...His staff made him do it.Really?
Really?
Is this the evolved version of "The devil made me do it?" Hey, maybe the staff were devils out to get Bransfield. After all, that's his whining claim these days. "THEY" want to ruin his reputation. HE is completely innocent.
I can't stop laughing long enough to write. (Taking deep breaths into a paper bag.)
It really isn't funny. Bransfield more than matched his outrageous sexual and drinking habits with his capacity to spend other people's money -- money given to do the work of God. Explain that on Judgment Day, Michael!
Robert O'Harrow and Shawn Boburg exposed Bransfield profligacy in an article yesterday in the Washington Post. (Thanks, guys!)
A penthouse, limousines and private jets: Inside the globe-trotting life of Bishop Michael Bransfield
Here's just one chart from the article.
Hey! Why ride first class on a commercial jet (He did that occasionally too.) when you can have your staff arrange a private charter for you? No doubt he drank top shelf booze on the trips flying high in more ways than one.
And jewelry? I don't even want to go there.
If you were a Catholic in the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, one of the poorest states in the country what would you think about all this? Well, I can tell you my take. He's the equivalent of a horse thief in the Wild West. I imagine plenty of his "flock" would like to take him out to the nearest tree for a lynching party. No wonder the Church told him to get out of Dodge and don't come back.
According to friends in Wheeling, Archbishop Lori told the financial council that the diocese, the victims of Bransfield's financial rape, would have to pay his "retirement"!!! Ai yi yi! Hopefully, that is a false rumor. Talk about adding insult to injury!
Whenever I look at Bransfield, I see a pathetic little man who widened his phylacteries and lengthened his tassels and indulged in every luxury to emphasize his importance and gather sycophants to help him enjoy life's pleasures to the full. Like the L'Oreal commercial, Bransfield believed everything in the diocese belonged to him because, "I'm worth it."
Pray for the man. Jesus doesn't want the destruction of even his most pathetic and wicked children. Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy, pray for Michae's repentance and conversion and bring healing to the Diocese of Wheeling and all our family and friends who live there.
The Washington Post has written plenty of very detailed articles about Bishop Bransfield and yet, in their own backyard they are totally silent about the misdeeds and lifestyle of his successor at the Basilica, Msgr. Walter Rossi, who is currently under investigation. Rossi was appointed to the post at the Basilica by none other than his good friend, "Uncle Ted". There is really nothing for the Post to investigate regarding Rossi because investigative reporter George Neumayr has already done several very thorough reports on Rossi's. You can find several of his articles about Rossi in the online version of the American Spectator.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I am impressed by your perspective that we should indeed pray for Bransfield and ilk in spite of our feelings toward his gross and many excesses;. While he/they live, there is still hope for his salvation. He is after all still a child of God and as such, much loved by his creator. Sometimes, (too often) we are blinded by the extent and gravity of the depravity of our fellow 'pilgrims' through life that we condemn and forgo Prayer for the salvation of the miscreant.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reminder...
Bishop Branfield has facial rashes and fatty skin lumps often associated with hiv medications. Is this a recent picture?
ReplyDeleteIt's a Catholic News Service photo from a recent article, but it looks like an old file photo to me. I couldn't find a date associated with it.
ReplyDelete