PRIEST PROTESTERS URGE MORE ACTION
Opponents of St. Joseph the Worker leader asks supporters to contact Diocese of Saginaw to file formal complaints
In the days since the first peaceful protest near the doors of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Beal City, several business owners have joined the group of people asking the Diocese of Saginaw to remove its priest.
After the first protest, which was prompted by Father Tom Held’s apology to the parish and St. Joseph the Worker School parents for allowing gay author Dominic
Thrasher to read his children’s book to a preschool class, several community members returned two days ago to again march to the church.
There, they were met with a pickup truck parked on the sidewalk in the public rightof-way, the owner triggering the alarm to drown out protesters; another parishioner called the group “evil” and confronted a protester, allegedly knocking a sign from her hand.
As area business owners pledged to join the fight to remove Held from the parish, hundreds of people have joined a Facebook group, “Remove Father Tom Held,” which as of Monday afternoon had 865 members.
Businesses that joined the effort include the Barn Door, Karma Kat Cafe, Dog Central, Little Oven Love Bakery, Kris Kobylarz Heating and Cooling, and the Painted Turtle Pottery Studio.
In addition to urging former parishioners and others to share their accounts of what they describe as Held’s troubling behavior, organizers of the protest are asking those who have had issues with the priest to write to the Diocese of Saginaw’s review board to report their concerns.
Jenny Hovey, one of the organizers of the protests and an administrator of the Remove Father Tom Held Facebook group, asked members to use the page to describe interactions with Held.
Hovey also said letters to the Diocese of Saginaw’s Bishop, Robert Gruss; and its school superintendent, Cormac Lynn, are important but “sadly, a lot of those letters are getting no response.”