The Bishop of the Diocese of Madison, Wisc., has defended the five priests of the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest, a relatively new and small society (officially recognized in 1980), and based in Spain, who administer five of the diocese’s parishes. The priests have added times for confession (an hour before each Mass), increased the number of Latin Masses, and ended female alter “servers” and lay extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
While the traditionalist approach by the society, whose mission is to increase the interest in vocations among boys, has been criticized by some, Bishop Robert Morlino has defended the priests.
According to the Sauk Prairie Eagle:
Morlino said any time parishes change priests, some upheaval is inevitable. He said the priests follow a different course from many in the diocese, but that diversity is good and everything the priests do falls within the accepted practices of the church.
“They are not in any sense renegades,” he said.
Unfortunately, some in the American Church think diversity always is good except when it is to provide at least a taste of traditionalism. Bishop Morlino has stood up to them. Of course, there are many who applaud the priests, whose founder, the Rev. Alfonso Galvez, now 77, wrote this in a 1994 book on the society’s formation:
If we can manage to get the young people to fall in love with Jesus Christ, then they will not but want to be like him and to share his life and mission.
Kay Ringelstetter, a member of Saint Aloysius Parish, told the Eagle:
“They tell us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear” . . . who calls the changes beautiful. “We see their love for Jesus Christ and the joy in everything they do, and we desire it.”
