Church in Hospice

Mike noted this weblog by Father Paul Stanosz of St. James Church here in Franklin.

Father Stanosz giveth on the parish web site.

Since arriving at St. James in June 2004, I have been delighted to be part of a vibrant Catholic Christian community that seeks to know and follow Jesus Christ. As a parish, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit for daily Christian living and service to the Church's mission. Through Baptism, we are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praise of God who called us out of darkness into his Christ's wonderful light." Baptism empowers us to fulfill our calling as disciples of Christ. We are empowered to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to grow in holiness, to love our neighbor, to care for the least of our brothers and sisters, to seek justice, and to build up the Body of Christ through the exercise of our baptismal gifts in service of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

At his blog he taketh away.

Here I make observations regarding the multiple crises engulfing the Roman Catholic Church from my perspective as a pastor and sociologist. I believe that the clergy sexual abuse crisis is only a symptom of a much deeper malady and transformation that is unfolding. I analyze the symptoms and seek reasons for hope amidst the pain.

His blog name looks to be from Rev. Bryan N. Massingale's address to the 2004 Assembly of Priests.

Fr. Stanosz's first blog entry on April 11, 2006, wraps up,

The purpose of this blog is for me to have a chance to share my thoughts as I try to understand what has happened to the church I grew up in and why it is a church in hospice care.

One reason for our Church's condition might be that St. James, and other parishes, needs the pastor of the web site but gets the pastor of the weblog. As things stand, why don't they just change the name to Moping Archdiocese Priests Alliance? Though with Fr. Massingale keynoting, they might be crossing over from Moping to Morbid.

P.S. His first post gives this unsurprising supplement to recent news.

Last week, in announcing that after 150 years, St. Francis Seminary would no longer continue as a free-standing theologate (academic institution), Archbishop Dolan said that the Cousins Center would be sold. He did not say what a seminary official revealed at a meeting I attended recently. Namely, that the diocese hoped to sell the facility for ten million dollars and that all of it would be needed to pay for the settlement of lawsuits related to one priest, Siegfried Widera.

Those are the lawsuits pending in California.