ARTICLES

What Do They Teach Those Drawn to Church?

Recent Convert Tells All

By Anne Knight

It was early in the 2000 Jubilee Year when Chuck Stout, while channel surfing, stumbled across Mother Angelica's Eternal Word Television Network and, much to his surprise, was increasingly drawn to it. "Without EWTN," Stout said, "there is no way that I would have ever come to the real knowledge of the Catholic faith." Along with watching Mother Angelica's station, Stout studied on his own, finding answers to some of the objections to Catholicism he had been taught during his Presbyterian upbringing. He attended an Easter Vigil Mass that year, an experience he calls "pivotal" in his conversion. He also met a devout Catholic willing to sponsor him in a Right of Christian Initiation for Adults class.

His sponsor led him to Saint Charles Borromeo Church in Point Loma, where Father Cavana Wallace was the pastor and ran the Christian Initiation program. Stout enrolled in the upcoming course, but prior to starting, he went on a Jubilee Year pilgrimage to Italy in September. The pilgrimage included a visit to Milan's cathedral, where the remains of Saint Charles Borromeo and Saint Ambrose are displayed. "There had been a number of parishes that I had considered taking RCIA at, but when I saw the remains of Saint Charles at the Duomo in Milan, I had absolutely no doubt that there was a greater force behind my conversion."

Stout completed the 2000-01 Christian Initiation program at Saint Charles and entered the Church at the 2001 Easter Vigil Mass there. "I'm grateful for Father Wallace's ability to explain the Catholic position and bring me into the Church," Stout says. "He and another holy priest told me that once I had come to the belief that the Catholic Church was the true faith, I had an obligation to convert."

Over the summer of 2001, Father Wallace suggested that Stout, his sponsor, and parishioners Maggie Welch and Richard Sanderville participate in teaching the next Christian Initiation program. Shortly thereafter, Father Wallace was transferred and replaced at St. Charles by Father Gary Holtey, formerly the associate pastor at Santa Sophia parish in Casa De Oro.

Stout's involvement in the Saint Charles Right of Christian Initiation program started in the fall of 2001. "Right before the RCIA program began," he recalled, "Maggie Welch approached me about co-teaching the RCIA program with her and I was glad to do it. But I told Maggie that, with her being a more experienced and knowledgeable Catholic, I would just like to add certain things into the class while she taught."

During the 2001-02 program, Welch taught most classes and Sanderville, a student in the diaconate program, substituted a couple of times when Welch was absent. Stout's recollection is that Father Holtey visited the RCIA class about once a month. "Maggie and I had a pretty good teaching relationship," Stout said of his first year assisting with the program. "Maggie would focus in on the basics and I would add particular things that I had learned on EWTN and through a number of different books and sources. I distributed some books and materials to the candidates and catechumens." Stout also sponsored one of the catechumens.

While at Saint Charles, Father Wallace had established a weekly Parish Encounters program open to all parishioners, in which he taught about the Church. Stout's first experience with Father Holtey was at a Parish Encounter evening run by the new pastor shortly after his arrival at Saint Charles in the late summer or early fall of 2001. "Father Holtey said it wasn't a requirement to believe in the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin," Stout alleged. "I told him that was contrary to Catholic teaching. As a Protestant, the doctrine that Mary is ever virgin was the biggest obstacle for my coming into the Church. I told him that I struggled with it right up until the time that I became a Catholic. But I now truly believe all of the Church's teachings. I found it amazing that I, as a new convert, was now defending this same doctrine."

Stout subsequently consulted a local priest known to be knowledgeable and orthodox, who told him that denial of Mary's perpetual virginity was heretical.

Father Holtey ended Parish Encounters about a month after his arrival, due to increasingly low attendance, according to Stout. In the fall of 2001, "Father Holtey told the RCIA class that he believed that a Lutheran congregation had received Holy Communion distributed by the pope," Stout said. Stout then contacted Bernadeane Carr, director of the diocese's Office for Media Ministry, who explained to him that sharing the Eucharist between Lutherans and Catholics is not permitted. Carr sent Stout materials supporting the decree against shared Catholic/Lutheran Eucharist. Stout made photocopies of the information for distribution to the RCIA class and provided them to Welch. He informed Welch that Father Holtey's statement concerning the Lutherans was inaccurate and that he and Welch needed to go together to correct Father Holtey on this. According to Stout, Welch accepted the photocopies from him, but they were not distributed nor did Welch tell the class anything to correct the confusion.

During the church tour Father Holtey gave to the 2001-02 RCIA class, according to Stout, he told the class that use of a special sink, called a sacrarium, was no longer required after Vatican II. Shortly after this tour, Stout told Welch he believed Father Holtey's statement regarding sacrariums was incorrect. The current General Instruction of the Roman Missal supports Stout, saying that "if any of the Precious Blood is spilled, the area where the spill occurred should be washed with water, and this water should then be poured into the sacrarium in the sacristy," and "the practice is to be kept of building a sacrarium in the sacristy, into which are poured the water from the purification of sacred vessels and linens."

In response, says Stout, Welch told him that a woman who looked after the sacristy was present when Father Holtey said this, and had subsequently told Welch that Father Holtey's assertion regarding sacrariums was wrong. Stout asserted that, on the same tour, Father Holtey told the class that it was no longer required that church altars contain saints' relics. "I then told Father Holtey that Father Wallace had said that, in order for a Catholic church to be consecrated, there had to be saints' relics in the altar. He said no; that had been changed after Vatican II."

Stout again called Bernadeane Carr, who told him that the issue had been re-addressed in the 1970s, and that it was still an official requirement that a church's permanent altar contain saints' relics.

On the same tour, said Stout, Father Holtey mentioned the use of sand in the holy water fonts in the church. Stout had observed that sand was placed in the holy water fonts at Saint Charles during both Lents after Father Holtey's arrival, a practice the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship has said is not permitted.

Prior to the 2002-03 Christian Initiation class at St. Charles, Welch approached Stout about teaching with her again. Despite his misgivings concerning some of Father Holtey's teaching, and at the urging of devout Catholic friends, Stout decided to accept Welch's invitation to help in the following RCIA course. Stout said that Welch also asked him if he would like to assume more of a teaching role, to which he replied that he preferred to continue just being her assistant. Before the program started, Stout called Welch because he was upset by the erupting sexual abuse scandal in the Church. "I knew, from reading several articles, that a lot of the problem was [connected to] dissent from the Church's teachings, especially on homosexuality and women's ordination," he stated. "I told Maggie that we needed to present the Church's teachings on these two issues, because if these catechumens can't accept those teachings, they do not belong in the Catholic Church. At that moment she said that a lot of people who had been Catholics a long time would disagree with me on those matters."

During Stout's second year of helping with the program, Father Holtey's visits to the class averaged about every third Sunday, and Sanderville taught the class several times, Stout recalled. He thought very highly of Sanderville's teaching, but continued to find some of Father Holtey's to be problematic. About midway through the 2002-03 RCIA class, Stout alleged, Father Holtey said that he believed that Christ did not know of His divine mission until He was on the cross. "I contacted another RCIA teacher and he e-mailed me some information showing that Pius X had addressed that subject, calling it a 'very serious error'" Stout explained. "I then e-mailed this information to Maggie."

On Sunday, February 16, Welch showed the class "a very powerfully done Scott Hahn videotape," Stout recalled, "that addressed birth control, abortion, homosexuality. Maggie deserves the utmost credit for showing that video."

But, after the video was shown, Stout said, "Father Holtey came in and started out by saying there had been discussions in Rome about opening up the diaconate to women and that would then open up the discussion to women being in the priesthood."

Hearing that, Stout raised his hand. When Father Holtey called on him, Stout said he asserted that Pope John Paul II said the Church had "no authority whatsoever," that the discussion on it was closed. Father Holtey seemed upset and said [this teaching] was "not infallible."

Stout says he responded that the pope's document banning women's ordination says this teaching must be "definitively held." Father Holtey continued explaining his belief that, since women had once been deaconesses, they could be ordained priestesses. Stout mentioned the Vatican's recent excommunication of seven women for being ordained priestesses, upon which, according to Stout, Father Holtey opined that this was due to the fact that this pope won't allow women's ordination, to which Stout replied, "That's because it's never been allowed in the history of the Church."

On February 23, the following Sunday, Stout arrived at the class early, with copies of the recent Vatican documents. Welch and Sanderville were already there. Stout said that he apologized to Welch for getting "a little heated last week." Welch, he said, told him she thought he was wrong and very aggressive and that it had upset Father Holtey. "I tried to hand the Vatican documents to her," Stout recalled, "but she refused to take them. So Richard took them instead. Maggie also said that our job there was not to challenge Father Holtey. And I said, 'With all due respect, Maggie, our job is to teach the Catholic faith.'"

I was told by Maggie that if I could not stop challenging Father Holtey on these matters, that I was to not be present in the RCIA class when Father Holtey was there."

Stout said that Welch called him on Saturday, March 1, to tell him that Father Holtey would be in the RCIA class the following morning, and that, if Stout was going to cause a disruption, he should not be present. Stout said he reminded Welch that whenever Father Holtey had been in the RCIA class, he had recognized his authority as a Catholic priest by raising his hand and waiting to be called on.

According to Stout, he and Welch argued the matter and the discussion ended with Welch accusing him of being too "by-the-book. Those were her exact words."

In his next visit to the class, Holtey recommended two Catholic publications: U.S. Catholic and America, which have been called "not reliable on either moral or doctrinal matters," by Karl Keating of Catholic Answers.

Father Holtey's talk to the Christian Initiation class on Sunday, March 30, was centered on the Lord's Prayer, Stout reported. He said he agreed with the pastor's initial explanation that the Our Father serves as an outline for prayer, but was troubled when Father Holtey then discussed why the prayer is directed to God as Father. According to Stout, Father Holtey explained that the reason is that, in the time of Jesus, the father was the authority figure, but opined that he would not object to someone praying to God as Mother.

Stout asserted that Father Holtey's explanation for this position was that some people have had traumatic experiences with their fathers and thus feel uncomfortable praying to God as their Father. Stout knew Father Holtey's contention to be contrary to the Catechism's section on prayer which states, "God our Father transcends the categories of the created world. To impose our own ideas in this area upon him' would be to fabricate idols to adore or pull down. To pray to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed him to us."

Following this discussion, in response to a question from a student, Father Holtey stated that he believed that titles such as "Mother Superior" are no longer used in religious orders, Stout recalled. Yet a check of Religious Life's website reveals that terms such as "Mother Superior," "Mother Prioress," and "Mother General" are still used to denote leadership positions in religious life.

On Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2003 the Divine Mercy devotion was discussed. Stout asked what the new Divine Mercy Sunday plenary indulgence means. Father Holtey's response, according to Stout, was to explain that it remitted temporal punishment in Purgatory, which is in accordance with Church teaching. He said that Father Holtey then said that he viewed Purgatory as a place of enlightenment, rather than punishment and therefore, questioned the motivation to seek relief from Purgatory. Stout responded that the Vatican had endorsed Saint Faustina's writings, upon which the Divine Mercy indulgence is based. At that point, Stout said, Father Holtey acknowledged this was true but added that it should be remembered that Sister Faustina was from Poland and the pope is also from Poland. According to Stout, Father Holtey expressed his personal view that, since the Mass is already the greatest prayer, he did not see the need to add to it the Divine Mercy observance.

On Sunday, June 1, Father Holtey gave the RCIA class a tour of the church, Stout reported. In the sacristy, the pastor told the group that it wasn't necessary to wear the chasuble and that, while he was at Santa Sophia, sometimes it got so hot that he didn't wear it, contradicting General Instruction of the Roman Missal which dictates the celebrant wear "the chasuble worn over the alb and stole."

The next stop on the tour was the relics case in the wall vault behind the altar. "The students were all looking at them and they were all so fascinated, like good, new Catholics, and they were asking about the relics," Stout recalled.

Father Holtey told the students that he didn't know which saints they represented. Stout said, he spoke up, saying, "One of them is Saint Charles," after which Father Holtey told the group that he thought that one of the relics was from Saint Charles. "Father Holtey, to his credit, passed the relics around to be examined," Stout asserted.

By June 2003, Stout had already decided to leave Saint Charles as a parishioner. "In my entire experience in the RCIA program," he recalled, "to her great credit, Maggie Welch never taught incorrectly. She is very dedicated to her role as an RCIA instructor and often gave things like holy cards to the students, to help them understand the faith better. I was very honored that she asked me to teach with her in two RCIA programs. I was glad to help and also very honored to have sponsored two catechumens. The way I looked at it was that I was put in this position to help teach the Catholic faith and that's what I attempted to do. So I was very disappointed that, when Father Holtey came into the classroom and taught incorrectly on matters of faith, she did nothing to correct it. I pointed out to her five issues he raised in the RCIA class in which I thought he was wrong. As far as I know, for none of those five issues did she say anything to the class later to correct Father Holtey's errors. At least twice I asked her to come with me to talk to Father Holtey to correct him and she wouldn't. Since I was her assistant, I felt that it wasn't my role to go over her head, as the RCIA director. The last day of RCIA, in June, was my last day at Saint Charles. I will always be very grateful to this parish as being the place where I entered the Church. It's a good parish with people that I care deeply for, but it was very difficult to stay there that long with the things that were going on. If this is indicative of what's going on in the RCIA classes across this country, it amounts to nothing but an all-out, frontal attack on the Catholic faith."

When asked for comment on Stout's account of the Saint Charles RCIA program, Welch said, "Chuck Stout is a fine man. He has helped out in the RCIA program. He's a new Catholic. He heard things that were not ever said in my estimation. Father Gary made statements that were theoretical or perhaps conjectures and [Stout] took it for fact. So his interpretation of the statements that were made are entirely different than my interpretation. I suggested frequently that he talk to Father Holtey; he never did. I said, 'This can't go on and I do not want you to be in the RCIA program any more if, in fact, you don't iron out this difficulty with Father Holtey.' He never would make an appointment to see him... and have him be able to answer the allegations that he was making. I heard the same statements he heard; I did not hear what he heard."

In response to Stout's contention that she refused to approach Father Holtey with him, she said, "Truthfully, I never, ever remember that happening, ever. That never happened, because I would have gone."

When Father Holtey was reached for comment on October 9, he expressed his dismay that Stout had never come to him for clarification of matters he was concerned about in the RCIA program. He mentioned that Welch had informed him that Stout had expressed his concerns to her and that she had advised him to speak directly to Father Holtey. Father Holtey viewed this situation as a matter that needed to be resolved privately between Stout and himself.

When asked if he would be willing to answer questions concerning Stout's allegations, he was hesitant and objected that this would amount to being the word of a new Catholic versus the word of a priest ordained 20 years."

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