CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on November 12, 2015
Why would Orange County Catholic parishioners go on a popular review site to voice their displeasure with how their parish is being run? Because no one else is listening. …and because the diocese won’t come clean about who truly manages the property that the parish now “owns.”
A few months ago, I wrote a post about Franciscan Friar Fr. Daniel Barica. Barica is currently the pastor of Sts. Simon and Jude Parish in Huntington Beach, a wealthy and popular parish close to the ocean. On the eve of the September papal visit, Barica devoted a homily and a letter in the parish bulletin to how he “blesses” his body parts (including his sexual energy) in front of the mirror after his daily shower.
But there’s more. At the time, frustrated parishioners had reached out to me for help, because for them, the problem is much more extensive. Barica, they say, is not listening to their concerns, kicking long-time parishioners out of the parish, changing the rules for weddings and funerals, creating a hostile environment in the neighborhood by installing surveillance cameras pointed at neighbors homes, and—most importantly—they say he is bullying employees and church members who disagree with him.
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