The following comes from a November 5 Times of San Diego article by Chris Stone:
A controversial church handout in Old Town claiming it’s a mortal sin to vote for a Democrat was a response to a report that another pastor urged his flock to back Democrats.
That genesis was described Saturday outside the church by Larry Greenbank, a member of Ecclesia Militans, which he called a “loose collaborative group of faithful and informed Catholics.”
Greenbank said that group of conservative lay people felt it was their obligation to counteract the “vote-Democratic” stance of an unspecified Roman Catholic pastor “in the north part of town.”
The flier, distributed Oct. 16 in the bulletin of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church led by the Rev. Richard Perozich, drew an outside protest in front of the Old Town church before Saturday evening Mass.
The flier was followed by a political message in the Oct. 30 bulletin from Perozich on voting as a Catholic — implying Satan’s influence on Hillary Clinton. The story, first appearing Nov. 2 in The San Diego Union-Tribune, went viral worldwide.
But the flier was distributed not only at the Old Town church, but also at several “select churches” in the diocese, Greenbank said.
In an email Sunday to Times of San Diego, Perozich said Ecclesia Militans was responsible for the flier inserted into his bulletin. Times obtained an earlier version of the flier — two pages instead of one and with two colors rather than one.
Perozich confirmed that he wrote the article in the Oct. 30 bulletin, adding: “Our parish is pleased with the bulletin teaching. I am a pastor for this parish and will continue to lead it.”
Responding last week to the flier incident, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy said in a statement: “As a matter of policy and practice, the Catholic Church does not endorse specific candidates, use parish media or bulletins to favor candidates or parties or engage in partisan political activity of any kind. … It is contrary to Catholic teaching to state that voting for a Democrat or Republican automatically condemns the voter to hell.”
Pastor Perozich, insisting that his parish wasn’t responsible for the flier, told Times of San Diego after Mass: “Those things weren’t written by anyone here. We don’t say that. Someone else put that in (the church bulletin) and we didn’t authorize it.” (On Sunday, Perozich said he was informed of the source of the flier after Saturday’s Mass.)
“We don’t condemn people to hell,” Perozich said. “We tell people that these (issues such as abortion and homosexuality) are the important things to vote for because these are undermining us.”
Greenbank of the group that distributed the flier said: “Father didn’t have anything to do with the flier. No one in the parish had anything to do with the flier. We have [also] distributed that flier in a parish on the north side of town.”
“I know who created it,” he said outside the church Saturday night. “It was a collaborative effort by concerned Catholics — Catholics who are well-trained. They know the teachings of the church.”
Greenbank continued: “Lay Catholics have a very important role in the political arena. We can speak freely, whereas the pastors cannot. Especially when we are in an election cycle, we have not only an essential role but also a responsibility to teach the truth.”
Hmm. This strategy is one that a disciple of Saul Alinsky would use!
More sound and fury here. The point of the bulletin insert was to help identify a real issue for voting Catholics, one that could negatively impact their very souls. Who wrote it is not the issue; what was said is the key. And how sweet it would have been to be fly on the wall of B. McElroy when the defeat of his beloved Hilary was becoming more and more real. American bishops should have manned the barricades against the Democrats. Instead, it was a watery sort of Protestant that had the testosterone to stand up the abortion industry and say, “No.” Cowards, fools, sycophants, and apostates; enjoy Judgment Day.
Well stated.
Well God Bless you, Ecclesia Militans, for truly you are The Church Militant and did a righteous thing!
‘Lady in vestments’ (!)
Sorry, I don’t think Ecclesia Militans did anyone a favor, least of all Fr. Perozich, by “inserting” without authorization an information sheet into the bulletin at IC and other parishes. It shifted the blame on him: completely unjust to do so.
When things were really terrible in Phoenix diocese a few years back, a group of us who met for the Rosary weekly put together a carefully verified information sheet of significantly serious and, yes, criminal abuse by certain personnel at that time in the diocese. We handed this out at the driveways, while on the public sidewalk strip, and made it clear we were not “officially approved”, but “here are serious and pertinent facts you must know.” We cited sources in every case…
..because we knew we could have legal action against us, individually and severally, if we were inaccurate or false (court records; verified news accounts; affidavits). However, Phoenix Catholics at that time did not know the totality and the severity of the abuse and criminal behavior, because it has been successfully quashed from the public media.
The result was eventually every single one of the corruptos was eventually removed when Bp. Olmsted assumed leadership. One fled to Ireland, where he is an international fugitive; one to Mexico, where eventually the county attorney had him extradited and returned. All the others left Catholic ministry. One formed his own weird “church.” But had any parish priest made this info known,…
Outstanding work Mr. Phoenix!
…they would have been summarily and immediately dismissed by the prior organizational leadership.
In my view, great if Ecclesia Militans wants to assert their position, but don’t do anything “shady”, like slipping pages in the official bulletin—or are you going to complain when some Satanist or Wiccan group does the ssme? By what right, then? And think carefully before you act, because you can be held civilly accountable if you make any libelous assertion. Have your legal counsel and the police notified in advance of what you are doing, which we did BTW.
Steve, you seem to think that the “official bulletin” is some kind of sacred document. Odd. Actually it’s a way to communicate events in the parish. Sure, it’s more fun and easier to pamphleteer in other ways, but I enjoy an “Op” like this and have done many, pro-life; anti-homosex publications at the library etc and will continue to do so. Don’t be scared, Steve. Effective, efficient, direct-action!
You will change your tune after your first restraining order, and be assured, it will happen. Very costly to get dismissed, even if frivolous.
As for more of the bravado schoolyard talk, anyone who does sly stuff isn’t so brave.
How in the world did the outside group actually get the stuff in the bulletin? If they did it after the Pastor approved the content of the Bulletin, then there is a terrible security breach. If, on the other hand, the Pastor never looked at the bulletin before printing, to a non attorney like me, that sounds like the Pastor was seriously negligent.
But we’ll never know. Likely sweep it under the same rug they hid the sex scandals under. Isn’t it back from the cleaners by now?
you’re right Mike………giggle……….”terrible security breach”! I think they should get some tough guys from the parish to stand guard over the stacks of parish bulletins until they are safely handed to the ambivalent pew-sitter after Mass!
yawn……..woohahahahahahahah!
By the way, unapproved entrance onto church property, including to plant unauthorized pamphlets is chargeable under CA penal code 602 usually as a misdemeanor, but it can be a felony. There doesn’t have to be a posted warning, since the courts interpret the law favorable to the house of worship’s freedom to exercise 1st amendment clause.
If a misdemeanor, it can be up to 6 mos. in jail and/or $1000 fine plus court costs. Every judge will back up a house of worship’s right to try such a charge and they don’t have to have a posted warning.
Just a warning, in case anyone else wants to go “giggling in handcuffs” to the juzgado with RunnerTeller. I hope he isn’t also your legal counsel, by the way.
Mike M:
I rarely see the bulletin prior to it being printed. I don’t think I am unique among pastors. We deal with problems with the bulletin as they come.
Hooray 4 reminding people that voting 4 an abortion candidate is wrong and could condemn oneself–I believe he should not be chastised 4 this, he’s doing his job.
He represent God’s teaching not political correctness. It’s too bad when we have those who waffle on God’s Word–Thou shall not kill. I would like to write more, but I’mm no count to……., signed Righteously Indignant.