Fr. Robert Altier
He's in the buzz around town again. (Go to "Stella Borealis" for Ray's report.) Supposedly the people in Hastings do not like his liturgies, which are always fully in accord with the current rubrics, and they are petitioning his removal. This poor guy has experienced this type of treatment all through his seminary training until now in his priesthood.
He helps out with week-end Masses at St. Augustine in South St. Paul these days. A friend who attends there told me that since he has been celebrating the Tridentine rite there, it has more or less doubled the attendance. My friend is pleased with that more for the sake of the rite, believing many who are unfamiliar with it will come to love the traditional Mass, thus increasing the chances of a traditional parish being designated in the Archdiocese. Fr. Altier would be the ideal pastor of such a parish.
His "followers" may likely create more attention for the priest than he would desire however. It will not sit well with some of Father's peers, I am certain of that. Fr. Altier, rather than disappearing into oblivion, is still attracting faithful thirsting for holiness. He is an excellent confessor, and a master of the spiritual life. Like many of the saints, he is misunderstood and "not accepted among his own". We will just have to watch and see if he is removed once again.
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