MAPA Convening Board January 9, 2006 Our local priests' union has finally posted the minutes of its meetings for January through April, so I'll start with the minutes of the executive committee for January 9, 2006 [pdf].

We warmly welcomed Fr. Steve Avella to the Board.

Fr. Avella is presently released to the History Department at Marquette University.

With regret and understanding we accepted Fr. Mike Erwin's resignation from the Board. Mike said he wished to continue his efforts in the Focus Group on Rights of Priests.

Fr. Erwin is pastor at St. Alphonsus Church in New Munster and St. John the Evangelist Church in Twin Lakes. The Alliance calls its committees focus groups.

The board then had to figure out how to replace Erwin.

Our Constitution provides for the possibility of an election runner-up to be named to the board in the event of a resignation of a current board member.

I didn't see anything one way or the other in their Constitution and by-laws, specifically section 5 of the former and section 4 of the latter, about the eligibility or appropriateness of selecting a runner-up. (Perhaps they have to go outside even their own rubrics.) In any case, the runner-up selected was Fr. Philip Reifenberg of Nativity of the Lord Church in Cudahy.

Only some "focus groups" had anything substantive to report.

d. Generations of Priests: Ken Mich reported that this issue is not drawing much interest from the membership.

This committee was to deal with the differences in outlook between older and newer priests. Looks like the older priests not only don't understand but don't want to understand why these differences exist.

e. Consultation/Dave Mannelli: Chuck Schramm reported he was calling a meeting to work on this issue and surface possible psychologists to help us.

If I had to surface a psychologist, I'd probably use teflon.

f. Vatican Document on Homosexual Candidates - This group was to meet at the Cousins Center on Jan. 5th to discuss further work and plans. They refer to themselves as "The Witch Hunt Group."

The important thing is that they're approaching it with an open mind.

In other board action

5. Canonical Review of document on priests’ rights. We agreed that we would pursue a review of the document by a canonist outside of Milwaukee.

At the board's November 14, 2005 and December 13, 2005 meetings, they had declined to consider issues that Fr. Paul Hartmann had raised about the Alliance's flyer Protecting Your Rights as a Priest, a Practical Guide [pdf]. This, I understand, had to do with the flyer's seventh "bullet point" which says

Inform the Vicar for Clergy that you will expect to review your entire archdiocesan personnel file, and any other records kept about you in the Chancery, Tribunal, or Vicar for Clergy office, when you meet. It is possible that your file contains written complaints or allegations about which you were never informed, even though you have the right to be informed of any such allegations according to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Clergy Manual. The provisions of the Clergy Manual have, on occasion, been completely ignored.

The Clergy Manual apparently says nothing about this and so cannot be said to have been ignored. It further appears that parties to a proceeding before the Metropolitan Tribunal, a Church court, do not have a broad right to review its records. The board seems to be having second thoughts about Fr. Hartmann's concerns.

As an aside, I'm sometimes struck how secular ideas of fair proceedings often track those in the Bible more closely than canon law proceedings, as I understand them, do. But I can't imagine the Alliance undertaking a reform effort on that basis. They'd prefer being defrocked to getting justice via proof-texting.

Next board action

6. Preparations for the General Meeting. We agreed after some discussion that it would be a good idea to find someone to address homosexuality from the vantage point of the behavioral sciences.

Seems to be a hot topic for them.

Finally

7. Website. Dick Aiken asked Dave Cooper to email him Phil Lamphear's email address so that we could discuss with him getting our own website that would not be under the control of Gamaliel.

By contrast, when Fr. Aiken was pastor at St. Al's he justified the stale parish web site by saying he had put someone in charge who was too busy to work on it.  ¶ 6/14/2006 08:09:00 AM