FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

WE REMEMBER...

WE CELEBRATE...

WE BELIEVE...

A lot has happened at Holy Spirit Parish over the past four years. I will be posting a Fourth Anniversary Review soon.

Until then, there was a recent post that pretty much summarized much of what we have had to endure at the hands of Bishop Raymundo Peña and our current pastor, Monsignor Louis Brum. I have decided to repost this response just in case anyone missed it.

My question to our Bishop remains, Why?
~Kanickers

Anonymous said:

Dear (Name withheld),

Thank you so much for expressing your feelings about Holy Spirit Parish. I feel everyone should have the right to express his or her thoughts and feelings about their Catholic parish without fear of reprisal from their Bishop or Priest.

Don’t you agree?

When you claim Holy Spirit as "your" church, how long have you been a parishioner here?

· Were you here when Bishop Pena cashed-in the Employee Retirement Fund?

· Were you here when Bishop Pena retaliated against Father Jerry for allowing employees their legal right to union representation?

· Where you here when Bishop Pena sent his security guards and diocesan staff into Holy Spirit to fire the union employees and change the locks on the church doors?

· Were you here when Bishop Pena embarrassed Catholic communities throughout the United States for his deplorable actions against his employees?

· Were you here when Bishop Pena, through a letter written by his Vicar General, was exposed for offering to provide “expert help” to other Bishops in the methods of squandering any attempts of Church employees to unionize, while he continued to claim he “walked” with Cesar Chavez?

· Were you here when several hundred Holy Spirit parishioners signed a “Letter of Petition” asking Bishop Pena to meet with them to answer for his actions, which to this day has never been addressed?

· Were you here when hundreds of Holy Spirit families migrated to other non-denominational churches or just quit going to Mass in disgust of the actions of our Bishop?

· Were you here when Father Brum removed our duly elected Parish Council.

· Were you here when Father Brum appointed his own “secret” Parish Council at Holy Spirit?

· Were you here when Father Brum fired our Peace and Justice Director and discontinued our Peace and Justice Program?

· Were you here when Father Brum fired our long-time Music Director?

· Were you here when Father Brum humiliated Sister Moira and publicly slandered her on so many occasions?

· Were you here when Father Brum removed parishioners from ministries because they expressed concern over some of his actions at Holy Spirit?

· Were you here when our long-time staff finally got so disgusted with Father Brum’s ability to run the parish that they all quit?

· Were you here the numerous times that parishioners asked and were refused to meet with Father Brum to attempt to restore peace to the parish?

· Were you here the numerous times Father Brum and his “secret” Parish Council have refused to provide an accounting of our parish finances?

· Were you here when Father Brum declared that specific parishioners were "not in good standing" with the Catholic Church because they questioned some of his actions and methods?

· Were you here when Father Brum squandered our long-standing Night Prayer Service and Vatican II Classes?

· Were you here when Father Brum totally destroyed our Religious Education Program?

· Were you here when Father Brum suggested that parents “home school” their children in Religious Education and promised to support them with religious educational materials that have yet to be provided?

· Were you here when Bishop Pena declared the alleged actions of Sister Moira to be groundless and instructed Father Brum to reinstate her to ministry, which he then “torpedoed”?

So (Name), when you speak of the tools of the devil; “stiff-necked pride”, “lack of respect”, “arrogance” and “hatred”, of whom are you speaking? Those few of us that have had the guts to speak truth to power?

Maybe it is time you removed your blinders!

May the peace of the Lord be with you!