Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Fr Catania Rehabilitated?

Mr Murphy carries a piece lifted directly from the National Catholic Register carrying a lengthy interview with Fr Jason Catania, oddly without giving direct credit or a link. A visitor noted in an e-mail to me,
Mr Murphy posted, then took down, a comment on Fr Catania's interview in the NCR, to the effect that the story ends with his bringing Mt Calvary into the Church and being ordained, but says nothing about his removal as rector and nine month wait for another appointment.
This puzzled me as well, but the thing I really noted was that, although Fr Catania had earlier been dispatched to Siberia Canada, all of a sudden, his picture, and the good parts of his story, are appearing with an interview in a major Catholic organ. Again, imputing my experience in another field to the working of God's Kingdom, I have got to assume this appearance in major media has the thoroughly vetted approval of those in authority.

My visitor went on, "Fr Catania accompanied Bp Lopes to Mt Calvary yesterday, as his chaplain, for his visitation[.]" At least in The Episcopal Church, a bishop's chaplain is just his or her driver, but normally, a former rector of a parish is not supposed to have any contact at all with that parish after leaving. Would it be responsible for Bp Lopes to give Mt Calvary a mistaken impression that some continued contact with Fr Catania could be in the works?

We had a series of puzzling events under Steenson's stewardship, ranging from the denial of votum to David Moyer, to the abandonment of St Mary of the Angels, to the reversal at Our Lady of the Atonement, to the removal and exile of Fr Catania, a couple of which may be on the way to correction under Bp Lopes.