Jeffrey Miller

Despite warnings from Catholic leaders, liberal conference draws large crowd

Calling for reform, Catholics from around the world came to Cobo Center in Detroit on Friday for a three-day conference that’s one of the larger gatherings of liberal Catholics in years. Held by the American Catholic Council, an umbrella group of about 30 liberal Catholic groups, the crowd largely consisted of elderly Catholics who are upset at what they say is the church’s turn to the right.

The Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron warned Catholics to stay away from the conference and said that priests and deacons could be defrocked if they attend a Sunday mass at Cobo.

But that didn’t deter local Catholics from attending, and may even have encouraged them to come, say conference participants. Attendees included everyone from former seminarians to anti-war activists to those calling for women and married priests. All were united in saying that lay people need to have more say in church decision making, such as being able to help decide who becomes bishops and where pastors are assigned. [Source]

So a conference heavily publicized and planned for over a year draws 1 to 2000 people? What even with dissident rock stars Joan Chittister and Hans Kung – (well Kung via a half hour video tape since he isn’t attending)? Celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Call To Action conference with dissidents across the land attending and you call 2,000 people attending a large crowd? The American Catholic Council also has a Facebook page with a whopping 111 likes.

But as other commentators have noted, progressives are spiritual mules that don’t reproduce. Thirty five years later they gather much less people and no bishops at all.

Yes the American Catholic Council are celebrating their glory days by returning to Detroit for the 35th anniversary of the Call to Action Conference. Where they will celebrate just how many of their goals they have achieved – or I mean whine about how none of their goals have been achieved and whose fault it is.

Nick Tom and Al Kresta are live blogging the conference which I find hilarious.

We are currently at a gathering of dissident Catholics in Detroit listening and watching. About 1,000 in attendance tonight. By their own stats in the program:
65% are women
94% are Caucasian
97% are over 45 years old
63 % are over 65 years old
75% attend Mass weekly
3% accept all of the Church’s teachings
90% say the ordination of women is “very” or “critically” important [Source]

Wow those stats are surprising – a whopping 3% accept all of the Church’s teaching?

The part about women’s ordination is not surprising, but you have to wonder about the two streams of thought among them. One of their efforts where they have been somewhat successful is to confuse the role of the laity and the priesthood. That the ministerial priesthood and the priesthood of the faithful are pretty much the same thing. While at the same time pressing for women’s ordination.

From their Litany of Progressive Whining

Angered by Church leaders who protect pedophiles and persecute prophets, we cry…

Wondering why we are closing parishes rather than opening ordination , we cry…

Because their heroes like Cardinal Mahony and Bishop Weakland would never do such a thing. And of course women bishops would never protect abusers.

I always find it interesting how they always see themselves a prophets and then cry about persecution. Hello. Though I guess they are trying to be Prophets 2.0. Prophets not persecuted, prophets who instead of crying out against sin instead say sins aren’t sins, and can prophecy falsely. The Old Testament Prophets had it all wrong, if only they would have gone along with the culture they wouldn’t have been killed. John the Baptist instead of denouncing Herod’s marriage should have been a voice crying out in the city saying “I’m OK, Your’e OK”. Prophets 2.0 would instead be demonstrating outside a church demanding Herod’s right to Communion.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Catholic Charities branches of three Illinois dioceses have filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois in order to continue operating according to Catholic principles — by providing foster care and adoption services only to married couples or non-cohabitating singles.

The suit was filed June 7 in response to the state’s new civil-union law — formally called the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act — which was passed last December by the lame duck, Democrat-controlled state Legislature along a party-line vote and took effect June 1. That law threatens to prohibit agencies such as Catholic Charities from performing foster care and adoption services with state funds if they refuse to place children with unmarried couples, including those in civil unions, whether homosexual or not. The new law essentially views couples in civil unions as married couples, with many of the same rights and privileges, and bars discrimination against them. [Source]

That’s good news that the Thomas More Society is getting involved. When this happened in Massachusetts and San Francisco Catholic Charities just laying down instead of challenging such a law with religious discrimination at it’s root.

Though on a side point I have to wonder about adoptions to non-cohabitating singles? Under Catholic teaching there is at the minimum a preference for a child to have both a mother and father and in the current circumstance of long waits for adoptions is adoptions to non-cohabitating singles a valid alternative when a married couple is also awaiting a child to adopt?

I haven’t posted on New York congressman Anthony Weiner scandal via my blog or Twitter etc despite how pun-worthy the congressman’s name is with the details of the scandal involved. Though I have been following the story since it first came out wondering when the congressman would finally move along from “Go away there is nothing to see here” mode to some form of acknowledgment and apology.

To my sorrow it was only today that I thought to pray for him, his family and the people involved. When you get hyper-political it is easy to see people as chess pieces and when a pro-abortion politician falls you think of it in terms of political points. Just like how much the left loves it when a Televangelist is caught in some sexual escapade, we on the right can have the same feelings when some liberal politician falls especially such a rabid critic of conservatives such as Rep. Weiner.

That politicians are just as susceptible to original sin should be a surprise to no one and if anything are placed in an arena of increased temptations. Though Rep. Weiner has confirmed my prejudice against liberals politicians in that they hardly ever resign after a scandal and rarely received great pressure from their political allies to do so. They talk about accepting “full responsibility” while not accepting any consequences for their actions.

Regardless I will try to remember to pray for him and to pray that he also repents of his culture of death views. The connection between supporting abortion and seeing women only as sexual objects to be used is not a casual connection.