Bishop Dewane Cancels Yoga Class and Fires Liberal "Educators"

“Dewane came to us from Rome,” McNally said. “This is wrong. We are getting these very conservative priests being ordained now.”

Indeed, the two biggest headline-producing episodes among Lee County Catholics came that way.

The first was his decision to ban a yoga class at Blessed Pope John XXIII parish in south Fort Myers because, he said, of insurance issues.

His involvement started, though, when people attending religious services could see the yoga class through a glass partition, found it distracting and complained to the bishop.

That was early in 2007, shortly after Dewane’s arrival in Florida. The incident marked Dewane as a by-the-book conservative. His critics saw him as a meddling throwback to times when laity had little say.

“We attempt to supplement what we offer with variety,” he said. “But first and foremost we are there for religious purposes.”

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