The Boys' Club - McElroy, Mahoney, Weakland, and WELS

 

Wisconsin Lutheran College (WELS) invited Archbishop Rembert Weakland and his priests to give a series of public lectures. WELS spun that into a private lunch with Weakland and denied the facts about this notorious Catholic leader.

The Rehabilitation of Disgraced 

Cardinal Roger Mahony

He is enjoying a second act, as evident in his prominent role at Robert McElroy’s first mass as cardinal.

San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy was elevated to cardinal last weekend, a significant snub to Jose Gomez, the archbishop of Los Angeles, a much larger see than San Diego whose head typically receives a red hat. As if Gomez hadn’t been humiliated enough, McElroy chose Cardinal Roger Mahony, the disgraced former archbishop of Los Angeles, as one of the concelebrants at his first mass as cardinal. During the previous pontificate, Gomez had tried to sideline Mahony for his monstrous role in protecting molesting priests. Gomez said that Mahony would “no longer have any administrative or public duties.” But Mahony, whose chutzpah equals that of the late Rembert Weakland, ignored this directive and waited for the arrival of Pope Francis.

That McElroy thought nothing of including Mahony at his first mass as cardinal speaks to the in-your-face liberal culture at the top of the Church. McElroy has been criticized for his own lax handling of abuse cases and his stonewalling of the psychotherapist Richard Sipe, a whistleblower against the rapist Theodore McCarrick. But McElroy still doesn’t feel any need to distance himself from Mahony. McElroy knows that he will pay no price for such associations under this pontificate. If anything, such dubious associations propelled his rise in the Church.

Anticipating his rehabilitation under Pope Francis, Mahony burbled at the beginning of his pontificate, “So long, Papal ermine and fancy lace! Welcome, simple cassock, and hopefully, ordinary black shoes! St. Francis must be overjoyed! Mass with Pope Francis: moving from HIGH Church to LOW and humble Church! What a blessing that we are encountering Jesus without trappings!”

To anyone familiar with Mahony’s ostentatious and prodigal history, this tweet was inadvertently hilarious. Through his derelictions of duty as archbishop, Mahony cost the Church hundreds of millions of dollars in abuse settlements, wasted tens of millions of dollars on a hideous new cathedral, and hobnobbed with the decadent Los Angeles elite.

From Ichabod

Disgraced Milwaukee Archbishop and his priests gave a series of public lectures at Wisconsin Lutheran College (WELS). NY Times on Weakland.

My favorite Roman Catholic journalist, George Neumayr, published an essay on Pope Francis' affection for a Communist leader in his native Argentina - Where Bergoglio [Pope Francis] Buried His Communist Mentor.

Calling the pope "Bergoglio" - using his last name - suggests that Neumayr considers the papal seat vacant.

"Once a striking 19th-century church, Santa Cruz is now just a propaganda prop for Pope Francis’s gang of communist clerics. It is pitiful and puts me in mind of what a precocious teenager said to me the other day after I asked her what she thought of the pope: “He is so bad and ridiculous I don’t think he is the pope. Nothing he does is like what other popes have done.”

That is a common refrain in conservative circles here."

The Church of Rome is officially against socialism, but the pope ardently promotes it. The same fervor permeates many Roman Catholic institutions. Have the Lutheran clergy who sinuflected to Rome noticed this? Doubtless they have witty little comments to explain it away.

A successful meeting!

Pope Francis has such a way with words.

 2015

Area students help on mission trip

http://www.wdtimes.com/news/article_b6d4598e-4047-11e5-bafb-0bb1f468f9ee.html

WATERLOO -- During the week of June 22, 18 local students and three chaperones embarked on a mission trip to Mingo County, West Virginia. The event, organized by St. Paul's Lutheran Church, ELCA, was the largest trip the congregation had sent students on and contained a variety of individuals. Students from St. Paul's, St. John's Lutheran Church, WELS and Holy Family Roman Catholic Parish all of Waterloo and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, ELCA of Marshall participated.

The trip was the farthest traveled since the program began in 2010 with the participants spending a night in Columbus, Ohio on the way down and Champaign, Ill. on the way home.

While in West Virginia missionary work included: cleaning, painting, putting up siding and sharing meals with the families the group was serving. Students and chaperones also visited a local nursing home and worked with children at a kid's club, along with spending a couple of evenings learning about the mining wars of the 1920s and line dancing.

"It was great to see the youth working together and interacting with local residents. They really built a relationship with them throughout the time we were there. The youth expressed how much their eyes were opened through their experiences with the community in Williamson, W.V.," said chaperone Laura Crave.

"We worked with Zelma on painting her porch and cleaned her yard. She was 93 years old and loved to tell stories about her long life," said Austin Weber. "The members of St. Paul's have been generous in supporting our youth mission trips since 2010.

Support for the youth mission trips has been raised through individual donations, fundraisers within the congregation and fundraisers in the community. This year, the youth from St. Paul's invited several friends from other community congregations to join them, creating an extensive community outreach," said Rev. Robb Kosky.

YouthWorks, a group that organizes Mission Trips, including St. Paul's, generally charges between $250-$300 per person. St. Paul's has always paid for the adult chaperones from fundraising and families pay a deposit for each student. The other primary expense is transportation. This year there were some additional costs related to the distance traveled and the cost for the 2015 Mission Trip was approximately $9,200 or $512 per student. The trip could not have been made without the generous support of the congregation.

Individuals attending were chaperones; Arlene Schemm, St. Paul's; Crave, St. Paul's; Kosky, St. Paul's; Students: Logan Braunschweig, St. Paul's; Dawson Cole, St. Paul's; Lexi Duessler, St. Paul's; Tristin Duessler, St. Paul's; Brianna Farwell, St. Paul's; Laura Farwell, St. Paul's; Tyler Hargarten, St. John's; Cassandra Hollatz, St. Paul's; Christie Hollatz, St. Paul's; Cassidy Mattson, St. Paul's; Peter Miller, Holy Family; Bailey Stone, Holy Trinity; Hannah Stone, Holy Trinity; Morgan Stone, Holy Trinity; Wes Swarztrauber, Holy Family; Karley Tesmer, Holy Family; Austin Weber, St. Paul's; Cole Weber, St. Paul's.

Each WELS Synod President is worse than the one before, because the laity and clergy will accept anything.