Who Will Be The New Bishop of Galloway?
Below, an article entitled ‘Clergy Abuse’, published in the Catholic Truth newsletter, Issue #21, September, 2002…
If they’re not playing record requests on the radio in their capacity as DJs like Fr Fitzsimmons and Fr John Irons or other similar media “ministries” our allegedly hard working clergy are to be found gathering in the top hotels for “conferences” or “assemblies”. The Assembly of the Clergy of the Archdiocese of Glasgow, 23 May 2002 was addressed by Father Willie McFadden, Vice-Rector of Scotus College. You won’t want to miss this, folks. Fasten your seatbelts and make sure you’ve got a drink nearby. And we are not talking tea or coffee here. You’ll need a not-so-wee dram of the hard stuff when you hear what our seminarians are being taught.
71 priests attended the Assembly in May. This included Monsignor Gilmartin who was Diocesan Administrator prior to the appointment of Archbishop Conti. In other words, he is a big fish. He welcomed everyone to the assembly and clearly had an important part in it. His very presence as a senior priest of the archdiocese beggars belief as you will see when you read some excerpts from the mountain of error that was presented by the keynote speaker, Father Willie McFadden, Vice-Rector of Scotus College, our soon-to-be-no-more national seminary. What you will read below represents a small fraction of what can only be described as abuse of the clergy by the clergy.
Father McFadden, please note, was not giving this talk for the first time. This is crucial. All the errors that you are about to read below were articulated before, at the Annual Conference of Priests and Permanent Deacons of Scotland when it was held, 25-27 September 2001 in Fort William. Indeed, his address to the Assembly of Glasgow priests was virtually word for word what he said in his talk to the National Conference last year. Thus, from a number of sources, we have come into possession of the contents of Fr McFadden’s disgraceful attack on the Mass and priesthood. So, what did he actually say?
First of all, Fr McFadden plays the old trick of trying to cover up his assault on the teaching of the Church by talking about “models”. If you’ve been through a Catholic teacher training college or a seminary in the past 30 years, you will have heard all about “models of Church” where the “model” given to us by Christ Himself – the hierarchical “model” – is deemed the unacceptable one. Once that has been agreed, you get to pick the “model” you like best. Similar twaddle permeated Fr McFadden’s outline of “models of priesthood” where, and I quote: “…the cultic (priest offering sacrifice) model of priest works from a static viewpoint, tending to receive the world as an ordered and structured reality. For him, truth is timeless and certitude through strict definition and logic is possible. With its static perspective, his theology has little appreciation for development of doctrine, pluralism in theology or ambiguity in moral questions. It prefers to work from the top down, beginning with Church doctrines and applying them to the task of living the Christian life. For him, the Church is a hierarchical institution which carries on the work of Christ and a perfect society which has the task of guarding and proclaiming the truth. Within this theological framework, the cultic priest sees himself as another Christ, taken out of the world for service in the Church.”
Much better, Fr McFadden opines, is the “prophetic-leader model” which puts emphasis on “proclaiming the Word” and “the relationship between the priest and the faith community”. [Ed: much better than offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass?]
What you have just read is a mere snippet. A toe in the water of the ocean of error peddled at this meeting of priests of the Archdiocese of Glasgow… Publishing the talk in its entirety would mean that your local off-licence would run out of stock in no time. This is truly shocking stuff. Later, Fr McFadden rubbishes the “indelible character” of the priesthood, adding that “within this viewpoint the priest’s main task is to provide the sacraments, especially Mass and Confession.” And it goes without saying that celibacy is attacked as well, in this not very subtle assault on both Mass and priesthood.
Who would have thought that we’d have lived to see the day when one of the senior priests in the seminary attacked, with such venom, the priesthood of Christ and the Mass? And who would have thought that a senior priest, presumably with the full knowledge of the archbishop, would sit there quietly and let him? Disaster for the shepherds who lose and scatter the sheep of my pasture, Yahweh declares. (Jeremiah 23:1)
Editor writes, 9 February, 2022…
Note: (1) the above is the tip of the dissenters’ iceberg, but it is sufficient to kick-start discussion. I will add information in the comments as appropriate. (2) Scotus seminary in Glasgow is now closed, and Fr McFadden is currently parish priest of a string of parishes, such is the dearth of vocations in the Diocese of Galloway. He is also the Vicar General in Galloway, which puts him in line to be considered for the office of Bishop, now that Bishop Nolan is moving to Glasgow.
The key question is: should Fr McFadden be appointed to episcopal office? I know what I think – what do you think?
Comments (24)
I would say no to that appointment. But you can rest assured that any appointment will range from unsatisfactory to downright shocking. Sorry to keep harking back to the 1957 interview between Sister Lucia and Fr Fuentes, but it seems to be becoming ever more relevant by the minute:
“Sister Lucy also told me: “Father, the devil is in the mood for engaging in a decisive battle against the Blessed Virgin. And the devil knows what it is that offends God the most, and which in a short space of time will gain for him the greatest number of souls. Thus the devil does everything to overcome souls consecrated to God, because in this way the devil will succeed in leaving the souls of the faithful abandoned by their leaders, thereby the more easily will he seize them.”
“That which afflicts the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Heart of Jesus is the fall of religious and priestly souls. The devil knows that religious and priests who fall away from their beautiful vocation drag numerous souls to hell. … The devil wishes to take possession of consecrated souls. He tries to corrupt them in order to lull to sleep the souls of laypeople and thereby lead them to final impenitence. He employs all tricks, even going so far as to suggest the delay of entrance into religious life. Resulting from this is the sterility of the interior life, and among the laypeople, coldness (lack of enthusiasm) regarding the subject of renouncing pleasures and the total dedication of themselves to God.”
Westminster Fly,
I would definitely say no to that appointment, as well. I’m stunned that that priest was ever given any position of responsibility in a seminary, never mind a top position – I am almost sure that he was promoted from Vice-Rector to Rector and was Rector until the college closed. I always associate his name with the college being closed. Some legacy!
I’m really grateful when you post reminders of the Father Fuentes interview with Sister Lucia, so please don’t apologise. It’s the one communication with Sr Lucia that we can rely on, I say that because I’m sure I read Father Gruner saying that, and that particular quote is a very important reminder that the priesthood is under attack now, as never before, IMHO.
We should pray for divine intervention in the appointment of a new bishop for Galloway. It’s already a very weak diocese, and the wrong appointment could finish it off.
My suggestion would be is to close down this diocese and merge with another(nearby) diocese. Also another suggestion here would be is to report the priest mentioned above to the Nuncio, curia in the Vatican that deals with appointments for bishops, all via cc and keep a copy for yourself. Im an outsider as I’m not in an position to say, just mainly my suggestion for those who live in that diocese. Here in Ireland, we have far too many bishops (26)for a small population. Same could be said for Scotland re merging of various dioceses into large diocese which could be managed.
Francis de sales aka DG,
I honestly don’t think there’s any point in reporting any dissenters to the Nuncio – the hierarchy know fine well who’s who by now. I think we’re at the stage of just waiting peacefully for the Consecration of Russia. Nothing is going to change, really, until then.
Laura,
I think there’s always a point in that it keeps before their minds that people know – that we’re not stupid and we expect some action about this priest. He should not be anywhere near the list they send to Rome of possible candidates, what do you call it again – you know what I mean.
Westminster Fly,
I agree, thanks for posting excerpts from the Father Fuentes interview, because that interview is a key Fatima resource IMHO.
If he’s got a “string of parishes” to run then probably so do the other priests, which means it’s not a new bishop they need, it’s more vocations and you don’t put someone who has failed in the training of priests in charge of the whole diocese! That’s hardly good management.
If the stuff quoted is the “tip of the iceberg”, i.e. there’s more dissent from Catholic teaching in his talk, I can’t help wondering what’s left. The list is pretty comprehensive!
I hate to say this but now we have Francis in charge of the universal Church, Fr McFadden is very likely to be appointed. He went from a failed seminary rector to Vicar General, so this is the next step. It’s just a wonder he wasn’t appointed before this.
Fidelis,
That’s exactly right – if he presided over the closure of Scotland’s last seminary on Scottish soil, he’s obviously not the best organiser / manager in the world. I wonder what the other priests are like in Galloway, does anyone know?
Josephine,
I can’t see any manager who failed to keep his part of the business afloat, and caused it to close down, being promoted to a top position. He’d be more likely demoted if not sacked altogether.
Josephine,
I think the deafening silence answers your question – if there were any truly brave and saintly priests in Galloway I think we’d have been told by now. That’s not to say there won’t be some good priests but desperate times call for desperate measures and it is very disappointing that so few priests will come out of the shadows to speak up against the terrible state of the Church in Scotland and in individual dioceses. Mind you, look what happened to Fr Despard when he tried to speak out about Motherwell diocese, so I suppose it’s understandable humanly speaking.
Well, that man should definitely not be made a bishop but that’s not to say he won’t be. If anything, he’s already passed the modernist test, LOL!
If he’s questioning the Mass and the priesthood and talking about “ambiguity” in morals, I can’t image he is faithful to any Catholic dogma, but does he explicitly speak about women’s ordination and homosexuality in that talk, I’m wondering.
Since it all happened back in 2002, I’m curious as to how far gone things were in Scotland, at least in Glasgow, even then.
Laura,
I’ve just checked the text of Fr McFadden’s address to the Glasgow clergy, and he says the following about priesthood:
“In order to overcome polarization in our understanding of priesthood, we must talk about the divisive issues… there are polarized positions on the ordination of women and mandatory celibacy… ”
There’s more about priesthood under the various headings but this will suffice for now. Note: the fact that “there are polarized positions on the ordination of women” suggests that he is not accepting the Church’s teaching that we must ALL be “polarized” on that issue because the Church has no authority to confer ordination on women.
Under the heading The Priest and Relationships, we are treated to some ‘Behavioural Science’ studies – except he forgot to use the key term “theory” or “theories” when recounting their “findings” about the differences between men and women, where he leads with the breaking news that relationships between men and women often fail because the men won’t listen 😀 and then we read:
“,,, on the other hand, we can also fail in intimate relationships with other men since becoming affectionate with another male can often trigger a homophobic response that can be uncomfortable or frightening…there is often an undercurrent among clergy that if we are not macho or are perhaps too affectionate, then we might be viewed as gay, and as a result we fail to truly connect with another… many men, especially priests, have failed to develop intimate relationships and this has led to increased isolation, loneliness and stress…” End of extracts.
What all of this put together tells us is that Fr McFadden would probably be a rip-roaring success as the administrator of a “Meet Your Match” social media platform. The bit about the priest as committed to God, who sacrifices close personal – intimate – relationships in order to keep his heart free to devote himself to God and the spiritual, religious and moral well-being of his people in order to help to save their souls, has totally passed him by.
For those of you about to accuse me of being hard-hearted, lacking insight, unrealistic etc. – so be it. All I would say to you is that the “model” of priesthood favoured by Fr McFadden (and popular in seminaries – the ones that are left – as we speak) is the “model” we are seeing in action right now. Priests who will do their best to fit you into his appointments diary but, hey, he has his male and female friends to fit in as well, not to mention working to change, radically, the “institutional Church”. But that’s another heading which we’ll leave for now.
Editor,
So, he wants to radically change the “institutional Church” – let me guess, synodal structure, women’s ordination, priestless parishes and young people in charge of the Sunday “liturgy”. It’s all so predictable.
Well, God help Galloway, that’s all I can say, if Fr McFadden is appointed.
I`m in the Galloway diocese and I don`t think there is one church in it where you could drop in to visit the Blessed Sacrament during the day. It`s closed doors as soon as the morning Mass is over. No such a thing as exposition, holy rosary or stations of the cross. In fact ,if you mentioned any of those devotions you would be considered a weirdo and that would be by your own parish priest, I haven`t received holy communion for over two years now because of the ban on communion on the tongue and if you wished for confessions you probably would have to put your sins down in writing and get someone to hand them in.
I remember around twenty years ago, I went to the Fatima devotions in the only church in the diocese that had them. The visiting priest, the only one in the diocese who was willing to participate other than the parish priest, announced that we wouldn`t be praying for the world but for the Galloway diocese. I don`t think I ever saw that priest again. The word was that he was moved: either to America or Ireland. I don`t know whether it was to Alcatraz or Craggy Island under the jurisdiction of Fr. Jack.
The Fatima devotions stopped just before lockdown owing to the very saintly lady who organised them becoming too frail and losing her eyesight. Not one church, or priest, ever took them over. Even my own little, pathetic rosary group on a Friday morning ranges from a maximum of four people to, sometimes, myself.
How I miss the days when I was a boy on the altar serving the Holy Mass in Latin, assisting at the rosary and benediction, stations of the cross and sung Masses. Even the smell of the candles and incense and the old hymns we learned at home while our mother was getting on with the housework.
All this gone to suit “the other side” who still haven`t got round yet to adopting anything from our true Catholic Faith.
Mind you, our present Church hasn`t got round to doing that either
So, Well Done! To the past three bishops, at least, of the Galloway Diocese. Martin Luther would have been proud of you all.
Frankier,
God will bless you for having sacrificed sacramental Holy Communion rather than receive in the hand – I know that you have no access to the TLM so that sacrifice will be very pleasing to God. I’m assuming that you have a copy of the prayer to make a Spiritual Communion, but in case not, here it is for you to copy if you need it…
My Jesus,
I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You.
Amen.
Editor
Thanks for the copy of the spiritual communion prayer. I have a copy of that same prayer which I take out
and read during holy communion.
I have noted your other emails and will contact you with my details. I`m sorry I can`t confess to you but
I`m afraid I would have to buy you shares in Cadbury and Werthers for my penance.
I hope you don`t take it the wrong way, though, when I mention Werthers.
Frankier,
I’ve heard that there are some good and holy priests in Galloway so I think if you quietly ask around you’d find one who would at least hear your confession if not offer the old rite Mass. There is a priest in Kilmarnock who says the old rite at the Sacred Heart Fathers house and I know some laity attend that, and there’s another one in Whithorn. If you scroll down this link, you’ll get the details https://unavocescotland.org/find-a-latin-mass/
This is the suffering we’re faced with these days so I do feel for you.
Margaret Mary
Thanks for the link. It`s 1.30 am now and time for a wee sleep, so I`ll have a look at it later in the day.
Thanks again!
Margaret Mary,
The Mass in Whithorn is Ordinariate Rite. Apparantly Una Voce doesn’t know the difference between it and the Tridentine Rite.
Frankier,
First time I read (and hastily replied) to your comment, it hadn’t registered with me that you have not been able to get to Confession all this time since lockdown began, so if you email me on editor@catholictruthscotland.com I may be able to suggest a possible answer to your problem, and no, it’s not “confess to me” 😀 Although feel free, I give very light penances and nearly all involve donating a bar of chocolate to me and to moi – what’s two bars of chocolate, between friends!
Frankier,
Further to my previous comment, I’ve had a telephone call from a priest who asks where, in Galloway, you live, as he would be willing to make arrangements to meet with you, if possible. Again, the simplest way to organise this would be if you email me on editor@catholictruthscotland.com and I have permission to give you his contact details.
Also, the thought has just come to me that one of our Glasgow priests, who published an Open Letter here on this blog back in the “lockdown day”, put his email address at the end and invited anyone who wanted to contact him, so to do. I’m confident that he would do his best to assist you, if at all possible.
https://catholictruthscotland.com/2020/09/29/scots-priest-challenges-bishops-response-to-lockdown-covid-19-restrictions/
ED there is surely no surprise to any of us on Here about these So Called Catholic Clergymen who utter a word that may go Public. You surely have to understand that first and foremost they are Bergoglio Men . Which in our minds certainly does not make them Men of God.
As for promotions now within The Catholic Church at least in the U.K we know that most ( if not all ) are career Clergymen and have definitely not answered a call from God .
On another Topic I think it was Lily who said who would want to be a Bishop.
Well I for one wouldn’t mind. A Free Home. No Bills . A Cook . A Cleaner. A nice big Free Car. No wonder most of them are FAT. As for what they should be doing. Well it’s Bergoglios time and Global Warming and saving Penguins seems to come First long before serving Christ.
Just going back to the U.S. Bishops conference and their 5 Year Promoting of The Eucharist. They said that the Price Tag would come in around $42Million . That’s some amount of small change for something that should at least be preached once a week ,and heard by Catholics.
1 Examine Conscience.
2 Make a Good Confession.
3 Receive The Eucharist.
Of course with the Likes of Bish Barron and Co they have to have a big Dinner and Discussion at a 5 Star Hotel plus at least 1 overnight Stay.
O and Male Friends included of course. God Help Our Church. As for our Faith these Career Men seem to have none.
What bothers me the most about these perfidious perverts is the academic-sounding language they hide behind to make their heretical theories sound respectable and wise. The sciences of sociology and psychology are particularly misused, although these days even those disciplines are too complicated for the “clergy” who have now abandoned and betrayed Our Lord and consecrated themselves to Satan.
No, nowadays all that is required is a few feminist/transgender/environmental/Marxist buzzwords to score points with the right people……person….the guy wearing the red clown nose….
What despicable, contemptible behavior.
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