By Melinda Henneberger
Friday, March 14, 2014
Photo from: Derik Holtmann/Associated Press – The Rev. Bill Rowe of St. Mary’s Church in Mt. Carmel, Ill., in the sanctuary where he has served for 17 years. After 47 years as a priest, Rev. Rowe resigned.
MT. CARMEL, Ill.–Some members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Mount Carmel, Ill., dare to hope that Pope Francis can save their parish after an awfully rough couple of years.
Their beloved longtime pastor was forced out by the bishop in the summer of 2012 for improvising prayers during Mass. Just when things were settling down, his successor announced that he had met someone and was leaving the priesthood to “explore a relationship” with her. For now, the bishop has appointed a newly ordained deacon to run the parish — except the deacon has been married four times, and not everyone at St. Mary’s, the parish where I grew up, is comfortable with that.
“We feel if we can get through to the pope, we’ll get it cleared up,” said Jim Pohl, an usher at St. Mary’s who also tends to the flowers and funeral dinners there. “He’s got a lot of problems everywhere in the world. But “we know he would help us if he knew.”
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