Friday, June 13, 2008
USF PROFESSOR IS A PRIEST - BUT NOT A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
California Catholic Daily reports:
In a letter printed in the March 21 edition of Catholic San Francisco, Jesuit Father Stephen Privett took author George Weigel to task for saying in a column that Catholicism is “vestigial at best” on Catholic college campuses. In response, Privett said the University of San Francisco, of which he is president, “has a Catholic Studies program; a Catholic focused curriculum in the Theology and Religious Studies Department,” as well as other Catholic-inspired programs and activities.
USF may have all these things, but it also has Vincent Pizzuto, who, besides being assistant professor in the university’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies, is also an ordained priest in the Celtic Christian Church. Pizzuto also serves on the board of directors of the LGBTQ Caucus of the University of San Francisco, which says it was formed in the Fall of 2005 “as a way to promote social justice for LGBTQ people.”
According to the USF web site, “in addition to his teaching, Prof. Pizzuto lectures in local parishes on areas of prayer and spirituality with particular outreach to the gay and lesbian community.”
In a discussion, “Is it Ethical to be Catholic? – Queer Perspectives,” given at Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco in 2006, Pizzuto said that ethical questions have “driven faithful Catholics beyond the confines of the Roman church where they might more faithfully live out their catholic faith elsewhere. And I count myself among them.”
At the USF website you can see a picture of him along with a brief CV.
At the Celtic Christian Church website there are pictures of his ordination ceremony.
The article from California Catholic Daily indicates:
Pizzuto was ordained a Celtic Christian priest in San Francisco in July 2006. He serves as "presider" over the New Skellig community in the Bay Area, which says in its web site, is a "catholic contemplative community of lay people" meeting "in small intimate settings in the homes of its members."
To read more, go to this webpage in the Celtic Christian Church website.
The webpage on Apostolic Succession is enlightening. They trace their succession to the Antiochian-Jacobite Line which includes Joseph Rene Vilatte and Herman Adrian Spruit. They claim a Roman-Old Catholic Line of Succession that includes Arnold Harris Matthew along with Spruit. They also claim a Catholic Apostolic Church in North America line that includes Carlos Duarte Costa. Then there is the United Old Catholic Church line that includes Matthew and Carmel Henry Canfora. These names are all familiar in the occult and independent Catholic world.
When this man teaches religion to the sons and daughters of Catholic parents who are paying a fortune to keep their kids Catholic, what does he teach? Occultism?
Strangely, this ordination has not been given any publicity by USF. Their website doesn't even mention that this professor is a priest. Considering that ordination took place in July 2006, there has been ample time to revise it.
Truth in advertising? You be the judge.
Fr. John Malloy has taken note of this ordination and blogged it.
