{"id":341,"date":"1972-11-09T18:45:33","date_gmt":"1972-11-09T23:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/?p=341"},"modified":"2016-10-05T10:19:42","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T15:19:42","slug":"virginia-bishop-cracks-down-on-disobedient-priest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/?p=341","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Bishop Cracks Down On Disobedient Priest"},"content":{"rendered":"<body><h1 class=\"ocr\"><a id=\"post-341-bookmark0\"><\/a>Virginia Bishop Cracks Down<br>\nOn Disobedient Priest<\/h1>\n<h6 class=\"ocr\">W. H. MARSHNER<\/h6>\n<p class=\"info\">THE WANDERER<br>\n(Special to the Wanderer)<br>\nNovember 9, 1972<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Bishop John J. Russell of Richmond has removed Fr. Robert J. Walsh, pastor of St. Mark\u2019s Church, Vienna, Va., for employing the unauthorized Communion-in-the- hand method of distributing the Blessed Sacrament and for repeatedly ignoring orders to desist. Demoted and transferred, Fr. Walsh is to become an assistant in Portsmouth, Va., while the pastorate at St. Mark\u2019s goes to Fr. Robert C. Brooks.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Bishop Russell\u2019s action came after several warnings, public and private. At one point, Fr. Walsh had been asked to come to Richmond to discuss his activities. His reply, according to the Washington Post, was, \u201cHell, no. If they want to talk to me, let them come here.\u201d Finally the Bishop sent Fr. Walsh a letter commanding him to desist from the unauthorized practice and binding him \u201cin holy obedience.\u201d When, thereafter, the Bishop again received reports of Fr. Walsh\u2019s disobedience, he had no choice but to act as he has. His decision was announced October 25th.<\/p>\n<p>Bishop Russell\u2019s dramatic move must be seen against the background of the religious situation in the northern Virginia suburbs. By all accounts, it is one of the most \u201cpolarized,\u201d places in the Catholic Church in America. On one extreme, there are \u201cunderground churches,\u201d like the infamous \u201cNova community,\u201d where leaders of the Liturgical Conference are known to hang out. On the other extreme is the schismatic \u201cLatin Rite\u201d congregation. called \u201cSt. Athanasius.\u201d Northern Virginia is a place where several recent attempts have been made by unknown persons to pry open tabernacles, and where an eager crowd of several hundred gathered recently to hear weird \u201cprophecies\u201d about the suppression of the Mass.<\/p>\n<p>The same polarization has been at work in Fr. Walsh\u2019s own St. Mark\u2019s. Some of his own parishioners denounced him to Bishop Russell, while other parishioners are now resorting to sit-in tactics and a lawsuit to support the deposed pastor. Bishop Russell is conscious, no doubt, that the unity of the Church can be preserved in such a situation only if all parties are strictly bound by the same rules, canonically and rubrically. If the Bishop allows \u201cprogressive\u201d churchmen to do as they please, he destroys his own credibility in trying to restrain \u201cright wing\u201d schismatics, and vice versa.<\/p>\n<p>Such pastoral reasoning appears to have been lost, however, on Fr. Walsh\u2019s fanatical supporters. They have blockaded the rectory to prevent the new pastor, Fr. Brooks, from taking up residence; and finally, securing the legal services of a man named Wyatt Durrette, the parish council has filed a civil suit to prevent Bishop Russell from removing Walsh (thus acting in contempt of canon law as well as both the spirit and the letter of the New Testament). It is not even clear that the parish council has standing to bring such a suit, since according to diocesan rules, \u201cthe parish advisory board shall serve as a consultative and advisory body to the pastor \u2026 the board has no directive, operational, or administrative authority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The basically anti-Catholic character of the council\u2019s suit is revealed in both its contentions. The first is that Bishop Russell did not submit to certain \u201cdue process\u201d procedures alleged to be normative in the Diocese. The Bishop maintains that he is free to use these procedures or not; otherwise it is impossible to see how he could retain his authority to bind anyone in religious obedience. The second contention holds that the Bishop is not really the owner of the church property but only a kind of \u201ctrustee\u201d who has to use the property \u201cin the best interests of the people of the parish.\u201d But obviously, if a secular court of law can determine that a Catholic Bishop has violated these \u201cinterests,\u201d then it follows (1) that the Bishop is deprived of all real authority, and (2) that the \u201cinterests\u201d of the parish are not really Catholic but secular.<\/p>\n<p>In the face of these actions, Bishop Russell has insisted, evermore strongly, that he will not, and in conscience cannot, \u201cback down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, almost forgotten, there is the strange behavior of Fr. Walsh. The Sunday after he was notified of his deposition, Fr. Walsh preached at all Masses. People jammed the aisles, especially at the 10:30 a.m. service. His subject was obedience.<\/p>\n<p>Mankind is \u201cborn to be obedient, and when we are obedient we are free,\u201d he said. \u201cObedience is trust, but I can\u2019t be obedient unless the one or ones to whom I give my mind and heart keep the trust.\u201d Without mentioning Bishop Russell by name, Walsh complained of divided authority, of \u201chaving to listen to two voices at the same time.\u201d The one to be obeyed, he said, \u201cis the one you can trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Citing the religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, Walsh claimed that \u201cobedience is the pinnacle.\u201d Then he went on, \u201cIn all my 57 years and still, I have never been able to apply to myself the motto that a man\u2019s house is his castle. Instead, I\u2019ve always lived in obedience. I\u2019ve never for one moment suggested that I am without sin, anymore than any man, but if anybody wants to stab me in the heart \u2014 let him call me any dirty thing they want to call me \u2014\u201d he paused, gripped the edges of the pulpit and roared, \u201cbut don\u2019t say I\u2019m a disobedient man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The congregation sat in stunned silence as tears welled in Fr. Walsh\u2019s eyes, then burst into a standing ovation, as the priest strode down the aisle and out the front door.<\/p>\n<p>Fr. Walsh\u2019s dilemma is not new. Didn\u2019t Our Lord say something about the luckless state of those who claim to two masters?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/WM-1972-11-9-1-OCR.pdf\" target='_blank\"'>Click here for PDF<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virginia Bishop Cracks Down On Disobedient Priest W. H. MARSHNER THE WANDERER (Special to the Wanderer) November 9, 1972 WASHINGTON \u2014 Bishop John J. Russell of Richmond has removed Fr. Robert J. Walsh, pastor of St. Mark\u2019s Church, Vienna, Va., for employing the unauthorized Communion-in-the- hand method of distributing the Blessed Sacrament and for repeatedly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/?p=341\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Virginia Bishop Cracks Down On Disobedient Priest&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[215,716,75,51,52,717,76],"class_list":["post-341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wanderer","tag-arlington","tag-john-j-russell","tag-obedience","tag-priesthood","tag-priests","tag-richmond","tag-robert-j-walsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1891,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions\/1891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marshner.christendom.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}