Taylor Marshall, Catholic apologist and former Chancellor at Fisher More College has broken silence to describe the very serious situation at the college which is apparently directly related to the president's positions and financial irresponsibility.
Check out his Facebook statement here and please pray for everyone involved. The ones who will suffer most are clearly the students.
Taylor Marshall's statement is interesting and may be true. I have no reason to assume it isn't. But I still fail to see the connection between the problems at the University and the Bishop's solution of banning the Traditional Mass. Mr. Marshall's lengthy exposure of what he perceives as the background dirt still doesn't address the basic question: What does the Traditional Mass have to do with what may or may not be particular problems at the University?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Elizabeth. I can only guess, but to put the best construction on the bishop's action, if the president is bringing in SSPX priests to say the Mass, that may explain it. The FSSP pulled their priest out.
ReplyDeleteI think the bishop's letter was unfortunate since it was likely to be publicized and, perhaps, misunderstood. So it would have been better to explain more completely his reasons in the letter. But, if he thought it was a private letter that would not become public, then the two people involved, the bishop and the president, knew exactly why it said what it said.
Anyway, at this point I don't want to speculate too much. I think my initial comments on the matter were imprudent and rash. I'm giving the bishop the benefit of the doubt on this in view of other factors that have come out.
The college has not been hosting SSPX priests. You can find all the information about the priests who have said mass at the college on their website. You can also find information about the speakers the college has hosted there.
ReplyDeletehttp://fishermore.edu/welcome/
I'm here in Fort Worth, and I can tell you we are disappointed, but we know the fight the college has been going through for the last couple of years.
ReplyDeleteThere are families here who love and support the college. There are no SSPX priests here, and never have been. I've been at the chapel, and its only been run by FSSP priests until the local FSSP parish decided they couldn't run a third apostolate (or at least, that's what we heard). There are already 2 other FSSP parishes in the area.
I know that there are all sorts of kids there. I spoke to kids who are new to traditional mass, and others who have been in it for a while. I also know that there are SSPX kids there too. I was at first scandalized by it, but I think after reflection, I don't know where else they would fit in, or where they would be accepted. They too deserve to go to school right? I spoke to someone yesterday too, who said there are currently just 2 SSPX students. The rest are either FSSP or Institute kids or kids from Novus ordo parishes.
Plus, when I went to the graduation ceremony last year, I saw Dr. Marshall at the ceremony. He gave a beautiful speech and shook the hands of the only two SSPX gals who were graduating at the time and wished them the best of luck.
Dr. Marshall hasn't really said anything to make sense of the matter except point at personal issues. I liked him, but not after what he posted on his blog.
So, the kids and other families that benefit from the 10am Sunday mass (like me and my family) are up in arms. If there is a problem with the president, why doesn't the bishop stipulate that in his letter. It's all so weird.
UNiversity of Dallas has weird people on staff--Catholic and non-Catholic. Georgetown has the same and Notre Dame has the same too...but yet a tiny college is the big problem? Give me a break.
Thanks Athenaeus and Gwen for your information and comments. Sounds like you are on the front lines. I will be offering my daily rosary for a good resolution. You make a very valid point, Gwen, when you mention problematic staff at major Catholic schools. Dissenters are legion at many. I echo your distress that the little guys are always labeled as the big problem.
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