Georgette of Chronicle of a Meandering Traveller has links for the homilies of Father Robert Altier of St Agnes parish in St. Paul.
Father Alter has recently obeyed the order of Archbishop Harry Flynn to pull all of his homilies from the St. Agnes page and to cease his radio appearances on Relevant Radio programs.
No reason was given for the order, but the Archdiocese and Father Altier's pastor have assured all that Father's orthodoxy or personal behavior are not at all subject to question.
Some of public opinion seems to believe that it is because of his articulate arguments that the use of a certain "sex education" program for very young children should not be used. The Archdiocese maintains that parents have a choice of programs that can be used.
Many of Father Altier's older homilies have been automatically saved by the internet gods, some by a "fan", and many are available in audio. Georgette has those links. She apparently currently lives in India.
Adoro Te Devote has some of the details.
4 comments:
ftp://217.160.246.215/pub/audionet/Desert_Voice/
MP3 files for download
Fundamentals of Catholicism
Marriage series
St. Michael Talk
Crisis of Identity in Catholic Schools
An interesting petition I found on Spirit Daily about Fr.Altier at:
http://www.speroforum.com/site/print.asp?idarticle=3498.
Here is an easier to use archive of texts than the web wayback machine at: http://www.desertvoice.excerptsofinri.com/
OUTSPOKEN PRIEST TAKEN OFF INTERNET IS SENT TO NURSING HOME AS ASS'T CHAPLAIN
Sometimes, we get confused. Such was the case the other day when we were informed that Father Robert Altier, a well-known priest in St. Paul, Minnesota, was being assigned (he is 45) to a nursing home.
The priest was the subject of recent controversy when his prelate, Archbishop Harry J. Flynn [left], ordered him to stop broadcasting over a Catholic radio network called Relevant Radio (based largely in the upper Midwest) and to cease activity on a website that propagated his homilies -- many of which were staunch conservative ones and some of which were critical of bishops and especially what he sees as rampant homosexuality in the priesthood, including the St. Paul-Minnesota archdiocese.
We're not sure because Father Altier does not comment on that publicly. He has commented publicly on a sex-education program that he felt was unfit for children, and this is what seemed to spark the latest controversy. Currently an associate pastor at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, he will now head to Regina Medical Center in Hastings as an assistant chaplain (meaning he will no longer be a regular daily Mass celebrant in public). While at St. Agnes, Father Altier's Masses -- relegated to the early hours of morning -- were unusually well-attended. He was viewed as a staunch conservative.
From those Masses came homilies that were distributed via the internet. There will be no more such homilies.
While Dennis McGrath, official spokesman for the archdiocese, told Spirit Daily that Father Altier was happy with the reassignment and in fact had requested it, Father Altier confined his comments Thursday to saying, "I am just being obedient to the bishop. This is what he requested. This is what he asked me to do." He withheld further comment, saying only that the archbishop is "a good man."
The sex-education program is known as "Virtus" and is related to a program called Talking About Touching, designed in response to the sex-abuse scandal. "Unfortunately," says the website dedicated to Father Altier, "these graphic sex-ed programs are in direct violation of Vatican teachings on human sexuality and do nothing to stop predators but instead place the burden of protection on young children themselves." This is apparently Father Altier's viewpoint.
The new assignment, which will last for three years, will allow him tremendous free time, he said, during which he plans to read, write, and exercise. "I've been too busy the past few years to exercise and I've put on some pounds that I may be able to take off now," he said. "There's a 'Y' below the nursing center."
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