Priest ousted over funeral faux pasReligionAndSpirituality.com
November 9, 2007
Baltimore's Archbishop Edwin O'Brien removed a pastor who invited a woman Episcopalian priest to join him in celebrating a funeral Mass. Archdiocesan officials met with Father Ray Martin Thursday to relieve him of his parish assignment, the Baltimore Sun reported. The priest, whose unorthodox liturgical practices prompted earlier complaints, said the Episcopalian priest did not participate in the Consecration during the October funeral, although he had invited her to read the Gospel, Catholic World News reported Friday. On the archbishop's orders, Martin resigned his parish assignment and issued an apology for "bringing scandal to the Church," the Sun reported Thursday. A spokesman for the Baltimore archdiocese said the pastor's removal was called for because "he has repeatedly violated Church teaching." Martin served as pastor of three different parishes in south Baltimore, where he had worked for five years. His removal comes just six weeks after Archbishop O'Brien was installed as head of the Baltimore archdiocese. Martin led the funeral Mass Oct. 15 for local activist Ann Shirley Doda with several clergy, including Episcopal pastor Rev. Annette Chappell. Doda's son, Victor, who had invited Chappell to participate in the service, said "I am sickened that they would treat our pastor this way. It doesn't sound possible that the church would take such a petty thing and ruin a man's career."
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