Agony in Albany - The Roman Catholic Faithful

Roman Catholic Faithful, Inc. / AMDG May 2004 Albany newsletter“All the people in key positions,” said onepriest who is very knowledgeable about the innerworkings of the chancery, “are off the wall. . .crazy.They are unorthodox, and it permeates all their work.“As long as Hubbard is Bishop, the Dioceseis going to get worse, and it is so bad now.”As reported in installment number 4 of thisseries on the crisis in vocations, a major concernamong Catholic laity and especially priests is thequality of seminarians studying for the priesthood forthe Diocese of Albany.There is no doubt that Bishop Hubbard isdrawing men from other dioceses who want to serveunder him because they share his vision of theChurch.One such candidate is seminarian DesmondRossi, who was featured April 18th in The Evangelist’s“Focus on Vocations” section.Rossi is from Garwood, N.J., and is currentlyfinishing his fourth year of seminary at the TheologicalCollege at Catholic University, Washington, D.C.He told Evangelist reporter Liz Urbanski thathe wanted to be a priest in Albany “because I wantedto become a part of Bishop Hubbard’s vision ofChurch. I’ve always been very pleased with BishopHubbard — especially his encouragement of peopleparticipating in their church, whether the ministry isordained, lay, or Religious.”“The modem priest,” continued Rossi, “issomeone who is willing to talk about Christian valuesin the context of a society which contradicts thosevalues. He is not a moral policeman but someone whowalks beside you and helps you in your struggle withyour humanity, as he struggles with his own humanity.”Some Albany priests were stunned when theprofile of Rossi appeared in The Evangelist, becauseit is widely believed that Rossi was dropped from anotherseminary allegedly for homosexual activity, andthat he chose Albany because his “significant other”was also studying for the priesthood for Albany, at St.Mary’s in Baltimore. He is from Arizona.A layman attended a Cursillo weekend whereRossi was present, and was disturbed by Rossi’s explicitdefense of his sexual orientation. The laymanwent to a priest in shock, and asked, “Is this whatwe’re ordaining these days?”“What is significant,” a priest told The Wanderer,“is that in this vocations issue, we’re hearingfrom Desmond Rossi and not from Bishop Hubbard.”Another candidate in training for the Albanypriesthood is a man from the New York City areawho was once married with children, and who left hiswife to pursue a homosexual life-style. After a shorttime, he decided to become a priest for the AlbanyDiocese, and was accepted.Bishop Hubbard’s own view on homosexualsin ministry was expressed to Times Union reporterTim Beidel, and printed Feb. 22nd in that Albany paper,“I believe the Church has a responsibility to allits members. . . .I don’t think gays or anybody elseshould be excluded from the ministry. Indeed, I thinkwe have a responsibility to reach out to them withsensitivity and compassion but at the same time I alsobelieve that we have to proclaim the Gospel messageas we understand it.”Part X - ConclusionThe Reporter’s Notebook“A communicator must remain faithful to thetruth,” Communio et Progressio, The Pastoral Instructionon the Means of Social Communication,January, 1971Twenty years and a month after the Vaticanreleased the pastoral instruction Communio et Progressio,this reporter began writing the series “Agonyin Albany.”That document of the Holy See, in manyways a Catholic journalist’s handbook, states: “Everycitizen is expected to play his part in the formation ofpublic opinion. If need be, he must do this throughrepresentatives who reflect his own views. Those whoexert influence because of the office they hold or becauseof their natural talent or for any other reasonhave an important part to play in the formation ofpublic opinion; they do so whenever they expresstheir views. The greater their quality of leadership,the greater is their responsibility to exert it in thisway” (para. 28).“Agony in Albany” is the story many Catholiclaity and many Catholic priests wanted to tell.They think that the Catholic world must know theexceptional and extraordinary situation of the Churchin Albany. These Catholics in Albany made availableto The Wanderer tremendous amounts of information,and it was the reporter’s task to condense it for thisseries. It must be emphasized that this reporter did not68