Stika: Resignation Imminent Knoxville Bishop Rick Stika, 65, is about to offer his resignation, writes PillarCatholic.com (13 May). He has been in trouble for protecting Wojciech Sobczuk, a homosexual former seminarian accused of sexual assault. Some priests accused Stika of harassment. Stika has had several heart operations, lost sight in one eye a few years ago, is diabetic, and became increasingly erratic, but insists that he has led the diocese during a period of growth and financial stability. Former Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali lives with him. Picture: Rick Stika © JwoganDOK, CC BY-SA, #newsSgmmkcgycr

en.news3 years ago

Stika: Resignation Imminent

Knoxville Bishop Rick Stika, 65, is about to offer his resignation, writes PillarCatholic.com (13 May). He has been in trouble for protecting Wojciech Sobczuk, a homosexual former seminarian accused of sexual assault. Some priests accused Stika of harassment. Stika has had several heart operations, lost sight in one eye a few years ago, is diabetic, and became increasingly erratic, but insists that he has led the diocese during a period of growth and financial stability. Former Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali lives with him.

Picture: Rick Stika © JwoganDOK, CC BY-SA, #newsSgmmkcgycr

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Orthocat3 years agoedited

Wasn't he the bishop who also tweeted that "Catholics don't go to Mass to worship Jesus" ????

Kenjiro M. Yoshimori3 years ago

Isn't Stika one of those guys who hates the Roman Rite also.
I live near Philly. Rigali was a decent Archbishop. He did a lot to return our Cathedral/Basilica into a more traditional looking Church/altar. Beautiful marble altar he had enstalled-very pre-Vatican II type. He wasn't a bad bishop. Our archdiosecean seminary had about 220 under him, and there was no thought of closing it.
Then along comes "conservative" Chaput who first thing, put a wooden "protstant style" table altar in from of the beautiful marble altar Rigali had installed. He allowed the seminarians to slum around in street clothes rather in the cassock or clerical shirt on their campus, and of course the by product was that enrollment collapsed down to the 130 or so it is now. CHaput also started closing up shop to pay for homo priest sex abuse cases. Under him, there was no more Cardinal's mansion, no more Catholic weekly newspaper, no more Aediosecean-run cemetaries, and he closed a dozen parishes and 4-5 highschools.
THe guy we have now is no better.
Rigali wasn't bad.
But I thinkn Stika had a reputation as a liberal, if I'm not mistaken, even if he didn't go after the Latin Mass faithful .