priest who banned altar girls and said a vote for Obama required a trip to confessional: ousted!
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-Catholic-Church-priest-bans-girls-as-altar-6041400.php
S.F. Catholic Church priest bans girls as altar servers
By Jill Tucker Updated 9:49 pm, Monday, January 26, 2015
http://blog.sfgate.com/cwnevius/2015/05/18/controversial-school-chaplin-illo-ousted-at-star-of-the-sea/
We now know that Bishop Salvatore Cordileone has replaced Illo with Father Vito Perrone, who had been at Mater Dolorosa Church in South San Francisco. Perrone has quickly set out to lower the volume of the discussion about gender roles and morality pamphlets that’s been raging around the school for the past few months and reassure school parents.
“Father Vito showed up and the first thing he did was schedule 40-minute appointments with every parent,” said Christy Brooks, who has a sixth and a fourth grader at the school. “He’s a wonderful human being and a wonderful spiritual teacher.”
So all is well? Not so fast. Illo continues to be a polarizing figure and is still attempting to walk back some of his more incendiary comments. In an interview with the Catholic World Report he said his decision not to allow girls to be altar servers was, “a poke in the eye of liberal San Francisco.” He said changes at the Star of the Sea were part of a “purge.”
SF Richmond District Church Ban On Girls As Altar Servers Upheld By Archbishop
CBS San Francisco
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A Catholic priest, new to San Francisco and no stranger to controversy, has banned girls from acting as altar servers at Mass, a decision that sets his parish apart from all others in the archdiocese.
The Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor at Star of the Sea Church since August, said he believes there is an “intrinsic connection” between the priesthood and serving at the altar — and because women can’t be priests, it makes sense to have only altar boys.
“Maybe the most important thing is that it prepares boys to consider the priesthood,” he said.
The Richmond District parish is now the only one in the Archdiocese of San Francisco that will exclude girls from serving at the altar. Such a decision is “a pastor’s call,” said archdiocese spokesman Chris Lyford.