Fushek’s maverick ministry moves to Mesa’s Fiesta Fountains
April 14th, 2008, 3:37 pm · Post a Comment · posted by lawngriffiths
The Rev. Dale Fushek appears to be keeping busy in his new ministry, the Praise and Worship Center in Mesa, as he awaits his jury trial in the San Tan Justice court ofJustice of the Peace Sam Goodman. Now you can listen to his most recent sermon online.
In an Arizona Supreme Court ruling, the suspended Roman Catholic priest recently won the right to a trial by jury for alleged sexually misdemeanor offenses. He successfully convinced the high court that, as a cleric, his career would be ruined if convicted and made to register as a sex offender underArizona law.
Now the ministrys Web site reports the Praise and Worship Center has a new home, Fiesta Fountains, 1316 S. Longmore, just across from Fiesta Mall. The banquet, conference and reception center is home for the worship service at 10 a.m. Sundays, although the web site does not say those services are every Sunday, at least notyet.
Fushek riled Bishop Thomas Olmsted, his authority with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, when he started his new ministry (praiseandworshipcenter.net), with the Rev. Mark Dippre, a former priest now married. The two once worked together at St. Timothys Catholic Community in Mesa. The charismatic Fushek, 55, had been instructed by Olmsted to not function as a priest or in any other form of public ministry until there was a definitive decision in the courts on the seven charges against him: one of assault, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of indecent exposure.
In limited public comment about the new ministry, Fushek had said his services are expressly non-denominational, non-Catholic and are intended to supplement any other active faith experience participants have. But with reports of more than 500 attending the services, some of whom have followed Fushek from St. Timothys, the diocese has instructed Catholics to stay away from the new ministry. Last November, Olmsted releases a statement that the new ministry is not endorsed by the Catholic Church and he encouraged faithful Catholics to keep the Holy Mass, the ultimate form of praise and worship, as the center of their lives. Thediocese had agreed to continue to pay a sustenance to Fushek, pending the settlement of hiscriminal case, but at the start of the year, the Diocese ended financial support to the priest, said Jim Dwyer, spokesman for the diocese.
The alleged events go back to the 1980s and early 1990s when he was pastor of St. Timothys and head of Life Teen, the international Catholic youth organization which he co-founded. He was indicted in November 2005 and was subsequently suspended. At one time, he was a vicar general in the diocese, under Bishops Thomas OBrien and Olmsted. He oversaw the historic Mass at Sun Devil Stadium that Pope John Paul II led during his 1987 visit to the Valley, and he chaperoned Mother Teresa in her visit to
Phoenix in 1989.
The first service at Fiesta Fountains was April 6 and the second one was Sunday. Services had been held at the Mesa Convention Center since they began last November. Their web site carries a survey asking people to say whether they want services weekly, twice a month or periodically; preferred times of day for services (Sunday or weekday nights); and how they might volunteer.
Fushek and Dippre have embarked on a five-week sermon series on the fruits of the spirit including love, joy and peace.
Meanwhile, the court docket shows a pre-trial conference set for Fushek on May 21 in Goodmans court. It remains unknown when a trial by his peers would begin.