1. Greetings.
2. I am writing to you regarding a concern of the greatest
importance. One of your priests, Fr. John Haines, has decided to re-arrange
the pews of St. Mary’s Church, Lethbridge, Victoria. The pews no longer face
the altar. The pews on the left side of the church are facing the right wall.
The pews on the right side of the church are facing the left wall.
Thus the congregation faces each other!
The congregation no longer faces the altar!
3. The lectern is a few feet from the entrance to the
Church. And the seat of the priest is just to the side and behind the lectern!
4. Eminence, we are outraged by this new offence and we
will not stand for it. Modernism has gone to war with us and we will go to war
too no matter what it takes! We have stood idly by with the other offences
performed by this priest, but we will not stand idly by while the rubrics of
the Mass are tainted in such a manner.
Please have the pews returned to their original positions
and designs effective immediately.
5. Eminence, we are church going people in the Meredith
(Saint Joseph’s) and Lethbridge (St. Mary‘s), Victoria parishes. If Holy
Mass was daily offered we would be there. We know the importance of the Holy
Mass. We are also workers, Eminence. We employ many locals from Meredith and
Lethbridge and strive to be just and fair in the workplace not only according
to the laws of the land but the laws of Jesus Christ. We are already more than
half of the congregation that attends Holy Mass in the Meredith parish and we
are half of the congregation that attends Holy Mass in the Lethbridge parish.
The Holy Mass is our strength!
6. And now it has become impossible for us to be a part of
that Mass with this new outrage! Does Fr. Haines not want the faithful to come
to Mass? Eminence, this is only his latest offence. We are in prayer daily for
his conversion. Please give Fr. Haines a call immediately to restore the pews
to their original positions, to remove his earring when he celebrates Holy
Mass (he has done so in the past I have heard). I believe because we are
already half of the congregation in these two parishes, that our voice should
be heard. Therefore if the parish council needs to meet and discuss
developments and changes, that we are to be consulted. Otherwise the council
loses its effectiveness and its purpose – to be the voice of the parish. How
can they be our voice when long ago they have expelled one of their council
members because the member was directly linked to us.
If the council does not wish to listen to our voice, then it
must be dissolved, null and void because it does not serve the overall
purpose of the parish.
7. I believe we are being religiously racially facing
discrimination from the priest first and from his proponents in the parish
council.
Your attention to our needs is sorely needed.
8. We know many in the Church have a prejudice against our
beliefs, but it is childish to reform a church just because we love the
traditions of the Church. The church works hard to bring traditional's from
ultra-traditional movements who have fallen away from the church back to the
fold. Hence why in this case is one of your priests seemingly going in another
direction? A direction we do not consider an option. Please be reminded much
of what is traditional in the church have been reintroduced in the latest
documents from the Vatican issued from the office of Cardinal Ratzinger –
changes of which we are still to see implemented in all churches in Victoria.
Please advise me when the pews have been returned to their
original positions so that we may again be able to attend Holy Mass in
Lethbridge, Victoria.
9. Thank you for your attention and I anticipate your
prompt response on this matter.
Yours in Christ,
Glenn Talaue
Lethbridge, Victoria
