Friday, August 01, 2008

Advice for Priests

At Mass today Father gave a whole new meaning to in persona Christi. He said more priests should be thrown out of their parishes by their parishioners as Our Lord was thrown out of the Synagogue in today's Gospel simply by preaching the Truth.

He said priests are not preaching the truth from the pulpit anymore and Catholicism is becoming too comfortable. He used today's patron, St Alphonsus Liguori as an example, he preached the moral truth, God's Moral Law, something priests aren't doing any more.

So come on Fathers, preach the truth and get thrown out of your churches for Jesus!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Advice for Seminarians"!!!

Until you are ordained then please do not assume to offer advice to priests.

The advice I will offer you is if you wish to be ordained then I suggest that you refrain from such patronising comments. You are lucky that I do not know which Seminary that you attend, as if I did I would be expressing my concerns to your Rector.

Orthfully Catholic said...

Please accept my apologies for any offence caused Father. No such offence was intended; the title of the post was meant to be tongue in cheek and the post concerned something my PP told me and I thought was so incredible I wanted to report it on the blog!

With sincerest apologies, God Bless you Father. Please pray for us and offer a Mass for us if you can.

Fr Ray Blake said...

Carry on giving advice lads, I welcome it.
My advice to you is don't allow yourselves to be bullied.
I think this is the same "Fr Martin" who has been on my blog and DT's.

Rachel said...

Ah, the stark contrast of humility and pride sadly displayed here.

What a threat! "And he that will be first among you, shall be your servant."Matthew 20:27

Fr. Martin: Please, do remember we are trying to encourage vocations, not discourage them. It would do you well to remember that your calling, the priesthood, is a precious grace that you and no other man deserve.
So why not handle this pearl of great price with humility and take advice the advice, which was not directed specifically to you,for what it really is, an act of charity.

Fr said...

Eeeh lads! Never mind.

When I was a seminarian I was constantly being 'put in my place' by the rather waspish curate at home. At least I knew who he was, and, as he wasn't the 'sharpest knife in the drawer', I realised that he was fairly harmless and probably just treating me in the same way as he had been treated as a seminarian.

Poor "Fr Martin" needs our prayers. He is obviously a very unhappy cleric, judging from his vicious outbursts on various blogs of late. Perhaps he feels left behind by the Church that has so obviously moved on from where 'he is at'.

In the meantime, keep up the good work and be assured of the prayers and encouragement of many priests as you continue on your path, God willing, to Ordination.

becket said...

Is this the same Fr Martin of Leeds (AKA MCQuinn). Advice for you from Rome. Start reading the New Liturgical Movement http://thenewliturgicalmovement.blogspot.com/
and WTPRS http://wdtprs.com/blog/
This is the FUTURE of the Roman Catholic Church. Your kind will no longer keep the pews empty. The traditional Catholic Church is returning. Get used to it!!.

becket said...

Great article from Fr Zuhlsdorf
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/08/times-damian-thompson-on-the-unstoppable/

Don't be afraid of Fr Martin. His concern will be from Cardinal Hoyas.

Father Cory Sticha said...

I'm sorry, Fr. Martin, but I have to respectfully disagree with you. I agree with the original poster that we need to preach the truth, especially when it is uncomfortable.

Will priests get thrown out of their parishes for preaching the truth? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that members of the parish won't make things difficult on them. I admit it, I like benefits like a bed to sleep in, a nice, dry rectory, and enough food to have three square meals plus the occasional snack. The fact is, if a priest is willing to "go along to get along", the priesthood can be very comfortable. Therein lies the danger. Too many priests realize that if they alienate their "constituents" (to use political terminology), these nice benefits might start drying up. God bless your pastor for his comments. He's right!

Pastor in Monte said...

Brothers, thank you for your welcome advice. It's a shame I do not know which seminary that you attend, as if I did I would be expressing my pleasure at your zeal to your Rector.

Dilly said...

Don't be too upset about "Fr Martin's" comment. Check out "Holy Smoke" (Damien Thompson) for a very interesting discussion about him.

Dilly said...

You should also make a note of his IP address - as I gather a complaint has been made about him in another matter, to the authorities in Rome, and this might be useful for their investigation.

Paulinus said...

Really, Fr Martin. You're very unlucky these guys can get your IP address - it should be pretty easy to trace you from there. I suspect your Bishop might have some harsh words for one of his priests trawling the web to bully and threaten seminarians.

Shame on you.

Little Black Sambo said...

Well, well, FR Martin, what price free speech? Orthfully Catholic, you should not apologize to that idiot. He should apologize to you.

OBLATVS said...

Dears Friends, pray for this priest.
As an ex-rector I can just applause your iniciative and enthusiasm.
Be faithfull!
Best Wishes
fr. Clecio
oblatvs@blogspot.com

Dymphna said...

Prdon me,Fr.but that comment was a bit harsh. As a nobody in the pew I can honestly say that a lot of priests could use this bit of advice.

jlong said...

Firstly, we do not know if 'Fr Martin' is actually a Priest. We have to be careful on the internet as anyone can claim to be anyone they want.

Secondly, if this is the same person on Damians Thompsons blog, then he is still using bully boy tactics.

Thirdly, I dont think you need to apologise. Sometimes our current Priests could learn a great deal from Orthodox seminarins loyal to the Church.

I hope you defend your position in seminary, and have the courage to stand up for what is the Truth. Including defending the Holy Fathers decree on the Tridentine Mass. Have you requested the Mass to be said in seminary? Moreover, I know some seminaries prevent students from kneeling to recieve communion, I hope this isnt the case where you are, after all, such prevention is against Church law.

Oh, and for 'Fr Martin', why dont you tell us what Diocese you are from so we can express 'concern' to your Bishop.

Aristotle said...

"You are lucky that I do not know which Seminary that you attend, as if I did I would be expressing my concerns to your Rector."

I don't know about lucky. Blessed, perhaps...

Lost Pilot said...

"Until you are ordained then please do not assume to offer advice to priests."

What twaddle!

Fr Martin, you almost sound as arrogant and crass as my parish priest.

Yet, even he can accept feedback graciously (as when he caused controversy among us laymen by stating, in a homily, that "most men would like to be paedophiles") and perhaps you might find it enhances your vocation to do the same.

Frankly, if our seminarians are intelligent enough, even though inexperienced, to spot some of the bad habits permeating the current priesthood, the world will be a far better place for it.

Anonymous said...

I think Fr. Martin was a little too harsh and hasty in his comment. And unfair.

methinks that if one is that sensitive then they shouldn't:
A.) be on the internet

B.) be posting a hasty comment before a reread of what was really written by the blogger and finally

C.)take a little stock of why this has so upset you. Sorta puts one in mind of "if the shoe fits...."

but as always the seminarians are more gracious and humble than myself in how they would handle things. And rightly so.

y'know, humility goes a long way in a priest.

that's MY advice....who would you like to report me to?

I'll pray for you.

Father Julian said...

Dear Orthfully Catholic,
I found your "advice for priests" to be good-humoured and very reasonable. Thank Heavens we live in a free country in which seminarians can make jokes without fear of expulsion from the Hitler Youth academy with "narrow and unpastoral" stamped on the Rector's report.May you flourish!

Father Julian said...

Thank you Orthfully Catholic, your posting was good-humoured and reasonable. Thank Heavens we live in a country where seminarians are free to make jokes, withouth fear of being expelled from the Hitler Youth academy with "narrow and unpastoral" stamped on the Kommandant's report. May you flourish!

Oz said...

It was clear to me that the post was a comment from a priest's sermon. I am not sure why "fr martin" took it the wrong way - perhaps he had not read it in full.

God bless you in your studies - we need more priests - especially "orthodox" priests committed to the magisterium. We will pray for you.

Orthfully Catholic said...

I have just logged into the blog for the first time in a week after returning from retreat and found no less than 20 comments defending us against Fr Martin and encouraging us to go on.

This means a lot to us and we are very moved by it, especially as we were discussing recently how unpopular Orthfully Catholic has become recently.

Thank you all very much, please keep us in your prayers and be assured of our prayers for you.

God Bless you all,

The Seminarians

Father John Boyle said...

Yes lads, thanks for the advice. We priests need to hear this sort of thing and it actually encourages us.

Fr Kevin Scallon and Sister Breige McKenna told about 1,000 priests (of which I was one) in Ars a couple of years ago that, if on Sundays we don't regularly get people lining up to object to our sermons, then we are doing something wrong. People are bound to be upset when we preach about the topics I don't need to mention here but which you know full well priests have either been silent on or openly dissenting from for so long.

I couldn't agree more with Pastor in Valle. Who's your Rector so we can commend you?

God bless.

Fr Paul said...

Greetings
yes, lads don't be discouraged by silly comments from the Fr Martins of this world. The best thing is the way you replied to him with civility and humility. Some writers on orthodox/trad blogs react like wounded prima donnas when challenged but you resisted the temptation. Would that other participants in internet discussions did the same.

"Fr Martin" you are a bully, as has been said. You are also unbelievably pompous and priggish and I think you need to get out more. Do you know what "psycho-rigidity" is? It is often exhibited by the more traditionally minded internet polemicists, but you have shown us that is by no means limited to that side of the ecclesiastical fence.

Unknown said...

Contrary to the popular flow of this blog - I think Fr Martin has a point. I too have often winced at the arrogance, immaturity & patronising tone of some of your posts. But have trusted that by the time you have matured through your studies and taken responsibility for souls in the community your zeal and intolerance will have been tempered with compassion and understanding.

I have been following the ‘Fr Martin’ debate across the blogs and obviously Fr Martin has some issues that need to be work out in places other than the blogosphere. However, the ferocity with which Fr Martin has been attacked and threatened by the orthodox blogging community is an equally shocking case of ecclesiastical & non-ecclesiastical ‘cyber-bullying’.

Anonymous said...

err....did I miss something???

who threatened or "cyber-bullied" him?

just curious as to whether you'd be kind enough to point out what you mean on this. It would hep to clarify things.

Fr Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R. said...

Lads, this comes almost a month after the post but let me say two things.

1 - All priests need to hear this message and be challenged to preach the truth whether in a humerous way or more directly. St. Alphonsus would pull most of today's priests out of the pulpit, his own included.

2 - Keep offering advice to priests. You have a different perspective even from those of us ordained only 10 years ago. We need to hear what you have to say. We may not follow it, but some of us will most definitely take it seriously and think about it as I and a few others have done with what you offered in this post.

God Bless you and Mary keep you.