The Era of the Ethnic Parish is Over

We're trying hard not to have racial parishes.
And we know no one gives a fig about geographic parishes anymore.

Instead, we now have the Lifestyle Choice Parish, at least according to one "Catholic" periodical.

The newly appointed pastor of San Francisco's largest gay parish, Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in The Castro District, says he has no marching orders and comes only to "be present, to be pleasant, and to love of the people of God."

Yes, according to NCR there is such a thing in the Catholic Church as a "gay parish."

"[The new pastor] definitely was not a 'yes man' for the bishop," [a former parishioner] said. "He always put his parish first with whatever was thrown at him. He looked out for his parish well."

Heaven forbid anyone takes any vow seriously, especially that of obedience...
Although as an order priest, is there, strictly speaking, any "vow" to ones bishop?
There's a picture of the new pastor and an already-in-place associate, who "see themselves working as a pastoral team," that was surely intended to look like... well, follow the link, and you tell me what you think it is supposed to look like, (no clericals, of course.)
Apparently, it is rather soon for a new pastor.

After the San Francisco archdiocese announced its annual clergy appointments Wednesday, some local Catholics expressed concerns that Most Holy Redeemer's pastor, Brian Costello, who came to the parish in 2012, was being pushed out to bring in more conservative priests. 

Costello says this is not the case. Rather, he said, he requested a move in August. 

"It just didn't work out. I did the best I could. My best was just not good enough for a lot of people here," he said. "There are real challenges here, and the truth is I just didn't have the gifts to meet those challenges." 

"This is not the archbishop coming after me and bringing in some archconservatives from Kansas City, although I suspect some people might see it that way," Costello said.

Archbishop Cordileone certainly has a tough row to hoe...
Pray for him and his flock,

This parish is know, NCR tells u, for its tradition of "rich" liturgies.
This is not a picture of one of them.


It is, however, a picture of a non-Catholic cleric who has led liturgical celebrations, (no, not Mass, praise the Almighty,) there, at a more personally meaningful rite in which he was involved.

Pray for the new pastoral team, and pray for the archbishop, and pray for the members of Holy Rosary.