ARTICLES

Resignation and Renovation

Pastor Resigned, Blessed Sacrament Removed at St. Charles Borromeo

BY ANNE KNIGHT

Father Gary Holtey resigned as pastor of Saint Charles Borromeo Church after federal agents and local police investigating Internet child pornography seized parish computers on May 6. This, however, did not deter the parish from going ahead with Holtey's controversial plan to remove the tabernacle from its central location on the original marble altar built into the back wall of the sanctuary and move it out of sight. Father Holtey's plan entailed removing the old altar from the wall itself, replacing it with the presider's chair, and removing the marble Communion rails on the periphery of the sanctuary.

Father Holtey went on leave of absence immediately after the raid and officially resigned as pastor on May 20, at which time Father Edward McNulty, then pastor of Queen of Angels Church, was appointed as parish administrator. Father McNulty took charge as pastor at Saint Charles Borromeo on July 1. At his 10:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday, July 4, he made no mention or allusion to the situation with Father Holtey. By that time the tabernacle, back altar, and Communion rails had been removed.

After this Mass, when asked where the tabernacle was, a parishioner explained that it was temporarily located in the sacristy and could be visited there. He indicated that the renovation had been done "two or three weeks" earlier and that there were "a lot of mixed feelings" about it in the parish. Inside the sacristy the tabernacle was placed on a counter in a high traffic area where people enter and exit the sacristy and where it would be impractical to place kneelers or chairs for Eucharistic adoration. The architect's design for the renovation, posted in the vestibule, indicated that one of the Communion rails would be installed as the separator between the sanctuary and the old cry room to the left of the sanctuary, slated to be renovated as the new location for the tabernacle.

The July 18 bulletin announced that Bishop Brom was scheduled to install Father McNulty as pastor at the 10 a.m. Mass that Sunday and that the installation rite would consist of Father McNulty making a profession of faith and taking the following oath of office: "I, Reverend Edward P. McNulty, in assuming the Office of Pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish, promise that both in my words and in my conduct I shall always preserve communion with the Catholic Church. I shall carry out with the greatest care and fidelity the duties incumbent on me toward both the universal Church and the particular Church in which, according to the provisions of the law, I have been called to exercise my service. In fulfilling the charge entrusted to me in the name of the Church, I shall hold fast to the deposit of faith in its entirety, I shall faithfully hand it on and explain it, and I shall avoid any teachings opposed to that faith. I shall follow and foster the common discipleship of the whole Church and I shall observe all ecclesiastical laws, especially those which are contained in the Code of Canon Law. In Christian obedience I shall unite myself with what is declared by the bishops as authentic doctors and teachers of the faith or established by them as those responsible for the governance of the Church; I shall also faithfully assist the diocesan bishops, in order that the apostolic activity exercised in the name and mandate of the Church may be carried out in communion of [sic] the same Church."

In the August 1 bulletin's "Pastor's Notes" column, Father McNulty reported that "work continues on our renovation project in the church. New wiring and lighting was installed in the chapel that will become the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and recently the marble from the altar was reinstalled and is being prepared to once again hold our tabernacle which has also been restored."

The removal of the tabernacle to a separate chapel is a valid option according to the recently revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal -- implemented in U.S. dioceses in 2003 -- which stipulates that, "it is preferable that the tabernacle be located, according to the judgment of the Diocesan Bishop, a. Either in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration, in a form and place more appropriate, not excluding on an old altar no longer used for celebration ... b. Or even in some chapel suitable for the faithful's private adoration and prayer and which is organically connected to the church and readily visible to the Christian faithful."

In its May 2001 issue, Inside the Vatican magazine explained the following: "The old instructions had recommended not reserving consecrated hosts in the main church but in ‘a chapel suited to the faithful's private adoration and prayer.' This led to the removal of tabernacles from behind altars, a move strongly objected to by devout faithful. The new instructions again allow the tabernacle behind the altar [i.e. in the sanctuary], although they do not prohibit the Eucharist being kept in a nearby chapel. Not unexpectedly, the bishop of the diocese is given the final authority in the decision. (On several occasions recently the Pope and Cardinal Ratzinger have spoken in favor of tabernacles being in the main church when possible.)"

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