Heretical Priest Association Publishes Highly Revealing Survey Results

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The heretical organization of Catholic clergy that calls itself the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP) held its Annual Assembly online this past week, and since it was a virtual "pay-to-play" conference, the Lepanto Institute sat this one out. We've been exposing the heretical activities of the AUSCP as a subversive organization hell-bent on perverting Church teaching on a number of levels. Here are a few of our most damning reports:

• AUSCP Officially Called for Women's Ordination to the Priesthood
• AUSCP Gives Venue to Condemned LGBT Organizations
• AUSCP's Plan for Ordained Women and Priestless Parishes
• AUSCP's Idea for Priestly Formation and Info on Conference Speakers
• AUSCP's Desire to Obtain Funding from Unsuspecting, Pew-Sitting Catholics
• AUSCP's Membership in an International Network of Heretical Organizations
• AUSCP's Alliance with Heretical, Pro-Sodomy Organizations
• AUSCP's Keynote Address from Notorious Priest, Fr. Richard Rohr
• AUSCP's Vision of the Church in Relation to the Vision of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
• AUSCP's Bridge Dialogues Attempt to Change the Entire Structure of the Catholic Church

This past February, AUSCP took a survey of its members asking respondents to rank a list of issues related to the priesthood, social justice and the Catholic Church in general, ordering the list according to what they believe to be most important down to what they believe to be least important. Included on the list were items such as "abortion as the single issue," "optional celibacy," "racism," "the environment," "priestless parishes," "women deacons" and the like.

A supporter of the Lepanto Institute recently forwarded us a pdf file of the results of this survey, which contained some rather revealing information indicating the state of mind of many AUSCP members. A total of 393 AUSCP supporters (priests, religious and laity) answered the survey. Of that total, 256 identified as "priests" (160 retired and 96 active), 72 identified as "religious" (23 retired and 48 active), 3 identified as "deacons," and 29 simply identified as "other." Those who indicated "other" in this survey question had to explain in a comment box; the results indicated a possible additional 23 priests (15 specifically indicated they were priests, and others, by the description, are likely priests, but it is unconfirmed).

Details from the comments of those identifying as "other" provided information that gives an insight into the kind of reach and influence exercised by AUSCP members.

One simply identified as "gay," which is unsurprising. Other indicators are as follows:

• Educational ministry in public colleges
• Founding and directing the Casa Esther Catholic Worker House in Omro, WI
• VAMC (Veteran's Affairs Medical Center) psychotherapist and chaplain
• Pastoral leader of a "priestless" parish

After looking up the Casa Esther Catholic Worker House in Wisconsin, it didn't take long to discover that the founder and director is Fr. Joseph Mattern. In a 2018 article on Pax Christi's website regarding Bp. John Stowe, Fr. Mattern commented about having met Bp. Stowe (ordinary of the diocese of Lexington, Kentucky) at two separate AUSCP conferences:

Fr. Mattern is also listed among the 2018–2019 donors to the AUSCP.

In another portion of the survey, respondents were asked to indicate their "religious community." In this section, some of the respondents actually named their parish or convent, which are as follow (Note: we do not know who from these parishes or convents answered the survey, but the association of the parish with the AUSCP is deeply troubling):

• Christ the Redeemer Parish; Manville, New Jersey
• Conception Abbey; Conception, Missouri
• Holy Family Parish; Endwell, New York
• Sisters of St. Dominic; Amityville, New York
• Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio
• St. Margaret Mary; Naperville, Illinois
• St. Patrick Church; London, Ohio
• St. Genevieve/St. Maurice Parish, Madonna University; Livonia, Michigan
• St. Thomas Becket Catholic Church; Eagan, Minnesota

In question two, respondents were asked to write about issues or concerns they had that they would like the AUSCP to take on. This section gives a deep insight into the mindset of AUSCP members. Among the responses, AUSCP members unshockingly focused on homosexuality, women's ordination and married priests.

In addition to this, some respondents indicated that they would like the AUSCP to focus on "getting Trump out of the White House," on reducing abortion as the "pre-eminent" issue among pro-life issues, and on concerns related to care for priests who are guilty of sexual abuse.

Read the rest at The Lepanto Institute.

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