San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy ordered a pastor to cease publishing
columns in his church's weekly bulletin after the priest wrote in
support of the Catholic Church's teaching on intrinsic evils and took
strong stands on matters of prudential judgment within Catholic
teaching.Father Richard Perozich of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church first came under fire this fall when inserts appeared in his parish bulletin that said it's a "mortal sin" to vote for pro-abortion Democrats.
The fliers pointed out the Democratic Party’s official support for such intrinsic evils and warned Catholics they put their souls at risk by voting for Democrats.
The Diocese of San Diego decried the fliers, which Perozich hadn't authorized.
Then, Perozich penned a column of his own on Catholic voting. He reminded his parishioners of the Church's teaching on intrinsic evils and opined on matters of prudential judgment within Catholic teaching.
McElroy responded by releasing a statement saying, "it is contrary to the Catholic faith" to view gun control regulation as a form of slavery and accusing Perozich of "fan[ning] the flames of hatred against Muslims or any religious group."
Perozich had written, in part:
Among the slavery imposed upon us is killing the unborn child in the womb, abortion, even with monies from our taxes. Another is the threat of punishment for rejecting homosexuality in all its forms: in its teaching in the schools, in ‘so called same sex marriage’ with fines resulting in loss in business, income, and employment. A third enslavement is using embryos which have a soul as experiments. A fourth is cloning wherein now scientists are experimenting with human and animal DNA to create hybrid creatures. A fifth is euthanasia, the direct killing of human beings either with or without their consent. A sixth is the silencing of the Christian to express his faith in public, wherein our churches are complicit for fear of losing their tax exempt status. s. A seventh is the importation of immigrants whose religious values are to eradicate every belief except those of their own prophet and god, and to impose this on America. An eighth slavery is the government cave in to allow anyone to come into the country, and to support them monetarily, in part adding to a debt of $20 trillion, while paying Americans to sit home and not work, thus enslaving the soul of our own citizenry in depriving them of real work which sustains the immortal soul of a man and a woman. A ninth is playing policeman for the world, sending military might to try to control people who do not wish our presence in their affairs. A tenth is regulating the right to bear arms for free citizens in a nation where criminals and terrorists will always have weapons, and where government is now in opposition to the citizenry. And there are others wherein we are called to be as clever as serpents, yet guileless as doves.Perozich told LifeSiteNews that McElroy ordered him to limit Immaculate Conception's bulletin content to "calendaring events." Perozich said he cooperated and that he respects the bishop.
Perozich's columns will now only be published at his website, richardperozich.com.
Immaculate Conception's website has been taken down and its content has moved to Perozich's personal site.
"Calendaring events is what [the bishop] wanted," and pages three and seven, where Perozich's opinions appeared, were what he opposed. "However, on my personal website, on those pages that would have been there, I have a page called 'page 3 and 7' in which I will publish other things that people who I know are interested [in]," the priest explained.
"Bishop McElroy ordered Fr. Perozich to put only coordinating events in the church bulletins at Immaculate Conception," the page 3 and 7 section of Perozich's website explains.
"The bishop disagreed with the content of other materials, particularly on pages 3 & 7 of the bulletin, which were perspectives by Fr. Perozich and other educated people regarding matters of faith and morals and Catholic participation in society. Out of respect for the office as bishop, the bulletin is generic and coordinating. These Pages 3 & 7 are the pages that might have gone into bulletins and are meant for those who wish to hear others’ ideas."
"So if you’re not interested in it, you read our bulletin, it won’t be thrown in your face," said Perozich. "If you want to know those things and go beyond what you’re hearing the establishment Church teach in the Diocese of San Diego, then you can go on that page and find some other things as well. And sometimes you’re gonna find things from LifeSite on there – I usually credit the source."
"I say what I think is right," Perozich concluded. "If you [correct me] and you show me that it’s wrong in the magisterium I’ll apologize and move on from it. I don’t worry about these other things. And some other people are very concerned with that."