Originally posted by Brendan:
This sounds very similar to the difference between the Diocese of Arlington, Va. and the Diocese of Richmond, Va. I once had a RC convert tell me that he thought he had joined the Catholic Church, but eventually realized he had joined "an ecclesiastical grouping known as the Diocese of Richmond". He meant that tongue-in-cheek, but that remark is not atypical for that diocese. I guess upstate NY has its diocesan challenges -- wasn't Rochester the diocese with the Bishop that --- until Rome leaned heavily on him -- wouldn't interfere with Fr. James Callan's strange practices (like blessing same sex unions and celebrating the Eucharist with a non-ordained female "assistant" at the table, wearing vestments and a stole, and raising the chalice). It sounds like there are a lot of strange practices in the Latin Church in upper NYS.
Brendan,
Seeing that I live in Rochester, NY, I thought I would comment on this.
Bishop Matthew Clark denies that the Vatican had any role in his discipling of Fr Callan.
Now, Fr Callan had been doing this sort of thing for 20 years or so.
And Bishop Clark's disciplining of Fr Callan occurred a couple of months after his normal visit to the Vatican. Bishops pay a visit to the Vatican ever 5 years or so.
I think Bishop Clark actually said that the Pope had no role in this. IMHO, and that of many of the conservative locals (who call the Diocese of Rochester, the Diocese under Siege), is that a certain highly placed person at the Vatican told Bishop Clark to fix this problem or the Pope/Vatican would have to step in.
David
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