Punditry

From Amy Welborn

Okay, so I was thinking about all the virtual ink that’s been spilled, tears that have been shed and skin that’s been worn off hands because of all that wringing over the LCWR/Sr. Farley business, and I figures at some point soon, the columnists and bloggers are going to run out of material, and they just might need another example of a Religious Sister, Kept Down By The Men.

(Not a fake issue, historically speaking, by the way! Not kidding!)

So, I thought of one!

Here you go: the American religious sister who’s had more conflicts with more bishops than any other over the past few decades. Who’s gone head-to-head with a bishop or two, whose work has been supported by lay people, but who’s had bishops has her primary opponents, both overtly and covertly, who, up until various shifts and changes of the past 5-7 years, has had probably 80% of the American bishops strongly in opposition to her ministry.

Nun v. Male Bishops! For your next column, blog post, Colbert bit or #hashtag campaign! Ready?

Now this is an interesting comparison, but a comparison with a major difference. Mother Angelica certainly clashed with some bishops and in many ways it was a mirror image of the CDF/LCWR situation. There were certainly some bishops quite unhappy with EWTN especially in comparison the the Bishop conferences foray into cable television. You might ask “What Bishop’s conference cable show?” – well it was less than popular and not always exactly brimming with orthodoxy as I have heard told.

One of those things that nerved some bishops was EWTN’s televised Masses that dared to be devoid of all the experimentations that were so common and of course still exist. It must have been quite striking for some to see the difference between EWTN’s televised Mass that epitomized “Read the black, do the red” in contrast to “Read the black, ignore, the red, and make it up as you go.”

Specifically EWTN’s use of Ad Orientum with the priest facing East towards the Tabernacle really bothered some people. It did not matter that this is totally valid and it was only on that fictions list of “things done with at Vatican II.” Regardless their were complaints made to her bishop and ultimately her bishop ordered EWTN to not televise Masses conducted Ad Orientum. Now while EWTN was technically correct in having Masses this way, they still complied with their bishop. That is what obedience looks like. If you are obedient only when you agree with your bishop, than you are not obedient. Now EWTN still went on using Ad Orientum for Masses not televised and conducted at their temple, but did indeed comply with the specific restriction of their bishop.

This is the aspect of obedience that is almost totally missing among nuns/sisters who are among the media darlings for resting the “evillll” Vatican. There is a total lack of humility when it comes to clashes. There is no humble reply as the result of a CDF theological investigation – it is always cast into almost political lines where every dissident theologian is a martyr to the Vatican. The use of “leadership” in the initialism LCWR is a total misnomer since they have shown no real leadership. Instead of course correction and fulfilling their vows (especially obedience) they refused to clean up their own mess and after decades forcing the CDF to intervene. Then of course when the inevitable happens they are totally shocked. Not exactly leadership and certainly not obedience.

There will always be clashes between people and their bishops and between priest and religious and their bishops. In some of these cases the bishop will be handling something badly or even being totally wrong. But again if your obedience is dependent on how much the bishop is on the same page as you, it isn’t obedience.

As the start of Veritatis Splendor states:

1. Called to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, “the true light that enlightens everyone” (Jn 1:9), people become “light in the Lord” and “children of light” (Eph 5:8), and are made holy by “obedience to the truth” (1 Pet 1:22).

This obedience is not always easy. As a result of that mysterious original sin, committed at the prompting of Satan, the one who is “a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), man is constantly tempted to turn his gaze away from the living and true God in order to direct it towards idols (cf. 1 Thes 1:9), exchanging “the truth about God for a lie” (Rom 1:25). Man’s capacity to know the truth is also darkened, and his will to submit to it is weakened. Thus, giving himself over to relativism and scepticism (cf. Jn 18:38), he goes off in search of an illusory freedom apart from truth itself.

The U.S. State Department removed the sections covering religious freedom from the Country Reports on Human Rights that it released on May 24, three months past the statutory deadline Congress set for the release of these reports.

The new human rights reports–purged of the sections that discuss the status of religious freedom in each of the countries covered–are also the human rights reports that include the period that covered the Arab Spring and its aftermath.

Thus, the reports do not provide in-depth coverage of what has happened to Christians and other religious minorities in predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East that saw the rise of revolutionary movements in 2011 in which Islamist forces played an instrumental role.

For the first time ever, the State Department simply eliminated the section of religious freedom in its reports covering 2011 and instead referred the public to the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report – a full two years behind the times – or to the annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which was released last September and covers events in 2010 but not 2011.The U.S. State Department removed the sections covering religious freedom from the Country Reports on Human Rights that it released on May 24, three months past the statutory deadline Congress set for the release of these reports.

Makes sense, otherwise they would have had to add the United States to the list.

(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)

…but I’m still puzzled by the fact that, after 40 years of pro-abort zealotry from the Democratic party, some Democrats are just now leaving the party–because of gay “marriage” and the HHS mandate. Those things are bad, of course. But it’s still weird to me that somebody could go for decades watching the spectacle of Dems passionately defending sticking scissors in a baby’s brain and then suddenly say, “But gay marriage? That’s crossing the line!” It makes me wonder how such people process information and make moral evaluations. Glad to see they are abandoning any organization committed to these “core values”. But it doesn’t fill me with too much confidence that they are necessarily going to bring moral wisdom to whatever political home they wind up in (assuming they wind up anywhere, since a lot of us are politically homeless and alienated from the worthless circus of American politics). (Mark Shea)

I had similar thoughts when I read some of these stories from those who left the Democrat Party. Considering all the moral straws that have been piling on the proverbial’s camel back you think this must have been one strong mutant camel with a backbone made of titanium. But with Mr. Shea I am happy to see them realize the truth and pray more do the same, especially as an ex-Democrat myself and one who also had a high-resistance to reality.

In a spirited retort to the Vatican, a group of Roman Catholic nuns is planning a bus trip across nine states this month, stopping at homeless shelters, food pantries, schools and health care facilities run by nuns to highlight their work with the nation’s poor and disenfranchised.

Because the whole reason the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is investigating the LCWR is because of their work with the poor. You know how much the Vatican hates nuns and sisters working with the poor and providing healthcare. The beatification of Blessed Mother Teresa was a close thing because the CDF objected to her work with the poor and the healthcare her order provided. Once the Vatican hears about consecrated religious opening up food pantries they immediately get put on the inquisition list.

Now if these consecrated women religious really wanted to plan a bus trip that was more symbolic of the LCWR they would also stop off at a the Women’s Ordination Conference, a Reiki Training Center, a provide advice that helps religious leave their orders and start non-canonical ones taking the properly along (yes the LCWR actually did this), go to and abortion clinics and pray for choice.

Or how about instead of complaining about crackdowns and whining about the hierarchy they actually helped address the actual problems. While they do indeed do many good works, it does not mean that dissent and bad works become acceptable. We are all called to holiness and have to admit and repent of our faults.

I haven’t been able to confirm this, though I think this is the bus they will be using.

“We’re doing this because these are life issues,” said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Network, a liberal social justice lobby in Washington. “And by lifting up the work of Catholic sisters, we will demonstrate the very programs and services that will be decimated by the House budget.” (Source)

Use the same NETWORK that supported pro-abortion Obamacare and is not outraged at all by the HHS Mandate. Obamacare directly led to forced funding of abortion-inducing drugs. For NETWORK federal funding for social programs is mandatory, and the unborn can be sacrificed to the federal altar. What is being ‘decimated” is the unborn.

This happened less than a week ago and I am just getting around to it.

[Washington, DC] The national board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) held a special meeting in Washington, DC from May 29-31 to review, and plan a response to, the report issued to LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The board members raised concerns about both the content of the doctrinal assessment and the process by which it was prepared. Board members concluded that the assessment was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency. Moreover, the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the concerns raised and could compromise their ability to fulfill their mission. The report has furthermore caused scandal and pain throughout the church community, and created greater polarization.

Hey this is great to know since there is actually no problem they will have no problems complying with CDF oversight since it was all just a big misunderstanding in the first place. Really the LCWR has been getting a bum rap since after all they are quite orthodox in their beliefs.

This picture was from the latest LCWR sponsored Papal Pride meeting where they got together to discuss the theology of Pope Benedict XVI along with his writing from when he was a Cardinal. Heated debates often breakout at LCWR meetings as to as which of his books are the greatest contribution to the Church. They also pray for the reform of the reform and the liturgical vision as outlined in then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Sprit of the Liturgy”. Blessed John Paul II is not left out in admiration as they discuss the merits of the Theology of the Body and it significance in regard to the false views of human sexuality as espoused by the culture. In fact this year the biggest selling button was “I ♥ Magisterium”.

I just don’t have any idea why the CDF would persecute the LCWR since they are such a bastion of orthodoxy and supporters of the hierarchy.

Now just what were some of these “unsubstantiated accusations”?

• For one it was just a misunderstanding when the LCWR appointed a liaison to the Women’s Ordination Conference and more misunderstanding when they refused a request from the Vatican to not get involved. That many of their members have made public statements supporting women’s ordination just shows we don’t understand the nuance of what they were saying. Just because it appears a first blush that rejected that they rejected this teaching that requires definitive assent is just unsubstantiated just as long as you ignore the public record. In fact it is really quite surprising that the women’s ordination conference fully supports the LCWR when LCWR’s support of them is just a misunderstanding.

• After the Vatican intervened with New Ways Ministry and ordered the founders to have nothing to do with this organization which promotes a view of homosexual acts contrary to the truth, again it was all misunderstanding when the LCWR national board agreed in 2002 to write letters in support of New Ways Ministry. You just have to wonder how the CDF can see this negatively?

• When Blessed Pope John Paul II approved a document of guidelines titled “Essential Elements in Church Teaching on Religious Life”, it is hard to understand how the LCWR’s repudiating this document could reflect on their obedience. This repudiation was actually a sign of their love for the Pope.

• When the LCWR assembly had as a speaker a pro-abortion nun and refused to withdraw the invitation at the behest of the US bishop’s conference, again you have to wonder why the CDF does not see just how fully faithful the LCWR is.

• In 1993 the national board of the LCWR issued a statement, “Concerning the Rights of Gay and Lesbian Persons.”, you just have to wonder how that was misunderstood. Obviously the CDF is out for blood for no discernible reason.

• Surely the CDF is just cherry-picking when they pulled statements like from Sister Laurie Brink, OP who said “Who’s to say that the movement beyond Christ is not, in reality, a movement into the very heart of God?” So what if this was a keynote speech. Another keynote speaker Sister Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, complained about “patriarchal values that, by any objective measure, relegate women to second-class status governed by male-dominated structures, law, and ritual.” Later this year wacky new age teacher Barbara Marx Hubbard will be the keynote speaker. There just is no pattern here and the CDF makes too big a deal of it.

• The National Catholic Register notes that The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith today published a “Notification Regarding the Book ‘Just Love. A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics’ by Sister Margaret A. Farley R.S.M”. They wrote that the CDF was targeting her just because she is a member of the LCWR. This is obviously true and has nothing to do with the book supporting masturbation, homosexual acts, divorce an remarriage, etc. Why is the CDF getting on her case just for rejecting dogmatic teachings?

No doubt what is really going on is that somebody at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had his knuckles rapped on too many times by an American ruler-wielding nun and is just acting in revenge. After all everything detailed here is just “unsubstantiated accusations” and the result of the lack of transparency. The reality is that the members of the LCWR are totally orthodox and just misunderstood.

When these sisters aren't escorting women for abortions, they sit around reading "Dominus Iesus" and do things totally orthodox sisters do.

Vatican City, 3 June 2012 (VIS) – At midday today, after having celebrated Mass in the presence of almost one million faithful at Bresso Park in Milan and before praying the Angelus, the Holy Father announced that the eighth World Meeting of Families will be held in Philadelphia, U.S.A. in the year 2015. “I send my warm greetings to Archbishop Charles Chaput”, he said, “and to the Catholics of that great city, and look forward to meeting them there along with numerous families from all around the world”. (source)

I really need to move to wherever Archbishop Chaput is at the time. When he was in Denver they had World Youth Day there and not that he is in Philadelphia they are going to have the “World Meeting of Families” there.

Here is a rather interesting story on a couple of levels.

A Umatilla teenager said she was forced to choose between her Catholic faith and serving as a delegate to Florida Girls State, a government-in-action leadership program for teen girls.

“I was shocked. This is basically discrimination,” said Margeaux (Mar-go) Graham, 16, a junior at Umatilla High School, who was told that she would not be allowed to attend Sunday Mass while Girls State is hosted June 15-23 at Florida State University in Tallahassee, even though a Catholic cathedral is across the street from FSU.
Graham’s mother, Mary, offered to make the trip to escort her daughter to church.

“The girls are not allowed to leave our program for any reason,” said Robin Briere, department secretary-treasurer of the American Legion Auxiliary, who noted it would be an insurance liability to allow any of the 300 delegates to leave the premises.
Briere said a non-denominational Sunday service is provided for the delegates.
As a faithful Catholic, Graham said it would be a mortal sin for her not to attend Mass, as it’s her religious and moral obligation to attend Mass every single Sunday.

“Missing Mass is not an option,” added Jackie Smart, director of religious education at St. Mary of the Lakes Catholic Church in Eustis, where Graham is a parishioner.

“If you’re Catholic, you’re obliged to gather with your fellow Catholics on Sundays to celebrate Mass and it’s not something that we can choose not to participate in, if you’re an active Catholic,” Smart said. “If you really believe what our faith teaches, there would be no way to keep you from Mass and that’s the way Margeaux feels…

“Good for Margeaux for not being afraid to stand up for her faith. There is so much pressure on these young men and women nowadays that it’s not cool to embrace your faith, and I think that it’s really great that Margeaux is willing to stand up for that. …She is just a very determined young lady. She has a very strong grasps of her faith and what it means to be a Catholic.”

A friend of the Graham family, Carl Ludecke, commander of American Legion Post 21 in Umatilla, called Robin Briere at the state American Legion Auxiliary and proposed the idea of allowing a priest or university chaplain to come to Girls State to celebrate Mass for the Catholic delegates.

“I thought, why not bring in somebody in at the same time as they were doing a service in another room?, Ludecke said, recalling the idea was immediately rejected.

“I was absolutely flabbergasted. I was just trying to get this resolved so everybody could be happy,” he said. “We had a screaming match on the telephone and I didn’t get anywhere, because I really don’t have any jurisdiction to do it.”

Briere said this is the first time in her 19 years on staff with Girls State, a privately-funded program, that religion has become an issue.

“We are a non-denominational program and intentionally keep religion out of our program out of respect for the 300 girls that come from many different faiths,” she said. “We set aside time on Sunday morning, from our very busy schedule, to allow each girl to honor her faith silently and the girls collectively put a program together to honor all faiths.”

The Sunday service is written and executed by the delegates, she said, adding it’s something that they enjoy doing.

What I find interesting is that this had never been seen as a problem before and surely a percentage of Catholics had participated in this program during all these years. Offering only a ecumenical Sunday service is certainly of the Protestant mindset where they think there is not any actual obligation in the first place. A non-sacramental mindset that reduces worship to a sermon that could just as well be heard on TV or the internet.

The keystone of the article is the subject of missing Mass on Sunday.

Canon 1247

On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass; they are also to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord’s Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.

Canon 1248

1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.

2. If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the liturgy of the word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.

With missing Mass requiring a “grave cause”. Of course illness or having to take care of a family member are often given as examples that meet this criteria. Being on vacation in an area with no convenient access to Mass is another example and there is no requirement to drive a long distance in these circumstances. Now whether attending a leadership conference and not being allowed permission to go to Mass is a sufficient “grave cause”, I certainly could not be definitive on. This would be an area that would be best discussed with their parish priest. Though I also think while possible this could fall into that category, it is more meritorious in taking this requirement obligation seriously.

It is also very nice to see a director of religious education at her home parish (Jackie Smart) say something like “Missing Mass is not an option” since the serious obligation to attend Mass is something that many serious Catholics seem to think has been done away with since Vatican II. I like Jackie Smart’s comment “If you really believe what our faith teaches, there would be no way to keep you from Mass and that’s the way Margeaux feels..” So often you hear Mass proposes as an imposition, something to get out of the way. That actually being told to go to Mass is rather mean or troublesome – a view I think bishops unintentionally reinforce when they do things like move the Ascension to Sunday.

The other interesting thing about the story is how the staff of Girls State will not make the simplest compromise on the subject. They wouldn’t even allow the mother to come in an take her to Mass across the street. If this is the type of leadership this organization is demonstrating then it is a good thing this young women is missing out on it. Why is this rule so unbreakable and no compromise possible. The staff of Girls State might have a promising career working for President Obama’s HHS.

“I’m just amazed at the uproar over this,” added Briere, who also is Catholic by faith. “It’s not like she’s forced to go to this program and we’re denying her religious rights. … What has surprised me the most, through all of this, was having the Umatilla American Legion commander call and demand that we had to do it.”

Briere said she does not feel less of a Catholic when she misses Mass while being involved in leading Girls State.

Because the objective state of something is based on what you feel. I don’t feel this is a sin, so thus it isn’t. The cry of “Officer I didn’t feel this was a crime” would be laughed at, unfortunately similar protestations are taken seriously. Besides is it really the case that Briere is not allowed to attend Mass when these conferences happen?

She goes on to say:

“I respect her religious beliefs, and certainly I share them as we’re the same faith,” Briere said. “The Catholic religion that I know is not that narrow thinking, but I do respect how she feels. I’m not disrespecting her in any way. I just feel bad that she is being put in the position to choose between the two. Unfortunately, because of this, she has lost her opportunity to go to Girl State and that cannot be changed now. She’s out of the program, and it was her choice.”

She is being put into that position simply because they refuse to make any compromise. Funny how so many will deride you for not making a compromise when they would not offer a compromise themselves.

(source)
(Via GetReligion)

Those who have been around the Catholic blogosphere during it’s early part a decade a go will remember (and fondly remember) Fr. Bryce Sibley.

He has an article in Crisis Magazine which voices my opinion on Christian films like Courageous quite well. He is able to put succinctly what I try to grasp to understand in why I think these movies don’t ultimately succeed. His comparison of these movies to the Christian fiction so often produced is a nice parallel in that as he says they both fail to have a “sacramental imagination”.

I also fully agree when he writes:

While films like Courageous have their place, Christian filmmakers should take up the challenge to not only convey the truths of the Christian faith, but that also convey a sense of beauty and mystery in their films. These are the type films that will have the power to truly change minds and touch hearts for generations to come.

Courageous certainly shows the filmmaker has grown, but compare it to a movie like “Of Gods and Men” and then you can rightly see it more as a good Christian Bookstore Movie than what it should be, a work of art.

I encourage you to read his thoughtful article.

Rorate Caeli has a story of Hans Küng declaring Benedict XVI schismatic over the issue of the possible SSPX unification.

Now while Hans Küng is somewhat of an expert on disobedience, heresy, and schism somehow I think he got this one wrong. Yeah what a surprise. He pins all this on the extremely debatable point that the Bishops and Priests of the SSPX were “definitely invalidly ordained.” Well not really debatable just plain Bravo Sierra. So I guess according to Mr. Küng attempts at ordaining women by a range of suspects are all valid, but the Bishops and Priest of the SSPX weren’t.

This is a kind of a “I’m rubber you’re glue, if I’m a schismatic than so are you.”