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SUNDAY, Feb. 18th, 4:30 PM
Holy Spirit Catholic Parish was a Catholic Community unlike any of us had ever experienced. It was a parish truly alive with the Holy Spirit. It had over 100 very active ministries. This all changed on June 18, 2003, when our bishop, Raymundo Peña, sent his diocesan employees into our parish to fire all of our staff. These firings were done in retaliation for their having joined a Union. Our archives, begining in July of 2003, provides the complete history.
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7 comments:
Brownsville Herald, Feb. 14
First sex abuse, then censorship
Editor:
This is in regard to the “Hand of God” program on PBS.
First sexual abuse of children; now censorship! Why does the program need to be reviewed by Msgr. Briseño or any other priest? What are we, 5-year-olds? Do we live in a communist valley?
The only way leaders of huge organizations like the Catholic Church will listen is when we stop supporting them financially.
KMBH should air the program and let the viewers decide how it will affect their lives.
I have seen the program. It is a real eye-opener on the lengths taken to hide and enable the sexual predators within the Boston Diocese. It did not make me believe less in God, only in some of the men whom the Catholic hierarchy views as leaders. With leaders like those, who needs enemies?
As for any future financial support from me to the Brownsville Diocese, it will depend on whether they air the program or not.
Elida Garcia
Del Valle, Texas
“Bless me Father for I have sinned...
I have intentionally withheld information on sexual crimes committed against the youth of my diocese so the sexual offenders could escape prosecution. I transferred these perpetrators to other locations in secret and with no warning of their previous sexual offences. To this day, I continue to refuse to divulge the names or identities of these sexual offenders so that their future activities can be monitored. For these sins and for all of the victims whose lives I have ruined by my actions, I am heartily sorry.”
If the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville would have been a Private Day-Care facility and these sexual crimes and cover up activities were uncovered, the Private Day-Care facility’s CEO, all knowledgeable management personnel and each of the perpetrators would have been arrested, charged, tried and sent to prison. Why didn’t this happen in the Catholic Church?
What places a bishop of the Catholic Church above the law? Who gave him the right to decide what punishment his priests should receive for their crimes against our children? If he covers up these crimes, is he not criminally responsible as well? Even if not criminally responsible, at the very least, why was he not immediately removed as our bishop for attempting to cover all of this up? What a poor reflection this is on the leadership of our Church! A bishop answers only to the Pope. Why didn’t our Pope “clean house” as soon as this was all uncovered? Why doesn’t he do so now?
No wonder Bishop Peña didn't want "Hand Of God" to be shown on his television station in the Valley. What a horrible reminder of how our "direct descendents of Christ" have so miserably failed to uphold the moral examples of His teachings. I am truly saddened to have to admit this, but it is high time that the Catholic Church does some house cleaning! How can we possibly allow all of these cover-up bishops to remain as the spiritual leaders of our Church?
We can't AND shouldn't allow the Catholic Church to continue with their crimes against the faithful. The arrogance of the heirarchy needs to be snubbed and all of the criminals should face the justice system because we certainly won't see justice from the Bishop.
What an amazing event it was at El Rey this evening. 200 attentive viewers of Hand of God, The producer, Joe Cultrera, the victim, his brother Paul, and a documentary that shocked not because of the salaciousness of the topic as one might expect, but because of the absolute corruption in the Church hierarchy that the film pointed out. All that on the same day that that clueless Deacon at Holy Spirit Parish (with that ungodly depiction of a dove that looks like a chicken shot out of the air and going down in flames, I swear to God!) had the temerity to exclaim during his sordid homily that we cannot call to account bishops, priests nor deacons because they are anointed of God! What an idiot!
Bishop Pena, the sooner you come clean on sexual abuse in the diocese of Brownsville the better it will be for all, you, and the Church. And it will be exposed some day with or without your help.
Wow! What a powerful film! My complements to Director Joe Cultrera and his brother Paul. Very understandable why this film was not allowed to be shown on the diocese TV station.
Yes, now I understand why the Diocese didn't want to show the film on KMBH. What a corrupt corporation the church really is!
If the destruction of Holy Spirit parish on June 2003, by a vengeful bishop removed from my eyes one veil of faith and trust in the catholic institution, after watching The Hand of God, another veil fell from my eyes. That institution that I used to love, and defend, was nothing but a corrupt, greedy, dirty corporation in which the pope and most of the bishops are nothing else than CEOs protecting the money and the power.
Now I can see ... but my heart is broken because the picture I see now is just too ugly.
My heart breaks also for the few good priests and bishops left. They are also victims of this institution, and the cover-ups only make all of them suspects as well.
If only for the good of the decent priests in the Diocese, Bishop Pena, release the names of the abusers. Not only potential victims will be saved, justice will be served and the names of all the other priests will be cleared from suspicion.
Best of all, maybe we can all began a process of picking up the pieces and rebuild the church as it was intended by its founder.
Letters to the Brownsville Herald
February 21, 2007
Pulling program was censorship
Editor:
The action by Msgr. Briseño in not airing the “Frontline” episode titled “Hand of God” on KMBH last month represents censorship of programming that was to be aired on a public television station. Apparently, the story may have included content that was in conflict with the church’s image and the monsignor decided we were not mature enough to weigh and balance its content.
This kind of activity is unacceptable to freedom-loving Americans living in the 21st century and it should not be tolerated by those of us who live here in the Rio Grande Valley or anywhere else in our country.
My recommendation is that individual KMBH subscribers refrain from sending in any further funds in support of the public station until Monsignor Briseño agrees to air this program and publicly agrees to refrain from any and all future censorship of any programming of a similar nature.
Robert Hibyan
Brownsville
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