Dissidents call for accounting at two Phoenix
Hispanic churches
By GILL DONOVAN
NCR Staff
Three months after some 70 parishioners from two Phoenix churches
marched on diocesan offices in Phoenix, calling for Bishop Thomas OBrien
and their pastor, Fr. Saul Madrid, to resign, Madrid said he will step down in
January.
Madrid, pastor of two predominantly Hispanic parishes, Immaculate
Heart of Mary and St. Anthony, told reporters Nov. 12 that fatigue and the
parishes unwillingness to share their pastor were the real issues that
led to his resignation.
The protracted controversy over the priest has divided Hispanics
and pitted some longtime prominent members of the citys deeply rooted
Hispanic community against the bishop.
Christian Faithful, the dissident group that organized the
protest, has cited, among reasons Madrid should resign, financial
irregularities at both parishes, the priests decision to fire the finance
council at Immaculate Heart, and his removal of pews and statues from St.
Anthony. Particularly disturbing, they said, was Madrids decision to take
a small role in a sexually explicit R-rated movie. One scene, in which
vulgarities are spoken before a statue of Jesus, was filmed inside St. Anthony
Church. Attendance and donations, they say, are dramatically down at both
parishes.
Julian Sodari, a member of Christian Faithful, parishioner at St.
Anthony and community organizer, told NCR that the bishop should resign
because, he doesnt have the leadership to be where he is.
Numerous letters to the bishop have gone unanswered, he said. The diocese and
Madrid did not return phone messages to NCR regarding this story.
During the mile-long march from Immaculate Heart to the diocesan
center on Aug. 11, some people carried signs that said, OBrien:
Thou Shalt Not Ignore Us! and Victims of Immaculate
Heartbreak!
Now, though Madrid has resigned, Sodari says his groups
mission is incomplete. We want an accounting of all thats
happened, he said.
Public protest about Madrid began in summer 1999 when Madrid,
pastor at St. Anthony since 1994, was also assigned to Immaculate Heart.
Fr. Saul has charisma, Sodari said, explaining how
Madrid became pastor at both parishes. A Mexican native who speaks fluent
Spanish, he is well regarded in the diocese and holds the good will of many
parishioners and others in the Hispanic community. In many cases, Saul
could make changes without complaint, Sodari said.
But Catholics in the Hispanic community became alarmed at changes
made after a fire in December 1994 that caused an estimated $150,000 in damage
to St. Anthonys interior. Madrid oversaw renovations to the church in
consultation with liturgical experts. A few of the changes are incomplete more
than five years after the fire. Chairs replaced pews, the number of
confessionals and statues near the altar was reduced, and the stations of the
cross are gone.
Pediatrician Manuel Seda, a longtime Immaculate Heart parishioner
whose office is located between the parishes, told NCR, Walking
into St. Anthony now is like walking into a Baptist church.
Furthermore, Madrid has not accounted to parishioners for how
large sums of money intended for restoration were spent. Insurance compensated
the parish for the fire and Sodari, who was on the parish council, said
$500,000 was raised for more extensive repairs. If $150,000 was spent on
restoration, where did the rest of the money go? he asked.
According to Sodari, Madrids changes to the church went
beyond architecture. Before the fire, there were festivities at every
traditional feast day and in Lent, and we celebrated in great tradition the
feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, he said. But since St. Anthony
burnt, everything is totally different.
When OBrien had announced Madrids appointment in
summer 1999 as pastor of Immaculate Heart, Sodari and others formed Christian
Faithful to oppose the appointment. Madrid became pastor in July 1999, even
though a petition with 6,000 signatures was presented to the diocese asking for
a different priest.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, finished in 1928 and known as the
cathedral of Hispanics, was built as Phoenixs first Hispanic
parish. Previously, Spanish Masses were held only in the basement of St.
Marys, the only church in downtown Phoenix at the time. Many Hispanics
still travel across the large metropolitan area to attend Mass at Immaculate
Heart.
Among other complaints cited by Madrids opponents:
- One of his first actions at Immaculate Heart, according to the
Phoenix New Times, was to tell staff members to reapply for their jobs.
The New Times is an alternative paper that published an extensive report
on the situation at the two parishes in its Aug. 12 issue.
- Before Madrid, the finance council at Immaculate Heart had been
allowed to see all records. Under him, financial records have been
withheld.
- Madrid took the unusual step of creating two separate groups to
count donations from Sunday Masses, with the result that only he would know the
weekly total.
- Two popular associate priests were successively removed from
work at St. Anthony and Immaculate Heart after clashing with Madrid and one of
his friends, Martin Piña. According to the New Times,
Piña, a friend of Madrids, was involved in a business venture with
him in 1999, as part owner of a hair salon.
Piña was provided keys to both parishes, even though he
didnt work in either, and was involved in conflicts with parishioners as
well as associate priests.
OBrien has continued to back Madrid. In fall 1999, after
finance council members wrote OBrien expressing their concerns, the
bishop set up a meeting between Madrid and the council. The council asked
Madrid to bring financial records to the meeting. He brought only a statement
of the previous months collections and denied the finance council access
to other records. When finance council members complained to OBrien, he
suggested in a return letter that they resign. Less than a month later, Madrid
fired the five-member finance council in a letter of his own. Quoting from
their letter to the bishop, he said, their deep mistrust of him
would make them incapable of fulfilling their ministry.
In the early morning hours after Palm Sunday April 17, in what
Sodari said is still hard to accept as coincidence, a fire broke out at
Immaculate Heart, similar to the fire that damaged St. Anthony more than five
years ago. The fire caused $2 million in damage to the interior of the church.
Because the church fire is being investigated as a possible hate crime, the FBI
and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were brought in. Madrid, among the
last people in the building before the fire started, was questioned, and
reportedly passed a lie detector test about whether he played a part in
starting the fire.
While full insurance claims have been paid, and investigators
think it likely that the fire was accidental, no cause has been determined.
Once again, following a fire, Madrid was in charge of an extensive
renovation project of what had been an ornate Hispanic Catholic church. Again
some parishioners raised questions about financial accountability regarding
restoration funds.
Earlier this year, parishioners learned that Madrid had taken an
acting part in the R-rated 14 Ways to Wear Lipstick. Madrid
accepted a small role in the film as a priest who counsels a crime boss about
his relationship with his son. The movie, the New Times reported,
includes full-frontal male nudity, graphic sodomy, and numerous displays
of extreme violence. Madrid allowed a scene to be shot inside St. Anthony
Church in which a character uses vulgarities in front of a statue of Jesus.
Some three weeks after the long report of all Madrids
troubles in New Times, the priest offered an apology from the pulpit at
both churches about his role in the film. He told parishioners, I, like
you, stand in Gods mercy.
Less than three weeks later, Bishop OBrien in the Sept. 7
edition of The Catholic Sun, the diocesan paper, called for a halt to
the unrelenting stream of criticism and suspicion regarding Fr. Saul
Madrid. OBrien acknowledged that Madrid had used incredibly
poor judgment in regard to the film.
OBrien further noted in the statement that the diocese
periodically audits parish finances. OBrien wrote that an audit was
underway at Madrids two parishes. So far, OBrien has said nothing
publicly about results.
He did, however, issue a statement Nov. 12 saying he had
accepted Madrids resignation. He noted that Madrid had made mistakes
for which he has apologized.
A TV news crew from the NBC affiliate KPNX in Phoenix spoke on
camera with Madrid outside one of the churches following his resignation
announcement. The interviewer asked Madrid if he regretted appearing in
14 Ways to Wear Lipstick.
No, he responded.
The dioceses communications director, Marge Injasoulian,
then interrupted the interview. In an exchange with the reporter, Injasoulian
threatened to file FCC charges against the station for character
assassination.
Sodari told NCR that several local news outlets had left
him messages inquiring about the resignation. He said, Its
embarrassing that a priest from our congregation had to leave in these
circumstances. But, he said, we have to talk to [the diocese]
through the media because they wont communicate with us.
Gill Donovans e-mail address is
gdonovan@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, November 24,
2000
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