On Monday, Father Perez-Rodriguez confirmed that he had met with Archbishop Jerome Listecki two months ago and had explained the goals of Spirit Mission and the off peak hours of support it was providing the South side community.H. Nelson Goodson
Unfortunately, Listecki failed to value the innovative approach by Father Perez-Rodriguez and Spirit Mission. Listecki seems to lack information about the spiritual needs of the Latino community in Milwaukee. Listecki could not be reached for comment, but the Archdiocese of Milwaukee spokesperson said, Catholic churches in Milwaukee are growing, but the church doesn't have the personnel to keep the churches open late at night or during the weekends. In this case, Perez-Rodriguez was advocating for the archdiocese to support Spirit Mission who would take up the needed after hours spiritual needs for the Milwaukee area churches, which Archbishop Listecki and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee decided not to invest in Spirit Mission's model.
On December 15, 2008, Dolan received a set of documents and proposal of the model plan for Spirit Mission. The documents provided actual proof the model plan had worked and had parishioner support. Even, Dolan supported the plan, but left the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to become the Archbishop of New York City.
Honestly, it looks like the archdiocese dropped the ball here. Looking at some of the activities, this all looks very beneficial to the Hispanic community in Wisconsin.
Perhaps the question on how US law should handle illegal immigrants is coming into play here? (is Perez advocating publicly something Listecki opposes)
5 comments:
Careful. The A'diocese is being VERY cagey about its comments on the matter.
Usually means that there's a lot more to the story than Fr. E's pals are putting out.
Well I have to draw my own conclusions here until we get the rest of the story. The only explanation I can come up with is he supports something the archdiocese doesn't(possibly that the Church doesn't). And since he is Latino, I assume it is perhaps something to do with Latino issues, as opposed to women "priests" or some other goofball issue although it certainly could.
Umnnnhhhh....it's not likely he's pushing wacky crap, or the local newspaper would be ALL over it (several of their reporters speak Spanish, so it's not a problem to understand what he preaches about.)
COULD be "latino issues," but again, if that were the case, the newspaper would be all over it. They'd jump at the chance, given Listecki's intervention in the MU/lesbian brouhaha.
On this one, my sense is that the A'diocese is doing the right thing for reasons they WILL not articulate.
As a life long Catholic and graduate of Messmer and Mount Mary, who also volunteers for Spirit Mission and used to volunteer at St. Adalberts, I can say that you are way off base. In Mexico, a priest is on call 24/7 for his parishioners. That is how Fr. Perez was here in Milwaukee. Here they want to keep bankers hours and some are not even giving out their personal phone numbers, even for emergencies like last rites.
I admire him greatly for always going above and beyond what he had to do for the sake of his parishioners. His immediate "boss" Fr. Luis did not approve of this and was perhaps jealous of his popularity and perhaps it was he that caused a lot of roadblocks in Father's way inhibiting him to do even more. Fr. Perez is a good man, outstanding priest, and the most dedicated person I have ever known to his profession as a Catholic priest. To say he will be missed is an understatement.
Interesting, thank you for your input Monica.
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