No, this is not a joke. Some of you may already be familiar with a dramatic 32-year-old man dressed as and introducing himself as a "bishop," wearing a bright red (almost hot pink) cap and swishy, black cape. He has come to St. Mary's several times now, the most alarming of which was 
today.
Uninvited, he showed up seemingly out of nowhere and interrupted the CCD children praying the rosary and began speaking. Then he handed out flyers which say at the top, "Joseph Galante is an abortionist." (It's just a sensational headline espousing the following logic: if our Mother is the Church and the parishes are Her children, then that makes Galante an abortionist. Yeah, we get the metaphor.)
We are posting this because we have heard that he has been "making the rounds" elsewhere in the diocese, including St. Gregory's in Magnolia, where he hopes to have a rosary rally. Notably, he plans to have this outside the church in their little prayer garden.
We want it known that we at St. Mary's have nothing to do with this man. Moreover, we do not appreciate his intrusion into our church, interruption of our rosary, and assumption that it was acceptable to speak to our children without our permission.
But just who is this person? He introduces himself as "Bishop Tomas-Martin Bell, OPD" and has listed his address as 19 Willis Street in Penns Grove. (His original name, however, is George Bell.) You may find information about his Dominican order here. Although on his Blogger profile he claims allegiance to our current Holy Father, we must be ever vigilant of associating with sedevacantists (those who deny the legitimacy of the pope) and orders that espouse potentially schismatic views. To the best of our knowledge, George Bell is not a true bishop according to Rome and is not formally associated with any diocese. The #1 page you get when googling him is one which announces him as a speaker at the American Paranormal History Society. This is his myspace page.
today.Uninvited, he showed up seemingly out of nowhere and interrupted the CCD children praying the rosary and began speaking. Then he handed out flyers which say at the top, "Joseph Galante is an abortionist." (It's just a sensational headline espousing the following logic: if our Mother is the Church and the parishes are Her children, then that makes Galante an abortionist. Yeah, we get the metaphor.)
We are posting this because we have heard that he has been "making the rounds" elsewhere in the diocese, including St. Gregory's in Magnolia, where he hopes to have a rosary rally. Notably, he plans to have this outside the church in their little prayer garden.
We want it known that we at St. Mary's have nothing to do with this man. Moreover, we do not appreciate his intrusion into our church, interruption of our rosary, and assumption that it was acceptable to speak to our children without our permission.
But just who is this person? He introduces himself as "Bishop Tomas-Martin Bell, OPD" and has listed his address as 19 Willis Street in Penns Grove. (His original name, however, is George Bell.) You may find information about his Dominican order here. Although on his Blogger profile he claims allegiance to our current Holy Father, we must be ever vigilant of associating with sedevacantists (those who deny the legitimacy of the pope) and orders that espouse potentially schismatic views. To the best of our knowledge, George Bell is not a true bishop according to Rome and is not formally associated with any diocese. The #1 page you get when googling him is one which announces him as a speaker at the American Paranormal History Society. This is his myspace page.