Tuesday, July 19, 2011

St Michael's Pastor O'Leary Accused

This reminds me of the scandal with the Society of Saint John. Anyone remember Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity and Rev. Eric Ensey and the fun we endured? Is this an opening to rid himself of these pesky traditionalists for Bishop Bambera?

It would seem that Saint Michael the Archangel Pastor Father Michael O'Leary allegedly furnished alcohol to a minor. Saint Michael's is of course, the only location one may attend a licit celebration of the Old Mass anywhere near Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Pray for this priest, as Satan seems especially committed these days to attacking our priests, and for the victims. Let's hope that furnishing alcohol was the worst of the crimes.

Diocesan statement follows.

Diocese of Scranton

Statement Regarding Father Michael O’Leary, F.S.S.P.

On Sunday, July 17, 2011, Diocesan officials were informed that Fr. Michael O’Leary, a member of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, allegedly furnished alcohol to two individuals, including an underage young adult and a minor. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Clerical Society of Apostolic Life in the Church, established by Pope John Paul II in 1988 to offer the Traditional Latin Rite of the Mass and the sacraments to the faithful. At the time the incident was reported, Fr. O’Leary was serving as Pastor at St. Michael the Archangel Parish, Scranton, where Masses are offered in the Traditional Latin Rite. He has served in that capacity since January 2010. Diocesan officials have spoken with the parents of the two individuals and reported the matter to law enforcement. The incident was also reported to the appropriate superiors from the Fraternity of St. Peter. Fr. O’Leary has been removed from ministry and from St. Michael’s Parish pending the outcome of the investigation. Diocesan officials remain committed to fully cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.

Requests for further information can be made to Fr. Eric Flood, North American District Superior, Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, at (570) 842-4000, extension 0.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree about hoping alcohol is the worst of it. I don't know about any local church conspiracies as you may suspect, but I was glad to see they made this at least public, as opposed to shuffling him off somewhere else while lookin the other way, as they have done in the past with much worser offenses.

- L

Anonymous said...

It should be said that two weeks ago Father O'leary announced in the bulletin at St. Michael's that he was set to remove the only remaining English new mass left in the Parish on Saturday nights starting at the end of September. No doubt this pissed off the modernist crew running the diocese. Am I saying this is a set up? No but we have real bad actors running the diocese and it is possible.

The Rockin' Traddy said...

Anonymous, thank you for the info. I am not surprised whenever a trad priest is booted by this bunch. If this were one of the Bishop's pals, I'm sure we would not have heard anything about it...

Anonymous said...

Father O'leary had enemies in the parish. In fact his sermon hours before this happened is very telling. He said three times "If someone is upset with me and doesn't like something I've done please come see me" The question is did the people that were at odds with Father call this into the Bishop or the Police. I recorded the sermon.

The stunning lack of details from Bambera the destroyer and the Modernazi's in Scranton is suspicious to say the least.

Was this a 20 year kid of one of the families that were at odds with Father? How old were the kids. The statement from the diocese doesn't say where this was to have taken place. The Fssp had a Picnic on Sunday but it was not in Scranton. Why were the Scranton cops called?
Father may or may not have done something wrong but to remove him from ministry and to trash him in the newspaper with so few details is wrong.
My God think if he did nothing wrong! How could he recover from this? Answer: he can't and Bambera the destroyer and the Modernazi's in Scranton along with their Communist friends in the newspaper business know how to destroy someone. For the record the two local rag papers Print what ever Bambera the destroyer and the Modernazi's in Scranton give them with no push back at all.

If they want to hang a Priest out to dry should they not at least give the people the facts. They didn't have to name names. This is Bambera the destroyer and the Modernazi's in Scranton they leave a trail of crying old ladies and stressed out Catholics where ever they go with no thought of how they are hurting people. God help us with this crew. The SSPX looks better everyday.

Anonymous said...

I have been a member of St. Michaels Parish for almost 8 byears now. ALthough being I live far away and my vehicle is not always up to par, I often have to settle for the local Novus Ordo here. That is not the issue. I have been a memeber of the Scranton Dioscese since I was baptised some 45 years ago. I for one am sick of the liberal attitude the dioscese has had every since I can remember. The horrible music, rock masses that infect the Bassillica of St. Ann, 1001 Extraordinary ministers, altar girls. I am tired of it. Now this. I have to say, the Lord is leading me closer to the SSPX everyday. I hate to do it, but it is my salvation at stake!

Anonymous said...

The Parish event was held in Elmhurst and Fr. O'Leary did not attend. It was one of the rare occasions where Father was alone, without any other Priests, seminarians or parishoners to serve as witnesses to the alleged incident. Smells like an inside job to me.

VoiceInTheDesert said...

Aside from the particular matter at hand, there is in deed a spirit of sell-out there. I attended there for a few years and observed about three cycles of priests stationed there for a period of time before moving on and a new pair (or more) moving in. With the first wave, the masses were conducted like the Novus Ordo, with the parishoners responding to the priest vs. solely the altar servers. Then, I took note that the Good Friday prayer had been altered -- to avoid, of course, "offending" our so-called BIG BROTHERS. Then, by the third cycle of priests, the celebrant stopped the parishoners in the middle of mass and admonished them NOT to say the responses aloud (that the responses were reserved for the altar servers). Oh, yes, this same celebrant -- from the pulpit -- endorsed the legitascy [not offical Church language, by the way] of the SSPX.

I have since left to join the real fight on behalf of the Church -- with the SSPX. The priests were generally decent individuals, but obviously still not consistent on the norms of the mass. I met some certainly earnest parishoners, whilst meeting those who delude themselves that they are fighting the good fight simply because they reject the Novus Ordo. Meanwhile, they are putting money into a Novus Ordo collection basket; worshipping at Novus Ordo owned property; and, in principal, in harmony with the whole Novus Ordo establishment. The comment (above) about banishing the Novus Ordo Saturday evening service is an example of the deluded mentality there.

Laura said...

Is Father coming back? What's going on there?

Unknown said...

I live a block from there it is my church I remember father OLeary from my first time and confession there, he was probably the most strict person I've ever met,when I heard of this I was appalled, this priest did not buy anyone alcohol especially children the only kids in this area were mine at the time, I asked the local police who the parents were that accused him of this crime and they didn't even know it was a complete setup.

Unknown said...

It's father zepeda now, and I don't think we are deluded into thinking we are fighting the good fight,you shouldn't judge people because they aren't Sspx desert, I assume you attended while father Gordon was present also? I would have commented slot earlier but I just found this site, and the priests must be fighting some sort of good fight since they are upsetting the diocese so much they keep being removed.