An American living in the Diocese of Osorno, Chile has an entirely different take on the events surrounding Bishop Barros. Barros became the center of worldwide controversy once he was appointed by Pope Francis to Osorno.
When Barros was installed protests erupted, even during Mass. Angry Catholics claimed Barros has a history of sex abuse which has never been addressed.
Many have asked why Pope Francis doesn’t act to remove this man and install a decent, faithful leader.
Local, anonymous Catholic Contact, let’s call him Pedro Schmidter Ramirez, says there’s more to the story.
OK here is my take on this whole Barros thing. This is not Barros.
I live within the Diocese of Osorno and have met Bishop Barros twice, once at my church and another time at a small outlying chapel. He was kind and his Mass was clean and to the point without a lot of clappy happy stuff going on.
We have lived here since before he was installed as Bishop of Osorno. We did not ever meet or know the old bishop.
Barros has been a bishop for quite some years and had assignments at one other diocese including the Military Diocese before he was installed in Osorno.
So the question begs, “How come all the hoopla now?” After all, he is not a new Bishop, but one who has just been relocated. There was not a great hatred for him or lasting demonstrations prior to Osorno.
If you read the articles about him in English or Spanish you will see they are filled with slants and accusations against more conservative ‘pre-Vatican II’ clergy.
Ramirez says Bishop Barros’ Masses are generally faithful, respectful, and different from what one might typically find.
In regards to his Mass as related to other Masses here in the Diocese of Osorno they are typically good time funky banana dance parties with lots of hand holding and guitars and electric amplification (AKA the “Children’s Mass,” or typical liberation theology), and to me the Bishop’s Mass seemed cut and dry just the facts, Maam. There was no sung Latin at all in his Mass but there was less innovation to say the least.
Most sermons here are based on the Barney the Purple Dinosaur mentality to Mass……… “I love you, you love me, Jesus loves us and that makes three”………. Not much meat on the bone here, but you sure do feel good!
Ramirez claims the protest against Barros was organized by a “Liberation Theology” priest, the type of clerical ideologue that’s becoming more of a worldwide presence.
When Bishop Barros arrived here he was immediately protested. This was organized by an older Communist priest who was the vicar general under the last guy. This priest is Liberation Theology to the bone!
He solicited and received signatures from newly ordained priests who looked up to him as some sort of Jesus figure.
2/3 of such priests signed a letter which was sent to the Holy Father in Rome.
Pedro was at Mass during Bishop Barros’ installation, when the protests made international news. His description of those involved doesn’t sound at all like the faithful frustrated Catholics we’ve been led to believe.
An organized demonstration comprised of paid radicals took place during the installation Mass, which was disrupted by inside the Cathedral, on the altar, during the consecration. They were all wearing black, which is the Communist party color and beating drums, which is the Communist party instrument.
Most of the demonstrators were not Catholic, with the exception of the priests who were standing behind the Bishop on the altar. Many of these priests helped organize the whole demonstration with fliers.
Needless to say there was not a lot of eye contact with the priests and their new bishop. Indeed my priest has since transferred to another diocese here in Chile.
The take on the Barros story is that Francis is being intransigent in handing power to yet another predatory, unpopular bishop. But Ramirez thinks moving Barros to Osorno was not necessarily a move up; the type of re-assignment Francis might give to a hard left, dissenter.
It is my understanding is that he was a diocesan auxiliary, then sent to the military diocese which is very, very conservative. In the military here, the enlisted must attend Catechism class and Mass. Imagine how that goes over with the Communists in the Church!
He thinks Bp. Barros is probably being smeared simply because he’s faithful.
I cannot speak to the truths about Barros and the accusations against him. I will say that he was manly and did not appear to be Cupich-like or Wuerlish like to me, but who knows.
To me and my contacts who have been here for all their lives, this is a Liberation Theology ploy and not a molester case.
This fight has very little to do with Bishop Barros and the abuse as much as it has to do with the ‘VII crowd’ fighting to bring Communism to Chile. It is primarily to discredit the Catholic Church more than anything especially the conservative side of things.
When I asked Ramirez about claims Bishop Barros was involved with notorious Fr. Fernando Karadima, he suggested it may be a case of guilt by association. In Chile, Karadima is comparable to disgraced Legion of Christ founder, Marcial Maciel. That group had a faithful, if corrupt, orientation. Karadima was a ‘conservative’ who worked with JPII and Nuncio Angelo Sodano to counteract the Liberation Theology push.
Hard left radicals and practicing homosexuals plague the modern Church. Abusive, criminal leadership persists from Rome to Argentina. But the scandals that hit the press aren’t always what they seem. The internal enemies of Christ know how to use the system to smear and destroy faithful Catholics, while they often remain above the law themselves.
