Division is terrible, which is why this issue has been so bad. It seems to have started around the time Father Zendejas took Danbury from Father Pfeiffer, in a manner that was less than ideal. That action made it seem that Father Zendejas was out to take mission sites and their resources away from Father Pfeiffer.
"Father Zendejas took Danbury from Father Pfeiffer"
Not too divisive, now are we? You were saying about charity and being objective? :rolleyes:
It was Fr. Zendejas' "territory" first. He was there for 15+ years building up Ridgefield. If he doesn't have a "mission" or calling from God to work there as a Trad missionary priest, then no one does.
It made -- and makes -- logical sense for Fr. Zendejas to go to the geographic locations where he knows people personally, where he's a known quantity and trusted. A missionary priest can do the most good in this kind of situation.
And where was Fr. Zendejas most recently, say in the last 20 years? Ridgefield, CT and Houston, TX. What do you know! Those are the two places he set up shop first.
By the way, the people in CT chose Fr. Zendejas. He offered them weekly Mass, which they NEED and have a right to as Catholics (no, they aren't greedy, selfish gluttons for wanting weekly Mass as Fr. Pfeiffer called them in one of his sermons!) and 99% of them chose Fr. Zendejas. The faithful called for a priest, and he came.
It's actually Fr. Pfeiffer that wants the $$$ from a rich place like Connecticut. He wants the money to fund A) his pet project (the Boston seminary) and B) his frequent travel habit.
But although there were plenty of people and resources to get a permanent location going in CT, Fr. Pfeiffer was TOTALLY AGAINST looking for a place. I have this from personal testimony from someone in CT. And according to other first-hand testimony, he did this in several other places as well. Fr. Pfeiffer always comes out swinging hard against spending ANY of his precious money on buildings and equipment. He wants 100% to go to his airline tickets and seminary.
And for what it's worth, it also matches my own personal experience. During the 2 visits he was here, he didn't leave so much as a lavabo towel at our (dedicated) chapel. I didn't make a big deal of it at the time (I was glad to have Mass here at all) but later on, I connected a few dots.
That's why the people in CT would be crazy to go with Fr. Pfeiffer. And, as a matter of fact, only a handful (as in 3) holdouts didn't go with Fr. Zendejas. And I think it's safe to assume these holdouts are die-hard fans of
the man Fr. Pfeiffer -- completely brainwashed.
The proof is in the pudding.