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Doctor David Pence, a physician, creator of the DocSociety web page that examined the history of the major and minor seminaries of the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis in the wake of the tragic incident in Hudson, Wisconsin, where two men were shot, possibly by Father Ryan Erickson, a priest of the Diocese of Superior who was educated and ordained at the St Paul Seminary.

Dr. Pence has now done some writing on last Fall's incident at the University of St Thomas in St Paul where the Board of Trustees, without announcing its intention ahead of time, changed its bylaws to remove Archbishop Harry Flynn and Vicar-General Father Kevin McDonough as ex-officio members of the Board of Trustees and gave them five year appointments, renewal being subject to board approval.

A lot of people are upset about this. "Give us back our university!", Dr. Pence was heard to shout at one recent meeting.

Here are Dr. Pence's documents about the UST incident that I understand have been distributed to all priests of the archdiocese and all the bishops of the U.S.

A Hostile Takeover

"The University of St. Thomas can only live in the Heart of the Church."

The docsociety welcomes the Men of Sherwood-a hearty group of Catholic laymen and a few friar tucks. Their goal and ours is to seek an honest dialogue and change of heart (metanoia).

The docsociety joins the Men of Sherwood in asking the University of St. Thomas Board of Trustees to reverse their decision to remove the sitting archbishop and vicar general as ex officio chairman and vice chairman of the university Board of Trustees. We are asking Archbishop Harry Flynn to admit that allowing this hostile takeover of an archdiocesan institution by a sitting board was an error. We ask Archbishop Flynn to welcome his brother bishop, John Nienstedt, in charity and apostolic fraternity. We seek the resignation of President Dennis Dease who engineered his own reappointment for a five year term at over $200,000 a year. He has blatantly lied to students, faculty and the public in explaining the change in by-laws by saying, “The simple reason was that ordinaries of the diocese typically chair so many boards and are so inundated with the demands of their jobs that it has become increasingly difficult to be actively involved as university chairs.” In fact the great fear of Fr. Dease was that the incoming bishop was going to devote too much time and fatherly authority in safeguarding the university’s Catholic mission. Fr. Dease knew his own record of undermining Catholic culture and university freedom was so blatant he could never remain in the archdiocese’s highest paying job under Archbishop Nienstedt. Fr. Dease has consistently concealed the real power players and narcissistic reasoning for this historic severing of the university from the Eucharistic Heart of the Church. This community of learning that was given to us by our forefathers and intended for our descendants has been seized by the most self-centered generation of clerics the diocese has ever known.

The docsociety has argued for several years that the public, evangelical love which must animate the priestly fraternity in our archdiocese has been corrupted. This corruption now extends to the sacred apostolic fraternity of the bishops as Archbishop Flynn has greeted his brother archbishop with a public smile and a private act of betrayal. How can our local Church and university credibly witness to the death, resurrection, and second coming of Christ if our archbishop and university president have so disgracefully discarded their sacred duty to be honest and loyal men? The Church has received a message which she shares with others. When she loses her credibility as a witness, she loses her ability to evangelize.

A Catholic university is a place for dialogue seeking the truth. We seek that dialogue. Let’s get this settled on campus—that’s what a university is for. We urge student groups, faculty, diocesan priests, lawyers, journalists and laymen to enter a dialogue on this campus to remember the Catholic Eucharistic Church which built the place. Every stone and statue will shout its memories. May hearts of stone hear and turn to flesh.

There was an old church custom that when a new bishop arrived the faithful would gather to greet him at the boundary of his new diocese. We suggest that our outgoing ruling clique stop parceling out Church property and severance salaries for the continued careerism of their cronies. Is it really a “justice issue” that Fr. Dease receive the same perks as corporate executives?

Rather than using the common treasury of the Church to line their pockets and pay off friends shouldn’t Bishop Flynn and Father Dease be welcoming Archbishop Nienstedt? Isn’t that the real living Catholic tradition-the apostolic and brotherly handing down of authority and mission? The Men of Sherwood swear they will fight this last hour looting of the Church as best they can until a just authority returns. They are hoping then to come out of their forest exile and join the new archbishop for a blessing, honest talk and a public glass of ale. The docsociety hopes to be there too.

Our extended narrative, A Trust Betrayed (PDF), we think is the best reporting thus far on the full story of the takeover. You can also read a short summary here (PDF). Our case that the secularization of St Thomas is directly related to the moral and intellectual incoherence of Dennis Dease, Losing the Sacred Center (PDF). The key role of Judge Diana Murphy in the secularization of St Thomas is related here Abortion's Handmaid (PDF). Finally-- The Men of Sherwood pictorial summary and powerpoint (PDF) here. If you can only read one piece—look at the powerpoint.