Maybe Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, Illinois, is not as bad as we’ve been lead to believe. After all, he’s being protested by all the “right” people. At his installation ceremony, a small group of people from the liberal group FOSIL (Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity) protested outside. (They must have some tough truth-in-advertising laws if the fossils at FOSIL have to name themselves so accurately.) The FOSIL “fossils” were joined by the Call to Action “fossils” and if that isn’t an indicator I don’t know what is.
Meanwhile, a reader sends along the following firsthand account from Belliville:
Small story about the protesters -CTA- at the installation of Bishop Braxton. Wish I could send the pic’s. Bunch of old hippies on the sidewalk. One old boiler held a sign stating “inclusion”...amidst a sea of white faces. Not a man nor woman of color to be found. You might check the SOIL blog for more info.
Last Friday an old friend, who is a parish priest, and I went to the Bishop’s Residence to have a look see. The place was a dump before and now looks very nice. Fresh paint in and out and the grounds are nice and tidy. 50 year old light fixtures were replaced along with a new heating/ a-c system. Bad flooring was replaced as well: read 30 y/o carpet.( A sign on the back door suggests that visitor’s and guest’s use the front entrance.) All with private monies. No mention by FOSIL/CTA of the $50K private money [Altanta Archbishop Wilton] Gregory spent on the kitchen alone during his tenure here. And no mention of the $80,000 missing that Fr Clyde Grogan, a CTA/FOSIL ‘angel’ squandered/stole from a destitute parish in East St Louis.
Another friend happened to be driving past the Residence and saw the Bishop sitting on his front porch, reading a book. He pulls in, asks Bp. Braxton if he has time for a visit and was welcomed. They planned a bbq for later in the year.
The gist of the bitching and barking by a few priests and FOSIL is that they’ve had free rein to make it up as they go along, do as they please, ‘cause Wilton let them go in a million directions with disastrous results. All are CTA’ers. Liberals to the hilt. They fear sound theology and they ain’t gonna like it.