Washington D.C., Dec 30, 2020 / 11:25 am (CNA).- This article is the first part of a two-part series on the Church, gender-critical feminists, and transgender ideology. Part two can be found here.
Mary Kate Fain doesn’t agree with the Catholic Church about anything. Or, nearly anything, at least. But she does agree with the Catholic take on gender and identity. And that’s cost her. A lot.
In July 2019, Fain wrote a piece critiquing non-binary gender identities. She questioned why so many of her female friends felt the need to shed their identities as women and to instead identify as “non-binary” – neither male nor female.
Fain published the piece on Medium, an online social publishing platform.
Not long after the article published, Fain was fired from her job as a software engineer. She claims her viewpoints are the reason she was let go.
“I guess one of my coworkers complained about the article and I was fired. And since then it just started the slew of cancellation,” Fain told CNA.
“I was canceled from conferences, and canceled for multiple groups that I was a volunteer in, et cetera. And it just really highlighted to me that they all wanted to shut me up, but what it proved was that there really is a need for a place for women to be able to say this.”
Since her firing, Fain, a millennial and freelance writer living just outside of Houston, founded 4W, an online publication that publishes articles analyzing radical feminist issues such as gender, male violence, sex positivity, and the portrayal of women in media. She is also co-founder of the feminist social media platform Spinster.xyz, and a volunteer with the Women’s Human Rights Campaign.
And she is just one of many “canceled” women.
Why women are being “canceled”
Fain, along with several other women writers, intellectuals, and activists, have been “canceled” for their conviction that women are adult human females, whose sex-based rights, such as the right to female-only spaces like bathrooms or sports teams or therapy groups, deserve protection.
This view is no longer seen as politically correct by some tastemakers and gatekeepers, because it is “trans-exclusionary” – to hold this view means to hold that a man cannot “become” a woman because he identifies as one, and vice versa.
“…this is not something that you’re supposed to say,” Fain said. “We’re supposed to just blindly accept what anyone says about their own identity, without any critical analysis, without any feminist analysis even. We’re supposed to ignore that sex-based oppression exists and just admit, ‘Oh yes, we are what we say we are and that defines our reality.’”
“But I think for any feminist, any real feminist, we know that that just simply isn’t true,” she added.
“Our sex does define certain aspects of our reality, and people are not allowed to say that in today’s day and age.”
Many women who hold this view refer to themselves as radical feminists, trans-exclusionary radical feminists or gender critical feminists, or even “canceled women.”
“Cancel culture” is a relatively new term, used to describe the phenomenon that happens when someone, usually a famous person or one with some kind of platform, experiences a kind of shunning, harassment, or social banishment for doing or saying something with which a lot of people disagree.
Being “canceled” can take many forms: being trolled or doxxed on social media, being banned from Twitter or other platforms, or finding that events featuring the canceled person are quickly, well, canceled.
In January, an event entitled “Evening with Canceled Women” was canceled by the New York Public Library, where the event was to be hosted.
The canceled event was organized by Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a group that advocates for the “rights, privacy and safety of women and girls, by which we mean human females,” Kara Dansky, a board member with WoLF, told CNA.
“We were being told over the course of a week that the contract was being processed (for the event), and then the day before the deposit was due, we were told that we could not proceed with the event and we were not given a reason,” Dansky said.
The event would have included the voices of women “who have, in one way or another, been silenced or canceled as a result of their outspoken views on behalf of women and girls,” she added.
For example, the event would have featured Canadian feminist Megan Murphy, an advocate against pornography and prostitution whose insistence that women are female got her banned from Twitter, Dansky said.
It would also have included Posie Parker, a UK feminist known “for her insistence that the word woman means adult human female, which is simply the dictionary definition of the word,” Dansky said. Parker has also been banned from Twitter for her views.
The event also would have featured Linda Bellows, a Briton “who speaks on behalf of lesbian rights. And she has been told that it is transphobic to insist that lesbians are women who are attracted to women,” Dansky said.
These canceled women join a slew of others, with particularly high numbers in the UK, where the 2004 Gender Recognition Act lets adults register their gender as something other than the biological sex with which they were born.
Common ground with the Catholic Church
While trans-exclusionary radical feminist women typically hold many views with which the Catholic Church disagrees, such as approval of abortion and gay marriage, they share common ground in the belief that women are female and men are male – and they are born that way.
“It has been a tremendous plus to have radical feminists speaking out so strongly about the reality of sexual difference and against the new tyranny of gender,” Mary Rice Hasson, the Kate O’Beirne Fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and director of the Catholic Women’s Forum, told CNA.
“Although we disagree about many things – most significantly about abortion-– we agree on some important truths about women,” she said, such as opposing violence and exploitation against women, as well as “the importance of acknowledging the reality of sexual difference and the dangers of the transgender agenda.”
“Specifically, we agree that sexual difference is real, that males and females are different in significant ways, and that a person’s sex cannot change,” Hasson said.
“The Church’s vision of the human person differs radically from gender ideology,” Hasson noted. “Christian anthropology teaches that the person is a unity of body and soul, that we are created male or female, forever.”
“Gender ideology, in contrast, imagines the person as a bundle of assorted dimensions,” she said, such as gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, and biological sex, none of which “needs to align – the person is self-determining. God is really not in the driver’s seat.”
Fain said she agrees that gender identity, “this idea that we have an internal sense of being male, female or neither, and that this has any effect on our material reality, is nonsense.”
Dansky, whose group’s primary goals are to fight violence against and exploitation of women in rape, sexual and domestic assault, and pornography and prostitution, said that her work is made nearly impossible in the context of broad social disagreement about what makes someone a woman in the first place.
“It’s very difficult to solve all of those problems when we’re not permitted to name the category of women,” she said.
“It’s very interesting to me that when our society talks about domestic violence and rape and sexual assault, and we talk about the rampant rates of these crimes being perpetrated against women and girls, everybody knows what the words ‘women’ and ‘girls’ mean.”
In light of increasing acceptance of transgender ideology, the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education’s issued a document entitled “Male and Female He Created Them” in June 2019, explaining the Church’s teaching on transgender issues and encouraging dialogue with those experiencing gender dysphoria.
The document cited the need to reaffirm “the metaphysical roots of sexual difference” to help refute “attempts to negate the male-female duality of human nature, from which the family is generated.”
Such a negation “erases the vision of human beings as the fruit of an act of creation” and “creates the idea of the human person as a sort of abstraction who ‘chooses for himself what his nature is to be.’”
Theories of gender, whether moderate or radical, agree that “one’s gender ends up being viewed as more important than being of male or female sex,” according to the document, which also reflects on the role of gender theory in education and speaks of a “crisis” in any alliance between the school and the family.
“Although ideologically-driven approaches to the delicate questions around gender proclaim their respect for diversity, they actually run the risk of viewing such differences as static realities and end up leaving them isolated and disconnected from each other,” it said.
The document called for dialogue, and the protection of human and family rights. It also decried unjust discrimination and noted points of unity among people with different perspectives on gender ideology.
“Key allies“
Looking for concrete examples of common ground, Fain told CNA that she thinks that protecting the freedom of speech of those who oppose transgenderism will be one of the most important things that radical feminists and Christians can work together for.
“(W)e need to deal with this freedom of speech issue that’s happening and cancel culture, which is making most people terrified to speak out on the issue,” she said.
Fain noted that when she wrote the controversial article that got her fired, she had anticipated the backlash and had been saving for months to protect herself from the blow. She recognized that most people cannot afford to lose their jobs for speaking up on this issue.
“Most people can’t, and especially women who are already at a financial disadvantage are more likely to be caring for kids,” she said.
“And people are terrified to speak out on this issue because of the serious economic consequences that are happening.”
“And although I have many issues with the right in general, I will say that I think religious freedom and freedom of speech do go hand in hand,” Faid added.
“And so the Church’s work on that is probably relevant here.”
Hasson identified women like Fain as “key allies” in the fight against transgenderism going forward, and said she looks forward to working with them despite differences on other issues.
“Radical feminists have been fearless in speaking the truth about sexual difference – over social media, at universities, and in public hearings. They have refused to be silenced – even after being ridiculed, ‘de-platformed’ at public universities, or having their Twitter accounts shut down,” Hasson said.
“We differ greatly about abortion and our views of men, but I am hopeful that our work together and personal regard for each other will open up some opportunities in the future for discussions about those areas where we disagree. But for now, I’m grateful for their commitment to speak the truth, even at great personal cost.”
This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 10, 2020.
[…]
Already up on WikiPedia –
On February 11, 2025, Weisenburger was appointed as Archbishop of Detroit, succeeding Allen Vigneron. His installation occurred on March 18, 2025.
Faculty Upheaval at Sacred Heart Major Seminary
In 2025, Weisenburger terminated three prominent professors of theology and Canon Law, Dr. Ralph Martin, Dr. Eduardo Echeverria, and Dr. Edward Peters, from Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, effective immediately without explanation.
Dr. Ralph Martin had been a faculty member since 2002 and was instrumental in developing the seminary’s Licentiate of Sacred Theology Degree in the New Evangelization. A prominent figure in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement, Martin is the founder and president of Renewal Ministries, which organizes international missions and evangelization events in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toronto, Ontario. He is also the host of The Choices We Face on EWTN and the author of several books, including Will Many Be Saved? What Vatican II Actually Teaches and Its Implications for the New Evangelization. Martin served as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. In a statement, Martin expressed shock at his dismissal, noting that Weisenburger cited “concerns about my theological perspectives” without providing specifics.
Dr. Eduardo Echeverria taught philosophy and systematic theology at the seminary. A respected scholar, he authored works such as Jesus Christ, Scandal of Particularity: Vatican II, a Catholic Theology of Religions, Justification, and Truth. Echeverria confirmed his dismissal to the National Catholic Register , but declined further comment due to a nondisclosure agreement.
Dr. Edward Peters, J.C.D., a professor since 2005, and has been a leading canon lawyer known for his orthodox approach to ecclesiastical law. The first lay referendary of the Apostolic Signatura, he upholds orthodox Catholic doctrine through works like the English translation of the 1917 Code of Canon Law and Incrementa in Progressu 1983 Codicis Iuris Canonici. His website, canonlaw.info, and blog, In the Light of the Law, offer doctrinally sound commentary on issues like excommunication and marriage law, earning praise for his rigorous, faith-driven scholarship. On July 25, 2025, he publicly announced his termination on his X account: “My Sacred Heart Major Seminary teaching contract was terminated by Abp. Weisenburger this week. I have retained counsel. Except to offer my prayers for those affected by this news and to ask for theirs in return, I have no further comment at this time.”
The professors had previously critiqued certain statements and teachings of Pope Francis, particularly regarding theological clarity. For example, in January 2024, Martin wrote a column for the National Catholic Register arguing that Francis’s remarks expressing hope that hell is empty could inadvertently support the heresy of Universalism, which posits that all will be saved. The lack of a public explanation for the dismissals, particularly after the “Archbishop’s Gala,” an annual seminary fundraiser, led to speculation among Catholics about the motivations behind the decision, with some suggesting it reflected tensions over theological perspectives Weisenburger is personally at odds with while taking advantage of donors before terminating highly respected faculty members. A spokesman for the archdiocese declined to comment on the firings.
Positions
Extraordinary Form of the Mass
A month into his tenure as Archbishop of Detroit, Weisenburger announced that as of July 1, 2025, parishes would be prohibited from celebrating the Tridentine Mass, citing Traditionis custodes. The Mass will still be allowed in non-parochial settings like St. Joseph Shrine, which is under the care of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest as well as 4 other designated non-parochial settings. Weisenburger’s decison sparked deep backlash among Catholics, who called it a “bloodbath” and “a personal assault.”
On June 12, 2025, Weisenburger issued a decree, accompanied by the Traditionis Custodes Implementation Norms for the Archdiocese of Detroit and a list of designated regional locations for the liturgy. The decree restricted public celebrations of the liturgy to four non-parish sites: St. Joseph Shrine in Detroit (Central Region), St. Irene Church in Dundee (South Region), Our Lady of Orchard Lake Chapel in Orchard Lake (Northwest Region), and St. Joseph Church in Port Huron (Northeast Region). St. Joseph Shrine, was allowed to continue as a personal parish offering daily liturgies. Priests not assigned to these sites could request permission to celebrate the liturgy on weekdays in non-parish settings, but only without lay attendance and under strict conditions, including annual renewal and a written affirmation of the validity of the Novus Ordo liturgy.
Despite any universal liturgical precedent, the decree also prohibited the ad orientem posture in the Novus Ordo liturgy, mandating the use of freestanding altars in all parish churches within 180 days.
Additionally, despite the rubrics of the liturgy, Scripture readings in the liturgy were required to be in the vernacular using translations approved only by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. These norms were framed as balancing pastoral care for the faithful attached to the liturgy with fidelity to Francis’ call for the Novus Ordo to be the “unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”
Weisenburger’s actions sparked significant controversy. Critics argued that the measures marginalized vibrant communities, limited access to the liturgy, and suppressed legitimate liturgical diversity. Some expressed hope that Leo XIV, elected in April 2025, might relax these restrictions, as noted by Cardinal Raymond Burke’s appeal. Weisenburger defended the decree in a June 13 letter, emphasizing the need for unity under papal and episcopal leadership while acknowledging the “rich expressions of the Catholic faith in southeast Michigan.”
A report that a hamburger cafe in Detroit now offers ‘Big Beef Wisenburgers’ has not been able to be confirmed . . .
blessings and thanks.
What a great loss to those of us seeking the Truth. Why is it ok in the Church to end livelihoods of great followers of the Lord. I don’t understand how this improves Christ’s Church.
Exactly 💯 I personally met Ralph Martin in the early days of the Charismatic Movement in Newark ,NJ. St. Antonio’s Church the founding fathers bless his name Fr. Jim Ferry. My wife came into the Catholic Church as a result. She was of the Jewish faith. I’m saddened but now aware of the New Papa in Rome. Another liberal. But it was prophetic. We are in the end times
IT’S ANTONINUS
It would seem that there being no contradictions to Scripture, presented, that this is an administrative change.
I am not a Catholic but one of several of my dear friends, including a very senior priest, and I find it unfortunate that orthodoxy in philosophy is rejected by the left wing, socialist philosophy of the former Pope. I commend Leo for lowering the temperature. I know not where he lands on philosophy but he appears less divisive than Francis.
Thank you, Dr. Martin James Rice, for posting these further details. Sad. This new archbishop needs many prayers after having treated these good scholars so crudely.
For those who have noticed, Scripture “translations approved only by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops” are now very woke. For example,the Bishops go to great lengths to eliminate male pronouns. They have even changed the words of Our Lord Jesus’s “Our Father” prayer. Attend the Latin Mass.
Ticks all the boxes concerning a continuation of Francis vindicated paranoia from beyond the grave! A hatred of a popular exposition of Catholic thought and action, plus a hatred of traditional catholicism, etc. etc!
J Mcallion: Not a “hatred of traditional catholicism”, I’m afraid. Just a hatred of orthodox Catholicism.
I find, however, when you really scratch below the surface with those who are inclined to tear the Church asunder, you find sins and agendas we’re now much too familiar with in the Catholic Church; we find the “Ghosts of McCarrick.”
A word to all seminarians at Sacred Heart Seminary: Before it’s too late, I’d encourage you to transfer out of Sacred Heart Seminary. If you stay, you will work for an Archdiocese that will constantly wage war against orthodoxy. Instead, make application to one of the better religious orders/congregations – ones that are noted for their orthodoxy. Just remember one simple fact: if you get ordained for the diocesan priesthood, you never will get to have a say in who your bishop is. Popes like Francis will be choosing your bishop. And be very clear, certain kinds of bishops can make your life hell. On the other hand, if you are a priest in a religious order and are fully professed, you will gèt a say in the election of your superiors. Now is the time to opt out of the diocesan priesthood.
Take care! You advocate disobedience to God’s call? God’s absolute control
Is questioned?
The spongy theology of “l’m okay, you’re okay.” Recalling, here, the nun of years gone by who had just met favorably with her bishop—a successor of the apostles…
Said she with dewy eyes: “he affirmed my okayness!”
Not a problem. Francis is most likely being subject to the same scrutiny.
Jeremiah 23:2
“Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.”
The Archbishop has provided a perfect example of Synodaling:
All are welcome! Let’s talk. Blah, blah, blah…
Purge the opposition.
Promote and protect sycophants.
Are we witnessing the rise of Franciscus II?
“Even the Holy Father himself would say the arms of the Church are broad and wide, and there’s a place for almost everybody. And so I think he was OK with people who ask questions,” Weiseburger said. “And I’m kind of OK with them, too.”
Except if you’re asking questions as to why you got fired…. Sorry, couldn’t resist
The need for reform is urgent when it is better to be a priest convicted for distributing child porn films working at the Vatican than a layman fired for faithfully teaching for decades at a Seminary.
Pope Leo, the ball is in your court….🎾
God’s Fool,
I agree. The need for reform is urgent. There are many synodaling members of the Uncle Ted McCarrick fraternity in the hierarchy.
Praying for Pope Leo to address this need in a prudent and effective way.
Excellent point. One can hope that, as Pope Leo is a canonist, the firing of Ed Peters will get his attention. (Firing three highly regarded professors at a major seminary at one swoop should in itself get the attention of the Pope, but you never know.)
As far as Archbishoo Weisenberger, the expression “tin-pot dictator” comes to mind. He wouldn’t be the first one.
Traditional Catholicism, Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, And The Teaching Of The Magisterium, Grounded In Sacred Tradition And Sacred Scripture, The Deposit Of Faith Christ Has Entrusted To His Church For The Salvation Of Souls, Is From God, the counterfeit magisterium that is attempting to subsist within The One Body Of Christ, while denying The Deposit Of Faith is from man, and is ipso facto anti Christ.
“Penance, Penance, Penance.”
“It is a sin to accommodate an occasion of sin, and cooperate with evil”, by accommodating a counterfeit magisterium that is anti Christ and calling it Catholic.
So now young people will have another reason to not attend a seminary – get rid of the thinkers that teach there!
“Excellency” Weisburger is unjust and untruthful, in imitation of the late Pontiff Francis.
He is a fitting successor in the long line of false shepherds presiding for decades in the AD of Detroit, the spawn of the false shepherd Bishop Deardon.
These three Catholics are hardly far-right sedevacantists. They are widely respected, established, orthodox, faithful Catholics. I had a feeling that Dr. Peters was next. The firings say more about the archbishop than they do about those who were fired. I can only hope and pray that Pope Leo starts to rein in those on the far left, and that any other bishops who send their seminarians to Detroit will pull them out of there before it’s too late.
At one point in recent years, the former Pope Francis warned der Synodal Weg that we don’t need two Protestant churches in Germany. And, now, today we’d like to think that HE would warn the Lone Ranger weisenheimer’s within the USCCB that we don’t need a wedge between a past pope and the current Pope Leo XIV. An ecclesial “Saturday Night Massacre”.
Two points:
FIRST, one task facing the American-born Pope Leo is to reconcile a legitimate “ecclesial assembly” (not a “synod of bishops”) with a real Synod of Bishops in conformance with the “hierarchical communion” proclaimed by the Second Vatican Council (Lumen Gentium, Ch. 3).
So, about the three dismissed theologians in Detroit, maybe the Cardinal Archbishop Cupich can clear things up. Or, maybe Cardinal McElroy in DC, whose appointment is otherwise seen by many as simply a political maneuver to offset a Presidential Election in the secular domain.
SECOND, about the secular domain, another and broader challenge for Pope Leo is to maintain the crucial doctrinal distinction between proclaiming the Gospel in its entirety and, yet, morally influencing related matters of urgent prudential judgment to be made by those directly responsible for the common good (Gaudium et Spes).
SUMMARY, about the papal election last May, someone in the USCCB please make sure that Bishop Weisenburger (appointed earlier in February and who is surely acting alone) gets that memo.
As for “acting alone”:
From The Detroit Purge
July 26, 2025
[Conclusion]
The movements are evil, and the intent is clearly to tear down one of the most faithful dioceses in America. There will be much more evil coming from the top. Our prayers for the faithful and the clergy now subjected to a bad 1970s rerun of a horror movie.
*For instance, Josh Mansfield on X says the following, which Rorate has been able to corroborate independently: “In regards to the Detroit/Weisenburger/Sacred Heart seminary situation, what I’ve been told from people with the connections to know is that the Archbishop did these firings extra-juduically, going over the head of the Rector and without consulting the Board of Directors in the removal of multiple professors. In addition, the other bishops of Michigan are LIVID at the situation!”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/detroit-archbishop-fires-renowned-conservative-professors-from-sacred-heart-seminary/
Is Detroit and Weisenberger a red flag warning of greater darkness or marker for papal intervention? Or silent approbation?
Abp Weisenberger is avowedly in his own words a convinced progressive in the mold of Francis I, which produced Cdls McElroy, Tucho Fernandez. It’s not productive to go into a detailed quai treatise in defence of three of our [those of us beleaguered Apostolic traditionalists] finest. Assuredly there’ll be an avalanche of unfavorable response to Weisenberger’s despot decision. Surely a milepost for good or evil worthy of repeated address.
These men Martin, Echeverria, Peters are orthodox and fair minded, meaning they were willing to embrace homosexuals under condition that they repent. They were willing to admit divorced and remarried outside the Church under condition that they abstain from receiving the Eucharist. Obviously Weisenberger rejected the conditions. What he advocates is Queerdom and cohabitation as legitimate forms of living Christianity.
Pope Leo, in the interests of unity, which he avows cannot remain silent or issue a meaningless rationalization. It’s a watershed moment for the Church. He has openly admitted to being a Francis I follower. Now it’s time for him to clarify exactly what that means. And for us to pray, sacrifice, and hope.
It’s not Weisenberger. Weisenburger.
Dr. Martin has been vocal in his criticism of Pope Francis’ lack of clarity, but, in his own work, he has not shown the clarity that a philosophy and theology professor needs to exhibit.
Take this quote from the above article: “a heresy called ‘universalism,’ which teaches that perhaps — or certainly — everyone will eventually end up in heaven.”
Universalism asserts that we can be certain that all will eventually be in heaven. Holding open the possibility that each person may choose redemption is a different idea entirely and is not heretical.
This may seem like a minor point, but philosophy is essentially the business of making distinctions and seemingly small inaccuracies lead to erroneous conclusions.
Maybe the bishop had entirely different reasons for firing Dr. Martin, but Dr. Martin ‘s inability to see such a simple point on the nature of universalism, about which he wrote extensively, is reason enough to think that it was at least time for him to retire.
I suspect that if bishops were to examine every professor that carefully and fire all who made similar errors, that they would have no professors left in seminaries.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2024/01/18/on-the-relevance-and-reality-of-the-development-of-doctrine-today/
Those whose competence it is, must call for a Council to declare the authority of Jorge Bergoglio null and void, as according to Catholic Canon 750
And
Canon 188 §4 states that among the actions which automatically (ipso facto) cause any cleric to lose his office, even without any declaration on the part of a superior, is that of “defect[ing] publicly from the Catholic faith” (” A fide catholica publice defecerit“).
I am deeply dismayed by the continued attack on Tradition, foundational truths, and the Holy Spirit under Pope Leo. By his own words, he seems intent on following the path of Pope Francis, which has often been one of confusion and heresy. Who will be drawn to this degenerate, new gospel? It will attract those who claim to believe in Christ but whose hearts are far from Him. This is the Lord’s Church, and He is Master and Lord. Those who act against His will shall face His judgment. Let us hold onto faith, knowing we still have reason to rejoice in our God.
*A Letter to Your Holiness Pope Leo XIV*:
Dear Holy Father,
Many of us Catholic Faithful have suffered greatly under the heavy weight of the papacy of Pope Francis. Many of us have been saddled with bishops who fail to teach the Catholic Faith as handed down to us for over two millennia. We have long suffered with bishops who have sexually abused the Faithful- including children under age eighteen. We have suffered with bishops who have been involved in homosexual relationships. We have suffered with bishops who have shielded priests who sexually abused minors among the Faithful. We thought, Holy Father, that our suffering under Pope Francis would end with your election. We had hope. But now we learn that one of the Archbishops appointed by Pope Francis has summarily fired three faculty of the Archdiocesan seminary of Detroit. These were faithful men who have long served the Church. They did nothing to justify their being fired by one of your Archbishops. Holy Father, an injustice has once again been done to the Faithful.
Dear, Holy Father, we the Faithful of the Catholic Church will be watching closely to see how you handle this injustice. When elevated to the papacy, you prayed for peace. However, there can be no peace in the Catholic Church as long as we have bishops who gravely and unjustly abuse the Faithful. We are like sheep without shepherds.
In peace,
A Catholic Faithful
“I hope no one goes to hell” who does? Everyone should praise God in Heaven for all eternity. For those committing sins on earth is “to err is human and to forgive is divine.”
More accurately weisenheimer.
I have heard that the bishops of dioceses near Detroit (who probably send seminarians to Sacred Heart) were… extremely displeased with the firings.
I know bishops have a say in which seminary they send seminarians from their diocese to, but I don’t know if it is 100% their choice.
Possibly they should look into exercising that choice. These firings will almost certainly have a chilling effect on orthodox teaching at the seminary.
A Diocese north of Detroit, which is desperate to correct both a laity (de)population bomb–Mass attendance has dropped 40% in the past ten years–and rapidly worsening priest shortage–sends two of their four seminarians to Sacred Heart.
This Archbishop sounds like he is conducting a purge. Further he appears to be cut from the same mold as Francis, which is unfortunate. However the new Pope is probably free to call him in and set him straight. It would be exceedingly unfortunate if the Pope did nothing, and will allow the same reign of terror to course through the church as we have experienced these past several years.
Those who rightly hold to Catholic orthodoxy should not be treated as extremists, nuts, or anything else. To allow Bishops to conduct their diocese as a personal fiefdom is not only bad policy but makes it seem the Pope fears exercising authority and discipline. Even for a Bishop, “do whatever you want” is not an acceptable attitude.
Perhaps the Detroit Archbishop is trying to reflect positions suggested by the Pope or imagines that he is going to achieve them; and considers that the outlooks of those he fired from Seminary, are not only incompatible and contrary but will intrude and divert.
But we do not know; and from where things are at the moment can’t tell what he’s thinking. Which are also parts of the trouble.
See the CWR links concerning tips for priests and for Pax Christi, from the Pope.
Perhaps these comments by the Pope DON’t foil or upend Weisenburger’s firing moves?
What a time it is indeed, that we live in, that coincidentally is disproving that mad-hat quibble and fixation, “Time is greater than space”.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/07/25/pope-leo-xiv-gives-priests-3-tips-to-build-a-solid-catholic-formation-on-rock/
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/07/26/pope-leo-xiv-tells-u-s-pax-christi-group-spread-peace-in-neighborhoods-parishes/
Perhaps this will be a wake up call for those who still aren’t sure if Leo is a continuation of Francs. To make it more apparent- the seminary also offers what are called ecclesiastical degrees, which means their theology department/program is overseen by Rome, barring any unusual exceptions in their case. It is almost certain that this was run by Rome, if not their official permission obtained, especially for such a major move- firing three long time professors, at once. (The hiring or firing of faculty is usually subject to the approval of the Holy See; though the degrees at sacred heart are issued through affiliation with the U. of St. Thomas/Angelicum in Rome, but which in turn is subject to the Holy See.) As such, there’s also a good likelihood, especially since this is in America, that Leo was made aware of it.
Even otherwise, Weisenberger would probably not do so unless he knew rome had his back. The same goes for his actions toward the “TLM.” Further, it makes no sense unless Leo is a continuation of Francis- if the problem was criticism of Francis, but Francis is gone, and Leo supposedly is different and will amend things…But if the objects of criticism are going to remain- Amoris L., F. Supplicans, etc., and the aim is to eliminate american voices of criticism in particular- it makes perfect sense.
The Church of Abandonment strikes again!
Leave the diocese and go elsewhere. If you can’t give money to any charity. Nothing for the diocese. Evil gets nothing
We read: “…I think [Pope Francis] kind of just reflected something of the great prophets of Scripture, who would allow the Holy Spirit to well up within them, speak the words, and let it fall on whatever ears would listen.”
A “great prophet of Scripture”? Papolatry? But who are we to judge?
So, no comment here about any pope as a possible “great prophet” of old; just noticing that at another time and place the Christian cousin of Khadijah (Muhammad’s wife) suggested to Muhammad that his intense experiences in the cave of Mt. Hira (A.D. 610) seemed a lot like the prophetic revelations of “the law” by an “angel.”
Muhammad, thusly, discovers that he’s a new prophet (!)—chosen to restore a monotheistic religion said to have been abandoned by apostate Jews (the Golden Calf thing), and then corrupted by polytheistic Christians (Muhammad’s triadic misunderstanding of the Triune One). T.E. Lawrence wrote of Arabia: ““The fringes of their deserts were strewn with broken faith . . . .The Arabs said there had been forty thousand prophets: we had record of at least some hundreds” (Seven Pillars of Wisdom). And one of these today has 1.8 billion followers.
That went well. But, unlike Muhammad, and unlike a modernday anointing by Bishop Weisenburg, there’s no record of Pope Francis ever thinking of himself as one of the “great prophets of Scripture.”
SUMMARY: The singular Incarnation and the Mystical Body of Christ—inseparable from the Father or from the Spirit—replaces any cinematic rerun of the prophets of old. Yes?
To all commenters here: May God Almighty 🙏 pour out His grace upon each of you, drawing you back to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Do not despair over the language of the Mass—whether Latin or the vernacular—for the Holy Eucharist remains the same divine miracle, the true Body and Blood of Christ, transcending all human speech. The Lord hears the prayers of His faithful in every tongue, for He is the Good Shepherd who understands every heart.
Yet let us also remember that Christ established His Church upon the rock of Peter (Matthew 16:18), granting the Pope—the successor of St. Peter—and the Magisterium, in union with him, the full authority to bind and loose (Matthew 18:18). When the Pope speaks “ex cathedra” on matters of faith and morals, or when an Ecumenical Council teaches in union with him, their authority is absolute, for they are guided by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13). To reject their God-given authority is to risk schism and error, for as St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote, “Where the bishop is, there let the people be; even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.”
Let us submit with filial devotion to the successors of the Apostles, praying always for Pope Leo XIV and all bishops, that they may shepherd the flock with wisdom, fidelity to Tradition, and the courage to uphold the Deposit of Faith.
“He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me.” (Luke 10:16)
Read some Dante.