PLYMOUTH, Michigan, November 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A leading parishioner has spoken up to defend a priest who believes he was removed from the parish for objecting to an archdiocesan cover-up of homosexual grooming.
Ron Thompson, a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel and at least until recently chair of its Finance Council, has released a statement defending Fr. Michael Suhy. The priest was banished from Our Lady of Good Counsel church and school in Plymouth, Michigan, last week following what archdiocesan officials claimed was a canonical process.
But Suhy swiftly released a testimony of an archdiocesan cover-up involving the alleged sexual harassment and grooming of a young man by a “prominent” employee of the Archdiocese of Detroit. Subsequently Thompson, Suhy’s civil lawyer, issued a statement pointing out that the priest’s removal was “unjust.”
“The evidence touted by the Archdiocese of Detroit in support of his removal is more than questionable: It is concocted and it is specious,” Thompson wrote.
“It includes (I do not jest): that the associate pastors Fr. Tim Wezner and Fr. Tony Camilleri were not consulted when Fr. Michael — the pastor — decided to get a dog for himself; that Fr. Suhy left sporting events “early”; and that Fr. Suhy didn’t rely upon Zillow.com for calculating the square footage of his rectory, instead preferring Redfin.com.”
Thompson also challenged Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby’s claim that Suhy had “become overwhelmed with the responsibilities, burdens, and challenges of administrating a large and complex parish like Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish with its added dimension of having a school.”
“Fr. Michael was not overwhelmed with the administration of our large parish with its school as accused,” Thompson declared. “I say this, because I have closely collaborated with Fr. Michael in the formulation of the budget for the 2020/2021 Fiscal Year and have witnessed his leadership in various meetings.”
Suhy’s recent successes in his leadership of the parish included establishing an outdoor altar in the parish parking lot so that Masses could be said there during the pandemic; cutting the operating expenses of the parish by 20%; working with the school principal to reduce the school’s financial dependence on the parish; confirming over 100 children despite the pandemic, celebrating First Communions with over 100 children and their families despite the pandemic, and inspiring his parishioners to be generous.
“As of November 17, 2020, the Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel was $79,000 ahead of budget in terms of weekly offerings,” the Chair of the Finance Council wrote. “A man who fails at being a pastor is not capable of presiding over such an economic success — during the midst of a pandemic and half-empty churches for that matter!”
The parish school, too, has been thriving, Thompson attested. The enrollment is increasing, and Suhy had an “almost daily” presence on campus, serving the school every Wednesday morning.
“As the civil attorney for Fr. Michael Suhy, I believe, as does my client, that he was removed after vocally objecting and expressing deep concern – repeatedly – against the whitewashing of the sexual harassment and attempted grooming and homosexual indoctrination that parents of a young man had informed both the Archbishop and Fr. Suhy of,” Thompson wrote.
The lawyer contrasted the kid-glove treatment given the male homosexual with the firing of a female music director after she “married” her long-term female partner. 59-year-old Terri Gonda was dismissed from her post by the Archdiocese this June.
“The fact that the Archbishop of Detroit selectively fires lesbian employees but decides to keep very close to him known male homosexual staff is not only unconscionable, it is hypocritical,” Thompson declared.
Remarks attributed to Pope Francis (and, not denied by the Vatican) in support of homosexual civil unions have caused grave scandal to the faithful.
Please SIGN this urgent petition which asks Pope Francis to clarify and rectify these heterodox and scandalous remarks on homosexual civil unions, and which will be delivered both to the Vatican and to the Papal Nuncio of the United States (the Pope's official representative in the U.S.).
As the last guarantor of the Faith, the Pope should clarify and rectify these remarks, which go against the perennial teaching of the Church, even including the teaching of his living predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
"What we have to create is a law of civil coexistence [meaning civil union law, for homosexuals]...," Pope Francis is reported to have remarked, in what is arguably his clearest statement of public support for a practice morally prohibited by official Catholic Church teaching.
In fact, the Church has been crystal clear in Her opposition to homosexual unions.
Just in 2003, Pope Saint John Paul II approved a document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, titled 'Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons' and written by Cardinal Ratzinger (now, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), which concludes with the following:
"The Church teaches that respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in any way to approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions. The common good requires that laws recognize, promote and protect marriage as the basis of the family, the primary unit of society. Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity. The Church cannot fail to defend these values, for the good of men and women and for the good of society itself."
It could not be more clear: the Church is calling people to repentance, not to be left to indulge in grave sin.
Since becoming public, several senior prelates as well as other notable Catholic figures have voiced their opposition to these remarks attributed to the Pontiff.
Cardinal Raymond Burke stated: "It is a source of deepest sadness and pressing pastoral concern that the private opinions reported with so much emphasis by the press and attributed to Pope Francis do not correspond to the constant teaching of the Church, as it is expressed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition."
Cardinal Gerhard Müller commented: "Where there is tension between the plain and obvious Word of God and the infallible interpretation on the one hand, and private expressions of opinion even by the highest church authorities on the other, the principle always applies: in dubio pro DEO [When in doubt, be in favor of God]."
And, Catholic theologian and apologist Scott Hahn, without directly quoting Pope Francis, shared on Facebook the 'Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,' published by the CDF in 1986, with the statement: "Holy Father, respectfully and humbly, I beg to differ... if that is indeed what you said. In any case, please clarify and rectify your statement, especially in view of the official teaching of our Lord through the magisterium of His Church."
But, the silence from the Vatican has been deafening, with no clarification forthcoming.
We must, therefore, ask the Pope for clarification in this serious matter.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks Pope Francis to clarify and rectify remarks attributed to him in support of homosexual civil unions.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Cdl. Burke: Pope’s homosexual civil union remarks ‘contrary’ to Scripture, Tradition' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/cardinal-burke-on-popes-homosexual-civil-union-remarks-contrary-to-the-teaching-of-sacred-scripture-and-sacred-tradition
'Cardinal says Catholics ‘can and should’ disagree with Pope’s ‘opinion’ on gay civil unions' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/cdl.mueller-popes-words-on-gay-civil-unions-purely-private-expression-of-opinion-which-every-catholic-can-and-should-freely-contradict
'Archbishop Vigano, Bishops Tobin and Strickland respond to Pope’s approval of homosexual civil unions' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/archbishop-vigano-and-bishops-tobin-strickland-respond-to-popes-approval-of-homosexual-civil-unions
'Pope’s comments on gay civil unions cause shockwaves around the world' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/deepest-sadness-cardinal-burke-condemns-pope-franciss-remarks-supporting-civil-unions
A GoFundMe drive to support Fr. Michael Suhy’s lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Detroit has been set up by Nicholas Suhy of Canton, Michigan. Suhy also now has an “official website” containing contact details and his former parishioner’s statement of support.
LifeSiteNews has reached out to both to Fr. Tim Wezner and to Ron Thompson but has not received a reply from either man.
To make your opinion respectfully and charitably known to the Archdiocese of Detroit, please contact:
The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron
Archbishop of Detroit
12 State Street
Detroit MI 48226-1823
(313) 237-5816
[email protected]
Or:
The Most Reverend Gerard W. Battersby
Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit
35637 Cherry Hill Road
Westland, MI 48186
(734) 895-9101
[email protected]