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Friday, December 2, 2016

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?


8 comments:

  1. Those pew missals provide a lot more than readings. They contain real CATHOLIC stuff some of which is hardly ever mentioned in a liberal parish. Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, for instance. And prayers that can be said before and after mass, which is almost unheard of in liberal modern parishes where people much prefer to chat. They make available to any person entering the church day and night an opportunity to peruse the mass, the readings, prayers, and on the back page, specific information about receiving Holy Communion. So the motive at St. John Neumann and in Fr. Tuck's parish, no doubt, is not to save money--which SJN has in abundance, or to hold your attention, it is, to make the pew less CATHOLIC and less "rigid."

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    1. Ms. Kreitzer, You have no animosity towards Father Tuck? You could have fooled me. With friends like you he certainly doesn't need any enemies. I have found Father Tuck to be a giving loving, person who gives of his time and energy to help the Rappahannock community. Please, before you look any more silly, stop being a bully.

      Richard Krammes

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  2. Oh my, Mr. Krammes, I'm a bully?

    I don't have the power to dismiss concerned parishioners from the Parish Council or the Finance Council because they dare to ask questions. Or to take money from parishioners and spend it without accountability to those who donate it.

    I'm just a little old granny with a keyboard who hates to see priests who swear to uphold the faith damage it. Fr. Grinnell asked me to give him another millstone for his collection and I'm a very obliging person, never a bully.

    As for helping Rappahannock County, Fr. Grinnell could do that and still perform the primary duties of his vocation. The crux of the problem is that he is a community organizer first and a Catholic priest second...or maybe third...or fourth.

    Readers, please pray for Fr. Grinnell.

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  3. Mrs Krammes is an employee of Fr G. 'Nuff said.

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  4. Just one question: Has ANYONE contacted the bishop about this man? In particular, that "missed the Consecration" debacle should certainly be brought to his attention!
    - Deacon Bob Davis

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  5. It was. Fr. Grinnell has been a scandal for years and there have been many contacts with the chancery. There was no love lost between him and Bishop Loverde even before the big blowup. I think he was sent to the boonies to get him out of the bishop's hair, but it certainly was not fair to the faithful of St. Peters. In my opinion he should have been demoted to associate, but that would have necessitated the bishop making a case since pastors have canonical rights.

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  6. 12-12-16 Reading this blog did NOT make my day. It left me rather sad/dismayed.
    Shame on the Diocese Archbishop and/or Bishop, even the Cardinal of the area for being irresponsible towards the plight of a parish. Canonical rights or not, any priest should be removed promptly for their outrageous liberalism and detraction from the orthodox faith. If this priest wants to run his own parish let him join the American Catholic Church - where all those priests have a date with Jesus on judgment day.I have already posted the article on my FB wall. Hopefully other authentic Catholics will pray for the soul of Mr. Tuck. He doesn't deserve the name Father - as he has been misleading his flock(s) away from the fullness of truth in the Catholic Faith.
    LJW, Leander, TX

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  7. I agree LJW. I wish Fr. Tuck were the only one. Whenever we travel, we research parishes in the area and I often find websites that flash a big red warning. I recently posted about one parish I stumbled on when I was actually looking for another parish (in Round Rock, TX) with the same name, St. William of York. We are living in very strange times when a diocese may have one parish full of heresy and another a few miles away that offers the Tridentine Mass. No wonder people are saying we are in schism. If you're ever in Louisville avoid this terrible parish:

    https://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2016/12/an-anonymous-letter-and-promise-of.html

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