Priest Poser
A Jersey City man has been posing as a priest - leading Mass and attempting to solicit donations - for St. Paul of the Cross Church in Jersey City, according to parishioners and Archdiocese of Newark spokesman Jim Goodness.
According to both Goodness and church parishioners, the man showed up on Sunday and led the first part of a morning Mass before officials realized he did not belong.
"Someone is walking around . dressed as a priest," Goodness said. "He's asking for donations for some parish functions and he is clearly not authorized to do this."
The man is not ordained as a priest nor is he part of the Archdiocese, according to Goodness. At this point, Goodness said, it is not clear how much money the man may have accepted in donations.
A St. Paul parishioner, Rafael Torres, who on Monday filed a police report about the recent incidents, said the man introduces himself to people as "Father Chris."
Goodness said that St. Paul of the Cross has an upcoming annual festival and is holding several fund-raisers. Apparently, the man has been using the upcoming celebration as a way to solicit funds, he said.
"St. Paul is having a celebration . and at this point there have been some fund-raising activities," Goodness said. "I think he latched himself onto it."
Parishioners first saw the man when he suddenly showed up on Sunday to preside over Mass, Goodness said. At first, church officials thought nothing of it because they were expecting a visiting priest that day.
But when the real visiting priest showed up, the man told church officials that he was visiting the area and asked if he could still lead Mass. Because Catholic churches sometimes get requests from out-of-town priests to assist with services, the church officials saw no harm in it and told him that he could preside over the Mass with the help of the visiting priest, Goodness said.
"Apparently this fake priest made some mistakes," Goodness said. "He read the Gospel from the wrong place. He didn't read it from the pulpit. He also interrupted the priest a couple of times during the Mass."
At one point, Goodness said, the man temporarily left the service to get a glass of water. When the other priests realized that he was acting strangely, they asked him to leave while the visiting priest completed the Mass, Goodness said. (source)
So the next time a priest acts strangely during Mass and deviates from the Lectionary and the GIRM I now have a more charitable excuse for the behavior - maybe this is another fake priest instead of a real priest that should know better.
Update: Fake priest has been arrested.
Known as 
Wacky. I've always wondered about fake priests. What about all the people who adore the bread he elevates, or genuflect to the tabernacle full of bread. Obviously they're not personally guilty of idolatry, but it bends the brain a bit.
And when this happens, what's really in the tabernacle? There's usually some left over from a previous mass, so you have a tabernacle full of ... what? Some bread and some consecrated hosts? What do you do with such a mess?
This is strange, but I would not worry too much about it. It's not parishes have "Open Mike Night" for Mass where they invite anyone who claims to be a priest to celebrate the liturgy. There is always a priest scheduled for a particular Mass. Even if in this instance the fake
"priest" "con-celebrated" the Mass, the eucharist would still be validly confected by the actions of the real priest.
Uh-Oh. According to Redemptionis Sacramentum, as presented in the Adoramus Bulletin (July-August 2004), a priest usually is not just to sit in a pew during Mass. "It is not fitting, except in rare and exceptional cases and with reasonable cause, for them to participate at Mass, as regards to externals, in the manner of the lay faithful." The "officials" should let them concelebrate, except for good reason, and the priests are supposed to present themselves to do so, except for good reason. This means that--if anybody is paying attention to these firmly reiterated regulations--the "officials" better expect priests to offer and they better ask for credentials--before mass. Imagine the awkwardness, but since weird things do go on . . . . (They also better have enough proper vestments on hand, as is also mandated.) Also . . . who are the "officials"? I guess I'm assuming that the phony priest wanted to concelebrate and the pastor said "sure."
Hope he didn't hear any confessions...
Hmmm....if the unconsecrated bread was mixed with the consecrated Body of Christ, what could be done? I would imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong, that a priest could have another mass where all the hosts are consecrated, understanding that the already consecrated ones won't become MORE the Body of Christ than they already are.
I have no idea if that's actually correct, it's just something that sounds sorta sensible to me. Of course, the sacraments aren't nescesarilly always "sensible" by human standards, so I really don't know...
Weird...
"A parishioner, who asked that his name not be used, said yesterday that Findlay and another visiting priest, identified as "Father John," had said the 5:30 p.m. Saturday Mass on Sept. 18 without incident, and afterward "Father Christopher" had introduced himself to members of the choir as a graduate with a degree in music from a university in Los Angeles. He added that one of the choir members said Findlay reeked of alcohol during the encounter