News Scrapbook 1973-1974

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PART II SUNDAY,AUG.4, 1974

14, 1968, Storm resigned as pastor ot All Hallows and quit the prie~thood. A furore followed. Both hi' publicly stated po. it ion and that of the hi. hop's offir com- manded riveting attentlon. lt no v appears that, while ~ome ha i c i t- {'d for each, both idc · tailored th It- remarks for public con umption and neither went to the heart of tht schism between man and thurch. A spokesman, for Di hop Furey told the San Diego pr s that Storm resigned upon his doctor's advice •·to regain his health.• · But Storm, who employed a public relations man to help him deal witb the matter, insisted that was not the reason at ;,II. It Is true, friend· concccle, that Storm wa "il1 and out of the ho pi- 1" during hi.·· la. t e r at All Hal- lows. But. they adrl, he had suffered since boyhood from .u r urrms bronchial problem. A har her Yiew e ·i t · hO\\ever. That is based in the conrRpt e\"f'O of friends that Storm, an aml,itiou n:an, d!d not enjoy the role of a pa- nsh priest. Tho~e unfnendly to him viewed his !llnesses as malingering, or as one pne t who was on the bi h- op's staff at the time put it: "He alwa uffered from a p r- secu ion -complex. Be would go into the ho~pital becau e he could not face pressure. Vinally, administr • ti ·e and personnel prohlem macle him ill again-~o Uie lii hop re- mo,·ed him." read during masses at All Hallows on the d.iv he announced his departure which said, in part: ''One of the compelling rea -on for mv rlcci~ion i that in pite r,f Vati- can Council IT, the Homan Catholic Stonn's public tanee w.is one of faith. He cli~illusionment in hi issued a statement Church still moves in the direction of in~titutionalizing God. "We can't afford to 'lo,e God' in order to build a church. As it stands ' today. a priest experiences the church's top-le,·el deci,ions \vhich e\·idence little concern for the indi- vidual with whom God would have priests and all mankind concerned.~ . The statement was consistent with Storm's past p1ivate expressio1 sand t~1e view it advanced undeniably smcere. But most of his friends be- lieve today that, no matter how tr 1 ly orm felt in this respect, it was not sufficient to drive him from the priesthood, that the remark! in the statement were of a face-saving nature. ''He felt no confJicts with Cath- olic theology, really,• said a phy,;i. cian friend. "His real problem was emotional and psychological-that's why he tore up his roots. As soon as he did, he knew it \\a. a fatal mistake. I'm certain he remained a Roman Catholic priest until the end of his days." "His public position was all a lie " said another friend. ' To discover the actual circum- stances of the rupture, interviews have established, one needed to go behind the public utterance$ of the time. What follow,; is a \·a~tly oversi m- plified version of these circum- stances pieced together from conver- sations with persons close to Storm during the period. Rumors circulated among mem- bers of All Hallows that Storm was a homosexual. The gossip· was com- mon but appeared to trouble few pa- rishioners. Some it did, however, and they worried lest embarrass- But more than mere go~sip wa~ talk about Storm's handling of fi~ nances. Not that he was ~upected of misusing church money but that he overextended in physical improve- Storm told a former parishioner that a group within his congregation "went to the bishop and made sever- al charges, each one of which was false. The bishop called him in, and the monisgnor refuted them. "A week or two later, another charge was made, The bi~hop in- quired into the whole 8et of accu~ 11 Above all he was humane. He had this ur;, about him that said that he really cared." .z....

SHOWPIECE-Atop Lo Jolla's splendid Mt. Soledad, All Halfows 1s o model of understatement, olmost devoid of traditional ornament.

'.rimr, pboto hy Willi,llll :;, • lll'llhy He held a l\la ·s to which he im ited La Jolla's Prote. tant clergy, and he conducted it in h()th Latin and Eng- lish, explaining in English the ritual a:; he went along. Aften ard, a min- ister ~poke warmly of the gesture, and tr,rn1 rc.plird: "\\ e ·hould ha\ e d011e tl11 long aoo.' Another time, dt ring a Slrmon. he su gE ,ted to hi;: congregation "All }OU old-line Catholics think ·ou re thP onl_J. one· goin_g to e · 1. o 1

John.• After that, the prie t added, Storm lor all mtents and purposes was fin- hhe

''He was born (in Altoona, Pa.) to be a priest. He never wanted to be anything else."

LAST PICTURE-This picture of John Storm, then pastor of Oceanside Christion Church, was token in Moy, one month before he committed suicide. old \\indow and let in ~ome fresh air. The older, more traditional priests thought the Pope had opened Later, Storm came to belieye that a Pandora's box."

promised reforms of Vatican II had ment result. Ileen scuttled. Kevertheless, another former member of All Hallows who re- mained Storm's close friend until the end of his life, said: "He believed the Catholic Church was the trne ments at All Hallows. church and that's wh.,t troubled him

until his death."

~NNI VERSARY-When Son Diego's Romon Catholic Bishop Fran- cis J. Furey, left, celebrated m I967 the 37th anniversary of his ordmotion, Msgr. Storm was on hond to offer his congrotulotions.

In 1968, Storm celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a priest. To mark the occasion, a ban- quet was held in a smart Mission Bay hotel. It was a memorable gath- "\\'bo'- '\'ho'' of S,m Diego, inrlicat- ed the Cbteem in which ·torm wa held. Present were leading ch-ic- and religious per,onage-, i 11 c J u a J-liop Franci J J.'urcv. ering. The guest list, irtual h

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c;i.11 \1a cert.inn it did. •r thjnk the btory about finance~ that was be t" remembered as the prelude to an occurrence which ~tunned the sent around the parish \\·as ju t a community. Just weeks later, _J~u_l~~---P~le"'ase Turn to Page 2. Col. !I -- a a time o riumph for term