Ecumenism Gone Wild

Once again we see the effects of ecumenism gone wild.

Last week as many as 20,000 Muslims attacked a Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, Egypt, yelling slogans such as “Islam is the solution” and “No God but Allah” (http://www.christianpersecution.info/news/egypt-thousands-protest-vandalize-church-17223/). Yet despite this latest example of Christian persecution in Muslim lands, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran–head of the Catholic Church's department for interreligious dialogue–“has thanked Muslims for bringing God back into the public sphere in Europe.” (http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-36765320081128)

Ecumenists like Cardinal Tauran ignore the injustices committed in the name of Islam, regurgitating the party line that radicals don’t represent the true Islam, that Islam is a peaceful religion. Well, regardless of whether this assertion contains any truth, and there are plenty of examples proving otherwise, the reality is that many of these radicals are the same European Muslims who Cardinal Tauran is thanking. In its July/August 2005 issue, Foreign Affairs magazine spelled out how deeply Europe is infested with these extremists:

Jihadist networks span Europe from Poland to Portugal, thanks to the spread of radical Islam among the descendants of guest workers once recruited to shore up Europe's postwar. . . . The emergence of homegrown mujahideen in Europe threatens the United States as well as Europe.

(http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20050701faessay84409/robert-s-leiken/europe-s-angry-muslims.html)

Ecumenists will argue that supporting Islam is necessary to combat the growing secularism that has overtaken Europe and is threatening to wipe religion from the continent. Yes, atheism is the greatest threat to the human race, as Nazism and Communism proved in the 20^th century; however, embracing the strategy that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is hypocritical--and hypocrisy disgusts the faithful and poisons their trust in Christ’s Church. It’s not coincidental that Christ continually addressed hypocrisy in his teachings. He recognized that a major reason why the children of Israel had turned away from God was because of the Pharisees’ insincerity.

Ironically, if the ecumenists continue along this path, they will be responsible for the very outcome they are fighting against: an irrelevant Church and a global rejection of Christ.

Donald Tremblay

Persecuted and Forgotten

The charity group Aid to the Church in Need has released "Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2007/8." (www.acn.org.uk/shop/reports/BPAF08_All.pdf) www.acn.org.uk/shop/reports/BPAF08_All.pdf) How bad is the persecution? Neville Kyrke-Smith, the United Kingdom’s director of Aid to the Church in Need, is quoted by Zenit news agency stating the following:

"What the [report summary] demonstrates is that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today," he said. "People are aware of an enormous number of human rights abuses throughout the globe, but they are not always aware of the denial of human rights to millions of Christians.”

Donald

What Makes a Saint?

What Makes a Saint?

At the age of three Audrey Santo nearly drowned. Although saved she would spend the next 20 years of her life “kept alive by machines and unable to speak or move”. (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/10/13/bid_to_canonize_girl_draws_mixed_reaction/) Since her death in April 2007, Audrey’s supporters have lobbied Rome to consider her for sainthood. The request has touched off a debate as to what makes a saint.

Generally, in order for a candidate to be canonized or beatified, he/she must have lived a life “marked by the exercise of heroic virtue, and only after this has been proved by common repute for sanctity and by conclusive arguments.” (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02364b.htm) As explained by Monsignor F. Stephen Pedone in the above-mentioned Boston Globe column, the problem with Audrey’s case is that there are no examples of this heroic virtue: “They might be hard pressed to prove that she had this will to embrace Christian virtues and to live them . . . She probably didn't even know what they were."

Yet, one could argue that ultimately a saint is one who draws others to Christ and His Church. If that’s the case, then Audrey’s supporters believe she is more-than-deserving:

“Over the next 14 years [after her near-drowning], the bed-ridden girl, Audrey, became an object of intense devotion for thousands who came to peer through a window cut into her bedroom and pray. Time and again, they reported seeing miracles in her presence: hosts bled, oil formed in a priest's cup, the sick were healed. In 1998, 10,000 people celebrated Mass in a stadium in Worcester with Audrey, who was brought there by ambulance.”

Audrey’s mother believes her daughter was a victim soul—“someone chosen by God to accept the suffering of others”. Perhaps that is true, but even this assessment is problematic because in Catholic literature victim souls choose to suffer for others, such as Sister Josefa Menendez does in The Way of Divine Love. There is no proof that Audrey viewed her sufferings as a sacrifice for others.

Tough call.

Donald Tremblay

Religous Fluff

Apparently dwindling parishioners is not just a Catholic problem. Today’s Wall Street Journal reviews Quitting Church by Washington Times religion reporter Julia Duin. The Weekly Standard publisher, Terry Eastland, is the writer of the WSJ’s review. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122031237268288821.html?mod=2_1580_middlebox)

According to Duin droves of evangelicals are fleeing their churches for a variety of reasons, including

“a lack of a feeling of community among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom; church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith or to reach members grappling with suffering or unanswered prayer; pastors who are either out of touch with their parishioners or themselves unhappy, or who fail to shepherd their flocks, or who are caught up in scandal, or who try to control the lives of church members in a high-handed way.”

Of the above listed complaints I find “church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics” most interesting. Many who left the Catholic Church for evangelical worship did so because they wanted to shed their spiritual lives of Church teachings and dogma. They wanted less structure and more emotion. How ironic is it that this same vanilla, non-judgmental, “love-is-in-the-air” brand of religion is responsible for the emptying of churches?

The truth of the matter is that people want and need to be challenged. A psychologist friend once told me that the most important word to teach a child is “no”. Children will get angry, but subconsciously they are happy to hear it. “No” teaches them they are not alone, that someone is protecting them. “No” sets boundaries, which makes a child feel safe. We adults are no different. We are children of God. We too need the guidance. We too need to hear “no”. Boundaries let us know we are on the right path—that we are not headed for destruction.

It’s no surprise that the post-Vatican II Catholic Church has led the way in dwindling Sunday Mass attendance. The church no longer challenges the Faithful as it did prior to Vatican II. I often laugh when I recall the CCD instruction I received in the 1970s. I can honestly say that I learned nothing in all those years except that God is Love. I remember beautiful pictures of flowers, oceans, and sunsets, but nothing else. Anything I learned about The Faith was from reading the gospels during Mass or from doing my own research.

Evangelicals are learning what Catholics need to learn: Challenge strengthens spirituality; religious fluff does not.



Donald Tremblay

The New Atheism

Yesterday, the Union of Catholic Asian News posted an article about the Universal Solidarity Movement (USM). (http://www.ucanews.com/2008/08/20/mirror-room-helps-people-discover-divinity-within-themselves/) According to its website, the Indian spiritual group defines itself as a movement “based on the spiritual foundations of all the world religions,” and its vision statement “promotes a paradigm shift from a narrow understanding of religiosity to a broad and liberative spirituality.” (And no, I don’t know what that means.)

The UCAN article focused mainly on the movement’s Meditation Room, which has elicited surprise from many worshippers who enter it for the first time. The room is empty, except for a ceiling fan, an overhead light . . . and a full-length mirror. No crucifix or Marian statue. No menorahs or postings of the Ten Commandments. No prayer rugs or incense. Just a mirror. And above the mirror is a sign written in English and Sanskrit. The English says, “God Within”. The Sanskrit is “Aham brahmasmi,” translated as “I am God”.

That’s right. “I am God”.

According to USM’s founder, Varghese Alengaden, staring at ourselves in the mirror is an effective way to learn that we are “the image of God”. Sister C. Lissy says that after initially laughing while staring at her own reflection, she realized that “God is within me, not in a church. I also realized I was confronting myself and this helped me behave better with others." USM’s director says that after a week “people become aware of ‘a divine presence’ there, and this divinity is exuded by your reflection, which in a way is just another image of God’”.

Today’s New Age spiritualities are a form of inverted atheism. Whereas throughout history an atheist was defined as one who disbelieves in God’s existence; today’s inverted atheists believe it is “Man” who is God. Believing that God is nothing more than an infinite source of energy that we all possess is no different than denying the existence of the one true God. Any system that denies the “Creator-creature” distinction is atheistic. It is why Pope John Paul II was correct years ago when he referred to Buddhism as atheistic. Belief in God presupposes an acceptance of a “Supreme Being”.

New Agers believe in something . . . but it isn’t God.



Donald Tremblay

Time to Clean House

The current issue of the New Oxford Review examines Leon Podles latest book, Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. (http://www.newoxfordreview.org/reviews.jsp?did=0708-bower) Podles is also the author of The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity. Reviewer Paul Bower describes Sacrilege as “thoroughly researched and painstakingly detailed” and adds that it “inspires anger and disgust”. Among the more shocking allegations in the book is that there has been “networks of child-abusers in the priesthood, some of which spanned entire geographic regions and crossed several diocesan borders. The most notable of these were in New Mexico and Iowa .” According to Podles it is a desire for power, and not sexual gratification, that drives these abusers. They are classic narcissists in his view.

At 675 pgs Sacrilege should provide a wealth of information. I am eager to read the tome since Podles take on the sexual abuse crisis differs so widely from my own.

A Feb 2007 article in the National Catholic Register (http://ncregister.com/site/article/1876) states that “between 75% and 80% of the abuse involved adolescent male victims”. Some argue that the reason so many of the victims are males is because the abusers had greater access to boys than to girls. Possibly. But I tend to agree with the analysis of Dr. Paul McHugh, former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital , who argues that “the abuse crisis wasn’t pedophilia but ‘homosexual predation on American Catholic youth.’” Why homosexual predation and not pedophilia? The overwhelming majority of the victims were adolescent males, not prepubescent children of both sexes. There is a major psychological difference between the two. Acknowledging this distinction is essential because only by properly defining a problem can you expect to solve it.

So what should the Church do to prevent this disgrace from happening again?

Pope Benedict’s apology on behalf of the Church and his willingness to confront the issue is an excellent first step. In addition, the standards spelled out in 2005 by the Congregation for Catholic Education are a very important step in preventing future abusers from entering the clergy:

“In light of this teaching, this department, in agreement with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, holds it necessary clearly to affirm that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, may not admit to the seminary and Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture.” (http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=40891)

But the cleansing of the seminaries should not end here. The Church needs to purge the seminaries of those ecclesiastics who have allowed or encouraged the gay subculture to exist in seminaries. Numerous articles and books have been written about this subculture. Goodbye, Good Men by Michael Rose is probably the most recognizable. Among the sickening tidbits exposed by Rose are the nicknames given to some American seminaries: “Notre Flame” for the Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans ; “Theological Closet” for Theological College at the Catholic University of America in Washington , D.C. ; and the “ Pink Palace ” for St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore .

After classifying the church sexual abuse crisis as “homosexual predation on American Catholic youth,” Dr. McHugh added, “’I’m astonished that people throughout America are not talking about it, thinking about it, and wondering about what the mechanisms were that set this alight.’” We the laity need to assume this responsibility. Stiff resistance can be expected from entrenched ecclesiastics who favor the status quo, so we need to actively and zealously support the clergy who want to enforce these “changes”. In a society where Catholic doctrine and dogma is anathema, reform-minded clergy desperately need our reinforcements.

“Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Although we may take comfort in knowing that the Lord is protecting His Church, we cannot use this knowledge to absolve ourselves of responsibility. We are soldiers of Christ and we are called to defend His Church against the gates of hell.


Donald Tremblay

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