Background on Fr. Mark Rogers HERE (20 February 2019) – HERE (17 June 2023) – HERE (5 July 2023).
November 30, 2023
Dear Diary,
Fr. Mark Rogers. Loved Latin and all that stuff. I had to come down on him after some of the priests got on him with me. Pushed me into. They said he was making them look bad, and he was not on the team. Other bishops suggested sending him to that St. Leo’s priest clinic, who would straighten him out or get rid of him. Fr. Rogers returned sort of broken. Disappeared after awhile. I had to take him off the list cause we didn’t know where he was. Not my fault he left. The presb council guys said get him laicized. They really had it out for him. Didn’t want to do that. Then in Orlando Jude Noble said Rogers was in Black Duck diving an Uber. Jude wanted to rehab him, take him in. Sure! Give it a try I thought but the presb council advisors again said no and pushed for laicization. Rogers being traddy was annoying, but these guys really seemed to hate him. I don’t get that. I sent the papers to Rome. Jude wrote to them too. Rome did it to Rogers, fast! I think it was the trad thing. BAM! laicized him and sent it all to Jude and me too, telling us to let Rogers know instead of just getting some letter. Jude just called me. Fr. Mark killed himself today. He stopped his car and jumped off one of the high bridges in Black Duck. Sad business. Vice told me not to go to the funeral in Black Duck. Fr. Tommy can represent me. Tommy’s not talking to me again. Neither is Sr. Randi. Everyone’s unhappy. Anyway, we’ll be putting up the chancery Christmas decorations this weekend and Fr. Gilbert has orders to get a tree for the office. Residence, NO WAY. Chester. We tried that once. The decorations will cheer everyone up. I asked Mrs. Kennedy to get some egg nog and some of those cookies that come around this time of year.
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Serious downner, here. I know this is a real problem, but maybe a bit too much realism for a satire piece, Fr. Z! My usual joy as seeing +Fatty’s diary was killed quickly on this one.
This entry stabbed my heart because of the reality of the situation. There are men, who for GOOD reasons should be removed. (I’m thinking a certain Jesuit artist…) We all know others who have been persecuted and thrown away by Church leaders. Our Merciful Lord, the Supreme Judge, will sort it in the end. Lord have mercy!
One time I had the inspiration to have a Mass said for a priest from the parish who killed himself. When I went to the office to pay for the Mass, I learned that others had also recently (and unexpectedly) requested Masses for him. This was years after it happened…
Other bishops suggested sending him to that St. Leo’s priest clinic, who would straighten him out or get rid of him. Fr. Rogers returned sort of broken.
So true to life. Priests literally risked grave bodily, mental, and spiritual injury going to “St. Luke’s.” Sorry, “St. Leo’s”. I am astounded that the place still exists, that bishops STILL use it, and that the place hasn’t been torn down brick by brick by the abused. Some enterprising lawyer needs to get a class-action suit going.
A reminder that priests (even the uncancelled ones) need friends. Friends to talk about things besides ecclesiastical politics and the like. Philosophy, poetry… wine, cigars, cognac. You know, the stuff that really matters.
“Est enim amicitia nihil aliud nisi omnium divinarum humanarumque rerum cum benevolentia et caritate consensio; qua quidem haud scio an excepta sapientia nihil melius homini sit a dis immortalibus datum.”
A worthy thing. And, when things get bleak, an extra set of guardrails for the bridge.
Usually I get a chuckle from the diaries. Not today.
As much as we laugh at Bishop Fatty, this is really what is happening in our church.
Satire can be a real eye opener.
I worry about the souls of our Bishops and especially the Pope’s because they seem to forgot basic teachings. Maybe diocesan priests lobby bishops to be downright mean. I don’t know.
But if God told Abraham he would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of 10 good men; and Jesus told his disciples at the sermon on the mount to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them (which those of us who believe their salvation is greatly helped by the Latin Mass must remember); and if we remember the parable of the wheat and the tares where the householder said “let both grow together until the harvest”; and if we remember Jesus told his apostles that they would not Lord over one another; ought we not question, for their sake, or even warn Bishops that they are supposed to be shepherds and each of them, even the Pope, therefore should act like a good shepherd rather than a sheep in a wolf’s clothing?
But to me the most disheartening thing about Bishop Butterpants is that the satire—not just this one—does seem to be too real in depicting a bishop who has no idea of how to apply our Lord’s teachings to the everyday life of the Church.
Gosh, I love the juxtaposition in the story between the crisis in the Church, represented by the Fr. Rogers situation, and what immediately follows with the pedantic monotony of the chancery Christmas decorations. It’s like there’s a murderer in your house, but you’re too concerned about whether or not you brushed your teeth before bed to even care.
Corruptio optimi pessima.
I usually get a kick out of the Bishop of Black Duck, but sadly this was too real. As a person who is firmly attached to Tradition, I sometimes question myself.
For the last ten years I have slowly lost my hearing ability, even with hearing aids. At the TLM hearing is only a luxury seeing the TLM satisfies my spiritual desires for communion with Our Lord. Of all the nonsense of VII hiding the Tabernacle was, for me, the greatest outrage possible.
I know that my syntax is terrible, but I try,