St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Fr. Bede Wevita - Part 3

This is the third and final part of the series on St. Elizabeth's and Fr. Bede. During a training for Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist, Father Bede called into question the Real Presence in the form of the Blood of Christ by stating that if it spills, then it is no longer the Blood of Christ. Three different people confirmed the incident. Here are two direct quotes from those in attendance (emphasis added).

Quote 1: 

"He said that once the blood is mixed with contaminants on the floor it is no longer the blood but should still be treated with reverence."

Quote 2: 

"If the Precious Blood spills to the ground, we are to place the purificator over the spill  immediately, stand there in case others would step on it, then later (after Mass is over) we are to take a wet cloth to wipe it and absorb the spill. He then added that once the Precious Blood spills it is contaminated and no longer consecrated."

There is really not much more one can say about this, as it speaks entirely for itself.  We should give thanks to God that Fr. Bede still insists on treating the spill with reverence and according to the proper procedures even if he does not believe it to be the Precious Blood any longer.

Call to Prayer:

O Word Made Flesh, we thank you for the gift of yourself in the the Sacrament of the Eucharist and we glorify your Holy Name.  We ask that you give us the strength to follow your commandments in both letter and spirit, and to please you in every sphere of our lives, both public and private.

We humbly ask that you enkindle the fire of your love in your Holy Priests, and we ask you to foster joy in their hearts when they encounter expressions of devotion to your Real Presence.

May we all discover a sense of awe in the True Presence of Christ. Help our priests nurture and encourage the devotional life especially where they call to mind the deepest mysteries of Christ. Amen.

CCHD Collection This Weekend

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) has been well documented as having contributed money in the past to organizations directly contradicting our faith. While they say they have cleaned up their act, the truth is that they continue to contribute money to questionable groups, including the Industrial Areas Foundation - a group that works against the Church's teaching on subsidiarity. In light of the upcoming CCHD collection this weekend I am reposting my last entry regarding the CCHD and the IAF so that you may prayerfully consider where your money is going and what it supports.

Here is a link to a website that provides investigative reports on the CCHD.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you. You may instead consider giving money directly to a local Catholic organization, where you will know for a fact what it supports.

The Catholic church in Las Vegas is partially funding the Industrial Areas Foundation, a group whose local branch calls itself the Las Vegas Valley Interfaith Sponsoring Committee (LVVISC). The Industrial Areas Foundation is a politically active Alinskyian organization that promotes values in contradiction to Catholic teachings (see "Bishop Supports Questionable 'Interfaith' Group"). The financial support of our local church in funding this group is not rumor or an unfounded claim, but a fully verifiable fact.

This local IAF branch published a document stating that they are financially supported in part by local Catholic congregations (see document: Funding by local Catholic Congregations) as well as by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).

While it is unknown at this time how much individual Las Vegas parishes have contributed to a cause that works against Holy Mother Church, we do know that according to the list of grants distributed by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) found on the USCCB website, $50, 000.00 has been donated to the Las Vegas Valley Interfaith Sponsoring Committee (LVVISC) for the 2011-2012 year. 

One might imagine that the CCHD funding is simply a national grant that has nothing to do with the Diocese of Las Vegas. But in fact, the CCHD money could not have been obtained without the help from Deacon Tim O'Callaghan, Fr. Bob Stoeckig and with approval by Bishop Pepe.

Here are the roles they each played in securing funding for this local branch of the Industrial Areas Foundation:

Deacon Tim O'Callaghan - Deacon Tim is the CCHD Diocesan Coordinator for the Las Vegas Diocese - Area E. (Source: USCCB Website). Deacon Tim is assigned to St. Andrew in Boulder City alongside Fr. Stoeckig. The Diocesan Coordinator is responsible for reviewing the organization's application, completing an evaluation, conducting site visits, making the recommendation to the Bishop, and submitting the Bishop's endorsement to the CCHD. Please explore Deacon Tim's social action website for more information.
 
Fr. Bob Stoeckig - Fr. Stoeckig was extremely vocal in his support for the LVVISC, organized a delegation of St. Andrew parishioners to attend the rally, spoke at the rally, and disclosed in the St. Andrew bulletin that he is actually a member of the LVVISC. Common sense tells us that he, as the Catholic delegate to the LVVISC, would have be the person who directed the LVVISC to apply for the $50,000 CCHD grant.

Bishop Joseph Pepe - Bishop Pepe is responsible for reviewing the grant application, the recommendation of the Diocesan Director, and for giving final endorsement and approval for awarding the grant.

A description of the process and timeline for awarding grants can be found on the USCCB website link for the grant process.

For a more complete treatise on why the Industrial Areas Foundation is not consistent with Catholic teaching and for insight into the CCHD's historic role in funding the IAF, please review this article by CatholicCulture.org.

Among the reasons cited at the link above for questioning Catholic funding and support for the IAF are as follows:

"1. The principles of Saul Alinsky render any organization so grounded unfit for receipt of Catholic charitable money. As the IAF proceeds upon the principles of Saul Alinsky, the IAF should no longer receive CCHD grants.

2. The IAF is an institutional-based organization. Community organizing by religious institution, rather than by individual, is unjust and robs the dissenting individual of his dignity and right of conscience. As the IAF is an institutional-based organization, the IAF should no longer receive CCHD grants.

3. The IAF has a demonstrable relationship with the dissident organization Call to Action. Many points in the Call to Action agenda contradict Catholic teaching. This relationship between the IAF and Call to Action creates an example of material cooperation between a CCHD-funded organization and an organization, which is not in accord with Catholic teaching. Continued funding of the IAF, therefore, violates the 1998 Draft of Moral Guidelines for Funding by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development which states that "CCHD funds will not be used to support any project which is sponsored or promoted by an organization whose primary or substantial thrust is contrary to Catholic teaching, even if the project itself is in accord with Catholic teaching." Therefore, the IAF should no longer receive CCHD grants.

4. IAF activities in the area of education reform contradict Catholic teaching. IAF activities in the area of welfare reform also contradict Catholic teaching and subvert the work of its member parishes. Again, continued funding of the IAF violates the 1998 Draft of Moral Guidelines for Funding by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, which states that, "CCHD funds will be used to support only projects that conform to Catholic teaching." Therefore, the IAF should no longer receive CCHD grants.

5. The IAF is engaged in partisan political activities. The use of churches by outside organizations, such as the IAF, to promote their own "progressive issues" is inimical to the dignity of the individual within the church who opposes that progressive agenda, and is inimical to his rights of conscience. Therefore, continued CCHD funding to the IAF is inappropriate.

6. The IAF has introduced theological distortions into a number of Catholic communities. Cessation of CCHD grants to the IAF would clarify that the IAF's theology is different from Catholic theology, is inappropriate for promulgation in Catholic communities, and disqualifies the IAF for such funding."

Call to Prayer:

Oh Holy Spirit, You are the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. You are the Spirit of truth, love and holiness, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and equal to Them in all things. We adore You and love You with all our heart. Teach us to know and to seek God, by whom and for whom we were created. Fill our hearts with a holy fear and a great love for Him. Help us to be prudent stewards of the blessings you have seen fit to bestow upon us. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Fr. Bede Wevita - Part 2

This second part of the three-part series of blog posts about Fr. Bede and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is in regard to Fr. Bede's instruction to the faithful of his parish to cease kneeling for Holy Communion.

While kneeling to receive is not practiced by the majority of faithful Catholics in Las Vegas, there are some who feel called by the Holy Spirit to do so. According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), they are perfectly within their rights to kneel for Holy Communion, even if their priest doesn't like it.  Paragraph 160 of the GIRM states:

The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction, Redemptionis Sacramentum, March 25, 2004, no. 91).

A couple of weeks ago, on the weekend of October 28th, 2012, an announcement was made at Mass to the effect that individuals should not kneel for Communion, but should stand to receive in unity with everyone else. This announcement was accompanied by a bulletin announcement by Fr. Bede.

Apart from the fact that Fr. Bede has no right to insist on a particular way of receiving Communion, there are several points that require a response from the faithful, with kind assistance from a canon lawyer who has made clarifications in regards to this bulletin announcement.

Quote: "Moreover, blessing yourself after you receive the Eucharist is not entirely appropriate.  Doing these actions when you receive the consecrated host undermines what happens at Holy Communion and what we have become - the Body of Christ."

Response: Making the sign of the cross does not undermine what happens when receiving Holy Communion. We have not "become" the Body of Christ in receiving Holy Communion.  We are baptized into the body of Christ, the Church.  The Eucharist continues to strengthen our union with Christ as members of his body. 

Quote: "Genuflecting or making the sign of the cross before or after receiving communion is not correct."

Response: There was a response from the Vatican permitting people to genuflect before receiving.

Another point is that concelebrating priests are to genuflect when approaching the altar to drink from the Chalice.  For example, the Host may have been brought to them at their seats by a deacon, but then they walk forward to the altar to drink the Blood of Christ. 

GIRM 248.  After the principal celebrant’s Communion, the chalice is placed at the side of the altar on another corporal. The concelebrants approach the middle of the altar one by one, genuflect, and communicate from the Body of the Lord; then they move to the side of the altar and partake of the Blood of the Lord, following the rite chosen for Communion from the chalice, as has been remarked above. 

At every Mass the priest genuflects three times to the Eucharist - once at each consecration and then once before, "Behold the Lamb of God ..."

Quote: "Furthermore GIRM states that "A common bodily posture, to be observed by all those taking part, is a sign of unity of the members of the Christian community gathered together for the Sacred Liturgy, for it expresses the intentions and spiritual attitude of the participants and also fosters them." "For the sake of uniformity in gestures and bodily postures during one and the same celebration, the faithful should follow the instructions which the Deacon, a lay minister, or the Priest gives, according to what is laid down in the Missal."

Response: The unity of bodily posture is meant for times when everyone is doing the same thing at the same time -- e.g., sitting, standing, kneeling.  The several responses from the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments acknowledging the rights of the faithful to genuflect, kneel to receive, etc., and also the right to choose between receiving in the hands or on the tongue, make it clear that they are not insisting on uniformity in receiving Holy Communion.

Quote: "Attention must therefore be paid to what is determined by this General Instruction and by the traditional practice of the Roman  Rite and to what serves the common spiritual good of the People of God, rather than private inclination or arbitrary choice."

Response: It is agreed that attention should be paid to the GIRM. However, the last line of this quote in particular is completely insensitive to the devotional expressions of the individual. If you ask a person who kneels for Communion why they do it, they will usually express a sense that God is calling them to it. It is never due to a mere "inclination" and "arbitrary choice".

They will also tell you that kneeling for Holy Communion is not always easy because of how uncommon it is in Las Vegas. In fact, it is likely that there are many more people who deeply desire to kneel for Holy Communion as an expression of their faith in the Real Presence, but who are so self-conscious and afraid of being judged that they cannot bring themselves to do it.

Fr. Bede has been known to attempt this sort of restriction on kneeling to receive in the past as well. When he was at St. John Neumann he also decreed that parishioners were not to kneel to receive, much in the way that he is doing now at St. Elizabeth's.

In addition to making the announcement at Mass at St. John Neumann, the instruction was also published in leaflets inserted into the missal. Please view this missal insert from St. John Neumann. This leaflet was found there in 2010.

Note number 5, "...the appropriate time to show unity in the Lord is when we all stand together at communion."

Because Fr. Bede does not agree with kneeling for Communion does not mean he can prohibit it. Church documents clearly support the practice.

Call to Prayer:

O Word Made Flesh, we thank you for the gift of yourself in the the Sacrament of the Eucharist and we glorify your Holy Name.  We ask that you give us the strength to follow your commandments in both letter and spirit, and to please you in every sphere of our lives, both public and private.

We humbly ask that you enkindle the fire of your love in your Holy Priests, and we ask you to foster joy in their hearts when they encounter expressions of devotion to your Real Presence.

May we all discover a sense of awe in the True Presence of Christ. Help our priests nurture and encourage the devotional life especially where they call to mind the deepest mysteries of Christ. Amen.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Fr. Bede Wevita - Part 1

Fr. Bede Wevita, who was recently assigned to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in the wake of the scandal with Msgr. Kevin McAuliffe, has begun making changes at the parish.

This is the first of three blog posts in which I will be reviewing the following areas of concern:

1. The dimissal of Ed Graveline as head of the Apologetics ministry.
2. Instructing parishioners to cease kneeling for Holy Communion.
3. Calling into question the Real Presence of the Blood of Christ.

The first of these is the dismissal of Ed Graveline, a respected parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and leader of the Apologetics ministry there. Much to the shock of many people who know him, he has been terminated and can no longer be in a leadership role at St. Elizabeth's.

Mr. Graveline had asked Fr. Bede for permission to pass out National Right to Life flyers after Mass leading up to the November 6th election. Fr. Bede denied permission, and threatened Mr. Graveline with calling the police on him if he did indeed pass out these flyers. In compliance, Mr. Graveline left the church property and went to the public sidewalk, and passed out the flyers there after Mass.

Although he was on a public sidewalk, the flyers were compliant with the rules regarding 501(c)(3) tax exempt requirements. Nonprofits (in this case, the Church) cannot endorse any political candidates. The flyer compared what each political candidate's stance is on abortion, but did not endorse any specific candidate.

Here is a photo of the flyer.

The other "infraction" Mr. Graveline committed was to send out political e-mails from his own personal e-mail address to his personal contacts. He regularly sends out spiritual and sociopolitical commentary to his personal contacts, and in this case he did all the research on the various candidates and e-mailed out a "Voter Guide" detailing which political candidates most closely followed Church teaching.

Fr. Bede apparently received a couple of complaints about the e-mails (one wonders why the complainants would not either delete the unwanted e-mail, directly reply to Mr. Graveline and request removal from the list, or just hit the spam button).

In response to the complaints about Mr. Graveline's personal e-mails, Fr. Bede immediately called upon the Diocesan attorney, Judith Simon Kohl to excoriate Mr. Graveline and threaten him with a "cease and desist" letter.

In a subsequent meeting to discuss his future at St. Elizabeth's, Fr. Bede chose to completely revoke his permission for Mr. Graveline to continue teaching Apologetics and forbade him to henceforth lead any ministry whatsoever at the parish.

Call to Prayer:

Holy Spirit, we thank you for those in our parishes who give freely of their time and their talents to further the Kingdom of God. We ask your special protection over church volunteers as well as over our priests who have given their lives in service to You. As priests and church volunteers work together for you, O Lord, we entreat you to guide them all to better serve you, to treat all with a brotherly and Christian care, and to love one another as themselves. Amen.