Comments on: A Fraud

By: Enought Failure to go around

Enought Failure to go around — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:03:09 +0000

There are several failures here:

The ordaining bishop didn’t complete a background check;

His current bishop, who has been a bishop a very short period of time, didn’t do a background check;

The college didn’t do a background check;

The college didn’t check the Annuaro to see if this man was a Roman Catholic priest;

If the college was told or otherwise believed he was a Roman Catholic priest, they should have asked for a letter of permission from St. George’s bishop to accept the teaching assignment. Roman Catholic clergy are not allowed to engage in any work in the church without permission from their bishop/ordinary/superior.

It really isn’t about what flavor of Catholic he is or not… a lot of theological classes in seminaries are taught by lay people and non-Catholics.. they are just required to sign an agreement that they will teach on the magisterial beliefs of the church.

It also isn’t about his sexuality… he wasn’t teaching a sexual morality course, a course on priestly celibacy, or apparently anything that went against the magisterial beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.

What is is about is institutional failure on both sides of the church catholic… both Roman and Old… God knows that institutional failure in the church catholic has been a problem these last ten years.. we need to learn from that and move forward to restore trust to the church.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:24:44 +0000

In reference to James M. St. George consider the following:
St. George taught religion at Chestnut Hill College for less than 18 months not 15 years.
Chestnut Hill College is a Roman Catholic College administered by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
St. George “is not” a Roman Catholic priest. In 2006, he was ordained a by the Old Catholic Apostolic Church of the Americas which is not affiliated with the Vatican.
St. George never disclosed in his application to teach religion at Chestnut Hill College that he had a criminal past .
In 1992, St. George who was running a fifth-generation family funeral home in Erie, Pennsylvania, pleaded no contest to three federal felony counts of mail fraud on charges he had misused money from prepaid funeral accounts.
St. George served a 10-month sentence in the federal prison in Morgantown, W. Va., and was ordered by the court to pay more than $90,000 in restitution fees.
St. George never disclosed in his application to teach religion at Chestnut Hill College that he had and continues to have a homosexual relationship with another man during the past 15 years.
St. George has been running adds and giving interviews in the local newspapers in the Philadelphia area disparaging Roman Catholic priests, their celibacy and the Catholic Church for the purpose of attracting members to his congregation.
Recently, St. George claimed in a newspaper interview that a women spit on him and called him a pedophile because he looked like a Roman Catholic priest. St. George never reported the incident to the police which could be classified as a felony assault depending on the spitting circumstances if the woman he claimed spit on him was infected with a contagious decease.
If the spitting incidence really happened, perhaps the woman who spit on St. George was from Erie Pennsylvania and recognized St. George to be the Funeral Director who served 10 months in federal prison for stealing money from her deceased husband’s prepaid funeral account.
In addition to news of St. George’s brush with the law, the now-retired bishop who in 2006 ordained St. George into what was then known as the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch blasted the priest in a mass e-mail.
The Rev. Kera Hamilton, wrote that St. George “has no business teaching theology in a Roman Catholic institution” and “has overstepped his bounds, trampled propriety, and shown an arrogance that is beyond all comprehension.”
I agree with the Rev. Kera Hamilton that James Michael St. George “has no business teaching theology in a Roman Catholic institution” and “has overstepped his bounds, trampled propriety, and shown an arrogance that is beyond all comprehension.”

By: Blake

Blake — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:17:23 +0000

It’s good to question tradition.

As long as we recognize that sometimes the answer is, “yes.”

Sometimes traditions should be affirmed, rather than thrown out.

By: Mrs. Jackson

Mrs. Jackson — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:20:47 +0000

Let’s just forget the gay issue and even the mail fraud and the fact the now justly fired minister in question ran a successful discount coffin business and is also running a funeral home while running a church and was teaching theology at a Roman Catholic college (I’m sorry. I have to laugh- this story is a humdinger)

Let’s focus on article saying Cardinal Rigali called the minister a heretic.

The minister according to the same article was ordained by a woman.

That fits the textbook definition of a heretic.

Bravo Cardinal Rigali.

Awesome, really.

By: Mike Melendez

Mike Melendez — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:18:02 +0000

Did a web search and came across this from a 2008 press release from THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCH OF ANTIOCH – MALABAR RITE:

“FATHER JIM ST. GEORGE as reported by Bishop Kera Hamilton, was nominated for the Einstein “Albert” award for his work with the family of slain Philadelphia police officer Charles Cassidy in November 2007. The “Albert” is given each year to a hospital staff person who has shown a unique blend of skills, compassion, and creativity that reflects excellence. Father Jim is a Trauma Chaplain at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA Congratulations Father Jim.”

Maybe Father Jim should have stayed with his denomination.

By: Stuart Koehl

Stuart Koehl — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 15:45:40 +0000

Well, the first time around, I did ask who had vetted him.