Rosetta, you are wrong. No two ways about it, and YOU are the one who is being “a bit much.” All you need is love? Please!
Fr. Carrozza is preaching the truth, Rosetta, and it is called the GOSPEL, so get used to it!
I live on Long Island, but my cousin Angie goes to St. Ann’s in Yonkers and was always talking about her pastor. Last Christmas, she gifted me with a book of his sermons. They were EXCELLENT. Then, in March for my birthday, I received an edition of Father’s collected poems. Likewise, excellent! Why not try studying his sermons instead of criticizing them, Rosetta?
I am a faithful follower of his blog and sermons and I resent your hostility toward him and Jesus, Rosetta. I will pray for you.
Well, I hope when you die it is the Beatles before whom you stand in judgment. The Beatles said they were more popular than Christ and that they’d be around long after him. You are putting yourself on very dangerous ground. The Jesus you want is not the Jesus of the Bible. When you stand in judgment before him, don’t say I didn’t warn you! Jesus taught us far more than merely be nice to each other. He calls us to total self sacrifice. Christ is very demanding and did not die on the cross to teach us something we can get from Barney. We are talking about the very salvation of your soul. Don’t play games with that! Hell does exist and some people do go there, specifically the ones who refuse to follow what Jesus teaches. Be careful!!
Besides. my duty before the Lord is to teach His gospel, not to say whatever people want to hear in order to keep them. When the people at Capernaum didn’t like what Jesus said, He didn’t say, “Oh, okay, you don’t like that? well, then forget about it! I’ll change my teaching to say whatever you want , just as long as you stay!” No, He let them go! They were not ready to follow Him. If you’re expecting me to apologize for teaching the truth of Christ, think again! If you left because you don’t want to hear the real Jesus, that’s not my problem; that is yours! I’ve done my job faithfully.
This is really a bit much, Father. We all have our images of Jesus. They are not wrong, just different. This is what is beautiful about our faith when it flourishes in open, welcoming environments where questions are encouraged and disagreements are celebrated. Where, truly, “all you need is love.” We’re like Jesus in that way!
St-Anns-in-Exile welcomes and celebrates all who are hurting.
Actually, that’s the problem: people all have their images of Jesus, but many of them are just wrong. For example, during the 1800’s, many Christians in the South claimed that Jesus approved of slavery. Many of the Nazi commanders who were exterminating the Jews found ways to “reconcile” it with their belief in Jesus. Anyone can mold Jesus into whatever they want Jesus to be, but only the authentic Gospel of Jesus can save us. That’s why we need to be faithful to the Jesus of the scriptures and not the Jesus created by people’s opinions.
I can assure you that people who are hurting are always welcome at St. Ann’s. I too want to heal people’s hurts, but I do that by bringing them the sacramental forgiveness of Jesus when they acknowledge their sins and the reminder of His constant love for them. If someone is sick and goes to the doctor for help, does the doctor help them by telling them they’re not really sick, or by just giving them a piece of candy and telling them he loves them? Of course not. Only medicine will help and perhaps a change of lifestyle if, for example, their cholesterol is too high. And so it is with Christ. Only His truth can set us free, and that truth is what He says it is and not what we want it to be.
My experience has shown that so many times, people who oppose a Church teaching do so because it is personal to them. Many people, for example, who accept abortion do so because they once had an abortion. If they accept the teaching of the Church, they will have to admit they sinned, so they reject the teaching to try and settle their conscience. But it doesn’t work. I offer a better way: accept that abortion is wrong and that in a weak moment they did something sinful that they now regret. Bring it to Jesus in confession and let Him lift the burden off your chest. Hearing Him say, “I absolve you from your sins” is the greatest healing of all. It is better by far for people who have sinned to be told they have sinned but that Jesus will forgive them rather than tell them the Church is wrong about the teaching. Jesus wants to gather all of us into His loving embrace so that we can know peace. But that peace comes through the forgiveness of our sins and not the denial of them. If perchance you are in this category, please come to confession and let Jesus forgive you. That will bring you the peace that denial of sin never can. I wish you that peace always!
Fr. Carrozza, we left St. Ann’s several years ago for a more welcoming Vatican2 parish with a strong feminist bent. You call it marshmallow theology, but we call it so yummy, so delicious. We’ve never been more happy, with a pastor who really knows where it’s at. Jesus said it best: “all you need is love.”
Actually Rosetta, Jesus never said “all you need is love”. That was the Beatles! You just proved my point perfectly. You want a hippie Jesus, not the Jesus of the Scriptures who said “anyone who does not deny himself, take up his cross and follow in my footsteps cannot be my disciple.” THAT’s “where it’s at”!
Rev. Andrew P. Carrozza 
Rosetta, you are wrong. No two ways about it, and YOU are the one who is being “a bit much.” All you need is love? Please!
Fr. Carrozza is preaching the truth, Rosetta, and it is called the GOSPEL, so get used to it!
I live on Long Island, but my cousin Angie goes to St. Ann’s in Yonkers and was always talking about her pastor. Last Christmas, she gifted me with a book of his sermons. They were EXCELLENT. Then, in March for my birthday, I received an edition of Father’s collected poems. Likewise, excellent! Why not try studying his sermons instead of criticizing them, Rosetta?
I am a faithful follower of his blog and sermons and I resent your hostility toward him and Jesus, Rosetta. I will pray for you.
Hey Fr. C, where can we get copies of your books?
Thanks, Sal! Actually, I have never published anything. I am in process of exploring publishing my collection of poems.
Sam, where did your cousin Angie get the books? I need to buy some for Easter presents.
Sorry to disappoint you but they’re not mine, unless someone has pirated my work!
Well, I hope when you die it is the Beatles before whom you stand in judgment. The Beatles said they were more popular than Christ and that they’d be around long after him. You are putting yourself on very dangerous ground. The Jesus you want is not the Jesus of the Bible. When you stand in judgment before him, don’t say I didn’t warn you! Jesus taught us far more than merely be nice to each other. He calls us to total self sacrifice. Christ is very demanding and did not die on the cross to teach us something we can get from Barney. We are talking about the very salvation of your soul. Don’t play games with that! Hell does exist and some people do go there, specifically the ones who refuse to follow what Jesus teaches. Be careful!!
Besides. my duty before the Lord is to teach His gospel, not to say whatever people want to hear in order to keep them. When the people at Capernaum didn’t like what Jesus said, He didn’t say, “Oh, okay, you don’t like that? well, then forget about it! I’ll change my teaching to say whatever you want , just as long as you stay!” No, He let them go! They were not ready to follow Him. If you’re expecting me to apologize for teaching the truth of Christ, think again! If you left because you don’t want to hear the real Jesus, that’s not my problem; that is yours! I’ve done my job faithfully.
This is really a bit much, Father. We all have our images of Jesus. They are not wrong, just different. This is what is beautiful about our faith when it flourishes in open, welcoming environments where questions are encouraged and disagreements are celebrated. Where, truly, “all you need is love.” We’re like Jesus in that way!
St-Anns-in-Exile welcomes and celebrates all who are hurting.
Actually, that’s the problem: people all have their images of Jesus, but many of them are just wrong. For example, during the 1800’s, many Christians in the South claimed that Jesus approved of slavery. Many of the Nazi commanders who were exterminating the Jews found ways to “reconcile” it with their belief in Jesus. Anyone can mold Jesus into whatever they want Jesus to be, but only the authentic Gospel of Jesus can save us. That’s why we need to be faithful to the Jesus of the scriptures and not the Jesus created by people’s opinions.
I can assure you that people who are hurting are always welcome at St. Ann’s. I too want to heal people’s hurts, but I do that by bringing them the sacramental forgiveness of Jesus when they acknowledge their sins and the reminder of His constant love for them. If someone is sick and goes to the doctor for help, does the doctor help them by telling them they’re not really sick, or by just giving them a piece of candy and telling them he loves them? Of course not. Only medicine will help and perhaps a change of lifestyle if, for example, their cholesterol is too high. And so it is with Christ. Only His truth can set us free, and that truth is what He says it is and not what we want it to be.
My experience has shown that so many times, people who oppose a Church teaching do so because it is personal to them. Many people, for example, who accept abortion do so because they once had an abortion. If they accept the teaching of the Church, they will have to admit they sinned, so they reject the teaching to try and settle their conscience. But it doesn’t work. I offer a better way: accept that abortion is wrong and that in a weak moment they did something sinful that they now regret. Bring it to Jesus in confession and let Him lift the burden off your chest. Hearing Him say, “I absolve you from your sins” is the greatest healing of all. It is better by far for people who have sinned to be told they have sinned but that Jesus will forgive them rather than tell them the Church is wrong about the teaching. Jesus wants to gather all of us into His loving embrace so that we can know peace. But that peace comes through the forgiveness of our sins and not the denial of them. If perchance you are in this category, please come to confession and let Jesus forgive you. That will bring you the peace that denial of sin never can. I wish you that peace always!
And that, Father, is the attitude that lost St. Ann’s two remarkable human beings. The Beatles were right on the money!
Fr. Carrozza, we left St. Ann’s several years ago for a more welcoming Vatican2 parish with a strong feminist bent. You call it marshmallow theology, but we call it so yummy, so delicious. We’ve never been more happy, with a pastor who really knows where it’s at. Jesus said it best: “all you need is love.”
Actually Rosetta, Jesus never said “all you need is love”. That was the Beatles! You just proved my point perfectly. You want a hippie Jesus, not the Jesus of the Scriptures who said “anyone who does not deny himself, take up his cross and follow in my footsteps cannot be my disciple.” THAT’s “where it’s at”!