~ m 4 o o 

Did they leave 
OR WERE THEY 
PHI f OUT? 

A C H A R A C T E R SKETCH 

R O N T H E EDITORS OF 

" T H E CONVERTED 

CATHOLIC M A G A Z I N E " 





Did They Leave 
or 

Were They Put Out? 
A Character Sketch on the Editors of 

"The Converted Catholic Magazine" 

First Edition 

No. 38 

Printed in U. S. A. 

February 1, 1949 

By 
OUR S U N D A Y VISITOR PRESS 

Huntington, Indiana 





Did They Leave 
• r 

Were They Put Gut? 
A Character Sketch on the Editors of 

"The Converted Catholic Magazine" 
Converted Catholic Magazine is 

published by Christ's Mission, Inc., 
whose address is listed in the magazine 
as 756 Seventh Avenue, New York 19, 
N. Y., but seems actually t o be a t 229 W. 
48th Street, the location of the Union 
Methodist Episcopal Church. The period-
ical is edited by former Catholic priests, 
who use as their slogan "When thou are 
converted, strengthen thy brethren" 
(Luke 22: 32). 

Christ's f i s s i o n was founded by an 
ex-priest by the name of James A. O'-
Connor nearly eighty years ago, a f t e r be-
ing suspended by hisjbishop because of 
drunkenness. Many Catholic clergymen 
who are relieved of their posts by their 
Ordinary's suspension, or by an action 
of their own which automatically term-
inates their Catholic ministry, have been 
wont f o r years, to go to Christ's Mis-
sion to receive direction in procuring 
other work. More recently they are em-



4 D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y PUT O U T ? 

ployed to assist in editing its magazine 
or to do field work f o r it, which is 
profitable today, because of the new or-
ganized opposition" to The Catholic 
Church. 

The Converted Catholic is sent to near-
ly every member of Congress, and to 
many thousands of Protestant Ministers. 
Its editors accept offers to "lecture" in 
places where Catholics are not numerous. 
On those occasions subscriptions to the 
magazine are gathered. 

The present editor-in-chief is one L. 
H. Lehmann, who was a native of Ire-
land, educated at Mungret College, and 
was seemingly ordained f o r a diocese in 
South Africa, because he worked there 
f o r some time. Returning to Ireland he 
was selected to defend Mungret Apostol-
ic College against the Jesuit College at 
Mungret which, it was alleged, was try-
ing to control the f u n d s of the Apostolic 
College. He worked on this case in Rome, 
and won a decision which, however, was 
reversed in favor of Mungret College. 

Shortly t h e r e a f t e r Lehmann left f o r 
the United States, and appealed to Arch-
bishop Curley to assist him in inducing 
the late Bishop Barry, of St. Augustine, 
Florida, to accept him as a priest in t h a t 
diocese. W e are informed by the Chan-
cellor of St. Augustine t h a t Father Leh-
mann worked at Lake City, Florida, in 



5 D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y PUT O U T ? 

1928, and lived at Perry, Florida, until 
November, 1929, when he entered a civil 
marriage with a young woman of P e r r y 
and fled with her in the parish automo-
bile. 

Lehmann, therefore, did not leave the 
Catholic Church because he became ac-
quainted with its errors as he tells his 
readers, but rather because, violating his 
priestly vows, he automatically severed 
his connection with the priesthood. 

ANDREW SOMMESE 
A more recently appointed assistant 

editor is Andrew Sommese. He belonged 
to the Order of St. Augustine and was 
graduated f r o m Villanova College. He 
was ordained following his third year 
of Theology, but completed a fourth year 
as a priest-student at the Augustinian 
College. 

The Rev. Edward V. Stanford, O.S.A., 
writes concerning him: 

During his year as a student 
priest, he l e f t the College without 
saying a word to anyone and turned 
up in his home parish in Brooklyn, ' 
where he announced to the pastor 
that he was joining the Diocese of 
Brooklyn. Realizing t h a t he was 
mentally unbalanced, the pastor 
telephoned to Washington and one 
of the superiors went, to Brooklyn. 



6 D I D T H E Y L E A V E O R W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 

Andrew Sommese returned with 
this superior willingly to Washing-
ton. Upon the advice of his superiors 
he went willingly to see an outstand-
ing psychiatrist in Philadelphia, who 
diagnosed his case as a mental one 
of doubtful curability. He was com-
mitted f o r a time to the Kirkbride 
Sanitarium in Philadelphia and lat-
er 4 t o Mount Hope in Baltimore; 
showing some improvement he was 
released and permitted to visit a 
married sister in Brooklyn. From 
then on, his religious superiors were 
unable to get in contact with him, 
as his married sister strenuously 
opposed any efforts a t communica-
tion. Later he was accepted by the 
Lutherans and placed a t a Luther-
an church in Philadelphia. I under-
stand that he is now married. 

ANNIBALE MALINVERNI 
One connected f o r a long time with 

this organization is the ex-priest Rev. 
Malinverni. He was a priest in Italy, 
pastor at a town named Fiesco. His 
trouble was also marriage. 

Canon Pelani of the Diocese of Cre-
mona, in a letter dated June 19, 1922, 
directed to Father Montonari, of Los 
Angeles, s u b s t a n t i a t e this charge. He 
and his reputed wife came to the United 
States. 



D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 7 

WILLIAM EDMOND BURKE 
This former priest is now listed as 

"field representative" in the November, 
1948, issue of The Converted Catholic 
Magazine. 

Burke was ordained a priest f o r the 
Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 
1931. The Chancellor of Scranton has 
supplied us with the following informa-
tion concerning his career: 

A f t e r a few years he became a 
problem case due to heavy drinking 
and other infractions of clerical pro-
priety. His language was violent 
and his behavior gave scandal. Com-
plaints were also received about his 
failure to pay just debts. Around 
1940 he disappeared with a woman 
older than himself and is said to 
have attempted marriage civilly with 
her. Many who knew him are of the 
opinion that he is not entirely nor-
mal mentally. In fact he was sent a t 
one time to an institution where care 
is provided f o r alcoholics and mental 
cases. He has recently - become the 
tool of bigoted and unscrupulous 
groups who delight in exploiting 
such an apostate in an attempt to 
discredit the Church, and he appar-
ently has no scruple in serving such 



8 D I D T H E Y L E A V E O R W E R E T H E Y PUT O U T ? 

a nefarious purpose f o r whatever 
monetary returns he may derive 
therefrom. 

JOSEPH ZACCHELLO 
A young Italian ex-priest, who was 

connected with The Converted Catholic 
Magazine a year ago, but who now seems 
to 'be finding it more profitable to go out 
on his own as a publisher of books and 
tracts with the backing of anti-Catholic 
organizations, is Joseph Zaicchello. 

He was born at Stalino, a town in the 
Province of Venice, Italy, and attended 
a Preparatory Seminary in Piacen^a. 
Zacchello came to the United States and 
finished his fourth year Theology here, 
preparatory to Ordination on October 
22, 1939, f o r the Congregation of the 
F a t h e r s of St. Charles. His first assign-
ment was to St. Callistus Parish, Chi-
cago, where he gave considerable trouble 
to the pastor, Rev. Sylvio Zanoni, which 
resulted in his transfer. 

He spent a short while a t St. Franeis 
Cabrini Parish, Chicago, a f t e r which 
he was moved, because of a threatened 
scandal, to St. Joseph parish, New York. 
Here he lasted only a few months, hav-
ing attempted marriage in February, 
1944. I t was only a short time until he 
procured a civil divorce and attempted a 
second marriage. 



9 D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 

Zacchello is still a young man and is 
credited with having edited a dozen pam-
phlets and books, one of which is en-
titled "The Priest Who Became a Chris-
tian." 

The Converted, Catholic Magazine de-
fends the Protestant viewpoint against 
the Catholic one on every doctrine and 
the enemy viewpoint on matters relat-
ing to history. It, therefore, confirms 
Protestants in their inherited and ac-
quired prejudices. Of course the only 
reason why these former Catholic priests 
are with such an enterprise is the livli-
hood they are able to receive f r o m it. 

Clare Boothe Luce told the writer 
t h a t she has received f r o m ministers 
from every part of the country copies of 
The Converted Catholic, with a note to 
the effect t h a t she should read it if she 
wishes to learn "the t r u t h about Roman-
ism." 

She also told that an ex-religious who 
left his Community went to the office of 
The Converted Catholic to see whether 
they could form any contact f o r him f o r 
employment and they offered to let him 
work in their own office. A f t e r only 
three weeks he bfecame disgusted 
because he discovered that there was 
no sincerity among any of the editors; 
that they could not believe what they 



10 D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 

were writing f o r Protestant consump-
tion; that he, therefore, left them. 

The campaign by The Converted Cath-
olic has given an impetus to the circula-
tion of anti-Catholic Tracts, among them 
the stories of Maria Monk and Margaret 
Shepherd, self-styled ex-nuns, who have 
been dead f o r many years and who were 
frequently exposed during their lifetime 
as f r a u d s . They never were nuns.. 

Some years ago Our Sunday Visitor 
published a book of 160 pages entitled 
"Defamers of the Church," which con-
tained the records of more than one hun-
dred people who toured the country dur-
ing The Menace days, nearly all of whom 
were mountebanks capitalizing on the 
bigotry incited by The Menace and the 
sister sheet The Appeal to Reason, both 
of which had a weekly circulation of 
more than 1,000,000. Many Protestant 
clergymen who invited these f a k i r s to 
speak f r o m their pulpits later became 
ashamed of themselves f o r having kept 
such bad company. 

Christ's last words to the Apostles, it 
seems, are unfamiliar to them: "Blessed 
are ye when men revile you and perse-
cute you and ill-tibat you and say all 
kinds of evil things about you untruly. 
Rejoice and be glad because your re-
ward is very great in Heaven." 



D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 11 

How Explain 
Why does the fallen priest turn 

against his Church? That question is 
answered by one of them who recently 
returned to the Church, full of repent-
ance not only f o r his apostasy, but even 
mòre because he had "taken up a bitter 
pen to write against the mother I once 
loved so well." 

He tells us that he never liked the 
designation "ex-priest," but would pre-
f e r t h a t the renegades be referred to 
as "stray shepherds," having in mind 
t h a t the lost sheep were still of the fold, 

> and that the lost shepherd still belongs 
to the fold. 

He refers t o "injured pride" as the 
chief reason f o r the "stray shepherd." 
In some cases he found his superior, 
his bishop, or his pastor against him, 
and by degrees his nerves became taut. 
In that attitude "his judgment failed 
him," and "God seemed f a r away," while 
the devil was very close by, "filling his 
ears until he could hear nothing else, 
with the suggestion 'you will go mad un-
less you make the break now.' " 

A f t e r the break "the stray shepherd 
goes into the wilderness, finds his new 
life beset with hardships, including the 
difficulty of finding suitable employ-
ment." He writes : "Enemies of the 
Church rejoice over the ex-priest. When-



12 D I D T H E Y L E A V E O R W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 

ever possible they contact 'liberated' 
priests who have, 'quarrelled with Rome.' 
They make a noisy f u s s over them and 
invite them to lecture and tell their 
stories. 

"When he meets another who is in 
the same predicament as he is, he dis-
covers that they are out not because of 
'lack of f a i t h ' in the Catholic religion, 
but (because, of a hidden nostalgia, and 
while they may profess 'never to go 
back,' between them they will say: 'if 
you are around when I am dying call 
a priest f o r me, no matter what I s a y . ' " 

They feel h u r t because their former 
confreres in the ministry and all the 
Catholic laity who knew them have 
turned against them, and the new 
"friends" they make a r e not actually 
friends, but distrustful. 

In fact this "stray shepherd" writes 
t h a t "lost shepherds are saddened to see 
Catholics betraying their religion, and 
are heartened when they hear that one 
of themselves has made his peace with 
God." 

He thinks t h a t Catholics should expect 
a certain percentage of the clergy to go 
astray even though they retain their 
faith, and t h a t these should be prayed 
f o r rather than persecuted, because their 
blunder consisted in opposing grace, and 



13 D I D T H E Y L E A V E OR W E R E T H E Y P U T O U T ? 

what they now need most is the pene-
t r a t i n g grace of God. 

Do you ask how all this fits those "who 
are editing The Converted Catholic? We 
are certain that much of it fits. The con-
versation, reported above, which Mrs. 
Luce had with one of them, points to 
that. But of course, they would be re-
ceived back only a f t e r they would agree 
to apologize to their readers f o r the 
things which they wrote so untruly, cal- v 
culated to strengthen the prejudices of 
those not of the faith. This becomes, 
however, increasingly more difficult to 
do with time, because of their continued 
resistance to grace, . week by week, 
month by month. 

But Bernard Fresenborg, the author 
of "Thirty Years in Hell," which many 
a Protestant minister has in his library, 
did t h a t thing, so did Paul Miraglio, 
who gave scandal by the pen and 
wrote from the bitterness of their hearts 
rather than from the convictions of 
their minds. 

Has It Ever Occurred To You 
That the real ex-priest is one who 

either was guilty of gross misconduct in 
the Church, f o r which he was expelled 
from the ranks of the priesthood, or 
who lost all f a i t h in the supernatural? 

That, if the former, he was "without 



14 D I D T H E Y L E A V E O R W E R E T H E Y PUT O U T ? 

a job" and out of revenge attacks the 
Church, to which he owed his all, in 
which he sincerely believed, and whose 
standards of morality must have been 
much higher than his own, or he would 
not have been ejected? 

That, if the latter (pne who volun-
tarily relinquised connection with t h e 
Church), he never speaks about the 
Church except in terms of endearment, 
unless he finds it profitable to affiliate 
with some rationalistic organization? 

That no real ex-priest can make 
charges of corruption against the 
Church without acknowledging t h a t he 
was long a party thereto, and would 
still be, had he not been relieved of his 
charge by his bishop? 

That the ex-priests, Slattery and Se-
guin, now availing themselves of "big-
otry's opportunity," came over to the 
States years ago from another country, 
where they were given to habitual in-
temperance; that they unsuccessfully 
sought Catholic bishops in this country 
to take them in; that they took to the 
lecture platform when they were "down 
and out" both in relation to the priest-
hood a!nd their pocket-books? 

That these men, a f t e r years of delib-
eration solemnly vowed to remain 
chaste and unmarried; that the Al-
mighty accepted such a vow, and that, 



15 D I D T H E Y L E A V E O R W E R E T H E Y PUT O U T ? 

therefore, they violated a most sacred 
obligation when they married? 

That people welcome these imposters 
without Questioning their antecedents? 

That they would not be out enlighten-
ing (?) other people if there were not 
25c per dupe in it for themselves? 

That all but a very few on the lec-
ture-platform, who represent themselves 
as priests, are "bogus" or fakes; that 
most o i them were never Catholics, but 
prepared their tirades from books writ-
ten in Know-Nothing and A.P.A. days? 



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18 C a n O u r Priests Forgive S i n s ? 
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2 0 Catholic B o y E x a m i n e s H i s Conscience. 
21 i n d u l g e n c e s : W h a t A r e T h e y ? 
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41 M a r i n e s in Action. 
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48 C o m p a n y K e e p i n g : W h e n Is It a Sin? 
4 9 A i d s to Purity. 

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