Needless to say, as I read the whole story, I was outraged.

One such disgruntled group is The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, (also known by the acronym, SSPX) known not only for their fondness of the Latin rite, but also for the French Far Right, specifically, the neofascist National Front Party.

Founded in 1970 by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, they are not only anti-Enlightenment but they are openly contemptuous of the necessary (and unfinished) changes of Vatican II.

The group broke with Rome in 1988 after Lefebvre ordained four new bishops in defiance of Rome's orders. The Vatican responded to by excommunicating Archbishop Lefebvre and the bishops he ordained.

The Holocaust denier in question is Richard Williamson, of whom I wrote:

Several of the SSPX clergy have made anti-Semitic pronouncements, such as Bishop Richard Williamson, who threw in a little anti-Liberalism to boot:

"Supernaturally seen, such a scenario, capable of many adaptations, represents one more in many steps of the Jewish people towards their appointment with God at the end of the world, when, maybe converted by the heroism and endurance of the Catholics undergoing persecution by their Anti-Christ, they will at last convert (Romans XI) and discover their own true Messiah, Jesus Christ, who has never ceased to love them as his own people. However, until they re-discover their true Messianic vocation, they may be expected to continue fanatically agitating, in accordance with their false messianic vocation of Jewish world-dominion, to prepare the Anti-Christ's throne in Jerusalem. So we may fear their continuing to play their major part in the agitation of the East and in the corruption of the West. Here the wise Catholic will remember that, again, the ex-Christian nations have only their own Liberalism to blame for allowing free circulation within Christendom to the enemies of Christ."

As the Times also reported, Bishop Williamson is very fond of making outrageous remarks:

Most contentious was the inclusion of Richard Williamson, a British-born cleric who in an interview last week said he did not believe that Jews died in the Nazi gas chambers. He has also given interviews saying that the United States government staged the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a pretext to invade Afghanistan.

The Times further reported, "The decision provided fresh fuel for critics who charge that Benedict's four-year-old papacy has proven increasingly hostile to moderates and to the sweeping reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s that sought to create a more modern and open church."

If anything, that is the understatement of the decade.

As a Catholic I am more than saddened by the passing of the days of Vatican II -- when Catholic-Jewish relations turned on the adoption of Nostrae Aetate which Cardinal Roger Mahoney properly explained, "undertook a rethinking of Judaism and the Jewish people in Catholic theology and liturgy, repudiating historic Christian teachings of contempt towards Jews and positively asserting the common spiritual heritage the Christians and Jews share."

But more than saddened, I feel a deep sense of shame for my Church. The Pope has denigrated us as well as our Jewish brothers and sisters.

And I am more than perplexed by the priorities of the church hierarchy that can excommunicate a peaceful priest, Father Roy Bourgeois who advocates for the ordination of women priests, but invites back those who try to white-wash the atrocities of Adolf Hitler.

That, my friends, is truly a disgrace. And I am outraged.