Another fake priest!

More REAL news about the FAKE priest

As it turns out, his adventures are now getting on to him.

Read about it here.

Here's an excerpt:

Bunag, for his part, posted a comment on Amamangpangs post threatening to file charges against him and Pascua if they did not retract their statements. [Wow!  Like the MILF talking about peace when they massacre policemen, no?  Ironic.]

"I would like to clarify that I am NOT a fake priest. I have legal and ecclesiastical documents to prove. That my present bishop is NOT Ramzi Musallam, but Bishop Shimmun-Artemus Bar Kepha under Archbishop Levi Bar Kepha of the Ancient Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East," [the who???] "Bunag said on his post also denying that he concelebrated mass at the installation of Archbishop Lavarias.

If you want to Google those "bishop's" names.  Go ahead.  I'm warning you.

You have a better chance of winning the lottery than proving that these men are actually priests of the Roman Catholic Church.

Good luck or should I say....May you have all the patience you need to Google these names.

Onward!


PS:  You might want to read this.

New tawas commercial!

Mga pasimuno nanaman ng mga Salesian. Ano kaya reaction ni St. John Bosco sa mga anak niya na kung ano-anong kalokohan ginagawa sa liturgy.

Materialism destroys a priest - CBCP President

Remember him?

This post is not just about him.  It's about what's plaguing our priests today.  And this post is based on the statement of him.

Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen - Dagupan and CBCP president shared a series of post on his Facebook account and I am posting it here for our reflection.

***

The PRIESTS IN THE YEAR OF THE POOR

My brother priests:

2015 is Year of the Poor [for the Philippines only]. It is also Year of Consecrated Life for the universal Church as willed by Pope Francis. As our year opens, I wish to offer you some thoughts on living out the call to simplicity so that the Gospel to the poor may better glow through us priests.

From Pope Francis
Addressing the Curia, the Holy Father laid out his thoughts on the danger of avarice and greed and materialism in our vocation. He said one of the maladies of ecclesiastics is the sickness of accumulating: when the apostle seeks to fill an existential void in his heart by accumulating material goods, not out of necessity but only to feel secure.  [When Christ is not in you, you seek other things to fill you up.  Many of us forget the words of St. Paul that God's love and grace are enough for us.]

In reality, we can take nothing material with us because “the shroud does not have pockets” and all our earthly treasures – also if they are gifts – will never be able to fill that void, in fact, they will render it ever more exacting and more profound.  [remember that all of us return to dust and it doesn't matter if our casket is made of gold, we will all return to dust.  The burning of Chinese paper money does nothing, nothing!]

To these persons, the Lord repeats: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked … Therefore, be zealous and be converted” (Revelation 3:17-19).

Accumulation only weighs down and slows the inexorable journey! And I think of an anecdote: one time the Spanish Jesuits described the Society of Jesus as the “light cavalry of the Church.” I remember the transfer of a young Jesuit that while loading his many belongings on a truck: bags, books, objects and gifts, heard an old Jesuit who was observing him say, with a wise smile: Is this the Church’s “light cavalry”?! Our transfers give a sign of this sickness. (December 23, 2014)


MATERIALISM DESTROYS PRIESTS
Accumulation, Comfort and Security

And the sickness of accumulating possessed us so quickly. Money got stuck in our hands instead of sliding to the needy. The car became a status symbol even for the newly ordained when the chrism of anointing had hardly dried. [I heard newly ordained deacons, as in deacons, making overtures of how they would need a car for their upcoming ministry.  Oh boy...] The recreation became more sophisticated to expensive tourist sites unreached by the working class. [Hello Fr. JB!!!]  We were no longer lacking in food; we were now choosing our food after being initiated into the palate of the filthy wealthy.  [Hello Fr. MS!!!]

It is bad for a priest to fall in love with a woman. It is worse if he falls in love with money. [Heard of a monsignor up north of Manila who owns a lot of stores?]

Ordination gave us access to church money but that money is not ours to enjoy. [BINGO!  I mean the archbishop got it right!]

Our ordination gave us powers. In a manner of speaking, the ordained are supermen. But the awesome plan of God cannot be restored by a Church that is more concerned about power than of service, more interested in convenience than sacrifice. A Church that is so focused on the powers of supermen clerics will hardly inspire hearts for renewal. We priests can start touching hearts again if we talk less about our powers and instead expose ourselves more to the power of Christ to change us. When we demand integrity from public officials, can we humbly say like Saint Paul “imitate me because I imitate Christ”? In this Year of the Poor self accusation must precede prophetic denunciation of social corruption.


The PRIESTHOOD IS SACRIFICE
My brother priests:

Let us return to our original reason for desiring to be a priest. [One seminarian I know wanted to become a priest because he wanted to become a bishop!  Oh gosh.  Why this guy even was accepted into another diocese when his own bishop rejected his application.]  We were trained for a difficult life in the seminary. We seemed to be in a perennial food lack; remember those days? We deprived ourselves of the warmth of family life and contented ourselves with living together with the brother seminarians. We cleaned the seminary ourselves, maintained the garden and observed the rules. We wanted to be priests hence nothing was unbearable.

The ordination was our turning point. The Church entrusted her mission to our hands. We also received in trust the money of the faithful believing that priests help so many poor people. They gave us money to send poor children to school, to feed the malnourished, to help the sick receive medication, to defray the cost of burying the poor and so many more duties.  [and now....]


CLERICALISM DESTROYS CLERICS

If our youth and children see shepherds who are more concerned about imitation than money we will see them staying with God. [Christ showed it.  And we are called Christians because we are supposed to follow Christ, right?]  If we would be more focused on imitation of Christ before imposing fixed rates for the sacraments, we would see renewal. These times call for imitation before proclamation, imitation before teaching, imitation before mission, imitation before fund raising.

Imitation of Christ before all else!

Our confused flock, like everyone else, listen only to life examples. The best fund raiser is the holy priest because he is credible. People know his hands are slippery when he touches money. The donations always end in the tables of the poor.

Clericalism speaks of privilege, prerogatives, entitlement and special treatment. [No wonder we have the perpetual altar server, the fake priests, the ex-seminarians in clericals, those roaming around marketing relics, the priests lavishing in special treatments and gifts, like that one who claims that he went to a resort and enjoyed his new year because a "friend" paid for it?  No wonder he went to where the dollar is instead of staying here.  NO wonder he'd rather sacrifice the fame of the site than follow be faithful to his vow of obedience to his superiors because...........you know who.  So much perks!]  Clericalism prefers sacristies to the slums. Clericalism is more concerned with embroidered vestments than reconciled souls. When we look back at the history of the Church, Church reform always started with clergy reform. As the shepherds go so the sheep follow.

When we lose humility, we lose perspective. When we lose perspective, we also become too reactive.

When we become too reactive and possessive and materialistic, we become less effective and less credible as pastors. The loss of humility and the sickness of accumulation in Church ministry can be very costly. With materialistic clericalism laid aside, and Gospel empowered humble shepherding taking its place, we might be able to see the rainbow of hope in the Year of the Poor.

Clerical accumulation injures the idealism of our seminarians, hurts the sensibilities of the youth and confuses many of the faithful who know that Christ lived as a poor man and His disciples cannot be anybody less than that.


LET US RETURN TO THE BEAUTY OF POVERTY

Signs of Simplicity
As a brother in the vocation whose mission is to bring the Good News to the poor, let us impose on ourselves strict discipline in the following areas of priestly life:

1. Avoid as much as you can foreign travels and frequent recreation in expensive tourist destinations. Even if such are paid for by friends and family, it is best to decline and choose austerity and simplicity. Rest is important but luxurious recreation is disrespectful for the poor who cannot even take a rest from their backbreaking jobs. Be more sensitive.  [Lovingly dedicated to Fr. JB]

2. High end cars and expensive vehicles smack of vainglory and luxury especially in a province like ours where there are so many who are poor who cannot afford a tricycle ride. There is no excuse for any priest to have such high end vehicles. We need vehicles to reach the poor barangays and bring them the blessings of God. Expensive cars alienate the poor from the Church. We smell differently from the sheep. [Lovingly dedicated to Fr. AS]

3. We need to return to the clerical attire or clerical cross in public places as a form of witnessing to the poverty of Christ. Loud colored signature shirts and pants are fashionable but we cannot let Christ glow unless we let our glamour go. To be simple is to be great in the eyes of God. The poor priest does not need to dress sloppy. We must give dignity to our vocation.  [This blog won't fit if we post the names of priests we GULPed.  Oh!  Here's one.  Fr. Genaro Diwa.  Liturgist ka pa man din.  Mababa kasi ang grade.]

 

Nope.  This one is fake.

4. It is a serious sin of omission for a priest not to have a regular poor person to help whether for education, health or livelihood. While it is morally acceptable to set aside some savings for future needs, it must be done with prudence. The money spent for the poor on earth are savings in the heavenly kingdom. It is a scandal for a priest to die a rich man. We bring to heaven only what we give away on earth. [Lovingly dedicated to Msgr. BL.  There are other true "bling" clerics out there.  Look for the bran of their watches, cellphones, eye wear, shoe....those are the signs.]

5. We must be honest in reporting to the Curia the true financial condition of the parish or school. There are no fixed rates of offerings for the celebration of Masses, for confirmations, for funerals, for weddings and other sacramentals in our archdiocese as we agreed on. What the archdiocese forbids, the parish priest must not circumvent. We are only temporary stewards not chief executive officers. Our goal is ministry not revenue upgrade.  [Look for those who want to be assigned in big parishes and shrines, and refused to be re-assigned once there. ]

6. We need to re examine what we keep in our bedrooms. A priest’s room and a bachelor’s pad are exact opposites. Is the Lord our only companion in this sacred space of the rectory? "The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away belongs to the naked" (Saint Thomas Aquinas) [Lovingly dedicated to Fr. GD]

7. Always give alms to the poor who come to you. Do not be afraid to be fooled nor turn them away empty. Do not be afraid to pamper the beggars. They have no one to help them. If you have to make a mistake, make a mistake in being too charitable, in being too kind. There is no excess in kindness. We cannot outdo Christ in kindness.  [But what if someone uses charity efforts to build up their coffers?  Hello ABS-CBN!!!  How much did you earn from Tulong na Tabang na?]


***

And makes you think twice before supporting their financial initiatives.

I heard clerics favoring the charismatic Mass over his own parish First Friday devotion, the one at SM Megamall than the one in a hospital chapel, the retreat overseas than the one in Antipolo, the school in Taft or Katipunan rather the one attached to a parish, of singing in concert tours than staying at his parish, of watching the telenovela rather than taking the sick call of a dying man...

We know who they are.  Lay people active in parish life now these clerics.

We even see these seminarians becoming like these clerics because how they try to charm parishioners.

But this is not what the priesthood is all about.

This is not what Holy Orders is all about.

This not it means to be "another Christ".

The priesthood is not a quick ticket to a TV career or to a high paying job.

And we laity have a role to remind our clerics about their true identity.

Like politicians, we only deserve the clerics we have depending on how we treat them.


And this guay is still going to jail.

Totally unrelated.  I just love to put that in.

Fake Priest strikes again

We have blogged about this fake priest for so many times and here for more.

And he still thinks he can get away fooling people that he is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.

He is not.  He is a priest of another church that is not in communion with Rome.

Here is the latest from CBCP News.

(at right is a snapshot of the circular letter from the new Archbishop of San Fernando warning the faithful against this fake priest.)


***


SAN FERNANDO City, Pampanga, Dec. 9, 2014—  Let the faithful beware.

Just a few weeks into his office, the newly-installed pastor of the San Fernando archdiocese issued a message advising his flock to be on guard against a man disguised as a priest reportedly seen making the rounds of his See.

In a circular dated Nov. 29, Archbishop Florentino G. Lavarias shares that a certain “Fr. Jose Mark Robinson Bunag” is not permitted to celebrate the Sacraments in the Archdiocese of San Fernando.
While Bunag claims to be a priest of the “Catholic Church of the East”, Lavarias stresses the former is not a validly ordained member of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Pasig had earlier raised the alarm on the issue involving Bunag.

In a separate circular, Pasig Chancellor Fr. Mar Baranda quotes Fr. Noel Ormenita, Episcopal Vicar of the Catholic Church of the East (Holy Family Catholic Church) at Imus, Cavite that “Jose Mark Robinson Bunag, also known as Mark Bunag or Fr. Mark Bunag, residing at Krus na Ligas, U.P. Diliman, is not a validly ordained priest and is not incardinated neither with us in the Catholic Church of the East nor is he incardinated in any Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Besides Pampanga and Pasig City, Bunag has also been spotted in Cavite and Parañaque City allegedly offering to say Mass in private homes without a valid “celebret”, a document (letter or ID) certifying the bearer is a priest and may be allowed to practice as such in the particular diocese he is in.

***

Now that came from the news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Need I blog more?

 

New Axe Deodorant Commercial

Presenting the latest Axe Deodorant Commercial, care of De La Salle State State University (because they follow the line of the republic on Reproductive Health).

Here we see the models raising their hands as if in an act of blessing, when there is already a priest blessing already the Lay Brother.

HINDI KAYO PARI PARA MAG-BLESS. WAG MAG-FEELING. PERIOD.

FAKE PRIEST resurfaces

Nag misaMisahan nanaman si "Father" Mark Bunag sa Trece Martires.

He introduces himself as a priest from the Archdiocese of Manila. Bakit kaya? Kasi alam niya na HINDI SIYA PARI.

As early as 2011, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pasig already released a statement WARNING the faithful about this bogus priest. 

Priest poser, relic seller still serving at Mass

See that guy on the right with the clerical collar?

He is not a cleric.  Not a seminarian.

He reportedly sells relics of blesseds and servants of God under the pretense that they are "donations"

And he has a lot of answering to do with the Archdiocese of Manila.

One thing more.

Don't ever start a chat with him on Facebook especially if you are a young man. ;)

PS:  The priest celebrating the Mass is a REAL PRIEST.  This post is not about him.  I can guarantee you that he is a genuine Roman Catholic Priest.  The one beside him always poses himself as a priest.  He was so good at it he even was able to convince postulators of causes of servants of God to send him lots of prayer cards with 3rd class relics!

The Great Cosplayer

I already forgot all about this until a reader sent this to me.

 

Not only is the iconography wrong, everything is wrong!

Abangan ang susunod na kabanata!

This guy is NOT a priest!

This guy is not a cleric, although he..ermm 'vests' more properly than most priests. Kudos to him on that department!

Is this a simulated 'Misa ng Sambayanang Pilipino'? Illegal na nga ang ginagawa niya, illegal pa pati ang liturhiya na ginagaya niya. Double whammy!

No difference to this.

Wait, did I just say no difference?

How about these? What is the logical reason behind these images? Is he posing for Halloween, or All Saint's Day, or CosPlay, or just plain lunacy? 

Again, no difference to these.

THESE VESTMENTS WERE MADE FOR SACRED USE. TO USE THEM OUTSIDE THE LITURGY IS A BLATANT EXAMPLE OF THE LOSS OF THE SENSE OF THE SACRED.

Even if these vestments are, for the sake of argument, not yet blessed, their purpose is not met because of the LUNACY OF THESE YOUNG MEN.

*            *            *

UPDATE!!!

This guy (?) is coming in all colors!

Relic scammer alert part II

Not only is he committing the Sin of Simony,  he is also committing a Sin with Simon!

What else can be found inside the closet?

Just look at the labels.

WARNING TO THE PUBLIC: Robin Aguilar, Fake Dominican

Why do we have these altar servers having a delusion of grandeur?!

Mr. Robin Aguilar, altar server of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, Diocese of Parañaque, posing here with his own cathedra, and his picture as a "Dominican" and the letter from the Dominican Province stating that he is not a Dominican.

I even heard reports of him going around asking for money.  I even once saw a photo of him with Cardinal Tagle in his Dominican habit.

This document is available on the official blog of the Dominican Family in the Philippines.

In this day and age of the Internet, you would think you can fool people with this shenanigan???

Wish they'd do it here in the Philippines

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 18: Carabinieri police officers intervene as men dress up in fake cardinal gowns in St Peter's Square as workers prepare for the inauguration mass of pope Francis on March 18, 2013 in Vatican City, Vatican. The Inauguration Mass for Pope Francis will take place on March 19, the feast day for St. Joseph. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

***

Wish they'd have something for fake instituted acolytes, fake commissioned preachers, fake religious, fake priests, fake bishops...

Anywho, we have real priests doing liturgical abuses yet they too don't get uhm..."intervened"!

Dressing up in clerics clothes is no joke.

Only those who need a shrink dress up walking around, claiming to be one.

Case in point.

No, this is not just Teletubbie.

There is a lay person who works in a parish in a diocese in Quezon City, as, get this, Pastoral Assistant & Liturgist, and walks around wearing a clerical collar, while surprisingly, the priests in the parish wear ordinary street clothes!  No clericals!

So?

Is the world gone topsy turvy?

No wonder we have this.

Ugh!

Clerical impostors

I like the cartoons!

But the news of this nut job trying to sneak into the General Congregation of Cardinals certainly must made the Swiss Guards think of how to better identify the cardinals other than their crimson fascias and skullcaps.

An ID perhaps?

By the way, impostors are out there in the field,....like this guy!

I blogged about this fake Roman Catholic priest before.

Now he claims he was "appointed" monsignor by his equally bogus archbishop!

And look!  He has his own stemma!  That of a Protonotary Apostolic, the highest grade of a monsignor!

Did you know that there are only two classes of protonotary apostolic monsignors?  The de numero, those who work in Rome and customarily only seven is the highest of the two grades.  You can identify them by their purple mantelleta.  Only the PA de numeros are entitled to wear this and other regalia.  See the photo below.

You can see him wearing the purple mantelleta and his red tufted-biretta.

The other protonotary apostolic monsignor is the supernumerary which is awarded to monsignors outside of Rome.  Take note.  ONLY THE POPE AWARDS THIS TITLE.

So who gave Mark Bunag his monsignori title?

Let's see...from his website...

It came from his "archbishop" who himself is a FAKE!

He even had the gall to post a photoshopped photo of him with the Pope Emeritus!

They are making it to appear that they are legitimate Catholic priests and bishops with these so-called appointments and photos.

The fact is THEY ARE NOT!

The Catholic Church of the East, where Mussalam and Bunag belong, is not an Eastern Rite Catholic recognized by the Holy See.  Check the list here.

A quick look at the web can confirm this.

Furthermore, if he claims to be an archbishop who heads an archdiocese, therefore a metropolitan archbishop, where in the world is this photo of Ramzi Mussalam?

Well, what do you expect?  The guy is a "poser" ever since.  He stalked Joseph Ratzinger.  Look!

Just for the doubters, I searched for his name of Catholic Hierarchy where all bishops' names are listed.  Here is a screencap under the list of bishops whose last name start with an "M"

I cannot find Mussalam there.  Maybe I can find "MANDURUGAS" in another site, no?

You know why you won't find his name there?  Because HE IS NOT WITH THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and that makes Mark Robinson Bunag also A FAKE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST.

Mussalam himself admitted it in a newspaper article in the USA!

A founder of the archdiocese, Musallam is also its first priest and first archbishop. He said he is also the first Arabic Palestinian priest to be ordained in the Polish National Catholic Church.

Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1979, Musallam said he came to the United States in 1992. He graduated in 1997 from Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn., and in 2001 from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind., where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in theology. He graduated from Savonarola Theological Seminary of The Polish National Catholic Church, Scranton, in April 2004. He was ordained a priest in the Holy Mother of the Rosary Cathedral in Buffalo, N.Y., on April 14, 2004, by Prime Bishop Robert Nemkovich.

The Archdiocese of St. James the Apostle was formed in 2008 by Arabic Catholics who were members of the Polish National Catholic Church but wanted to form their own diocese.

On March 1, 2009, Musallam was named a bishop by the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of Brazil. He was also accepted as a bishop by the Assyrian Church of the East. On March 28, 2009, at Christ the Redeemer Church at Houtzdale, Clearfield County, Archbishop David Bell of the Apostolic Church of Brazil named Musallam Archbishop of the Catholic Church of the East, Archdiocese of St. James the Apostle, Western Rite Liturgy.

"While we are under the Assyrian Church of the East, we hold liturgies which resemble the Western Rite, similar to the Roman Catholic Church," Musallam said.

Lotsa self-proclaimed bishops there, no?

If indeed he admitted that he is not Roman Catholic, then why do they have THIS in their website?

The moral of the story?

These guys are SCAMMERS!  They are intent on fooling people.  They don't care about the salvation of your souls!

All they care about is feeding their egos and getting your money!

Stay away from them!

More fake priest rackets!

Some of the infamous men I posted here on TPC.

"Fr." Mark Bunag of the Apostolic Orthodox something something church of Wherever. Claiming valid ordination from some archbishop Ramzi Musallam, of whatever who loves to pose for photographs including Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to legitimize his claim or their claim as an Eastern Church.  Got promoted lately as episcopal vicar!  Woohoo!  Whatever.

Dom Xavier something something from the Canons of something from France. Duped a lot of people in Christ the King Parish in Greenmeadows.  Got excommunicated by Bishop Ongtioco for his antics.


***


I had breakfast with a friend who told me this outrageous story about fake priests roaming the face of the earth.

I posted about them a lot of times in the past.  Just click the tab below "Fake Priests" to see who these guys are.

This is their new modus operandi.

When a grieving family takes a chapel from the famed funeral house, one of their staff, probably the undertaker, approaches the family and asks if they want Mass celebrated at the chapel for the deceased.

Of course, the family will be elated to know this as this would save them the time and effort to look for a priest.

And so, after a few minutes....in comes "Priest".

He says Mass, does the blessing of the dead....and asks for a Mass stipend of .........P1,000.00!

Yup.  They have a flat rate for the "priest's" services.

And he goes around the funeral parlor!

No one, of course, would suspect that the guy is not a real priest until my friend saw the "priest" and recognized him as a former classmate who did not finish his seminary training and was actually expelled from the seminary.

So, what's the gig?

I smell commissions!

Yup, the undertaker does the bookings, calls in fake priest, and they share the booty!

My friend could not remember the name of the "priest" but he wants me to share it to all of you so you'd be on the lookout for these pretenders.

The name of the funeral parlor?  Sounds like a woman, just be at PEACE.

They may claim to be Roman Catholic priests, priests from the Ecumenical Orthodox Church of the Apostolic East and West and North and South and the Atlantic regions of the Autocephalous Eparchy of the Holy and Undivided Grand Mumbaki of Manila, or whatever title those nutjobs have claimed for themselves.

They are everywhere.

Want to know how to prove that they are legit Roman Catholic priests?

Ask for their celebret.  A piece of document signed by the bishop that the priest is a good standing member of a religious order or the diocese of the bishop.

If not, try Googling for his name.

Ask for the name of his church or diocese of affiliation.

DO NOT JUST TRUST any guy who approaches you and claims to be a priest.

You can also borrow or ask the parish secretary to look for the name of the "priest" in the Catholic Directory of the Philippines.  Every parish church has one!  Or you can try their online version for quick reference.  This one though is not updated.

Now you know why I hate fat looney tunes walking around wearing a clerical tab?

Disgusting!

They usually joke around in the US that if you want easy money, found a church.

Here in the Philippines, that is also true....but more!

Pretend to be a priest!...crash someone else's funeral service...and boom!  Easy money.

Oh, did I tell you that some altar servers also love this kind of racket....you know, pretending to be the Master of Ceremonies of a guest priest or bishop, then even joins the lunch or dinner for the guest priest or bishop afterwards?

Disgusting!

Mga tambay sa Quiapo!

This one is funny!

The Supremo...

This one is outright disgusting!

And the Suprema!  Aw!