Saturday, March 04, 2006
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
On the homepage of their new website (www.ssjohn.org) the SSJ has highlighted these words: "Canonical Approval for the Society." The subtitle reads: "Read the latest about the bishop approving the Society of St. John." When you click on the link, you are brought to a letter from "brother" Anthony Myers who claims that the SSJ is about to be established as a Public Association of the Faithful:
http://www.ssjohn.org/documents/pdf/0602_letter.pdf
The "good bishop" who is going to establish the SSJ is said to be Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. It is possible, of course, that this bishop is giving approval to "brother" Anthony Myers and other laymen connected with the old SSJ to start a new non-clerical SSJ. After all, a "Public Association of the Faithful" does not even require a bishop's approval, for it is not a clerical association. Obviously the new SSJ wants its current and future donors to believe that the SSJ has simply reestablished itself in a new diocese after an unfortunate "misunderstanding" with their former bishop. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth, for the SSJ was suppressed and the former SSJ priests do not have faculties to operate in Paraguay or anywhere else.
Those of you who have followed the SSJ scandal will not be surprised by their use of murky rhetoric designed to bamboozle unsuspecting Catholic donors. Note that the former SSJ priests pictured on their new website are said to be "honored friends" rather than "members" of the new and improved SSJ. This legal nicety is required because the former SSJ priests do not have the Bishop of Scranton's approval to excardinate to Paraguay. Hence, Myers and his cronies are simply setting up a "front" organization in which these "honored" perverts can operate under the guise of Church authority and cheat more people out of their money.
Please write to the Papal Nuncio in Paraguay to alert him to the SSJ's latest effort to abuse Church authority:
Most Reverend Orlando Atonini
Asuncion
Calle Ciudad del Vaticano
Centre 25 de Mayo y Caballero
Casilla Postal 83
Paraguay
I also urge you to contact the Diocese of Scranton to request a clarification of the canonical status of the former SSJ priests. The chancery number is (570) 207-2216. The fax number is 570-207-2236.
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
