In the meantime, you could all go in and set up the sanctuary the way it used to be.

Best Wishes and God Bless!

Our Lady of Lourdes is well-known for its conservative reputation. Under our former pastor, the sacraments were widely available, Marian devotion was very strong, and we were accustomed to a firm adherence to Church doctrine in all matters.

Whether you are sympathetic or not to a pastoral agenda like this, we ask you to indulge us for just a moment.

When Msgr. James Lisante was appointed pastor of our parish, he immediately went on the offensive to eradicate traditional customs and expression from our parish life, without regard to the sensibilities or desires of the largely conservative parishioners. Within two weeks, he and his assistant, Fr. Matthew, had removed Our Lady’s statue, the altar crucifixes, the modesty sign and re-arranged our sanctuary to look like a VFW-hall, against all normal standards of aesthetics or taste.

Understandably hurt by these rapid and insensitive changes, several parishioners made inquiries about “Fr. Matthew,” and it was discovered he was a priest without faculties who has been living with Msgr. Lisante at his former parish for the last eight years. This information was given to Bishop Murphy at the request of Fr. Blockley’s bishop, and Fr. Blockley was instantly expelled from the diocese.

There was never a word of apology from Msgr. Lisante about this incredibly irresponsible and derelict action on his part. Instead, he continued to pursue his agenda, his next step being the employment of a music minister, Peter Rapanaro. On Peter Rapanaro’s own website, the stunned parishioners discovered that Rapanaro was the director of a blasphemous theatrical production in 2003 at a Greenwich Village playhouse, “My Big Gay Italian Wedding,” and was involved in a gay musical, “Rainbow Phi,” which enjoyed a successful run at a Fire Island playhouse.

Further investigation into “My Big Gay Italian Wedding” revealed that it was a blasphemous pro-gay marriage screed, and featured vulgar displays of gay camp, jokes about pedophile priests and oral sex. The second-rate production can be accurately described as an attack on the Catholic priesthood, Catholic marriage, and Catholic morality as well as on common decency and respect.

Complaints about Rapanaro’s appointment as Co-Director of Music have yielded the information from Sean Dolan, the diocesan spokesman, that Rapanaro is currently under investigation by the diocese for accusations of a serious nature, which have not been disclosed.

In addition to these shocking and irresponsible decisions, Msgr. Lisante has recently reduced the weekend Mass schedule and the hours of confession by half. In a particularly vindictive move, he is cancelling the retired pastor’s “Children’s Mass,” held for the past thirty-two years in the school chapel on Sunday mornings which many of the more conservative parishioners (and his harshest critics) attend. The pastor has told several parishioners this change was directed by the chancery itself, a fact which has recently been disputed by Sean Dolan, the diocesan spokesman.

It is also well known that Msgr. Lisante is rarely in the parish and resides at the parish rectory only one day out of seven, contrary to Canon Law (Canon 533) which requires a pastor to reside in a rectory near the parish church and which has been a special directive of Bishop Murphy himself.

As may be expected, many letters and phone calls have been directed to Msgr. Lisante, Bishop Murphy and to various Roman congregations about these matters, with extremely brief and limited response, so we are turning to you for your prayers and advice.

We would like to make it very clear that when our new pastor arrived, we were ready to welcome him and looked forward to a renewal and revitalization of our parish. Though we love our former pastor, Fr. Robert Mason, we were aware that there were defects in his management style, as there are with every pastor, and we expected changes and a fresh approach, which we were ready to accept with open minds and hears.

However, what Bishop Murphy sent us instead was a pastor with minimal to none conservative credentials and apparently no sympathy whatsoever for traditional Catholic practice and orthodoxy. If the bishop were indeed determined to bring this “ecclesiastical backwater” into the 21st century, it should have been done with patience, sensitivity and respect, and a wiser and gentler pastor could have accomplished what changes were absolutely necessary with wisdom and compassion, without making adversaries of his people.
iship William Murphy has done nothing about him.