Fr. Francis Mary Stone takes leave of absence to discern vocation

[He Man]

Terrible. According to EWTN and Life on the Rock tonight, Fr. Francis Mary has taken a leave of absence to discern his Priestly vocation, after becoming "involved" with a widow and her family.

Please pray for our Priests

[MSParrott]

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou amongst women,
and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen

[havemercy]

[He Man]

Yeah, I was crushed, he seemed like a wonderful Priest. Very sad to hear, and very surprising was to start Life on the Rock..

[SeekerJen]

I tuned in at the tail end of the letter-reading so I didn't hear why he was leaving. As startling as this is, he's human like the rest of us and unfortunately subject to the same temptations. I pray that he receives the guidance and mercy that he seeks.

[SeekerJen]

Originally Posted by jpsheehn

What are your thoughts and opinions on this?

My thoughts and opinions are that he is a priest. Had he been married before taking Holy Orders, then I agree that historically there would be some flexibility. As it stands, men who have been married and widowed are can be ordained. Men who are priests in the Episcopal/Anglican church and are married can sometimes convert and be Catholic priests and stay married.

However, Holy Orders trumps marriage in that a man who has first taken Holy Orders cannot marry unless he completely leaves the priesthood. This is true throughout all Catholic rites as well as in the Orthodox churches. It is also true of our Permanent Diaconate: married men can take orders to become deacons, but unmarried men cannot take orders and then marry.

Fr. Francis knew this; he knew upon taking orders that he was no longer free to marry. However, like I've said above, he is human like the rest of us and has the same temptations and weaknesses. Now he needs much prayer and grace as he decides what to do, as he cannot have it both ways.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by MSParrott

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.
Blessed art Thou amongst women,
and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen

Exactly what I was thinking and I would add:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do though oh Prince of the Heavenly Hosts by the power of God, cast into hell, satan, and all the other evil spirts who prowl the world seeking the ruin of souls.



When we are close to death, these are the 2 (Mary and St. Michael) that we need to cling to to get us to Jesus. This is like a death and Satan would like to get a priest like this more than anything - a priest that is popular, frequently witnesses to the truth of what is morally right, and runs a show for youth.

Stay IN the battle Fr. Francis - you are a priest forever! Don't ever give up and we won't give up praying.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by jpsheehn

I wrote about this as well at the follwoing link here on the catholic forums:

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=195461

I just honestly think that priest should be allowed to marry, but as someone pointed out in my other thread Father Francis Mary is in an ORDER so it is a little bit different than say a secular priest

Here is a copy of my post:

I am a cradle catholilc, but I honestly feel I need to speak up about this

There is a catholic priest on TV whom I watch from time to time. His name is Father Francis Mary. I usually just find the EWTN channel by chance when I am surfing. The name of the show is Life On The Rock on EWTN

I caught the start of his show today, only it was NOT the ordinary start as the show would be. One of the other people on the show read a letter from Father Francis. Basicly the letter said this in not so many words:

I have been helping a young widdow and her children for some time. I have basicly fallen in love with her. I am at this time discerning my future. ( The letter did not say if he broke his vows.)

This is one of the main reason why I think catholic priest should be able to get married! I mean so what if Father Francis has fallen in love with someone. I jump for joy for the man myself! Finding love is hard to find so more power to him if he has found it! Having a catholic priest be celebrate and chastised is a super old outdated concept that needs to be done away with. I just do not see a problem with serving ones faith no matter what that faith may be all while raising a family.

The man is human and has human needs and feelings. I believe it is very wrong to surpress these feelings. I sincerely believe that is one of the reason why you see a few "bad apple" priest molesting young children.

From what I have read it seems that many religous were in fact married and serving God up until about the year 1200. For some reason around this time being a "single" priest became the standard. Many Popes also appear to have been married at one time.

What are your thoughts and opinions on this?

Not the time to be jumping on the priests should get married bandwagon. This is too opportunistic. There are many reasons why priests are celibate.

[Brad]

I know this is hindsight and coming from frustration and probably too early but....

Why

Dear Lord

Fr. Francis lives with other Brothers - why oh why did they not see this coming or wonder why he is spending so much time with the widow and work to protect him from this possibility? Are they over-booked? Did they do so and he was belligerent? This seems as though it should have been cut-off before it was broadcast to the world.

[Brad]

From: http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/50753


Father Francis has a special message for young men when he asks, “Is it macho to love Jesus?” He dispels the myth that church is for girls, and that real men don't cry, love Jesus or eat quiche. Father Francis says, “For a variety of reasons, sometimes Catholicism, really 'religion' in general, can be seen as overtly feminine. Though we certainly don't ignore the 'genius of women' on Life on the Rock, we do want to let the guys know that Jesus Christ was a true 'man's man' and the guys need to get on board."

[He Man]

Originally Posted by jpsheehn

What are your thoughts and opinions on this?

My thoughts are that if Fr. Francis Mary had been married with children, and had suddenly decided he wanted to be with someone else due to "personal feelings", no one on here would be very sympathetic or condone his choice.

I am sympathetic to our Priests, love them, and he certainly deserves our prayers, but there is no excuse for this.

[katy]

This is so sad and disappointing. I can't help but wonder what the effect will be on the young people (older ones for that matter) who have particularly admired him. What a let down.

[jpsheehn]

Originally Posted by Brad

I know this is hindsight and coming from frustration and probably too early but....

Why

Dear Lord

Fr. Francis lives with other Brothers - why oh why did they not see this coming or wonder why he is spending so much time with the widow and work to protect him from this possibility? Are they over-booked? Did they do so and he was belligerent? This seems as though it should have been cut-off before it was broadcast to the world.

I myself have to admire the honesty and courage of Fr .Francis and all the Brothers to admit things! To have hidden it would have made the entire thing so much worse. I can see the media circus that would have followed if all this was found out later on by a few reporters. They would have had a field day with it. Its better to admit it now and be out in the open about it all.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by He Man

My thoughts are that if Fr. Francis Mary had been married with children, and had suddenly decided he wanted to be with someone else due to "personal feelings", no one on here would be very sympathetic or condone his choice.

I am sympathetic to our Priests, love them, and he certainly deserves our prayers, but there is no excuse for this.

I liken it to someone sitting in for Dr. Dobson on his radio show saying that he has gotten involved with a widow and his family and he needs to take a break to discern his marriage to his wife.

[He Man]

Originally Posted by Brad

I know this is hindsight and coming from frustration and probably too early but....

Why

Dear Lord

Fr. Francis lives with other Brothers - why oh why did they not see this coming or wonder why he is spending so much time with the widow and work to protect him from this possibility? Are they over-booked? Did they do so and he was belligerent? This seems as though it should have been cut-off before it was broadcast to the world.

My mother and I had the same thoughts when discussing this on the phone this evening. This sort of event doesn't sneak up on anyone. There had to be signs, most especially for him, that were ignored. His poor brothers in Christ (the Fanciscan Priests), I feel for them as well.

Fr. Mark did not look happy