Monday, January 14, 2019

Catholic Physician: Disinvite Vigneron from 2019 Thirst Conference





ChurchMilitant.com  •  January 14, 2019 

 Litany of Detroit archbishop's troubling and controversial acts


This letter was sent by Dr. Timothy Nagel, a Catholic physician, to the diocese of Bismarck, North Dakota, which is hosting the 2019 Thirst Conference featuring Detroit's Abp. Allen Vigneron as speaker. The author granted us permission to republish it.
*******
The year 2018 has been labeled the "Summer of Shame," unfortunately, due to the homoclerical scandal, abuse and the cover-up perpetrated by the Catholic hierarchy in America (and elsewhere). Many would like us to believe that these are all problems of decades ago and not some type of "massive, massive crisis," but we know both those statements are untrue.
With that said, please reconsider having Detroit Abp. Allen Vigneron as a guest speaker for the 2019 Thirst Conference.
Archbishop Vigneron has done absolutely nothing to stop the prescribing of contraception and abortifacient drugs, the performing of sterilizations and the staffing of abortionists in almost every Catholic hospital in the Detroit archdiocese.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron continues to allow public dissenters to come into his archdiocese and give talks and presentations, such as Sr. Margaret Farley, whose books have been publicly condemned by the Vatican, and Sr. Jane Dissent, whose writings have been condemned by the Church. He allows a dissident group of clergy that calls itself Elephants in the Living Room to operate freely within the archdiocese — who openly challenge Church teaching regarding such things as pushing for an end to clerical celibacy, a male-only priesthood and condemnation of same-sex-acts, among other things.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron continues to permit the world's longest-running diocesan-approved weekly Dignity gay Mass in the nation, being said by diocesan priests over which he has control saying the Mass.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron has gone back on his words in 2013, when he went on record saying that advocates of same-sex unions are to refrain from receiving the Eucharist to, in 2015, saying that anyone who supports someone in such unions should seek out his pastor for individual guidance.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron, despite having had a theological critique commissioned by a significant local theologian, a critique that ran out to 38 pages in length and concluded that Alpha presents an Evangelical Protestant perspective, especially in its ecclesiology, has officially promoted a Protestant-inspired catechism program called Alpha, or more specifically "Alpha From a Catholic Perspective," sometimes called "Alpha in a Catholic Context." The lectures and videos that are read or presented to Catholics are written by an Evangelical Protestant. The archbishop has pressured every pastor to install this program in every parish.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron has done nothing to address the scandal caused by an official presence of a dissident group called Fortunate Families at parishes in the archdiocese of Detroit. Fortunate Families is a dissident organization that functions as a support group for people with LGBT family members. The pro-LGBT group believes that the Church needs to change its teachings on homosexuality.


Archbishop Allen Vigneron, throughout his tenure as archbishop, has not uttered or written one public word about the radical pro-gay group Dignity/Detroit. Dignity/Detroit, founded in 1974 only a few blocks from the archdiocese of Detroit chancery, is opposed to Catholic teaching on sexual morals but nevertheless has always had broad support among clergy and bishops in the archdiocese, which continues to this day. The archdiocese of Detroit is the only diocese in the United States that has publicly supported a Dignity chapter.
Archbishop Allen Vigneron has a very questionable past regarding the many years he spent as a professor (1985), dean (1988–1991) and president-rector (1994–2003) at his alma mater, Sacred Heart Seminary (SHS). The whole time Vigneron was in leadership roles at SHS, American conservatives complained that most seminaries in the U.S. were intentionally preventing admission of tradition-minded and faithful men and instead favored liberals and homosexuals.
This was especially true in the archdiocese. As seminary rector, Vigneron encouraged the ordination of homosexuals while at the same time advancing the persona of being a "conservative." This would explain why, almost a decade after becoming archbishop, Vigneron continues to allow pro-gay Dignity Masses at Detroit's Marygrove College. It would explain why archdiocesan priest Fr. Randy Phillips — a Dignity priest — feels free to hang the rainbow flag at his parish. It would also explain why Msgr. Michael Bugarin, the archbishop's episcopal vicar and delegate for matters of clergy misconduct, refused to acknowledge homosexuality's role in clerical sex abuse.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron informed his priests in their May 2018 Presbyteral Council meeting that he was transferring all Church property in the archdiocese into a holding company that was created two months earlier called Mooney Real Estate Holdings. The reason such a move would be taken is singular: to insulate the archdiocese and its property, to shield them from any liability in the event of, for example, big jury awards resulting from homosexual predatory clergy abuse cases.
Mooney Holdings is totally controlled by the archbishop. He and his successors appoint the board of Mooney Holdings and remove from the board at will — whoever they want — essentially a rubber stamp committee. What this transfer of property does is effectively remove it from any source of payback for victims. The archdiocese will no longer legally own it — any of it — so if the archdiocese is sued, it can legally claim, "We can't pay because we don't have any more assets."
Read it for yourself from the Detroit Free Press.
Various bishops may not be able to agree on how or what to do with regard to homosexuality among their own ranks, the McCarrick investigation or the Viganò testimony, but they sure know what to do when it comes to covering their own assets.
Here are a few suggestions for alternative speakers:
  • Cardinal Raymond Burke
  • Cardinal Gerhard Müller
  • Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard
  • Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan
  • Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas
  • Bishop Thomas Daly of Spokane, Washington
  • Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois
  • Bishop Andrew Cozzens of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Bishop Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri
Sincerely,
Dr. Timothy Nagel

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.