991

Just about every parish in the Las Vegas Diocese seems to follow the practice of  collecting and redistributing undocumented novena money. Most every priest and every bookkeeper in the diocese knows about the practice. There are probably some priests who in good conscience think that this practice is legitimate and are not aware that it goes directly against Church teaching. This is where the Bishop should be stepping in and putting a stop to this incorrect and at times dishonest practice.

Because the Bishop is not willing to step in, it is up to faithful parishioners to start asking questions, such as what happens to the money that is donated for novenas? Where is it recorded in the parish records? It may be difficult for some of us to address this with their priests because faithful Catholics love, trust and revere our priests. But if this practice is being conducted at our parishes, it must be corrected. And the best thing to correct problems is to have them brought to light.

Call to Prayer:

O Almighty, Eternal God, look upon the Face of your Son and for love of him, who is the Eternal  High Priest, have pity on your priests. Remember, O most compassionate God, that they are but weak and frail human beings. Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them by the imposition of the bishop's hands. Keep them close to you, lest the enemy prevails against them, so that they may never do anything in the slightest  degree unworthy of their sublime vocation. Amen.

~Richard James Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, 1895-1970

 

Details of Fr. Phil Audet's Removal

Many parishioners in the Diocese know that Fr. Phil Audet was placed on administrative leave from his position at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer, but few know exactly why he was removed.

Rather than retell the story, please read this letter, which was anonymously faxed to all parishes in the Diocese in April 2010. This appears to be what finally forced the hand of the Bishop in placing Fr. Audet on leave.

Supporting documentation in the form of copies of the Netflix rentals can be viewed here:

Netflix 1

Netflix 2

Netflix 3

After Fr. Audet was removed, Mr. Michael La Rocca was installed as Lay Administrator of the Shrine. La Rocca was the Bishop's Master of Ceremonies, founder of Imago Dei,  and in an openly homosexual relationship.

The Bishop went from having someone in charge at the Shrine who we can only hope had no more than a latent interest in other men to one that was openly gay.

La Rocca was then fired from his position at the Shrine after just a few months.

Call to Prayer:

O Blessed Lady of the Tears, we entrust and consecrate the priesthood to your Immaculate Heart!  During this time of trial and suffering, we pray that you renew the priesthood by making priests holy in imitation of the Heart of the Good Shepherd.  We pray in reparation for the sins of the priesthood and we pray for all victims of their sins.  

Grant, O Lady of the Tears, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the priests that they may be authentic witnesses of your Son Jesus Christ Our Lord.  May we wipe away your tears by comforting your Immaculate Heart by praying the rosary and adoring the Heart of Jesus your Son in the Most Holy Eucharist present in every Catholic Church in the world. Give all priests and seminarians a deep love and devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist and to you, their loving Mother.  Grant that every priest and seminarian will daily spend one hour with Jesus in the Eucharist and daily pray your most holy rosary.  Grant all priests and seminarians the gift of purity, the gift of chastity and the gift of the divine love of your Son.  May they proclaim the truth without fear, with love and with courage.  

Entreat our Heavenly Father to strengthen and carry our Holy Priest, Fr. Phil Audet, during his time of tribulation that he may know the peace of Christ.

We ask all of our prayers through the Tears which you shed at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Fr. Kenny and Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church

Fr. Bill Kenny has been named Pastor of Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church. This is his second pastorship. He is currently the Pastor of Christ the King Catholic Community.

This is the same Fr. Kenny that I wrote about earlier that admitted to stealing from an elderly parishioner.

Not only has Fr. Kenny been retained as Pastor of the parish where he admittedly was involved with financial impropriety, which put the Dioceses in a position for a lawsuit, but now he has been promoted and his responsibilities increased. In the meantime, the Bishop has inexplicably sent away a priest (Fr. Mark Gantley) who has been lauded by those working closely with him as an excellent parish administrator.

This is an interesting appointment made by the Bishop. It is no wonder that the faithful here in Las Vegas are questioning the soundness of decisions made by our Shepherd.

Fr. Gantley Letter Writting Campaign

Here are some further details in the case of Fr. Mark Gantley's sudden dismissal from St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

After Fr. Gantley was told that his "services were no longer needed in the Diocese" a letter writing campaign to the Bishop was launched by supporters of Fr. Gantley. This campaign generated an estimated 800-1,000 letters (or more). Supporters of Fr. Gantley had circulated this letter, encouraging parishioners to "let their voices be heard". The only response from the Bishop was the same basic form letter to anyone who had written to him, a copy of which can be read here.

Almost all of the St. Francis ministry heads signed this letter in support of Fr. Gantley. The names and signatures of ministry heads have been removed because I did not obtain permission to publish them. I deleted the 3rd page of this letter because it contained signatures only and was not part of the text of the letter.

In addition this letter was sent to all the priests in the Diocese, appealing for their help or intercession. Sadly, only two priests responded.

The letter writing campaign made it clear that a solid number of parishioners wanted Fr. Gantley to stay and that they approved very highly of his administration abilities (those same abilities which were put into question by the Bishop).

According to this timeline of events provided by the Letter Campaign organizers, Fr. Gantley was ejected from both his office at the parish and his home at the rectory on the very day of his dismissal. It was conveyed to me by individuals close to Fr. Gantley that he was thrown out without any assistance, guidance or support whatsoever by the Diocese.

I was also provided a short history of what has occurred from Fr. Mark's removal until now is as follows:

Just after Fr. Gantley left, Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe was put in as Administrator pro tem, with Fr. John Assalone as Parochial Vicar. This temporary arrangement soon gave way to an arrangement that was portrayed by the Bishop to be more permanent, with Fr. Charles Urnick as Parish Administrator for both St. Francis and his home parish in Laughlin, Nevada and Fr. John Assalone continuing as Parochial Vicar.

But just a few short months later, Fr. Urnick had resigned, citing health problems and stress from running two parishes. This is when Fr. Steven Hoffer was brought in from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and was named Parochial Vicar while Fr. John assumed his position as Parish Administrator.

I have received a lot of comments and information since I have put up the initial Fr. Gantley post. It has even attracted Fr. Gantley himself to become a follower to this site. Fr. Gantley's profile states:

"My reputation was unfairly damaged as a result of my removal by Bishop Pepe. I joined as a follower of this blog after a message was posted about me to let people know that I am still a priest in good standing who has returned to my home Diocese of Syracuse and am currently assigned to a small rural parish. Pepe told me that the reason why I was removed from St. Francis was due to my administration of the parish -- the very thing for which many supporters praised me. Good administrators often have vocal critics."

The issue of his dismissal continues to be one that inspires strong feelings in all who knew Fr. Gantley, and they continue to seek answers to the many unanswered questions surrounding this situation.

What Happened to Fr. Gantley?

Fr. Mark Gantley, a canon lawyer and EWTN Catholic Expert who came on as the Parish Administrator of St. Francis of Assisi in 2009, was dismissed suddenly from his position there in June 2010.

Astounded parishioners were given no reason for the dismissal. Many considered Fr. Gantley a very solid priest with efficient administration skills. He had a policy of clarity and openness regarding parish finances (one of his first actions was to publish the parish accounting information in a bulletin insert).

After many inquiries, Fr. Gantley eventually published this letter in the bulletin attempt to answer the questions, although it contained no actual details of his dismissal. The same weekend that this appeared it in the bulletin, a group of concerned St. Francis parishioners circulated an open letter that they had written, encouraging them to let their voices be heard and to tell the Bishop they did not want Fr. Gantley to go. Just days after Fr. Gantley's letter to the parish, the Bishop terminated Fr. Gantley's parish duties on the spot, leaving the parish in turmoil.

After several weeks, the Bishop finally responded with this letter to parishioners.  In a diocese that is very short of priests, why would the Bishop send away a priest that on the surface has done nothing wrong?  Maybe after the financial audit is complete, then a different story may appear but if the audit shows that no funds were mishandled then this just adds to the mystery.

Note: I have just heard from a parishioner at St. Frances that Fr. Urnick is stepping down as Parish Administrator and Fr. John Assalone, who was just ordained to the priesthood last year on May 14, 2009, is now going to be the new Parish Administrator. He and Steven Hoffer, a recent addition to St.Francis (and to the priesthood, being ordained only in 2005), are now in charge of this large parish and responsible for building a church and grade school. This seems like a big task for two priests that only have six years of combined experience.

Stillpoint Center

What is the Stillpoint Center for Spiritual Development?

From their website, "Stillpoint is a non-profit center devoted to spiritual development in Las Vegas, Nevada. Founded by a group of Roman Catholic women, its focus is interfaith and ecumenical."

They offer things like Dances for Peace, Singing Bowls Meditation (Tibetan/Buddhist), and Dream Interpretation and Using Your Hands to Heal.

What is disturbing about Stillpoint is that they set up shop at last year's Diocesan Conference and represented themselves as a Catholic organization. Christ the King Catholic Community even directs parishioners to them on their website.

While they do present Lectiona Divina, which is Catholic, there are also New Age, nondenominational Christian and Buddhist programs on the schedule. They even have a 2-year Spiritual Direction program, which we can only assume must be based on nondenominational Christianity, because Catholic programs occur via the LEMP, and the program description makes no mention of any particular faith whatsoever.

Girls are Asked if They Want to be Priests

Several weeks ago, I began hearing rumors about the 4th of July Mass at St. Joseph Husband of Mary, with Fr. Manny Guico presiding. In order to clarify these rumors, here is an eyewitness account and a reflection from someone who was actually there.

It was the 2pm Mass presided by Fr. Manny Guico. At first, his homily was very good, emphasizing how the harvest is plenty but the laborers few, mainly, that priestly vocations are needed. He invited the young boys in the parish to step forward in front of the altar. We found ourselves clapping in encouragement alongside everyone else that was hoping that from this young group, new priestly vocations will arise.

Then, when the boys returned to their pews, he invited the girls to come forward. Our daughters were delighted to be called too and we were very proud when our eldest raised her hand as Fr. Manny asked if any of them were considering a religious vocation as a nun.

We think it was great that he physically called the young boys and girls out of their pews to consider a vocation in the service of Our Lord. However, it did cause us dismay to hear him utter some things contrary to Church teaching. He knew that what he was about to say was controversial because he cautioned that his words might get him in trouble with the bishop if someone decided to call him on it. He asked the boys if the priestly vow of celibacy was removed would any of them change their mind about entering the priesthood. He asked the girls if women were allowed to be ordained would they become priests.

We know these are hypothetical questions but it is very unfair to lead these young people to presume that the Church may change these two things. We do understand that priestly celibacy is a discipline and not a doctrine or dogma and could possibly be revoked. However, it is our understanding that the ordination of only men is a matter of divine law and thus doctrinal. And yet, the resounding applause that his hypothetical questions got, clearly indicated that much of the congregation does not understand the wisdom of the Church on these two matters and sides with the rebellion within the Church who wishes to see celibacy overturned and women's ordination allowed. 

I know that the Pastor of St. Joseph's was notified and expressed that he was troubled by it, and that he would speak to Fr. Manny about this indiscretion.

I do not know if the Bishop was apprised of this incident but based on previous experiences, I'm not sure that he would correct or disagree with Fr. Manny's position.

Fr. Kenny and Christ the King Church

Back in 2007 the Review Journal featured a series of articles about Rev. William Kenny, the pastor of Christ the King Catholic Community, who admitted to stealing an elderly parishioner's life savings. I ask that you read the articles in their entirety for yourself but here is a short summary of what happened:

In 2006, Fr. Kenny was the pastor of Christ the King Catholic Community in Las Vegas. He was approached by an elderly parishioner to help her with managing a large sum of money that she received from a settlement of her late husband. In order to take control of her finances, the Bishop would have had to approve it.  Fr. Kenny, through his own admission,  proceeded to steal over $200,000 from this elderly parishioner.   The women's family suspected something was wrong and the Bishop put Fr. Kenney on "Administrative Leave".  The case was settled and the court case was sealed.  A short time after the case was sealed the Bishop reinstated Fr. Kenny, not just a priest of the Diocese but as Pastor of Christ the King Catholic Community.

Here are the articles. They might be a little redundant but I want to present everything I have:

• CHRIST THE KING: LV Catholic priest relieved of duties
• Visiting priest assures Christ the King flock
• Unsealing cases reveals details of woman's case against priest
• Priest gets duties back

Now let me point out that he is required to have the permission of the Bishop to take control of a parishioner's finances. In light of that we must consider that Fr. Kenny did one of two things. He either obtained permission from the Bishop and then stole the funds, or he did not obtain permission and thus the Bishop would be unaware of what was transpiring.

Fr. Kenny publicly admitted to the theft. We must in good faith assume that he did make a good confession, received absolution, and made atonement for his actions.  But we must still ask why would someone, who openly admitted to numerous instances of theft over a period of time, be reinstated as Pastor of a parish, in a position of authority and of financial administration?

In addition to being reinstated as Pastor, Fr. Kenny has also been given a instructor position in the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Program (LEMP) and Advanced Ministry Formation (AMF).  As I said in a previous post, these are the programs that are used for the formation of permanent deacons and are sponsored by the Bishop.  Fr. Kenney joins Fr. Just as another questionable appointee to these programs.

Support for Women Ordination In The Diocese

Back in 2008, there appeared a series in the bulletins at St. Thomas More Catholic Community (STM) in Henderson, a section titled:

WOMEN'S ROLE IN THE CHURCH
DID YOU KNOW...?

Here are the bulletins, I encourage everyone to look at them.  At the bottom there appeared this:

"Prompted by an awareness of these and many other facts, four members of STM decided for their final Diocesan 2008 Lay Ecclesial Ministry Program's project, to investigate women's roles in historical, biblical, and theological traditions of our Church."

The bulletin also included contact information for those who wanted the full paper.  So I contacted the authors and received the paper.  Here is the paper I received.  The paper is a little lengthy, but from the thesis alone (page 21) you can get an idea of what this paper was trying to accomplish:

"Biblical, historical and theological considerations converge not only to allow, but indeed, to insist that women serve as full partners with men in all dimensions of the church’s life and ministry. To categorically deny women the opportunity to obey the Spirit places us in the position not only of acting unjustly toward women but, more important, of standing in opposition to the work of the sovereign Holy Spirit."

If it wasn't enough that the paper, which was advertised in a Catholic church's bulletin, was making a case for women ordination, it becomes quite clear from some of the sources used and directly quoted to compile the paper (page 66), such as the womenpriests.org website.  Their agenda is right in the name of their website.  It doesn't get more obvious than that.

Now you might be wondering what the LEMP program is.  It stands for the Diocese's own  Lay Ecclesial Ministry Program.(L.E.M.P.)  In addition to training lay ecclesial ministers, it is also the required first two years of the five year program for becoming a permanent deacon.

Now the Holy Father has spoken clearly on the topic of women ordination.  In Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis he states:

“I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.”

And in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis Responsum Ad Dubium, Pope Benedict XVI , then Cardinal Ratzinger and Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, clarified and confirmed this by stating:

Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.

Responsum: In the affirmative.

So who was responsible for allowing this heresy to take place?  According to the LEMP website, the person directly responsible for all academic aspects is Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.  Well, he is actually a priest but for some reason they dropped his title of "Fr." or "Rev."  He had to approve this paper as a final project for the LEMP program.  He not only allowed this heresy to be written but to be propagated to the whole community at St. Thomas More.  So who is Fr. Just? Well, here is his bio from his website:

"Fr. Just is the Director of Biblical Education at the Loyola Institute for Spirituality in Orange, CA. He is also the Academic Coordinator of the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Program and the Deacon Formation Program for the Diocese of Las Vegas. After receiving his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Yale University, he taught at Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), the University of San Francisco, and Santa Clara University. He is past director of the Center for Religion and Spirituality at LMU. He now regularly teaches courses, gives public lectures, and leads biblically-based days of prayer, parish missions, and retreats. Fr. Just also maintains a large internationally recognized website of “Catholic Resources"."

I would think that with a PhD and teaching appointments in various notable institutes of higher education he would have read the Pope's Apostolic Letter stating that the Catholic Church has no authority to ordain women.  So either he is so ill-informed that he should not be leading this type of program in the dioceses of Las Vegas, or he is purposely allowing heresy.  I pray for the former because the latter is the work of the devil.

The Bishop was made aware of all of this.  He neither made a statement in the St. Thomas More bulletin, clarifying the Church's position on women ordination,  nor did he remove Fr. Just from his position in the LEMP program.