Bishop Joseph Adamec of the Altoona-Johnstown, PA Roman Catholic Diocese is at it again, just in time for Easter. This time he’s forced a conservative priest out of the priesthood while protecting the Lavender Mafia.
Citing anti-gay stance, outspoken priest quits by Susan Evans of The Tribune-Democrat
LILLY —” Even after a priest sexually abused him when he was in high school, John Nesbella of Lilly came back to the church.
And when Nesbella became a priest, and his strong stance against homosexuality in the priesthood drew venomous mail from his colleagues, he kept the faith.
But now, at age 43 and after being banned for the past year from publicly performing any priestly duties, the outspoken and controversial Cambria County priest is taking off his collar.
John Nesbella has resigned from the priesthood.
—This is the end of a sad tale of how wicked so-called Catholic priests and bishops drove me and a few other priests out because we dared to speak up about the corrupt brotherhood of homosexuals in the priesthood,— he said.
Officials at the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese declined to comment on Nesbella’s resignation.
—It’s a personal decision,— diocese spokesman Rob Egan would only say.
Nesbella has been a conservative standard-bearer and a favorite of conservative lay leaders in the diocese.
In 2005, Nesbella was the second Altoona-Johnstown priest in three years to be placed on a leave of absence for protesting diocese policies.
Before him, James Foster, an outspoken Ebensburg priest who often locked horns with Bishop Joseph Adamec on the issue of homosexual priests, was placed on leave in 2003.
Nesbella was placed on leave after suing the diocese, claiming abuse by a priest who is now deceased. That lawsuit is still pending.
His resignation from the priesthood follows more than four years of turbulence in the diocese over allegations of sexual abuse of minors by gay priests.
Since the sex scandal erupted nationally in January 2002, the Altoona-Johnstown diocese has settled 13 lawsuits for $3.7 million. More than a dozen sex-abuse suits are pending.
Before that, the diocese’s single major sex-abuse scandal was the 1994 trial of since-defrocked priest Francis Luddy, who was accused of sexually abusing young boys.
But Nesbella sees homosexuality in the priesthood as more than a financial liability.
He calls it —the immoral mess we have in our church— and says he warned Bishop Adamec.
—Last year I met with him and said, ‘You’re wrecking the church,’ — Nesbella said in an interview Tuesday with The Tribune-Democrat.
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Biretta tip to the Young Fogey who is correct. The Rev. Nesbella has a lot of discerning to do.
Bishop Adamec is also the Bishop who imposed a gag order on his priests.
Priests say bishop issues gag order by Gill Donovan
Under penalty of excommunication or suspension, a Pennsylvania bishop imposed a gag order for all his priests, forbidding them from voicing public disagreement with diocesan policy.
Speaking on condition their names not be revealed, some priests told The Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown that the gag order had been issued by their bishop, James Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., several months ago. The diocese is located some 80 miles from Pittsburgh.
The priests said that Adamec imposed the order after priests were publicly critical about possible church closings and about the way the diocese handled a 1994 sexual abuse lawsuit.
In that suit, Adamec was criticized for paying more in attorney fees than to the victim of abuse by now-defrocked priest Francis Luddy. The diocese refused the paper’s request for comment on the gag order.
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…and is the same Bishop who oversaw the closing of various parishes including the parish of St. John the Baptist in Northern Cambria, PA. St. John the Baptist is the parish where the Holy Altar was torn out and disposed of in a dumpster. Check out the pictures of this tragedy and the full story.
NORTHERN CAMBRIA – PENNSYLVANIA, USA Parishioners of St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church feel betrayed by what some term a desecration after the church’s nearly century-old altar was ripped out, broken apart and tossed into a Dumpster.
Diocese officials are embroiled in the consolidation of six churches into a new Prince of Peace parish with two churches, the current St. John and four other churches will be closed.
“It is desecration, not only of a holy object, but also a desecration of our feelings because this focus of the practice of our faith has been so cavalierly destroyed despite our objections,” said parishioner Monica Wadium. The Philadelphia Avenue resident traces her family membership in the church to her grandparents.
But the Rev. Gerard Connolly, who serves as parish priest at St. John, 811 Chestnut Ave., and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, defended the destruction of the altar that, one expert says, would cost $15,000 to $50,000 to replace.
Connolly said the altar stone, a sacred object was removed and put in storage before the altar, a mixture of horsehair reinforced with steel, was discarded.
The altar was to be taken to a landfill and buried. The Two devotional altars also were dismantled and discarded, Connolly said.
“What is the reason for renovating St. John?” Wadium asked. “There is no church law, or even directive, that states our altar had to be destroyed. It was an integral part of our cburch architecture and the pride and joy of our community.”
Michael Rose, author of “The Renovation Manipulation,” a book written to help congregations stop cosmetic changes, said they often are done at the whim of Catholic heirarchy and not always necessary.
“It was priceless to the community,” he said about the altar during a telephone interview from his office in Cincinnati.
“I have seen pictures of it and can tell you it was a major work of art.”
Wadium said the altar was put in when the church was built in 1903. She said the immigrant families were poverty-stricken but filled with faith and struggled to make the altar the central focal point of St. John.
Rose said he was outraged the bishop in Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese allowed the removal. He said the bishop is charged with protecting the sacred patrimony of the church, its physical heritage.
But Connolly said the altar had not been updated since Vatican II, a meeting of bishops in Rome during the mid-1960s. He said it was a necessary change.
As word started spreading in the tightly knit Catholic community about the altar’s fate, more members came forward.
More than a dozen St. John parishioners feel betrayed by Connolly and the diocesan bishop, the Most Rev. Joseph Adamec.
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