DIPLOMACY AT ITS BEST

AND, the accusations sound familiar!


Photo courtesy of Fr. Tim Finigan
"This Is Not My Mass", OR "This Is My Dance Space, This Is Your Dance Space" (from the movie "Dirty Dancing")

Check out Fr. Tim Finigan's response to a slam written by Elena Curti of The Tablet, a UK periodical often referred to as The Bitter Pill. I tell you, you CANNOT get any more diplomatic than this (except maybe for Fr. Z), not to mention that Fr. Finigan's work in his parish in Blackfen is second to none up there! Keep up the great work, Father.

I really don't know whether to write a slam myself or what. I won't copy the whole article (click on one of the above links for that). I will say that this one particular nutcase apparently has nothing better to do than to try to split the parish herself. She accuses Fr. Finigan of doing that - singlehandedly - for simply trying to celebrate Mass the way the Church instructs us to. Sounds very familiar, you see. I can remember being accused by a parishioner via e-mail of singlehandedly splitting a parish merely as a musician, for simply teaching Gloria VIII to the parish that I last served as music director. That in itself is a nasty allegation for simply trying to do the Church's work.

Even worse is the financial accusations in the article. You see, this nutcase at the Bitter Pill (yes, I'll steal the nickname from Fr. Z) apparently knows that what Fr. Finigan is doing is right, so in a move to intimidate, or even attempt to oust, she starts accusing the priest of bad financial practices. Also very familiar. When my last parish purchased a Rodgers organ to replace the crappy Kurzweil keyboard that was in the church (yes, at one time the Kurzweil was the ONLY instrument there - for over a decade in a half, so though a pipe organ would have been the ideal, it was definitely a giant step up from the Kurzweil), it was done so courtesy of an anonymous donor who earmarked his/her donation for the purchase of a new organ (I still don't know who the donor was; it's none of my business). In turn, someone had spread a blatant lie around that the pastor had used parish money to purchase the organ, when in all actuality, the "restricted donation", something earmarked for a specific purpose according to state law, was used for THAT specific purpose.

One can only wonder: Did Mizz Curti (or the accusers at my former parish) go to confession lately? Or at least get her conscience examined? Because last I remember, one of the commandments is Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

As for Fr. Finigan and other priests like him, keep up the good work!
Peace,
BMP