What does an Alinskyite parish look like? St. Peters in Little Washington, VA is the Answer!

Fr. "Tuck" Grinnell

When a pastor decides he'd rather follow the ungodly example of Saul Alinsky rather than the example of Jesus Christ, it has devastating effects on the people of his flock. St. Peters in Little Washington, VA used to be an orthodox parish. After many years of faithful, reverent priests who formed the parish into a cohesive family of God, however, they were assigned an Alinsky follower named Fr. Horace ("call me Tuck") Grinnell.

Fr. "Tuck" helped to found the Industrial Foundations affiliate, VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement), in northern Virginia when he was a pastor there. His credentials as a dissenter are long. While at St. Anthony's in Bailey's Crossroads, his Grinnell Lecture Series in honor of his parents welcomed numerous dissenters to speak including Monika ("the modernist") Hellwig now deceased. One of his cheerleaders, "Sister" Brigid Mary Meehan, ultimately had herself "ordained" as a priestess and now pretends to be a Catholic bishop.

When he was pastor at St. Charles in Arlngton, Father invited the Nuns on the Bus to use the Church  as a propaganda stop for liberalism and to promote Democrat candidates. The list of scandals goes on and on.

I have no animosity toward Fr. Grinnell. In fact, I like him personally. When he was the associate at our parish in Alexandria years ago, he came to our home for dinner. When my husband and I were a team couple for Engaged Encounter, we did several weekends with him. A few months ago we took him out to lunch. He can be charming, friendly, and helpful as long as you don't cross him and challenge the misuse of his authority. That's when the velvet glove transforms into the mailed fist. And that's what faithful Catholics at St. Peter's are experiencing.

Father moved into St. Peter's in 2014 and immediately began transforming the parish into a worldly community where Alinsky organizers would be right at home. He eliminated the pew missals, dumped the Adoremus Hymnal, added dissent materials to the book rack, and began the purge. Some parishioners saw the writing on the wall and left for St. John the Baptist in Front Royal or St.John the Evangelist in Warrenton where the faith thrives. But a few courageous souls stayed and began to fight. One couple started a blog called The Sheep of Kephas where they lament and mourn and lift the rock to expose the creepy crawlies underneath, like the fact that they had no Thanksgiving Mass, but instead an ecumenical prayer service.

St. Peter's in Little Washington

They describe another Mass where a choir member came up to alert Father to the fact he skipped the Consecration. (The Mass was taped and a transcript of the portion of the Mass involved is here.) I have to admit I found this puzzling and have some questions First, how is it possible? Is Father using the Sacramentary or does he just wing the Mass and make up his own Eucharistic Prayers? (We've seen that done in other parishes outside the diocese.) How can a priest skip the Consecration if he's following the book and the rubrics? Were his fingers sticky? Did two pages get stuck together? Was he so intent on thinking about the next organizing event, he didn't notice? On the other hand, can he be suffering from dementia or Alzheimers? Maybe it's time to retire on disability, although when we went out to lunch, I didn't see any signs of mental aberration, just spiritual.

Father has also fired members of the Pastoral Council and the Finance Council who question his liberal actions or his spending. Among those removed from the pastoral council was one of the writers of the Kephas blog who mentioned to me in an email that he also finds Fr. Grinnell a very engaging person. They began the blog, not to attack Fr. Grinnell, but to defend the faith.

Oh...lest I forget, another big change for St. Peter's is that they used to have regular daily Mass. Now, however, parishioners never know when they'll find a note on the door announcing cancellation. Excuse my cynicism, but, after all, when one is busy organizing the churches of Rappahannock County to become Alinsky power groups, how can parishioners expect regular celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to worship the God of the Universe? Organizing and ecumenism appear to take precedence as Father illustrated by substituting an ecumenical prayer service for Thanksgiving Mass..

A recent post at Kephas titled Assent to Counter Dissent – The Day the M̶̷̲̅ᴜ̶̷̲̅s̶̷̲̅ɪ̶̷̲̅ᴄ̶̷̲̅  Parish Died gives a sad snapshot of the devastating impact of Fr. Tuck's tenure two years in. Please read it. Is there any worse suffering than the persecution that comes from an abusive "father?" I heartily recommend the Sheep of Kephas blog and urge readers to pray for the poor abandoned people of St. Peter's. They are a small parish, and I suspect Fr. Grinnell is devastating them financially as well as spiritually. Many have stopped contributing, although maybe some of that is compensated for by Father's liberal fan club some of whom drive from inside the Beltway to cheer on the devastation.

Note to Father Grinnell:

If you're reading this: That third millstone you said you'd like to add to your collection? It's yours. And please, readers, pray for this priest of God, a son of Mary, who has so betrayed her Son. I can only imagine Mary's grief at what this child of hers is doing and failing to do. Hey, Father, want to go to lunch?