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.
I have an idea.....Just like Martin Luther did, why don't the people who don't want to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church anymore, just post their dislikes on the church door and leave!! They can make up a new name for their new religion......Let those of us who want to follow the faith, keep the name and stay.
ReplyDeleteIf the "Catholics" of this country had voted their faith, we would have had the chance to stop the the future murders of the unborn. I am really tired of people who call themselves Catholic but don't have any desire to be one. What's the point?
The Apologetic Classes, especially the Bible study, that Ed Graveline ran at EAS were truly a Blessing to both my Wife and I. As "Reverts", the Bible study helped us not only understand our Catholic Faith, but truly appreciate the Beauty and depth of Catholic Doctrine.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that he has been instructing Parishioners to cease kneeling before Communion, and is calling into question the Real presence? WOW!!! Where's Michael Voris when you need him.
I did hear Fr. Bede state that Saint Augustine was never Canonized a Saint. According to Fr. Bede, Saint Augustine was called a Saint by those who knew him and the term "Saint just stuck. Fr. Bede made it sound like "Saint" was a Nickname given to Augustine.
Upon further investigation with the Help of Ed, I learned that back then the Church did NOT have the formal Canonization process that it does now. But St. Augustine is, IN FACT, a Saint and Doctor of the Church.
I do not know if one would consider Fr. Bede's story of St. Augustine scandalous? However I do find it irresponsible.
To the good people at EAS, God Bless you. Don't complain with your mouth, pen, or computer. Complaining should come Collection time with your wallets.
Good people should confront Father Bede face to face. Do Not give him a free pass on this matter. Ask him directly if he supports Barrack Obama and other left wing individuals ??? It is a fair question. Remind him that Obama is a hard core Anti Catholic. People should be patting Ed Graveline on the back and strongly supporting him. How do I get in contact with Ed Graveline ???
DeleteSend me an email at BibleCatholic@yahoo.com
DeleteGod bless you,
Ed Graveline
I am so sick of people who constantly run down our president. Get over it - he is the president and he is a Christian. Just because a person is a Democrat doesn't demonize him/her. So much intolerance!
DeleteWhere was Bishop Pepe when other brave Bishops stood up for religious freedom? What is wrong with this Diocese?
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong is they gone down the path of "social justice" which means getting in bed with Community Organizers (Saul Alinsky) who are deeply into the Democrat agenda. Your parish is probably contributing ONE PERCENT of their annual collections to this group. You need to fight it! www.johntwo24-25.net
DeleteI no longer contribute to the parish. I'm done until they stop this ideology.
DeleteDiocesan attorney, Judith Simon Kohl is Bishop Pepe's Legal attack dog. It is wrong that she is used by our Bishop Pepe to attack parishioners. Bishop Pepe should retire. We need a brand new conservative Catholic Bishop in Las Vegas. Misguided Left Wing Catholics and Barrack Obama supporters are destroying the Roman Catholic Church in America. Thank-you CM Blogger for putting some much needed light on these local topics. It is appreciated.
ReplyDeleteYou are 100 percent correct. I only we could get a new Bishop.
DeleteTo better understand all of this crazy stuff, you must do yourself a favor and go buy the brand new conservative book, “ No Higher Power – Obama’s War on Religious Freedom ” by Phyllis Schlafly & George Neumayr. Buy it on Amazon.com or your local book store.
ReplyDeleteOUR LADY OF AKITA STATED THAT THE HERETICS WOULD REMOVE REFERENCE TO ST MICHEAL FROM THE SANTRUARY, FATHER BEDE HAS DONE THIS, GOOGLE OUR LADY OF AKITA, SHOCKING HOW PEPE AND BEDE FIT OUR LADY'S DESCRIPTION OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO OUR CHURCH, OUR LADY'S STATEMENTS WERE PUBLISHED IN THE 1980,S
ReplyDelete