How Many Good Priests Have Been Thrown Under the Bus?

Good question, Mary Ann! Of course, ONE is too many! I've included two comments made on the original post.

From Les Femmes

By Mary Ann Kreitzer

How many good priests have been thrown under the bus? Their number is legion. In my own diocese (Arlington) Bishop Burbidge eliminated two priests who were removed from ministry with the assurance they would be reinstated after a time. One was forced into early retirement; the other remains in liturgical limbo. Both are good priests who deserved better (as did their flocks). I grieve for these betrayed priests both of whom I know personally.

The spiritual murder of priests by their bishops is an on-going problem. Why? Because we have so many false shepherds and hirelings in the United States. Recent cases of persecuted priests are in the news at Complicit Clergy. Discipline always seems to be targeted at the orthodox while liberals, no matter how loony, like Rob the racist, are allowed to keep their jobs and sometimes even get promoted.

At the last retreat Fr. John Hardon gave to the Marian Catechists before his death in 2000, he told us there were only about six totally faithful bishops in the U.S. One third of the remaining bishops he described as "mostly faithful." That left two thirds in the false shepherd category.

Is the situation any better today? What has the response to the Wuhan virus revealed about our shepherds as they bent the knee to Caesar and even adopted more draconian restrictions than required? Will the requirement to attend Mass on Sunday ever be reinstated. There were ALWAYS exemptions for the sick and elderly. Now that Masses are allowed by Caesar, what will the bishops do? Is Mass now just a discipline of the Church like not eating meat on Fridays doing some form of penance on Fridays?

I wonder how Fr. Hardon would describe our current bench of bishops.

Comment 1:

I came up with four good and faithful priests I knew personally who were thrown under the bus by bishops:
1. Fr. Marcel Guarnizo - Removed from his assignment in the Archdiocese of Washington by Cardinal Wuerl after denying communion to a public lesbian.
2. Fr. Vaughn Treco - Excommunicated by his bishop for preaching against the abuse in the church.
3. Fr. Mark White - Removed from his parish by Richmond Bishop Knestout (a former Washington auxiliary bishop under McCarrick) for writing against the abuse in the church.
4. Fr. Joseph Clark - Removed from his parish in the Diocese of Arlington by former Bishop Loverde for reprimanding a deacon who disrespected the Precious Blood. Fr. Clark appealed to Rome, won his appeal, but then was forced to retire due to his destroyed health.

Comment 2:

I'm a Priest using an anonymous name. When I commented to Fr. Guamizo my support and hope that the truth of the situation came out I was called into the "Office" and investigated in my own Archdiocese. The women that he refused reported me for even showing support for the truth to be revealed. After investigation, it was deemed that I did nothing wrong. I was one of the few who got away with doing the right thing.