Oh, come on. What’s going on? I have loved the work of Catholicity for a long time and was thankful to Bud and Bai Macfarlane for all they do for the church and the promotion of the Christian family but from a number of blogs I found out that now Bud is filing for divorce!?…and Bai (“Maria”) is fighting it.
Here are related articles: Divorce, American style: What if one mate says no? (3/13/04) and Letter to the Editor: Far Too Many Spouses Are Coerced to Divorce (3/21/04) (Scroll to the bottom letter from Maria McFarland.)
It’s sad to see how far Bud has come in his conversion only to have this happen. Satan must be working overtime on this situation because the tragic thing is that not only will their family (see photo) be suffering but it will most likely damage the credibility of their ministries at Catholicity and the Mary Foundation. Please keep them all in your prayers that as tragic as it is, God can bring good from it.
UPDATE (3/23): I just want to mention that I did not post the news about Bud and Bai Macfarlane above to gossip or bash Bud. Rather, I am hoping we can join in prayer not only for Bud, Bai, their kids, and the ministries but for all Catholic couples and marriage in general.
It goes to show that we are all prone to sin and Satan will work overtime to knock down Catholics who are an example to others. In this way he damages not only the individual but all those around them. All our sin damages the body of Christ but some sin is a lot more visible and a lot more damaging. Whether our lives are public or private we have to pray and work diligently to stay united to Christ and do do all we can to help other do the same.
UPDATE (12/9/03): Marie MacFerlane is in the news again as she continues her fight to save her marriage with Bud. Ohio Catholic wife takes marriage case to Vatican tribunal to prevent “no fault” divorce.
3/22/04 – Say It Ain’t So…Not Bud and Bai!
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Oh, CatholiCity’s credibility will be totally ruined unless either, a) they resolve their problems; or b) Bud resigns from CatholiCity and hands it over to someone else. Judging by the uncanny streak of selfishness on his part, I can’t see that happening. But we can pray. Maybe he’ll go back to practicing what he preaches about St. Joseph, E5 Men, the family, and the institution of marriage.
I’ve been thinking of sending my copy of “Marriage and the Eucharist” back with a note saying ‘Bud, you need to listen to this.’
(Only because I have 2 copies)
Nathan – When I checked Catholicity I noticed that all reference to Bud was taken off the site. Even his books do not list him as the author. There are many other faithful Catholics working in those apostolates who will carry on the work, whatever happens to Bud.
John – nice of you to stop by! I think at this point Bud just needs lots of prayers. I am sure he has heard from countless prominent Catholics who are friends of his. At this point it is as much a spiritual battle as a physical one.
Bobbi, I’m sorry to have reacted the way I did, and you can feel free to delete my comment if you’d like. Bud Macfarlane, whether he knew it or not, had a role in my conversion last year through his books and the Mary Foundation tapes. Initially, I felt hurt on an almost personal level by this news. But I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.
Don’t worry about it, Nathan, it’s understandable. A lot of people have expressed that anger (in emails or in person). My first reaction was, “Man, somebody’s gotta smack that brother upside the head!” Well, that isn’t the best way to react, particularly reviewing over my own sins and vices. So, yeah, we’re both sorry for our outbursts but what matters now is how we deal with it at the present. (ps – it’s been a pleasure having you around. š
I am in shock. The addage “Is nothing sacred?” comes to mind. I am a convert to the Catholic Faith from a fundamentalist christian group and the impact Bai and Bud have had on my life is enormous. I don’t want to pry but what has sparked this? I am physically pained by this news which I am hearing for the first time this morning.
I must add in that this is my first post here. I was on the Marian list at the Catholicity site for awhile. I am just reaching out here, desperately clicking…for answers.
Nathan – When I checked Catholicity I noticed that all reference to Bud was taken off the site
Don’t know what URL you went to Bobbi but when I check Catholicity I found 238 reference to Bud and 57 references to Bud and Marriage. Ironically he was still pushing “Marriage and the Eucharist” 2 months before filing divorce papers on his wife in August 2003.
His book House of Gold is still on the home page with his name there. Either you’re surfing another Internet in a parallel universe or my Cache file is possessed by the devil.
Hi George, you’re right. I should have reworded my sentence. When I checked catholicity I meant that all references to Bud were removed from the home page (ie his pic, bio info, etc) – and the ad for his book wasn’t on the homepage. (The book page I was referring to just said “House of God by a ‘Catholic author'”.
However when I checked today the ad you mentioned was there on the homepage (so much for my parallel universe) and if you search around the other pages some of his articles are still there – I don’t know how many. And I don’t know why they (catholicity) would choose to keep his articles on the site. I would think they’d rather remove them.