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Hi,
 
I would like to appeal the 30 day infraction I received at Catholic Answers Forum by Thomas Casey at 12:06 am on 2/26.
 
I would like a moderator other than Mr. Casey to decide my appeal to avoid a conflict of interest.
 
Thank you.
 
The message from Mr. Casey stated:
 
"Dear stevusmagnus,

You have received an infraction at Catholic Answers Forums.

Reason: Continuous violoation of rules, despite many infractions
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Your statement is incorrect, to begin with.

Second, it violates the forum rules that say you may not pit one form of the mass against the other.

Third, you have violated the rules too many times and you continue to do so.

Therefore, your account is suspended for one month. You cannot be on these fora and violate rules at a rate of one a month. If you want to participate on Catholic Answers, you must comply with our rules.

If you wish, you may appeal my decision by writing forumadmin@catholic.com"
 
My post was as follows:
 
"If you've ever attended a NO Mass where the priest said one word wrong or got one rubric wrong you've attended an "illicit" Mass. If you regularly attend a Mass where Eucharistic Ministers are used but are not absolutely needed, you are attending an "illicit" Mass."
 
In support of this statement, I'd like to cite to Catholic Answers own Q&A.
 
 http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/quickquestions/keyword/Mass/page8
 
"Masses are not valid or invalid, they are licit (in conformity with the law) or illicit (not in conformity with the law). It is the consecration of the Eucharist within the Mass that can be valid or invalid.

Whether a crucifix is present at the altar has no bearing on whether the Eucharist is valid or invalid (the absence of a crucifix will not cause the Eucharist to be invalid), but it does have a bearing on whether the Mass is licit or illicit.

The law requires that "There is to be a cross, clearly visible to the congregation, either on the altar or near it" (General Instruction of the Roman Missal [GIRM] 270). The revised General Instruction—which has not yet gone into effect—clarifies that the cross in question should have a corpus (representation of Christ’s body), meaning that it should be a crucifix rather than a bare cross.

If there were no cross by on or near the altar (or, once the new GIRM goes into effect, no crucifix) then the Mass would be illicit, or not celebrated in accord with the requirements of the law.

However, a Mass celebrated in this manner would still have a valid consecration of the Eucharist. Furthermore, it would still fulfill one’s Sunday obligation."
 
 
According to Catholic Answers' interpretation of illicit (which is the accepted interpretation) my post said nothing incorrect.
 
To point out examples of illicit Masses is in no way pitting the OF vs. the EF. An illicit Mass is an illicit Mass whether said in the ordinary or extraordinary form.
 
I strongly disagree that the previous "infractions" that Mr. Casey mentions were truly infractions, just as this statement of mine was not truly an infraction. I disagreed with my previous one month infraction, as I thought it was based on faulty premises and, in any case, extremely severe. However, I refrained from appealing due to time connstraints. Nevertheless, I could not let this infraction go unanswered as I think it is wrong as a matter of justice.
 
I want to be able to post and be a productive member of this forum, but it seems anything I write is subject to an immediate month long suspension with no ability to respond to Mr. Casey via PM nor any opportunity given to me by Mr. Casey to explain my statement or clarify it.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration,

Dear Sir:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding your current suspension.  I would like to point you to the reason for the suspension.  Please reread my message.

“you have violated the rules too many times and you continue to do so.”

Your history reflects eight violations of the rules.  Some are for the same reason.  On five of those eight occasions, you received five-point infractions.  Twice, before this, your account was suspended.  In each event, we informed you that you were violating forum rules and encouraged to familiarize yourself with them.  

Once again you violated a forum rule.  You used a snippet of a post from AAA to criticize the Ordinary Form of the Mass.   That was not the even the subject of the thread.  This kind of behavior is unacceptable.  The rules are very clear.  Both forms of the mass must be respected and posters may not pit one against the other.  This includes taking advantage of opportunities to attack one form or the other.  

I am willing to reduce the suspension to one week, if we agree that should you violate the rules again at any time, within the next 90 days, there will be another suspension or a more serious consequence proportionate to the infraction and your history of infractions.  

Please let me know if this is agreeable to you.  I am willing to work with you, but you must meet me halfway.  I hope that we can settle this and move forward.

Sincerely,

Thomas Casey
Moderator
Catholic Answers Forums