Friday, May 11, 2012

Real Catholic TV, Mike Voris, Fr. James Martin, S.J. and the Nuns (here)
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2 comments:

Maria said...

Fr. Martin: Fr. Hardon SJ, in his article "Analysis of the Problems in Religious Life Today", written in 1999, includes a long laundry list of problems and is worth a read:

At the top of his list of problems in religious life is the “INTRUSION OF ALIEN IDEAS”

Fr. Hardon suggests that POVERTY is no longer taken literally and cites the Sister’s “demands” for salaries as not in keeping w/ the vow of poverty. Sister Carol Keehan earned about $ 1, 000. 000. 00 last year. My now deceased Aunt, Sister Serena Branson, a Dtr. of Charity and former Director of Catholic Charities of Albany, N.Y., would be mystified, I am sure, by such a demand, never mind the figure. She wasn’t in it for, well, you know, a “salary” and she sure wasn’t marketing the subsidization of contraception, sterilization or abortafacients. No doubt, my Aunt, Sister Anna Marie, also a Sister with the Dtrs. of Charity, would be mighty surprised to discover just how rewarding religious life can be. She lived in a hut with homeless boys, in Bolivia, and spent her time teaching them how to shine shoes for a living so that they could earn their daily bread. In her spare time she was getting run over my jeeps and getting eaten by exotic bugs that would, from time to time, send her back to the States for medical care and a little R and R at our house.


Next in his line-up is CELIBACY, deemed largely a relic of yesteryear by the "Sistas". He states: “complete celibacy in following the chaste Christ is widely held to be passé. It is said to be either psychologically harmful or sociologically unproductive and emotionally unhealthy. Terms like "sexless" celibacy and "unfulfilled" men and women under vows are commonplace and “cloister is an archaism”. Dating is “widespread” and “women engage in sexual relations.” They no longer consider this sinful. Oh boy.


Moving right along, OBEDIENCE. Fr. Harden notes: “Abuses of authority in the recent past are repeated and paraded in order to discredit the very idea that mature men or women should be "subjects" to others who are their "superiors", is labeled "infantilism", and religious communities, in which superiors are still recognized as somehow representing the will of God, are derided as "asylums" or "nurseries."

May 12, 2012 at 7:17 PM
Maria said...

Part II

His commentary on PRAYER deserves quotation, in full: Prayer as a "cultic" worship of God, through invocation for divine assistance and especially through the liturgy as sacrament and sacrifice which are means of grace is being re-interpreted in theory and practice. Instead of invocation religious are told they should practice reflection, and so-called "transcendental meditation" in which God is not invoked but the ego is studied is not uncommon.
At the same time, volitional human effort is said to have been neglected in favor of ritual, with the result that religious paid more attention to the worship of God than to the needs of their neighbor. So SERVICE IS SUBSTITUTED FOR FORMAL PRAYER, and the vague aphorisms in revised constitutions about prayer and mass, penance and self-denial are a faint indication of how MANY RELIGIOUS DO NOT ASSIST AT THE EUCHARIST DAILY AND DO NOT ENGAGE IN PRIVATE OR COMMJUNAL PRAYER.
The strong counter-movement for Houses of Prayer, Shared Prayer, and para-liturgical experiences merely illustrates the practical neglect of regular prayer by more religious than is commonly supposed.
Here as in other problematic areas, it is immaterial whether the new ideas about prayer influenced conduct, or whether the practical neglect of communion with God produced the new ideas. THE SITUATION OF PRAYERLESSNESS, DEFENDED IN LEARNED WRITING AND SPEAKING -- FOR EXAMPLE, IN A KEYNOTE SPEECH GIVEN TO (OH, LOOKIE HERE) OF THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN –IS A CRITICAL PROBLEM THAT CALLS FOR SOLUTION.
While there are notable exceptions, THERE IS A REMARKABLE CORRELATION BETWEEN INVOLVEMENT BY RELIGIOUS IN SOCIO-POLITICAL ACTIVISM AND THEIR NEGLECT OF PRAYER (WHADDYA KNOW). WORK IS PRAYER, they are told, and THEY BEST FIND GOD IN WORKING FOR OTHERS, NOT in ritual invocations or devotional acts of PIETY.”

He is, as usual, crystal clear. Have at me fellas ;)

Oh, if you want to read the rest--it is a MUST read, here is the link:www.therealpresence.org/.../Religious_Life/Religious_Life_035.htm

May 12, 2012 at 7:23 PM

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