Here We Go Again!

Good Shepherd Parish of Menomonee Falls has a well-earned reputation for having the most "rebellious and Proud Of It!" priests in the Archdiocese as the pastors, beginning with a shirt-tail relative of mine, Fr. Eschweiler (yes, related to the architects AND to a retired First Wisconsin banker.)

Just for fun sometime, offer $100.00 to a friend if they can find the tabernacle in the 'church' building in less than 10 minutes. Your money is safe--mazes are easier than the route to Christ's throne in that place. And yes--this gives some traction to those who say that the "show" is far more important than the "go" in some parishes--and in the "minds" of some pastors.

Courtesy of Terrence Berres.com, we learn that Good Shepherd will attempt to revive its halcyon days of dissent from and disregard for the Church (hypocrisy rears its powdered face) and host a meeting of Voice of the Faithful event. The speaker will be (Sr.) Maureen Fiedler, who is associated with dissident organizations all over the country, particularly the Quixote Center. This organization is particularly entranced by formulating ways and means of legitimizing artificial birth control (aka artificial sexual relations.)

The Catholic League offers the following:

“In April, 1996, Sister Maureen Fiedler of Maryland’s Quixote Center launched a petition drive aimed at getting one-million Catholics to sign a statement calling for radical changes in the Church’s teachings on women and sexuality. The campaign was dubbed We Are Church, and was well-greased by fat cats who hate the Catholic Church: the Ford Foundation, which funnels millions to Catholics for a Free Choice, used its ‘Catholic’ group to give big bucks to Fiedler. ‘We were blessed with substantial grants,’ Fiedler admitted. ‘We had organizing kits,’ she said, ‘we had grass-roots [efforts]; we did full-page ads [in newspapers]; we had massive mailings; we did public collections in front of cathedrals, like St. Patrick’s in New York.’ They even bribed kids by giving them a dollar for every signature they got. When the year was up, the campaign was such a bomb that it was extended for six months. In the end, it netted only 37,000 signatures. It was at the Call to Action 1997 convention in Detroit that Fiedler reported the sorry results. She blew up at lay Catholics, saying that progressives overestimated their ‘theological maturity’; she concluded by sounding her death wish for the pope. [In other words, YOU STUPID PEW-SITTERS are at fault--and by the way, so is John Paul II, and I hope he dies!!]

(A digression: Sr. Maureen might try a rant which does not sound so much like a tape-recording of a 15-year-old Pout Princess...)

At the time, the Catholic population in the USA was about 50 million. Let's assume that half of that number was over the age of 21. 37K is not even 1/1000th of the over-21 Catholic group.

This Rock adds a bit to the narrative:

The petition demanded a series of changes in the Church, including women and married priests, relaxation of moral standards, gay rights, and popular election of bishops.

Sister Maureen has some other notable quotes:

"This message from Rome is the last gasp of desperate and insecure men trying to shore up a crumbling status quo. Roman Catholic women will be ordained priests-perhaps sooner than we think." Sister Maureen Fiedler, over National Public Radio.

Sister NinComPoop-Signature-Gatherer does have some admirers, however:

"Two more shining stars" was the term used by Terry Mischel to announce that John McNeill and Maureen Fiedler, SL will participate in Dignity's biennial gathering in Denver from August 5 to 8th.

"These two personalities personify the convention's theme "The Spirit of Jubilee -- A People of Hope" according to Kent Epperson. McNeill will present a workshop on his recently released autobiography Both Feet Firmly Planted in Midair. Fiedler will be the homilist at the convention's major liturgy.

McNeill, a former Jesuit and preeminent name in our movement "will enrich the convention experience ," noted Terry. Fiedler, a member of the Sisters of Loretto, is Co-Director of the Quixote Center where she manages Catholics Speak Out, a project organizing progressive Catholics who work for equality, justice and democracy in the church.

So to Good Sheperd's pastor, a Union-Organizer extraordinaire, Fr. Kenneth Mich, and to whatever THIS person is: "Pastoral Associate" Jane Clare Ishiguro, we say congratulations! You've managed to extend the reputation of Good Shepherd right into the 21st Century!

Hope you're aware of Who was born at Christmas--and that He will return--but not in the person of "Sr." Maureen Fiedler.