uh, say, did you get that fruit basket I sent?
I apologize, dear readers, for wasting blog space warning you about me. Even some who have known me for years still refuse to believe that I am dangerous. So, if you won’t listen to me, perhaps you will listen to a bishop?
The Bishop of Savannah is John Kevin Boland, a native of County Cork, Ireland, brother of retired bishop Raymond Boland. In fact, County Cork, Ireland should probably be re-named the Irish Diocese of Savannah (or Savannah re-named the American Diocese of Cork?). Virtually every priest of prominence and position in this diocese hails from County Cork Ireland. If you go to any of the “plum parishes” in this diocese chances are the pastor of that parish will be from Ireland. Hence, a term has surfaced among the non-dissenting Catholic minority who suffer at their hands:
The Irish Mafia.
Bishop Boland is the boss of this nepotistic clerical cabal. Now don't get me wrong. I've met a number of these priests and some of them are terrific. I won't mention any by name, since I wouldn't want them to be punished and that's not the point of my post anyway...
The bishop is, by all appearances, a nice man. He isn’t particularly tall and he looks his age—neither younger nor older. In a room full of bishops, he would blend right in.
I’ve never had any personal problem with Bishop Boland. He isn’t particularly liberal and he certainly isn’t conservative. He’s just sort of, well…nondescript. He carefully chooses his words so that no one is ever offended. His homilies have all the impact of a peanut butter sandwich with a slight touch of jelly.
Bishop Boland really doesn’t have any enemies. Sure, the people at SNAP don’t like him, but, then again, they don’t like ANY Catholic bishop. I’ve never had much of an opinion about him one way or another, and my opinion isn’t important anyway. What is important is HIS opinion. And in is his opinion, I am dangerous.
How do I know?
When my permanent restraining order was decreed in March 2007, there was a provision in the order that said I could attend Mass at my parish if I were to get the written consent of the bishop. My attorney immediately wrote to Bishop Boland to seek that permission. A few weeks later, we received a letter from Bishop Boland’s attorney instructing us never to contact the bishop again, but only to contact him. Further, I was not to set foot on any property belonging to the Catholic Church in Valdosta, Georgia.
You have to admire that kind of cleverness—surely the masterstroke of some “good Catholic attorney”. Now, even if I win my perpetually-stalled appeal, I STILL can’t set foot on parish grounds because I would be trespassing.
Now, when I lived in San Diego, if someone had a problem with his parish (or if their parish had a problem with them) it didn’t matter. There were parishes all over the city and county. I myself lived five minutes away from five different Catholic churches. But this isn’t California. This is Protestantland. Catholic Churches are “few and far between” and the outlying churches don’t exactly carry a full-schedule of Masses on weekends.
When I lived in San Diego, I used to take my children to Mass every day. My oldest daughter (she was six when we left) loved the priests in our parish, and they loved children. My girls didn’t just learn about the Catholic faith, but saw it in action.
The landscape here is decidedly different, with most Catholics acting almost ashamed of their faith, fearing that the Protestants will think they are odd. I still tried to take my kids to daily Mass here when I could, but it was a bit more difficult, since the Mass is held in a small chapel with no cry room.
Bishop Boland has solved that problem for me. Thanks to him, I cannot set foot on my parish property at all. He has warned his priests not to talk to my family or me. When my wife tried to talk to a new priest on the phone to request a meeting, he hung up in her ear. When my my wife tried to take my children to a weekday Mass without me, my four year old wandered into an office on her way from the bathroom. She was bawled out in front of several people. It has taken her nearly two years to get over her fear of men wearing Roman collars.
Of course, a lot of this could be solved if Bishop Boland would simply sign a letter permitting me to attend Mass in my parish. But Bishop Boland knows best. As my children grow up seeing the vindictive side of parish life, I can always look to the jolly Irishman running this diocese and thank him for the sterling example he and his priests have set for my girls. After all, everyone know that if you really want to punish an adult, you go after his children.
If Bishop Boland says I am dangerous, who am I to question his wisdom?
Thank you Bishop Boland.
Everyone, without exception, must be able
to feel at home and never feel rejected."
-Pope Benedict XVI
18 comments:
So sad to read this. I'm just coming on your blog---is there more I can read of your story?
We know of a similar case up here on Long Island where a family has a restraining order against them by their pastor for a blatantly unjust reason.
But then again, I haven't heard of many examples of justice in the American Catholic Church these days, have you?
We faithful homeschooling Catholics up here in the DRVC stand in solidarity with you.
Keep the Faith, brother!
I think you're being generous saying that Bishop Boland isn't particularly liberal. But that may actually be a good assessment of him: a "money man."
Fr. Chuck Rowland was in Lowndes County for a year or so when I lived there before he went to the Macon area. He was born in my hometown in PA, and his lifelong best friend was one of my dad's cousins.
The last I heard of Fr. Rowland was when my parents stopped to visit him in Macon, and he said he and a Jesuit friend were working on an article that argued Jesus didn't historically exist.
He once said, "There were a whole bunch of priests kicked out of Ireland about 40 years ago for being too liberal. We have a whole bunch of them in this diocese. Bishop Boland and CENSORED were among them." He finished with a smile: "They're still giving the Vatican a headache today."
Also, when my wife attended the diocesan education conference, most of the sessions were very liberal. For example, she went to a talk by the diocesan "Christian Unity" director. "Dominus Iesus" had just come out; I forget if that was his main topic or not. He was saying all this ultra-liberal stuff. My wife raised her hand and "asked a question," quoting a passage from "Dominus Iesus." He said, "That document is just a political move by Ratzinger, trying to bind the hands of whoever is going to succeed John Paul II."
The main reason the Doicese of Savannah is *not* on par with LA or St. Petersburg is that there are a lot of conservative priests whove come from conservative families, particularly in the Augusta area.
I was not in as bad a situation as you by any means. But I could no longer serve through the parish. A protestant could come to communion and that was okay though.
Write to the bishop? He wanted me removed from all activities in the parish.
I had to move. I had to leave my long time parish and hometown. I had to quit my job and leave my paid-for home. BUT I had to detach from those things so that I could worship in peace.
I urge you to do the same.
I've only been reading your blog for about a year now, so I guess I'm also in the dark about what has been happening to you. Sorry for your pain. Well, you've been doing great work and I've enjoyed reading you daily and I will continue to read you and of your great love of the Church!!
Few have been as persecuted, especially when you were approached by the Knights of Columbus at the parish in investigate CENSORED. You were performing a Spiritual Work of Mercy by
investigating and then going to the Bishop rather than go to the mainstream media. Well, my friend, use the persecution well. When you follow the Master [Jesus], you can expect the same treatment.
JCH's statment realy hits home to many things I have thought but could not prove. I think the most important thing to remember is we are doing missionary work here in South Georgia and missionary work is never easy, but it is rewarding!
Hopefully Bishop Boland will receive the grace of repentance on his deathbed. St Catherine of Siena said such a case will result in getting a good bishop in replacement. I'll pray for that. I am surprised at the pass you give Pope Benedict XVI in light of his failing shelving evidence against Marcel Maciel, and his appointing homo or homo friendly cardinals and bishops since his tenure.
Most of the Holy Father's, shall we say, "disappointing" appointments were made early in his pontificate. Overall, his episcopal appointments have been a huge improvement from previous recent popes. As far as Fr. Maciel and the Legionnairres go, that too is taking its course.
Pope Benedict has done a superb job overall, if, for no other reason, speaking the truth about what the Catholic faith is and restoring the rights of Catholics to have the ancient Mass that was never formally abolished but usurped by modernist bishops in 1970. Brick by brick, he is rebuilding and restoring the damage that has been done.
Episcopal appintments have more to do with the Apostolic Nuncio than the Pope Himself: Inside Catholic ran a great article a couple months ago about the differences in Papal Delegates and Apostolic Nuncios since the 1970s, and how they effected our bishops.
A lot of people criticize Pope Benedict over Levada, but Levada really deserves credit, not condemnation, for how he handled the laws in SF requiring contraception and requiring support for same sex couples. He's the only bishop I know of to actually sue the civil authorities over both issues. His "compromise"--saying diocesan employees could name anyone in their homes as depedents--is really the way it should work, helping people, for example, who care for elderly parents or disabled relatives.
I know there are some other issues, like the beach house thing, but it's also noteworthy that we've heard far less from Levada at CDF than we did from Ratzinger, or than we've heard from Burke or Stafford.
Once aggain, thank God for Bishop Boland--you are truly fanatical! All of this ranting will just do that much more to keep you out of our parish! Your story is filled with half truths at best--most of the story is outright lies told to make you appear to be a victim. You are truly a sad case.
Gosh Mark, I really wish I could tell you the WHOLE truth, so that you could understand what's really gone on with your cooperation. But the legal process has been used to make sure that the good-ol'-boy gossip machinery can say whatever they like about me and I am prohibited from mentioning anything that I can defend myself with.
One phrase of yours is especially revealing:
"OUR PARISH"
That speaks volumes.
But, once again, I thank you for showing the world what kind of loving, charitable Catholics we have in "our" parish. Keep up the self-exposure and thanks for posting!
Bishop Boland is a bully. He is abusing the legal system to smash orthodox Catholics with whom he holds much distain. We want you back in our church Robert with your family, and we pledge not to give another dime to this church or the Catholic appeal until we see you sitting in the pews with your lovely family.
God Bless us all, may we grow into the parrish we desire and not what we deserve.
Mark, what lies do you see? I have researched this story for three days and see a consistent pattern of incidents and consistent pattern of behavior by both Mr. Kumpel and Bishop Boland. If you know some untruth, post it here? St Johns also has a website, they could post their "truth" there also, and leave it open for fair comment and evaluation.
Look at the court rulings and preceedings. You can see the truth for yourself.
Mr. Kumpel,
Could you explain to your critics why it is so important for you to attend St. Johns? Many people that live in surrounding counties like Clinch and Brooks have no sympathy for you because they have to drive 20 or 30 miles to attend the nearest Catholic Church. Let's be honest. You could get to Adel or Lakeland with 18 to 28 minutes from your house. Others worry that someone may physically harm you or your family because all of the hatred toward you (to them you CENSORED) and wonder why you would put your family in harms way? Could you comment on both of these concerns?
I would ask you, how many Catholics are there in Clinch and Brooks Counties? Why, even I Lowndes County there is such a small number that there is only one Catholic parish.
One of the reasons my wife and I moved here and chose the house that we bought was because of its proximity to St. John the Evangelist Church. One of the key requirements of any house we would buy was that it had to have close proximity to a Catholic Church. We had a long-standing policy of taking our kids to daily Mass and we always lived close to a Church. (Personally, I think its important for ALL Catholics to live near their churches, since you never know when you will need a priest, especially for the Last Sacraments). But the point is that living as Catholics is not a secondary consideration for us—it is primary. If we had not been able to buy a house near a Catholic church, that would have been a deal-breaker.
The drive time you quote for the church in Adel (St. Margaret Mary) and Lakeland (Queen of Peace) are suspicious. Perhaps they are 18 to 28 minutes if you break every speed law on the way, but in my experience, both take at least 40 minutes. Couple that with loading a van with four young ladies (aged 1.5, 3, 6 & 11) and it’s a logistical nightmare. We HAVE tried attending Mass at these parishes and there are seldom any families with children present, certainly none with four (either the triumph of the contraceptive mentality or just old age). The vast majority of Catholics in those rural areas are older people with grown children. Maybe you are blessed with docile, well-behaved children. I love my kids, but they are just like I was at their age: active, rowdy and noisy. I made good progress with my older two in the behavior department when we went to daily (or at least more than just Sunday) Mass. That has all been lost on the second oldest and never even started with the younger two. The churches in Adel and Lakeland have no cry rooms. In fact, we attended “Midnight” (10 pm) Mass at Queen of Peace in Lakeland last Christmas and I spent most of that service outside with my two youngest kids who were fidgeting and making noise (and in churches that small—noise and fidgeting are MUCH more noticeable and annoying to others).
We want our children to have Catholic friends. In a Protestant-dominated culture, it’s almost impossible for them to meet other Catholic kids without the conduit of parish life.
You may argue that SJE has no cry room and you are correct, However, its spacious vestibule has become the default cry room and parents with their children can hear what’s going on in the church even when in the vestibule thanks to the PA System. The nearest Catholic Churches with cry rooms are in Thomasville Georgia and Live Oak Florida—both at least an hour away—that is if you drive observing legal speed limits.
I would like for my oldest daughter to be confirmed. These smaller parishes have no Confirmation Classes. Can you imagine the nightmare of driving one hour each way and waiting out the classes in between with three other smaller children to supervise simultaneously? What about preparation for Confession and Holy Communion for my younger ones? Yes, I approach and train for all of these sacraments by way of home schooling, but, as with most dioceses, my children still have to “jump through the hoop” of going through an officially sanctioned parish program before they will be admitted to these sacraments.
Drive time is a problem for other reasons as well. Is it reasonable to ask kids to sit in a car for one hour, get out, quietly go into a church and sit for another hour, then face another hour of driving to get home? This is further exacerbated that most of these other churches don’t exactly have a convenient, full schedule of Masses.
The lack of a full schedule of Masses and driving proximity becomes even more of a barrier because, for medical reasons, most of the time my wife cannot be more than 15 minutes away from Valdosta.
Did I mention the expense? Fortunately, fuel prices are not as bad now as they were, but I am not so foolish as to expect that to last. We have spent a fortune on gasoline alone.
Finally, it is our Constitutional Right to freely practice our religious faith unimpeded. This is a clear impediment to our freedom of worship and this hardship could all be solved with a stroke of the pen by Bishop Boland. I want to believe the best about the good bishop, but there seems to be no other explanation for his obstinate refusal to permit me to attend Mass other than a personal grudge. I really hope and pray that I am wrong, but it’s sure hard to discern any other possible explanation.
Call me naïve, but I do not honestly believe that anyone would harm me and certainly not my family. Oh yes, there are a few hardened, hateful people who out of some misguided notion of “love” and “loyalty” hate me intensely, but THEY are responsible for their hatred—I didn’t put that in their hearts. I firmly believe that most of SJE’s parishioners are good people who would not harm anyone. If they want to glare at me, that’s their problem. If they are stupid enough to actually attack me, they can deal with the law. I would feel far more concern for the safety of my family if I was to take them to Mass in East Los Angeles.
I don’t believe anyone is going to harm me at the parish any more than the few who have turned on me believe that I would hurt them. That is their false excuse to hold whatever grudge they carry and keep all the nonsense about me spinning in their rumor mill. I have never harmed anyone--and that is by the admission under oath of everyone who testified against me. I have never threatened anyone. If I was the “dangerous nut case” that they have tried to portray me as, I could have hurt the people who are allegedly so afraid of me a long time ago. Nothing of the sort ever happened. If I was the “dangerous whack job” that these few people wish to believe that I am, I would have violated my restraining order by now. I haven’t.
Dittos on everything you've said. It is hard enough getting to Mass *at all* with young children.
But those who live lives of convenient and (in the words of the Dioecese of Savannah's former vocations director Fr. Brett Brannen) cowardly contraception have no clue about these things.
I don't know about your time estimate to Adel and Lakeland. We always made the trip in 25 minutes, but that may be a factor of where one lives in town. We were fairly close to St. John's, but also fairly close to the bypass.
I remember there being young families at the missions when Fr. Chris was pastor, but the priest who succeeded him drove away many of the conservatives who had come there to flee St. John's in the first place.
Anyway, I can see both sides of this. I see no reason to fear being physically or verbally assaulted for our faith: that's what's supposed to happen.
I also see the need for having a parish close by and being active in one's parish. However, I'd rather have my kids have a solid Catholic environment then be regularly involved in one I knew to be full of heresy and corruption.
Amen, God bless you and your family Robert. We want you back and we will withhold money from church and cathlolic appeal also until we see you in the pews.
We are behind you but cannot come forward out of fear of this parish as well. When you come back we will introduce ourselves to you.
People at SJE have been so nice to me and even the 3 Deacons there have been kind. I do not feel threatened in any way by the lay people and I hope that the clergy have the good sense not to take out their rage on us anymore than they already have? I do not worry about Robert and the kids returning to the church.
It would clearly be a good step forward for the whole church to see forgiveness and compassion in ACTION from the church leaders. What a good lesson could ultimately come from us returning, as well as those who withhold donations, over this issue now, they would start giving again. It is a win-win-win. The way it is now, with donations down over this, parish divided, people staying angry, and poor role-modeling of Catholic/Christian behavior, it is a lose-lose-lose.
The CENSORED are gone, and the issue is irrelevant now, so it is time to move on and rebuild this church into a stronger unified community.
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