Sunday, April 15, 2007

St. James Callan of Rochester?

James Callan is back in the news.

A priest excommunicated after he became the pastor of the schismatic Catholic community of Spiritus Christi, Father Callan has said that the loss of his pastoral duties was the most painful experience of his life.

For him, excommunication is a null concept. Holy Orders are forever. Callan was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. He will be a priest for all eternity. So, he still consecrates, transubstantiates and distributes the Holy Eucharist. What more could he want?

I can tell you what he doesn't want. He doesn't want the Church to exclude gays, women, divorcés, and other Catholics whose souls long for the Seven Sacraments.

As a cradle Catholic who loves the Church, I can imagine how hurt he is, the psychic pain he must feel at his own exclusion. Still he follows his conscience, ministering to the Church's outcasts in Spiritus Christi.

The Star-Gazette states that he "formed" Spiritus Christi. I object. Callan did not "start" his own church.

It sounds as if Spiritus Christi was inadvertently formed by the Roman Catholic Church herself.

Spiritus Christi began with people cast out of Roman Catholicism. Jim's flock are married Catholic gays, Catholic women called to the priesthood, remarried Catholic divorcés, and many others who want to receive the Holy Eucharist, but are not "in communion" with Rome.

These are not simply "issues" that haunt Rome; they are people who feel cruelly kept out of the Church.

And Father Callan doesn't need Rome to be a real hero, i.e., a saint.

Canonization does not create a saint: it only recognizes the fact.

Go, Jim, go!


pb
LIttle Pond

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

For him, excommunication is a null concept. Holy Orders are forever.

I always wondered where the Baptists got the idea that once they were sanctified, they would always be sanctified regardless of what transgressions they commit later in life. Wonder what a just and holy God thinks of that?

Anyhow, your support for Callan is admirable but do you not find it a wee bit curious that Callan even bothers calling it church since the Bible is very clear: you either believe it ... or you don't. And last I checked lo these many years, the verses condemning the acts of homosexuality were intact. As I recall my childhood training, we are called to love the sinner but never the sin. That may be old-fashioned but I suspect that, on God's timeline, it is still valid. IMHO, Callan's time would be much more rewarding if he were exhorting folks to follow actual Biblical truths instead of pandering to the sin-de-jour.

Nice dach BTW. We lost our own dear lady to old age in December. At 13, she was just too tired to stay ahead of the cancer any more. RIP.

pb said...

Our just and holy God sends his rain and graces down onto all his beloved children, all who are sinners alike.

Father Callan feels called to offer the sacraments to all the dispossessed mentioned above. He has made it clear that he fully understands what he is doing, and is willing to accept the consequences. He knew all along it would be painful and that he would be condemned by people every step of the way.

We obey the call we hear. He does not hear a call to preach biblical truths. His call is to offer the sacraments. If I am not mistaken, he has ministers who preach and interpret the Word. I have not heard their preaching, and don't wish to comment on that until I do.

My heart hurt when I read your RIP for your sadly missed doxie. I dread the days we will sit in watch on our little HuggaMutt.

God Bless.