Jim Corcoran Comments in a Blog, Plus Responses

Below are selected comments posted on SOCON OR BUST
Jim Corcoran posted his comments on the 12 Cobourg parishioners, which was followed by a few other interesting comments by Catholic colleagues. It makes for intriguing reading, especially for an atheist.

Jim Corcoran says: July 11, 2009 @ 11:04 am:
"I’m afraid you’re missing the point. The Bishop of Peterborough is being bullied by a small group of parishioners over his decision to appoint Father Hood as Pastor of this parish. The complaint about who he could appoint or not appoint to serve on the altar was only one in a long list of complaints designed to undermine the authority of the Priest and ultimately of the Bishop. The group of parishioners tried to threaten the Bishop with a public scandal on this issue, knowing that a public scandal around this issue was most likely to get a reaction from the Bishop, which it did. Unfortunalely, instead of placating this group, they were emboldened and continued their campaign against Father Hood, causing further division in the parish and within the Catholic community, driving others away. If you really care about the survival of Catholicism in Canada, take the time to fully research the issues before you jump to a hasty conclusion. This is a good Bishop, a good priest, and a good acolyte who are being attacted. We need to stand up for all of them, just as Christ would have."

Neil L says: July 11th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
"I think its important to be fair to homosexuals who practice the faith, and not to discriminate against them. But I think its even more important that the state should not decide who can and cannot take on roles in the liturgy. The Church must decide who can be on the altar, not the state. If this is the role of the state, they will force the church to allow women to be priests, and then we will have to go underground. This is so much more serious than about whether one altar server was mistreated or not. To take this case to the civil authorities is to betray the faith, very simply put."

Pacheco says: July 12th, 2009 at 12:07 am
"#1 - If you are really concerned about Catholicism in Canada and Bishop De Angelis is a “good bishop”, why are you bringing public scandal by attacking your own spiritual father when he has made a decision against you? And why are you providing a precedent for enemies of the Church to bankrupt it and drive it underground? Is this what you do to your friends, let alone brothers in Christ? Where were you taught about Christianity, Jim?

#2 - Why are you bringing in a secular authority to make a decision regarding the Church? Have you not read what St. Paul says about this kind of thing? Read 1 Cor. 6:1-11.

#3 - From Redemptionis Sacramentum: [46.] “The lay Christian faithful called to give assistance at liturgical celebrations should be well instructed and must be those whose Christian life, morals and fidelity to the Church’s Magisterium recommend them. It is fitting that such a one should have received a liturgical formation in accordance with his or her age, condition, state of life, and religious culture. No one should be selected whose designation could cause consternation for the faithful.”
We must guard against not only ACTUAL scandal, but actions and behaviours that may be interpreted as such. This is the real problem here. Not that you may, in fact, be living a chaste life, but that your current situation with another man compromises the community’s peace. Can you imagine this thing being repeated as a rule? I want you to think about this very carefully. “Yes, I am a priest, but that woman I living with? Pay no attention. We’re just “close friends”. Wink, wink.” I am sure you can see the problem with this scenario.

#4 - There is no RIGHT to be an altar server. There is no RIGHT to be a priest. There is no strict RIGHT to the Eucharist. There is no strict RIGHT to marriage. These are privileges that the Church grants to her children on certain conditions. You need to get off of this idea of entitlement. If you do not accept the authority of the bishop, you are free to leave. But, please, don’t presume to knuckle your way into forcing the Catholic community to accept your scandalous behaviour at the hands of a “Human Rights” Thug from the government.
Besides Jim, it can’t be good PR for the gay community or your spa. Nobody likes a bully. Think about it and drop your complaint."

John M. says: July 15th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
"Mr. Corcoran can consider himself a leader in the assault on the Roman Catholic Church. He would do well to understand what love is. Love is not an emotion, love is a decision. It involves and act of the will. When one chooses to place the needs of others above their own needs, one shows true love, not the deformed Hollywood-style love incessantly belched out of the entertainment industry, only to fall on the faithful as moral and intellectual pollution, and corrode the consciences of all who make the mistake of believing that this is reality.

To allow Mr. Corcoran to continue serving in the liturgy would definitely cause scandal among the faithful, despite his claim that the relationship that he maintains with the man he lives with is purely “platonic”. This is not acceptable. Can Mr. Corcoran not think of the good of the community of the faithful over his own hurt feelings? Are his own hurt feelings so important to himself that they justify trampling over the Church and all the faithful, by means of employing a taxpayer-funded, well-know-to-be-corrupt quasi-judicial body as his henchmen? Is this not a bit narcissistic? Mr. Corcoran should learn that pride is a sin.

A former employee of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and who has since been heavily involved in their proceedings, Richard Warman, has called men who practice a homosexual lifestyle a “c—-r”. Their employees have memberships in Canadian neo-Nazi groups and have regularly posted diatribes against men who practice the homosexual lifestyle, as well as against the Jewish people on internet websites run by neo-Nazis.

An apology from the Bishop is nonsense. What should the Bishop apologise for? Protecting his flock against scandal? Rubbish. If anyone is to apologise, it is Mr. Corcoran, for his attack on Christ’s sheep. Mr. Corcoran should take some time off the spa and do a careful examination of conscience and ask himself who he’s working for: satan or Christ? At the end of the day, we’re all working for one or the other. How do we show our love for Christ? Through holy obedience to Him and His Church. Rousing disobedience and pride are not fruits of the Holy Spirit. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

I think that Mr. Corcoran should stop harassing the Bishop. I think that Mr. Corcoran should stop harassing the Church. I think that Mr. Corcoran would discover a happiness that the world cannot give him through material possessions if he were to show genuine humility, contrition and repentance, living and praying in the light of Christ, and not rebelling against it."