MARTINSVILLE (VA)
Martinsville Bulletin
March 27, 2020
By Father Mark White
Dearly Beloved of St. Joseph and St. Francis, I regret having to write you like this, when we all struggle with difficulties of a once-in-a-lifetime seriousness. I miss seeing you at Mass. Please remember that the church remains open for prayer, and I would love to see you, if you stop by the office.
Perhaps you read in last Sunday’s Bulletin a letter to you from Most Reverend Barry Knestout, Roman Catholic Bishop of Richmond. I want to make a couple points about the bishop’s letter (“My case against Father Mark White’s blog,” March 22).
First, I want you to know that I wrote Bishop Knestout six days before his letter to you. In my letter to him, I discussed the state of affairs with my weblog. He received my letter that day, Friday, March 13. He has yet to respond to my letter, or even acknowledge it.
Second, there is a significant factual inaccuracy in the bishop’s letter to you. He writes that he invited me “to meet with him privately,” yet each time I “refused or demurred.” This is not true.
In early September of 2018, the bishop ordered me to remove a post from my blog, and I complied. That led to a written dialogue, which you can read at https://frmarkdwhite.wordpress.com/bishop-knestout-letter-to-parishioners/.
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