Ex-Mormon Priest
Catholic priest was once Mormon
Matt C. Abbott
October 27, 2005
Joan
Solms is a parishioner of
Holy Angels Catholic Church in Aurora, Ill. The following is an edited
letter she sent me regarding the parish and its pastor, the Rev. Martin G.
Heinz.
"Father Martin Heinz is one of eight children, born and raised Catholic. As a
young man, he left the Church and joined the Mormons. I believe he stayed in
the LDS church for only two or three years. He reverted to Catholicism and
entered the seminary.
"He has been ordained about 12 years now. Upon ordination, he was put in charge
of seminarians, and after that, was made pastor of Holy Angels Church. Holy
Angels has gone through different phases of growth since it was first built. The
permanent design for the church was changed (modernized) about 20 years ago. It
was redesigned to be a church in a semi-circle.
"When Father Heinz came to Holy Angels, he decided to restore it to its original
design, minus the altar railing, which is not allowed. Father Heinz has replaced
the altar railing with three extra-long kneelers. The priest stands behind the
kneelers when distributing Communion. On receiving Communion, you can stand or
kneel. All our priests distribute Communion at every Mass. At first people were
reluctant to kneel for Communion. I wasn't. Now more and more people take
Communion kneeling.
"Father Heinz did not rehire five teachers this year because they were not
teaching [authentic] Catholicism. The principal agreed with him.
"Father
Heinz is very pro-life. He is the support behind our pro-life group. Aurora has
one abortuary; it is the only one in our diocese. Father Heinz pays the rent for
the [pro-life] counseling center across the street from the abortuary. And
business at the abortuary has declined. The former abortionist use to routinely
do 500 abortions a year; this year, it's less than half that number.
"Father Heinz incorporates bits of Latin into the Mass, especially at Easter and
Christmas. We say the prayer to St. Michael at the end of every Mass. We have
one day of perpetual Eucharistic adoration per week, beginning on Wednesday
morning and ending with benediction on Thursday morning. Father would eventually
like have perpetual adoration — seven days a week.
"Father Heinz is truly trying to restore the Sacrament of Confession. It is
always available. He has special confessions available before special holy days.
He will bring in multiple priests to hear confession.
"The school children are taken to Mass once a week. They get solid Catholic
instruction. They wear uniforms. The unfortunate news is that many parents are
not deeply committed to Catholicism yet. This is apparent when you see them at
Mass, especially the CCD students and parents. Not Father's fault, though.
"Father Heinz is committed to the poor. We have a very active St. Vincent de
Paul group. Each year in September, the St. Vincent de Paul resale shop parks a
truck in our parking lot to collect used items for the store. This year we
filled two trucks with material goods. In November, we will have a coat
collection for the poor. We have a food pantry. Speakers from missions
abroad are brought in to speak and collect funds for their churches. We have a
baby shower each year for mothers.
"Father Heinz took the old Stations of the Cross and had them mounted; and he
put up outdoor Stations of the Cross, which leads up to our shrine of Fatima. We
have a monument to the unborn, donated by our Knights of Columbus chapter. Once
a year, Father has a prayer service at the monument.
"On Tuesday evenings, we have a rosary service; all 20 mysteries are said.
"We have a program for senior citizens. We provide rides for those who do not
have transportation to Mass. Lay ministers still take Communion to the
homebound.
"We have four or five men from our parish who are studying for the priesthood;
that's a record these days."
To see how Mormonism differs from the Catholic Church, go
here.