www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Fr. Francis of EWTN

It is reported at Catholic Answers that Fr. Francis, host of EWTN's "Life on the Rock" show has been given a leave of abscence so he can discern his vocation after becoming involved with a widow.

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=195503
(short thread)

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=195457
(long thread: 15 pages)

There is a thread on the prayer forum (at this website) about Fr. Francis of EWTN. But that is an inappropriate place for discussion. So, I'm starting this thread in case anyone wants to discuss the matter. (However, the second thread at Catholic Answers, at 15 pages, is pretty thorough).

-- John

I am personally thankful that Grace is larger than our follies.

JOHN:

Christ is in our midst!! He is and always will be!!!

Certainly this is a shock. I have to wonder about the example set for young people who have come to look up to him. Does his example say that vows are until we decide that we want to break them? Does this carry over to yung people's thinking about marriage? (Hey, if a priest can decide to go back on his vows, why should I worry about my marriage being 'until death do us part"?)

Aside from all the arguments one way or another about celibacy being a rule for all Latin priests, the man is a monastic. I have to wonder, too, where his superior was in all this. Did he have too much free time? How could he be away from the monastery so much?

In another time, all Catholic priests were trained to avoid "personal friendships" that might endanger their vow of celibacy. Is this no longer the case for religious order priests?

My prayers for Father Francis Mary.

In Christ,

BOB

Prayers for Father Francis, the widow and her children, EWTN and the LOTR youth.

Gordo

dont be gossip mongers
so what he decided to leave
the church is not him and is much larger than him
stephanos I

Prayers for Father Francis Mary are in order.

Prayers for that super-cheesy and creepy show Life on the Rock, too...

Alexis

Prayers for Fr. Francis and all in this situation.

Personally, I'm sorry for the people involved . . . to a point. After that, there is such a thing as free will, and vows, and knowing better, and accountability, and so on.

It just really torques my engine that some of the people (like him) --who make a living telling the rest of us what to do-- are now doing what he condemned. I know: plenty of men and women are true to their vows. God bless them. It's the hypocrites I have very little patience for anymore. Lord have mercy.

I've seen the end result, too. I've met a man who is a former priest. He gave it all up for a woman. Now she's dead; and he's a lonely old widower, and perhaps an alcoholic, who lives with a profound sense that he threw his vocation away for a relationship that has passed. His case is very sad. It is also very instructive. TSometimes the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.

-- John

Remedies and regularization processes are in place for just such an occurence for a reason.

It is not for us to speculate as (as far as I can tell) no one on the forum is involved with this situation.

Invariably some people will leave the priestly and religous life. It is then our hope and prayer that they can deal with the Church's wisdom on these matters. The alternative has been mistress-keeping, narcessitic bitterness, schism and apostacy on the parts of some others who have been in vow-challenging situations. I think we are all agreed, that serves no good end.

So prayers for this friar, but no gossip please. It accomplishes nothing edifying, and gives us an opportunity to stain our souls with sin.

You are not a fan of LOTR?

I agree - it can be cheesy...but "creepy"?

Also, why the warnings (speaking primarily to Father Stephanos now) about gossip mongering? None of us are doing that here. There is an element of scandal here to be sure, but at the same time, to Simple Sinner's point, at least Fr. Francis (and EWTN) has the integrity to step back and properly discern what his next steps should be. He could have handled this far worse, such as the Latin Catholic priest that lived across the street from us in Wisconsin who got in the pulpit one Sunday and announced he was tired of priesthood and was getting married by the JP the next day to one of the parishioners. I also know the priest that was called in to succeed him and repair the damage there, which was considerable.

I guess personally I am not as bothered by it on an emotional level. Perhaps it is because I have no skin in the game and am not particularly attached to EWTN like some are. But it is also because we do not know that he has broken any vow (nor do I care to know) and the woman involved is not married, but a widow with children. If he decides to give up religious life and his priestly ministry in order to enter married life, I can only say God bless him and his new family and wish him well as a father and husband. I hope he pursues the proper dispensations and that the process of laicization goes quickly.

I also hope he adjusts well to no longer having a public platform. However this is resolved, I seriously doubt he will be put in front of a camera again, at least not at EWTN. (Although there are notable exceptions to this, such as Amy Welborn and her husband who is a former Catholic priest, both of whom are published authors and popular speakers.)

God bless,

Gordo

WOW, Gordo: well said.

-- John

This is really sad because Father Francis becomes yet another example of someone making a key decision according to how he feels and not according to the Church's teaching. Feelings can be an incredibly powerful force and at the same time they can be incredibly wrong.

I can imagine that discerning one's vocation may not be the first decision that's made; if a seminarian has a stubborn personality, he can lead himself down the wrong path for some time. Let's reserve our reaction to when Fr. Francis has made a decision in discerning his vocation. Let's pray that he moves prayerfully forward.

Terry

Well, it's just the music, mixed with the guitars, mixed with the friars who think people my age really like the sound of that music, etc...it's creepy like The Wizard of Oz or Dumbo is creepy. Something just doesn't feel quite right to me.

Alexis

His words have not been creepy.