Monday, June 11, 2012

Jesuit Says We Are, "Clerically Asphyxiated"

Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J.
Problems of discrimination and exclusion are so manifest within the Catholic community today that the church “totters on the brink of compromising its self-identity as the basic sacrament of salvation,” a theologian told his peers here Friday. Speaking frankly to some 300 colleagues assembled for an annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), Jesuit Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator said that of particular concern is the disregarded role of women in the church. Saying that women are often the “face of redemption turned visibly” toward those the church serves, but are often “banished beyond the borders of relevance,” Orobator said the state of their participation in the church community leads to an uncomfortable question. 
“As a church, so long as we surreptitiously but tenaciously rehearse the politics of discrimination and exclusion, we stand before God, as Cain was, befuddled by a question that we simply cannot wish away at the wave of a magisterial wand,” said Orobator. 
“And the question is: ‘Church, where is your sister? Church where is your mother?’” Orobator’s comments came in a plenary session Friday morning during the four-day CTSA convention. The 67th annual gathering of the group, the theme for this year’s event is “Sacrament/s and the Global Church.” Orobator is a native Nigerian who now teaches at the Jesuit School of Theology and Institute of Peace Studies in Nairobi, Kenya and also serves as the head of the Eastern Africa province of Jesuits, which encompasses Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Titling his talk “A Global Sign of Outward Growth: the Sacramentality of the World Church in the Era of Globalization,” Orobator covered a wide-range of topics, focusing on the meaning of the sacraments and the church’s sacramentality in a global context. Orobator’s addressing of the role of women in the church came after the priest said that while the liturgical reforms passed during the Second Vatican Council prioritized “active participation and wide inclusivity” of lay people in the church, they are “in reality, however … used by some to warrant exclusion of women from sacramental ministry and leadership.” Following his remarks on the role of women, Orobator also questioned a number of other areas where, he said, the church doesn’t reflect its notion of sacramentality. 
“On the evidence of current events, this ‘socially constituted,’ hierarchically regimented, dogmatically policed, and clerically asphyxiated community called church increasingly signifies hurt and pain for some people of God on account of their vulnerability, 
silence and intimidation for others on account of their honest engagement in the venerable task of fides quarens intellectum, and exclusion and marginalization for many, very many, on account of their gender, race, or social location."
Link (here) to the National Catholic Fishwrap to read the piece on Fr. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those benighted theologians who belong to the CTSA who do not affirm the Catholic Church's apostolic constitution, who do not consider themselves bound by the magisterium of the bishops, and who do not definitively hold the Church's teaching regarding the male priesthood (cf. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis) are not practicing Catholic theology. They are not serving the Church; to the contrary, they are harming her.

Anonymous said...

“On the evidence of current events, this ‘socially constituted,’ hierarchically regimented, dogmatically policed, and clerically asphyxiated community called church increasingly signifies hurt and pain for some people of God on account of their vulnerability, ...

You are a FAKE. You can get away with this nonsense because you are BLACK. And your sexual orientation? I don't want to go there.

Anonymous said...

Why is the quote "nonsense"?

Anonymous said...

Emendavi QUARENS INTELLECTUM ad QUAERENS INTELLECTUM

Paul said...

I believe the anonymous poster who alleged the author is a FAKE was implying that the author had received his degrees, such as they are, through an affirmative action type of program and that the author is taken seriously as a "theologian" (rather than ridiculed for his idiotic views) because others are reluctant to criticize a black man. It is characteristic of liberalism to treat blacks in such a patronizing manner, so no wonder the CTSA, replete with liberal modernist theologians, would treat a black man that way. As for the poster's statement about the author's sexuality, it is well known that homosexuals get a pass in matters of truth as well. Both blacks and homosexuals are protected from suffering consequences of any idiocy that they espouse.

2 Timothy 4:3

Maria said...

John 10

The Shepherd and His Sheep
10 Jesus said, “It is certainly true that when a man enters the sheep pen, he should use the gate. If he climbs in some other way, he is a robber. He is trying to steal the sheep. 2 But the man who takes care of the sheep enters through the gate. He is the shepherd. 3 The man who guards the gate opens the gate for the shepherd. And the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. He calls his own sheep, using their names, and he leads them out. 4 He brings all of his sheep out. Then he goes ahead of them and leads them. The sheep follow him, because they know his voice. 5 BUT SHEEP WILL NEVER FOLLOW SOMEONE THEY DON'T KNOW. THEY WILL RUN AWAY FROM HIM, BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW HIS VOICE.”

6 Jesus told the people this story, but they did not understand what it meant.

Jesus Is the Good Shepherd
7 So Jesus said again, “I assure you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who came before me were thieves and robbers. The sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will be able to come in and go out. They will find everything they need. 10 ***A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came to give life—life that is full and good.***

11 “I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12 The worker who is paid to keep the sheep is different from the shepherd. The paid worker does not own the sheep. So when he sees a wolf coming, he runs away and leaves the sheep alone. Then the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 The man runs away because he is only a paid worker. He does not really care for the sheep.

“I am the shepherd who cares for the sheep. I know my sheep just as the Father knows me. And my sheep know me just as I know the Father. I give my life for these sheep. 16 I have other sheep too. They are not in this flock here. I must lead them also. They will listen to my voice. In the future there will be one flock and one shepherd. [a] 17 The Father loves me because I give my life. I give my life so that I can get it back again. 18 No one takes my life away from me. I give my own life freely. I have the right to give my life, and I have the right to get it back again. This is what the Father told me.”


19 Again the Jews were divided over what Jesus was saying. 20 Many of them said, “A demon has come into him and made him crazy. Why listen to him?”

21 But others said, “These aren’t the words of someone controlled by a demon. A demon cannot heal the eyes of a blind man.”

http://youtu.be/361OpSxEs6M

Maria said...

My God, he is the provincial for the Jesuit province of Eastern Africa. I did not take this in. Mother Mary, we place this man in your hands. We beg for his conversion.

Anonymous said...

"We beg for his conversion."

"Conversion" to what? Talk about idiocy. . .

Maria said...

The faith.

Anonymous said...

He seems to embrace "the Faith" much more than the mean-spirited bloggers here. On almost every post you condemn people, call them infidels and Lucifer, etc.

Try to be less judgmental. . .

Maria said...

"Why is the Faith important to a Christian? Because on his faith everything else depends. Faith is not placed first among the theological virtues for euphonic reasons, just because the sequence sounds better. Faith is first in the sense of the fundamental virtues in the life of a Christian. Without faith there can be no hope. What is there to hope for, if we do not believe in what we are supposed to desire? What can we desire unless we first believe in the object of our desires? Without faith, too, there can be no love. Why should we love either God or our neighbor, if God is only an illusion and our neighbor only an object to be used to satisfy our whims and passions? So much for why faith is important for all Christians."

Sevant of God John Hardon SJ

Anonymous said...

Fr. "I harbored a sexual predator" Hardon's quote doesn't support your blasphemy.

Maria said...

"The handful of believers whom Peter baptized on Pentecost Sunday were as a drop in the immense culture surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Yet see what happened. This small group of convinced faithful were able, in less than three hundred years, to turn the tide of paganism in the Roman Empire. For a long time they were deprived even of the basic civil rights accorded other citizens. They were often hunted like animals, and the catacombs tell us that they had to hide when celebrating the Liturgy and hide the tombs of their revered dead.


But their patience and meekness finally prevailed. Yes, but only because it was supported by unbounded courage, born not of their own strength, but of the power that Christ promised to give all His followers that shall witness to His name everywhere. This promise is just as true today. All that we need is to trust in the Spirit Whom we possess, and never grow weary in giving testimony to the grace we received."

Servant of God John Hardon SJ

I think he is glad you are here;)

Anonymous said...

I am glad to be here-to offer witness to Fr. Hardon's serious sin. I do pray for him--I hope he offered confession for the harm he caused the children.

But, sainthood for Fr. Hardon? No!

Anonymous said...

Just provide an argument. Stop sending YouTUbe links.

Anonymous said...

Links, BTW, that don't work.

Maria said...

The link, to Trisagion, does work. Try it again.

C140 said...

The only thing that asphyxiates is the dung spread by Fr. Orobator

joe said...

“And the question is: ‘Church, where is your sister? Church where is your mother
My question is ?
Where did the church get two and a half billion dollars to settle with abuse victims > ???

2, 5 BILLION DOLLARS

Maria said...

The Church is where she has always been, and will always be, until He comes to reunite us, at the foot of the Cross. All those who love our Lord, all men and women, can only find themselves at the foot of the Cross.

Anonymous said...

Slush & flap-a-doodle.

Maria said...

"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment."

Matthew 12:36

Anonymous said...

every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it in the day of judgment."

Maria, You're going to be very busy on that day.

Maria said...

Mr Anonymous at 9:42:

You have no idea how right you are...

Anonymous said...

"You are a FAKE. You can get away with this nonsense because you are BLACK. And your sexual orientation? I don't want to go there."

The first time I met this 'african theologian'...I knew something was not right. To advocate for women ordination is one thing- to advocate for women issues related to faith, marriage and ministry is another. The Jesuits have done very little in advocating for faith-centred natural family options that honour women but for research at Creighton University...many Jesuits disagree with Humanae Vitate...let them seek to protect women's health before they advocate for ordination...
Truth shall set us free..one day the devil inherent in the church will be put to shame.