Letter to Bishop Olson: Reinstate Father Richard to St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church

Most Reverend Michael F. Olson
Bishop of Fort Worth
800 West Loop 820 South
Fort Worth, TX 76106

Your Excellency:

The undersigned parishioners and supporters of St. Martin de Porres respectfully request that you reinstate our pastor, the Reverend Richard Kirkham, to his rightful position within St. Martin de Porres.

The relationship between a pastor and his parishioners is a critical component of the Catholic Faith. It is akin to the sacred relationship between a husband and wife. This is why there is nothing more important to spreading the message of Jesus Christ than the actions of a good priest in guiding his parishioners. When you unjustly separate a good priest from his parish, you jeopardize the souls of everyone in that parish. Such is the case with the unjust loss of Father Kirkham at St. Martin's.

If you spent some time at St. Martin de Porres, you would recognize the irreparable harm caused by your decision to remove Fr. Kirkham. Parishioners know that you removed Fr. Kirkham based on his interactions with a troubled priest from another diocese. What you may not realize is that Father Kirkham's decision to fraternally correct that priest was done with the same Heart of Jesus as Father Kirkham's guidance of his flock at St. Martin de Porres.

Father Kirkham's spiritual guidance has been an invaluable service to each of our souls. His practical leadership has been a boon for building a new parish church and for providing a steady hand during these turbulent times for the worldwide Church.

In short, we have lost both a trusted adviser and a tremendous shepherd.

We are writing this open letter in the Spirit of Christ. He urged the apostles to first approach a brother privately, one-on-one, to provide correction. Then He said a witness should come, if the person is unrepentant. Then the whole Church should come, and then the wider community should become aware of the errors.

As you know, parishioners at St. Martin's have come to you privately through verbal interactions as well as letters to ask you to reinstate Father Kirkham. We have written to the Nuncio, urging him to act in his role. And we have asked Rome to get involved so that St. Martin's can continue to thrive under Father Kirkham.

It has now been almost three months since we began making these outreach efforts. We have been ignored and, in some cases, berated. We have been shocked at the false and contradictory statements you have made to parishioners and to the media about Father Kirkham.

We are now writing this open letter with an eye towards having the full DFW community become aware of the unjust nature of Father Kirkham's removal from our parish. We all make errors, and removing Father Kirkham was one of yours. That error was compounded by your claims to the media that you were protecting children and that Father Kirkham has obsessed attractions.

None of these claims are true. Father Kirkham has been a shepherd of Christ for us and many other families and individuals. Removing him causes a great stain on our souls, and puts them at risk.

The Catholic Church nationally and worldwide stands at a crossroads. Will we continue hiding the sins of clergy for the sake of favoritism, or will we do everything possible to eliminate sin from Jesus' Church? We applaud your condemnation of former Cardinal McCarrick as well as your call to defrock a man whose cover-ups have been exposed. This call will be of great help for the worldwide Church.

But we also urge you to act with that same call to holiness within our local parish. Reinstating Father Kirkham puts an amazing shepherd at our parish when it is most needed. Retracting your false statements and reinstating Father Kirkham will represent at a local level the same repentance and spiritual leadership needed in the worldwide Church.

And May God be Praised…