Excommunicated Catholic priest Rev.
April 26, 2006
Dear Editor,
I too was an admirer of the excommunicated Catholic priest Rev.
Cachia. I too liked his engaging charm and personality. I too could
have been fooled. But Hollywood taught me long ago that morality and
personality are not necessarily synonymous. The Lord taught me to
‘beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing’.
As for charisma and personality, Pope John Paul II tops them all.
Who else attracted a million to seven million youth to his World Youth
Days? Who else attracted so many world and religious leaders and over
four million mourners of all ages to his wake and funeral? Who else
stuck to the hard truth when people deserted sound teaching? “Will
you also go away?� “To whom shall we go?� asked St. Peter? “Thou hast
the words of Eternal Life.�
I recently attended the annual Peterborough Mass of Chrism at St.
Peter’s Cathedral, where approximately 700 people from across the
diocese gathered. From the vicinity of North Bay to Lake Ontario,
from the borders of Bellville to the outskirts of Oshawa, the faithful
came…..
And for the good of the faithful, Bishop De Angelis had the
added task of informing us that a priest had excommunicated himself by
refusing to follow grave church laws. The bishop’s voice was sad,
serious, firm - but kind. We were also sad. So were the priests.
At the end of the Bishop’s address ….. recognizing the
painfulness he must have felt – yet the rightness of his actions, the
whole cathedral congregation including about 60 priests rose to their
feet and applauded louder and longer than any ovation I can remember.
Over three years ago, Pope John Paul II appointed Most Reverend
Nicola De Angelis, Bishop of Peterborough; the pastor who would lead
us. This night showed he was not only our pastor, but our Good
Shepherd as well. Like the kindly Pope John Paul II, he would do the
difficult, not because it was easy or popular but because it was right.
There was something re-assuring and comforting about that; that God had
chosen a man of principle and kindness; a man of steel and velvet to
lead us.
Across the centuries Our Lord’s words still echo “Will you also
go away?� “Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of Eternal
Life.�
Debbie Durocher
Ennismore, Ont.
