FROM THE EDITOR
Grassroots Efforts Yield Results
Resignations, apologies, and a call for accountability
(Jan./Feb. 2001)

BY MICHAEL S. ROSE

IN OUR SEPT./OCT. ISSUE last year we carried an article in our "Press Roundup" column about a controversial pastor of two largely Hispanic parishes. Father Saul Madrid, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and St. Anthony in Phoenix, Ariz., has run into a host of problems. Mysterious fires erupted at both traditional churches followed by devastating renovations: the usual litany of archi-liturgical assault. The second of the fires, the one at Immaculate Heart of Mary, catapulted Fr. Madrid into an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The BATF even purchased a copy of The Renovation Manipulation as part of their investigation.

But Fr. Madrid was dogged by more than burning buildings and a federal snoop. Last year, a lay group from the parish calling themselves "Christian Faithful" marched on the diocesan offices in Phoenix, calling for the resignation of both Fr. Madrid and Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien, who has continued to back the improprieties of the controversial priest.

Members of Christian Faithful say their pastor’s changes went way beyond architecture. The group’s allegations against Fr. Madrid include financial and sexual improprieties, a lack of communication, a lack of leadership, and a lack of respect for parishioners and their traditional ways of worship. He was accused of dismissing his finance council, running off orthodox priest assistants who were helping at his parishes, providing no accountability for the parish finances, and owning a hair salon with his male "partner," who was given keys to both parishes even though he worked at neither. They felt Fr. Madrid was basically "deconstructing" the parish, and driving hundreds of families away from the Church.

Parishioners were particularly upset that their pastor took a bit part in 14 Ways to Wear Lipstick, a sexually-explicit, homo-erotic movie in which vulgarities are hurled in front of a statue of Jesus during a scene filmed inside St. Anthony’s.

In November, according to the Arizona Republic, Fr. Madrid announced that he would step down from both his pastorates in January, citing "physical and mental fatigue" after more than a year of heated controversy. He will be moving into a "six-month sabbatical."

Christian Faithful, saying its work is only half done, has told the Phoenix press that they will now focus on urging the bishop to resign because, they say, he has been complicit in Fr. Madrid’s egregious errors. According to the Spanish-language Quepasa.com, "the demand to have Bishop O’Brien resign stems from the lack of leadership and incompetence he showed when he failed to respond to the complaints brought on by the parishioners, and for his lack of interest in issues related to the Hispanic community of Arizona."

Cardinal Ratizinger sorry for couple’s pain
Also in our Sept./Oct. issue ("It Ain’t Gonna Happen") we reported on a similar dispute at St. Patrick’s Church in Providence, Oh. Parishioners there demanded a halt to renovation plans they say would destroy the church. Again the standard boilerplate wreckovation was proposed. Parish protests ensued. But what sets St. Patrick’s dispute apart from the normal drill is that protestors who objected to the pastor’s plans to carry through with the controversial renovation began receiving death threats, some quite sexually explicit and gruesome. One lady even had her house broken into and her dogs stolen as part of the guerrilla intimidation tactics.

Dennis VanWey, deputy chief of police in nearby Fremont, Oh., took these threats very seriously and joined parishioners in appealing to Toledo’s Bishop James Hoffman to intervene in the parish dispute. After parishioners received no adequate response from the bishop, VanWey and his wife Kathy participated in a protest march to the bishop's residence along with about 80 parishioners from St. Patrick’s, delivering a letter to him asking for help.

The next day the VanWeys appeared on the front page of the Toledo Blade in a photo accompanying an article about the protest. Consequently, the couple was persecuted at their home parish of St. Joseph‘s in Fremont. First they were verbally abused and attacked publicly by their associate pastor and soon after dismissed from their positions at the parish as RCIA instructors and readers. They were told that they had no right to protest anything the "Church" ever did.

Appealing to Bishop Hoffman about their unjust dismissal from St. Joseph’s accomplished nothing. Writing to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, however, resulted in an apology from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger by way of his secretary Monsignor Joseph Clemens. "Cardinal Ratzinger is sorry for the sadness and hurt you feel because of what has happened," wrote the Vatican secretary, "and offers his prayers for peace and reconciliation in your parish." The letter, received December 11 by way of the Apostolic Nuncio’s office in Washington, D.C. also reassured the VanWeys that they were guilty of no "doctrinal error." The VanWeys told the Toledo Blade that, despite the fact that the Vatican is unable to do anything concrete for them in their situation, they were relieved and gratified to learn they were not the ones in error. "It was just amazing to both of us that [Cardinal Ratzinger] would go to that trouble to express his sorrow over the whole incident and say that we were not wrong," they said.

Meanwhile St. Patrick’s renovation plans are on "temporary hold." Renovation resistors at the Providence, Oh. parish assured SCR that they are ready and willing to block church renovators from entering the church, if the pastor decides to proceed with his renovation plans. "They’re going to have to peel us off the doorknobs," said longtime parishioner Rick Westhoven, one of the protestors who has received death threats. The group is calling for the resignation of their pastor, Father Anthony Gallagher and is also urging Bishop Hoffman to step aside if he is unable or is unwilling to remove the controversial pastor from their parish. "The division at our parish is so bad," said Westhoven. A Toledo-area priest concurred: "[Fr.] Gallagher’s driving St. Pat’s into the ground, and he’ll kill it if he keeps it up."

[ St. Catherine Review ]