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.