Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Downtown Chapel/St. Andre Bessette Church - "The Wages of Mismanagement".

VOCAL DELETED AT PRIESTS REQUEST

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hack article on a good priest...what is your view on church coverups of pedophile priests and no referral to police for prosecution...ah, you would never acknowledge it happens

Restore-DC-Catholicism said...

Anon, if Father did indeed support a "pride" event, that would go hand-in-hand with the theft of funds. I too deplore any cover-up of the abuser-priests. Speaking of cover-up, why don't you make plain that over 95% of those episodes involve the abuse of young teen-age boys, making it homosexual at its root? Hmmm???

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous" is clueless. VOCAL has many times in its' past posts written about the clergy homosexual scandal. And according to the John Jay Report, 85% of the victims were male adolescents, making it a homosexual scandal rather than a pedophile scandal.

Anonymous said...

To Restore-DC- Catholicism:

how does supporting a Pride Event go hand in hand with theft of funds?

Rev. Steve Newton, CSC said...

Perhaps when whoever is behind VOCAL has their turn at the Pearly gates, God's mercy and truth will cause you to have many days before you leave that mysterious room. You are certainly far from truth now.

You quote the Willamette Week as if it must be as inerrant as the Bible. Yet the only fact they got correct is the spelling of my name. And now you are as guilty as them of calumny. Why did you not check for accuracy? If you had, you would have found that not only was no money stolen, but that there has never been any accusation that it has been, aside from your blog. Every penny is strictly accounted for and has been used in accord with the budget monitored carefully by the parish Finance Committee. Your implication is not only unjustly destructive of me; you have threatened the continued support of the community for a parish serving the poor people of God.

What do you know of this matter? With whom did you converse? What financial statements have you reviewed? Have you no responsibility for what you write or reprint accompanied by snide, irrelevant comments?

Members of the parish have participated in the Pride Parade since long before I arrived on the scene. I had nothing whatsoever to do with it, except to say that we support all people, even if not all life-styles. I did not participate in the parade.

How does your printing this calumny advocate life? Evidence shows that you have nothing to do with the pro-life movement, but with some personal anti-Church- anyway -but- how- you- want- it movement. May God have mercy on your souls.

VOCAL said...

Father Newton,

If you would like to set the record straight, since you believe there are so many inaccuracies, your article would get posted ASAP.

The Willamette Week article quoted those involved at the Archdiocese and the Archbishop replaced you for the sake of St. Andre Bessette, the surrounding community and for your sake too.

Please understand that the helping of the marginalized and poor are for some just job opportunities and with government money involved and good will financial help, it seems like "free money".

The "snide, irreverant" comments are not so snide an irreverent if you have ever been on the receiving end the liberal Catholic church in Oregon.

Regarding the "Pride" parade. You were there if you didn't see it as inappropriate or degrading. Regarding children attending, it could be considered as child abuse having them attend such a spectacle which is actually against dignity and promoting the degradation of the body.

Therefore it IS pro-life to support Christ in avoiding the parade.

No priest can hide their head in the sand and pretend that this could be anything but destructive to immortal souls. Maybe it was time for you to be discerning and stop attendance at the parade. All lifestyles are not healthy, nor those of us against them wrong or "homophobic".

I have no doubt that there will be much to answer for and will pray for Christ's mercy on my soul at the end of my life.

This blog was reporting on news that the Archdiocese of Portland deemed news as well.



Anonymous said...

to vocal:
do you represent the Archdiocese of Portland? your comments appear that you have some inside information. for example:
1. "The Archbishop replaced ypu for the good of St. andre's the community and yourself" How do you know that?
2." The Archdiocese deemed this as news as well". Where and when?
3. Above the WW headline you wrote"Priest puts money in his pocket". That is an outright lie. Even WW did not sink that low.
4. Fr. Newton used the term irrelevant, not irreverent. Learn the difference!
5. Where you at the Parade? you seem to know a lot about it.

Anonymous said...

5. Were you at the parade?
Or where were you at the parade.

VOCAL said...

Anonymous,

No, I don't represent the Archdiocese of Portland I was thrown out of the Pastoral Center and fired from ACCW because of my views.

If you mean the laity? I'd say there is a fair amount of folks who wish that they were afforded as much respect throughout the years as heretics have.

This information is common knowledge and knowing how this Archdiocese works. There is a definite bias to those who are liberal Catholics, if that's even fair to say to Faithful Catholics.

"Irreverent or irrelevant" can be interchangeable in this instance. Wow. You're mad.

Father was at the parade. His church was there, so he was there, even if he wasn't there. Makes sense to me.

Again media was enough evil to even watch.

Father was replaced for a good reason. We may never know to what extent that goes, it's not "relevant'.

For the community's good, because he was leading them astray..for his good, because he has three indelible marks on his soul and he was going down the wrong path.

Replacing him was a mercy for him. No faithful Catholic wants anyone in Hell.

Anonymous said...

You have no idea what you are talking about!
no wonder you were fired and thrown out!
I guess who want to e Pope. You certainly think you are above everyone.

VOCAL said...

Anonymous. I am a woman...can't be the pope.

This very reason is why I was removed from the Pastoral Center and let go of the Church Commission Chair.

Don't ask questions at the Archdiocese of Portland. That was the message for so many years.

Archbishop Sample will educate those who want to be educated and learn from the heart what Christ wants us to learn. The baby steps towards Heaven.

God Bless you sounds too patronizing and so I'll say let's have coffee.

Steve Newton, CSC said...

It has been 10 months since I was removed as pastor of St. Andre Bessette Catholic Church in Portland, and in that time, the calumnious lies and misinformation of this blog and the Willamette Week article have been disproved. Point by point:

1. The financial statements have consistently shown that no money is missing;

2. The parish has successfully completed the $2.1 million dollar campaign begun and 75% achieved under my administration.

3.No 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' in Church funds were mismanaged.

4. Rather than depleting the parish endowment, it had grown to $1.8 million by the time I left.

5. Saying I had "depleted $285,000 in church funds and burned through most of a $400,000 bequest that was supposed to be set aside as an endowment" is a complete fabrication. Rather, I added almost $2 million to those funds, plus left a $1.8 million endowment.

6. The parish could never "not afford the $200 it spends each month on hot cocoa for the homeless people it serves." Rather, some one stopped ordering the hot chocolate mix. As soon as I learned of that, I countermanded that action.

7. Tithing money was never given to any African charity under my control. Rather, it was directly sent to African programs. Too, the pastoral council, a good six months before my removal, had suspended the tithing program, with my full agreement.

8. This statement: "But the archdiocese’s financial review says Saint AndrĂ© Bessette would have run more than $418,000 in the red last year if it hadn’t spent money that was supposed to be kept in the endowment." No, the parish would have run hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, as it had most of the years before I arrived, if we had not raised the money we raised for programs, development and endowment.

Why am I writing this almost a year after the fact? Because the lies continue to be spread. The same person who fed this misinformation to the Willamette Week has also sent letters and copies of the article to Bishops and potential employers, resulting in my inability to engage in priestly ministry. Whatever their personal agenda might be, it has deeply hurt my family, my friends and me. While the Holy Cross Community continues to state that I am a priest in good standing with no accusations of any sort against me, bishops and even members of my own religious community shun me because of the widespread insinuations of my manufactured crimes. Google my name, and this WW article is the first thing you will see. This blog, with its sensational headline that has nothing to do with the article, is second. So I decided to add these statements to the Internet sites that have done so much damage. Perhaps this will allow me to be a priest again.