Curia States: Dupuis, Haight And Sobrino Have Underminded Christian Missionary Spirit

Vatican tells missionaries to save souls, not just do deeds
VATICAN CITY — Roman Catholic missionaries should aim to win souls and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works, the Vatican said Friday. A new 19-page document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI,draws on a controversial Vatican declaration he issued in 2000 that asserted Catholics alone have "the fullness of the means of salvation." The new document, issued by the same doctrinal office where Benedict was the longtime head, aims to correct a "growing confusion" among theologians who argue that "it is enough (for missionaries) to build communities which strive for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity." It also seeks to debunk the notion that it is "possible to be saved without explicit knowledge of Christ and without formal incorporation in the Church." Citing words of the late Pope John Paul II, the document affirms that "every person has the right to hear the 'Good News' of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ," and said "this right implies the corresponding duty to evangelize." The document comes as the Catholic Church finds increased competition from Pentecostals and evangelicals, particularly in Third World countries, and charges of improper "sheep stealing" from Orthodox churches, especially in Russia.
The statement is a follow-up to Dominus Iesus, the 2000 document produced when Benedict was still known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which said non-Christians are in a "gravely deficient situation" on the question of salvation. "Notwithstanding Dominus Iesus, there has a been a cooling of missionary spirit in recent years," said Archbishop Angelo Amato, undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's top doctrinal office. The doctrinal office, which Ratinger headed up to his 2005 papal election, is now headed by Cardinal William Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco.

Amato specifically cited the work of three Jesuit theologians — Jacques Dupuis,
Roger Haight and Jon Sobrino — who have been criticized by the Congregation in
recent years. He suggested their work had undermined missionary spirit by
casting doubt on the uniqueness of Christ as the universal savior of mankind.

"The fundamental problem is a pluralistic theology of religion, which essentially states that all religions are equally valid in leading a person to salvation," the Rev. Agostino di Noia, an American who serves as undersecretary of the Congregation, told Vatican Radio on Friday. "Now let's say the missionary implications are being addressed in this document." Earlier this week, acting at the behest of the Congregation, U.S. bishops also rebuked the Rev. Peter C. Phan, a Vietnamese-American theologian teaching at Georgetown University, for writings that they say conflict with church doctrine on the uniqueness of Christianity and Catholicism. Friday's statement rejects conversion by force or by means "which do not safeguard the freedom and dignity of the human person." It also stresses that evangelization among non-Catholic Christians should be undertaken with "true respect" for their traditions and in a "sincere spirit of cooperation." Orthodox leaders, particularly in Russia and other former Soviet countries,have accused Rome of seeking to convert Orthodox Christians, a charge that the Vatican has denied. Yet Friday's document asserts that the "work of ecumenism does not remove the right or take away the responsibility of proclaiming in fullness the Catholic faith to other Christians, who freely wish to receive it."

One Jesuit theologian who is active in ecumenical relations said Friday that there is no necessary conflict between evangelization and interreligious dialogue. "We as Catholics need to be clear about our own self-identity if we are going to be capable of being effective dialogue partners,"

said the Rev. Keith F. Pecklers, an American who teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. "But there's a delicate balance," Pecklers said, "between bringing others to Christ and respecting the different religious traditions where they exist."

Link (here)

USCCB Comes Down Hard, On Georgetown's Theology Department

"Being Religious Interreligiously"
Bishops’ Doctrine Committee corrects theologian for relativistic book
Washington DC, Dec 11, 2007 / 11:40 am (CNA).-

In a shot across the bow to all Catholic theologians, whom are proponents of Liberation Theology. The left was shockingly rebuked, not by Rome, but by the USCCB. The American bishop's gave a stinging indictment to the Catholic Left's, Fr. Peter C. Phan for not adhearing to the fundamentals of Christianity.

The Doctrine Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has examined a work of theologian Father Peter C. Phan, “Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue.” Father Phan, a priest of the Diocese of Dallas, Texas, is a professor in Georgetown University’s Department of Theology. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asked the American bishops’ Doctrine Committee to evaluate the book. The committee asked Father Phan to clarify points of concern over a period of two years. The committee’s evaluation was presented in a document titled “Clarifications Required by the Book ‘Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue’.” The committee said that Father

Phan’s book uses “certain terms in an equivocal manner” that “opens the text up to significant ambiguity.” It added that “a fair reading of the book could leave readers in considerable confusion as to the proper understanding of the uniqueness of Christ.”

The committee focused on three areas of theological concern: Jesus Christ as the unique and universal Savior of all humankind; the salvific significance of non-Christian religions; and the Church as the unique and universal instrument of salvation. In his book, Father

Phan had qualified the uniqueness of Christ, saying that terms referring to Christ as “unique” “absolute” and “universal” “should be removed and replaced by other, theologically more adequate equivalents.”

The committee clarified Catholic teaching saying, “It has always been the faith of the Church that Jesus is the eternal Son of God incarnate as man. The union of humanity and divinity that takes place in Jesus Christ is by its very nature unique and unrepeatable… Because humanity and divinity are united in the person of the Son of God, He brings together humanity and divinity in a way that can have no parallel in any other figure in history.” According to the committee’s statement, Father

Phan’s book questions the Church’s mission to spread the Gospel to all. He states that “non-Christian religions possess an autonomous function in the history of salvation, different from that of Christianity,” and that “they cannot be reduced to Christianity in terms of preparation and fulfillment.” The Doctrine Committee said the book’s argument leads to the conclusion that there is some kind of moral obligation for the Church to refrain from evangelizing and people of other religions. Father Phan’s book says that religious pluralism “may not and must not be abolished” by conversion to Christianity.

The Committee noted that “[t]his call for an end to Christian mission is in conflict with the Church’s commission, given to her by Christ Himself: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…’” It was “incoherent” to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man, but still argue that it would be better if people did not know this important truth. Father

Phan’s book also asserts that the Church’s claim to uniqueness and universality “should be abandoned altogether” because of the Church’s human failings and her historical entanglement with sin and injustice.

While acknowledging the sinfulness of Church members, the Doctrine Committee affirmed “the holiness of the Church is not simply defined by the holiness (or sinfulness) of her members but by the holiness of her head, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The committee declared that because all grace flows through Jesus, that grace must be seen in relationship to the Church, the “universal sacrament of salvation.”

The full text of the Doctrine Committee’s statement is available at www.usccb.org/dpp/statementonbeingreligiousinterreligiously.pdf

Link (here)

They Call It DeMello Yellooo... That's Right!

A history of modern contemplation
By THOMAS C. FOX 12/14/07
Contemplative prayer traditions are alive and spreading in the West and have been for the last four decades, resulting from a revival in interest in both Christian and Eastern meditation practices. While the revival was not necessarily a direct result of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the council helped open doors to interreligious dialogue and spawned interest in Eastern religious practices. It was in October 1965, as the council was drawing to a close, that Pope Paul VI proclaimed Nostra Aetate, the “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” which contained the following revolutionary paragraph: “The Catholic church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these (non-Christian) religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.” The council, in effect, gave permission to spiritual pilgrims, and some Western clergy traveled east. Trappist Fr. Thomas Merton, Benedictine Fr. Bede Griffith, Benedictine Sr. Pascaline Coff and Fr. Edward Hays, among others, traveled to Asia and began to share their experiences with Western Catholics. Hays opened an ashram, called Shantivanum, incorporating Eastern meditation practices, near Leavenworth, Kan.

The writings of Jesuit Fr. Anthony de Mello and Fr. Raimundo Panikkar spread
interest in Eastern ways. About the same time, Eastern contemplative practices
were entering the West through popular culture.

In 1968 the Beatles traveled to India where, with considerable fanfare, they studied transcendental meditation with its principal guru master, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Transcendental Meditation centers soon were appearing in cities across America. Christian contemplative prayer, rooted in meditation, dates back to the Desert Fathers and Mothers beginning in the third century. These practices were widespread in the church, lasting until the Middle Ages when slowly they gave way to more vocal and formal prayer forms. It was in the mid-1970s that a number of Benedictine monks, working independently in England and the United States, began investigating the practice of pure contemplative prayer. In 1975 Benedictine Fr. John Main began weekly meditation groups at his monastery in London and then, later, in Montreal. That same year Benedictine Fr. Thomas Keating started the practice at St. Joseph Abbey in Spencer, Mass. Both men’s practices represented a major rediscovery of a lost Christian tradition, though there are subtle differences. Main’s efforts led to the formation of the World Community for Christian Meditation and Thomas Keating’s to the Contemplative Outreach. The two groups have collaborated for 30 years and maintain close ties. Both practices involve the repetition of a sacred word or phrase. Prayer is viewed as an opening of one’s whole being to God, moving beyond thoughts, words and emotions.

Other contemplative practices began to spread in the 1970s, including Zen and Tibetan tradihons. A Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh,
popularized a form of meditation called mindfulness. In the 1960s he taught Buddhist thought at a Buddhist university in Saigon, and in 1965, during the Vietnam War, a group of his students issued a call for peace. A few years later, Nhat Hanh traveled to the United States and met with Martin Luther King Jr., urging the civil rights leader to publicly denounce the war.

Nhat Hanh also visited Merton at his Kentucky monastery, the Abbey of Gethsemani, near Louisville, Ky. After the visit Merton told his students, “Just the way he opens the door and enters a room demonstrates his understanding. He is a true monk.” This monk-to-monk dialogue represented a breakthrough in East-West communication. Those bonds were knotted when Merton wrote an essay, “Nhat Hanh Is My Brother.” Later, Living Buddha, Living Christ became one of Nhat Hanh’s most popular books. On the subject of mindfulness, Nhat Hanh writes: “The moment when you go back to your breath and you breathe mindfully, holiness is there, because mindfulness is the substance of holiness. God is there, the Holy Spirit is there at the same time.”

Link to original article (here)

More on DeMello (here), (here) and (here)

Screwball Former Jesuit Writes Stupid Book

“Three liberation theologians who look like terrorists”
In recently published novel, LA’s archbishop is kidnapped, tried in Mexico and returned to US with radical vision for American Church
Robert Blair Kaiser, a veteran religion writer who covered the Second Vatican Council for Time magazine, has written a curious new novel about Cardinal Roger Mahony. The book, Cardinal Mahony, tells the story of “a new Cardinal Mahony,” who works, says a blurb on Kaiser’s web site, “to give Catholics a voice, a vote, citizenship in the Church.” But only after the cardinal undergoes a harrowing experience. A Jesuit for 10 years, Kaiser left the order before ordination to become a journalist. After covering the Second Vatican Council, he worked as a religion writer for the New York Times and Newsweek. He has also has worked as a news commentator for various television networks, and has written eight other books not dealing with the Catholic Church. Besides his latest, Kaiser has written three other books on Catholic subjects: Pope, Council and World, The Politics of Sex and Religion; Clerical Error; and A Church in Search of Itself. A Church in Search of Itself, subtitled “Benedict XVI and the Battle for the Future,” offers vignettes of six cardinals Kaiser “believes can lead Roman Catholicism back toward the light," says a 2006 Los Angeles Times review. One of the cardinals is Roger Mahony, who Kaiser praises "for his emphasis on tending to the poor (along with some rightful condemnation for Mahony's atrocious handling of the archdiocese's priestly sex-abuse scandal)." Another is Cardinal Francis Arinze, who, says the Times, earns Kaiser’s “acclaim for allowing Nigerian tribes to synthesize their traditions with the Westernized Mass." In Clerical Error, Kaiser takes on Malachy Martin (deceased when the book was published). Jesuit Fr. Martin, Kaiser claims, seduced his wife in Rome in the 1960s. Kaiser portrays Martin as not only venal but also as a destroyer of reputations and careers, according to a review in the March 8, 2002 National Catholic Reporter. The book claims that, because of Martin’s machinations, Kaiser ended up for a time in a mental institution. But the book itself reveals something about Kaiser. The Reporter said that, as a Time correspondent covering Vatican II, Kaiser, “by his own admission… was trying to … play God of the council.” Cardinal Mahony is the only work of fiction among Kaiser’s Catholic books. It tells the story of how LA’s archbishop “gets kidnapped outside his cabin in the High Sierras one snowy morning in November 2008 by three liberation theologians who look like terrorists,” according to Kaiser’s web site. These cardinal captors “take him off to southern Mexico in his own helicopter and put him on trial for his sins in front of an international television audience. A jury of his peers, six retired Latin American bishops, find him guilty, and give him a surprising sentence.” Mahony “falls in love with his kidnappers and leads the American Catholic Church into a radical new way of being, still Catholic but aggressively accountable to the people, which is to say, aggressively American,” says the web site book promo. In an interview found on his web site, Kaiser gives his vision of the American Catholic Church. It is to be “loyal to the pope,” but locally controlled, with its own married clergy and its own liturgies. The Church, he said, “could follow a U.S. constitutional model,” with an elected executive and bicameral legislative branch (bishops and commons). The judiciary could be “appointed with the advice and consent of both houses,” said Kaiser.

From the best online Catholic newspaper, that writes truely great pieces of journalism, The California Catholic Daily. Read the original article (here)

“Why Not Dream That Sixty Illustrious Women Are Cardinals" Say's Jesuit Father Eberhard von Gemminger

I thought that reporters are supposed to report the news, not supposed to make news? Jesuit Father Eberhard von Gemminger is described as "aristocratic", why would he make such a absurd proclomation? Is this the lunatic fringes reaction to the motu's?

German Jesuit at Vatican Radio “dreams” of women cardinals

Rome, Jul 23, 2007 / 11:11 am (CNA).- In an interview with the Italian daily “ “Il Messaggero”, the director of the German language programming for Vatican Radio, Jesuit Father Eberhard von Gemminger, said he hopes future popes will be elected by a College of Cardinals in which “at least half” of the members are women.

“Why not dream that sixty illustrious women could elect the Pope? I would be happy to see sixty male and sixty female cardinals in the Sistine Chapel,” the German Jesuit said in reference to the total number of permitted cardinal-electors.

Father Von Gemminger said he thought it was “improbable that the Vatican would immediately open” the doors to women cardinals, but he added, “perhaps it will happen in ten years, since the change in mentality will come, even if slowly.”

The German Jesuit argued that throughout history it has not been necessary to be a priest in order to be named a cardinal. Therefore, “Why not think that in the future there will be women cardinals?” he asked.

In the past centuries, members of the laity were eligible to become cardinals but current Church law stipulates that cardinals must be priests or bishops.

Pope John Paul II named several priests to the College of Cardinals, including Dominican theologian Father Ives Congar, Jesuits Father Henri de Lubac and Father Avery Dulles, and Father Hans Urs Von Baltazar, all of whom were above the age of 80 and thus ineligible to vote.

The College of Cardinals is currently made up of 183 members, of which 105 are cardinal-electors.

Link
Original article (here)

Former Jesuit, Now Married To A Former Nun, She Is Now A Priest

As his Holiness Benedict XVI issued his latest motu's, the motu's have stired up the bug nests like a can of Raid. Check out this freaky bug!

Women Anointed Catholic Deacons, Priest in S.B.
Extraordinary Ordination
By Martha Sadler

Thursday, July 26, 2007

“Is the candidate worthy?” intoned Bishop Patricia Fresen ceremonially, as lifelong Catholic Juanita Cordero stood before her in a pure white gown, about to be ordained as a priest. The question was asked three times during the ordination ceremony on Sunday, July 22, as one female priest and two female deacons were invested with the power to perform sacraments — a function forbidden to women under canon law. They are part of a movement from within the Roman Catholic Church that has been ordaining female priests since 2002, though those involved say that the tradition of women priests and bishops dates as far back as Mary Magdalene, whom they consider an apostle of Jesus. The participants in this movement fervently hope to be embraced by the Vatican, as other splinter groups have been before them.

Sunday’s ordination, witnessed by more than 100 invited guests, took place at an interfaith center in Santa Barbara that reporters agreed not to name in exchange for an invitation to attend. (Reporters also agreed not to print the names or orders of the nuns in attendance.) The women ordained Sunday join 18 others in North America who belong to an international organization called Roman Catholic Women Priests, which counts among its number approximately 50 female priests and deacons worldwide, including a few whose identities remain undisclosed in an effort to protect their jobs within the church. Also secret are the identities of the male bishops who ordained Bishop Fresen. Film and documentary evidence of that ceremony is being kept by a notary public, not to be released until the deaths of the male bishops.

At least two additional Santa Barbara women are studying to be ordained, perhaps as early as next year. Besides their gender deviating from the Catholic priest norm, neither of the two deacons ordained Sunday — who are scheduled for re-ordination as priests on July 28 — is celibate. Norma Coon, of San Diego, has been married for 40 years. Toni Tortorilla, of Portland, lives with her lesbian partner. Cordero, a newly anointed priest who lives in San Luis Obispo, is a former nun who has been married for 30 years to a former Jesuit priest.

The ceremony, which took place on the feast day of Mary Magdalene, also differed from the standard Catholic ordination in the names the presiding clergy used for God, who is ordinarily referred to as “the Father.” The female priests instead referred to “Mother and Father” and to “God/de.” (The latter is pronounced like “God,” with the silent, extra letters hinting at a goddess that those in the ceremony declined to refer to explicitly.) Jesus Christ retained his masculine identity, however.

The reason that the women are determined to remain Roman Catholics, instead of forming their own church or joining another — such as the Episcopal Church, which ordains female clergy — is that they consider the Roman Catholic Church to be their family, albeit a dysfunctional one, and they have no intention of abandoning it. “It’s in my bones,” said Fresen. “It’s in my blood. There are a lot of things wrong within the church, but I love it, and the only way to change it is to stay.” They added that excommunication, contrary to popular belief, does not remove one from the church; it only means that one cannot receive the sacraments. “Nothing can put you out of the church once you have been baptized,” said Fresen. However, after the first seven women priests ordained on the Danube in 2002 were promptly excommunicated, none of the other ordained females has been excommunicated.

“The meaningfulness of the Catholic tradition to me is the long history of mysticism in the church,” said priest Victoria Rue, who also teaches theology and theater at San Jose State University. She finds particular inspiration in the women mystics of the Middle Ages. “Priesthood,” added Rue, “is about leadership within the community.” There are many types of ministries to which people are called, she said, concluding, “I feel called to the ministry of the liturgy,” which she described as communal worship.


Link
Original article (here)

Lukas Niederberger, Former Swiss Cheese Jesuit

"New-Age" (ex) Jesuit-priest Lukas Niederberger a cheesy Swiss "Mass" with plenty of holes.
12. Juli 2007, 11:33 A cheesy Swiss "Mass"
Switzerland (kath.net/http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com)

Lukas Niederberger a priest who just left the Jesuit order and the priesthood - he'd been running New age seminars at a Catholic "learning annex" In an interview, Niederberger talked about the motivation behind his leaving the order and the priesthood: a woman and a "move to the right" within the Church. He was not planning a wedding, however. He apparently still has his job at the "Catholic" institute. He also said that the Church was "massively moving back in time". As an example he stated the protests regarding a Jesuit "Mass" with all kinds of silliness.

Here some details of said "Mass". The final vows of Jesuit Franz-Xaver Hiestand were the reason for a festive Mass in Lucerne, featuring about a dozen Jesuits and the Provincial of the Swiss Jesuits. Many, shall we say, "irregularities" occurred. They altered the Credo, for example, and in rather pitiful manner at that. Here their terribly meaningful statement of faith:

We believe in God who walks with us on all paths. Who carries us when our feet get tired. Who takes us by the hand when thorns constrict us.We believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, who lived and suffered for us. Who died and rose for us. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the voice within us which becomes loud when we lose sight of God's trace. Which points us to the door in the wall. We believe in the holy Catholic Church, in the forgiveness of sins, in peace on Earth, for which to work makes sense and in a fulfillment of life beyond our life.

The Eucharistic prayer was modified, too - Oscar Romero was named among the saints along with liberation theologian Rutilio Grande, S.J.. The people in charge of the Jesuit church announced that from now on they'd have a "meditative Eucharistic celebration" that will, from time to time, also contain modern and "experimental" passages.

Link to the original Swiss (kath.net/http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com) article (here)

The Lunatic Fringe

From the Companions Website

Welcome to a unique website for former members of the Society of Jesus as well as those who share our interests. We are a group formed more than 20 years ago among individuals from the California and Oregon provinces. Presently we include members from other provinces now living on the West Coast. We meet annually on a February weekend to make and renew friendships and discuss the impact of our Jesuit lives and activities.

Now let me translate.
A group of screwball, dissident trouble makers, meddling in the Roman Catholic Church.

Links
Companions (here)