Meeting about suspended priest, Fr. John Cunningham, draws some protesters

About 400 people turned out Monday night for a meeting called by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix to explain why a popular Gilbert priest was suspended on accusations he broke church law.

"This is a high-tech lynching," said Jerry McCarty, who attended to the meeting in defense of the Rev. John Cunningham. "They’re trying to silence the more liberal priests."

Cunningham was suspended April 30 from his job as pastor of the St. Mary Magdalene parish after accusations he broke church law by celebrating Mass with a non-Catholic clergyman during a wedding at St. Anne’s Catholic Parish, also in Gilbert.

Staff members at St. Anne’s filed a complaint with the diocese, claiming Cunningham allowed an Anglican priest to play a role reserved for practicing Catholics in the Eucharist, the part of Mass in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed.

A high-tech 'lynching' of liberal priests? It looks like Bishop wants to deal with dissenting and disobedient priests.

Link here.

Also, for those interested in some background on Fr. Cunningham, go here to the St Mary Magdalene Web Site.

Father Cunningham was born in Phoenix in 1949 and grew up in the shadow of the State Capital, the sixth child of Irish immigrants. He attended St. Meinard Seminary in Indiana, where he earned his B.A. in Philosophy and Masters in Divinity. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix in 1974 and served in two urban parishes before become pastor in Tolleson, Arizona. He was diocesan vocation director for six years. An innovator who enjoys a new challenge, Fr. John founded St. Bridget Parish in 1985.

While still a pastor, Fr. John enrolled at ASU where he received an M.A. in Religious Studies in 1997. His thesis was entitled: Gender, Authority and the Gospel of Mary: A Feminist Critique. Our pastor has taught World Religions and other classes at Mesa and Scottsdale Community Colleges and ASU East. He also has an extensive background in Jungian psychology, having done a sabbatical at the Jung Institute in Zurich, and been actively involved for years with the Phoenix Friends of Jung. He is ready and eager to start Gilbert's second Catholic parish. He named it after St. Mary Magdalene in tribute to the devoted friend of Jesus, the first witness to the resurrection, the first evangelist, a perennially illustrious symbol of spiritual illumination, and , in our time, a popular icon of women's empowerment.