Wednesday, March 16, 2005
MORE CATHOLIC SUPPORT FOR "A COURSE IN MIRACLES"
At Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Mankato, MN the Sunday bulletin for January 30 had an inset signed by "Father Don" titled "The gift of the cross!" It begins: "It is said in A Course in Miracles that God has a plan to every problem the moment it occurs. And what, I have asked myself, was God's plan at the moment the tsunami hit?" The essay ends with these words: "And thus the miracle, if we choose it: that death itself can bring forth a greater life. Marianne Williamson"
Then there is the Spirituality Centre of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Peterborough, Ontario, where a course titled "A Book That Changed My Life" was scheduled on Wednesdays from September to December, 2004. Under the description these words appear:
Join 15 devoted book-lovers who will share their enthusiasm for a book that changed their lives - personally and spiritually. Books include: Creation Spirituality by Matthew Fox, Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh, The Prophetic Imagination by Walter Brueggemann, A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman & Bill Thetford, Trauma & Recovery by Judith Lewis, and many others.They also have a course that features John Shelby Spong, but that's another story.
Check out part one of a two part story at San Diego News Notes titled "Ransomed From the Darkness" by Moira Noonan as told to Donna Steichen. Actually, according to the endnote, it's a portion of Steichen's book Prodigal Daughters (Ignatius Press). In this article Noonan describes her involvement in various New Thought groups. She practiced Reiki which she says "calls on spirit guides of fallen angels (demons) to transmit healing energy through touch or by directed thought." She speaks of the seances at the Teachings of the Inner Christ church where spirits of the dead were called up.
She indicates that A Course in Miracles was invented by Marianne Williamson at the West Hollywood Church of Religious Science, a New Thought center, and that Williamson claimed to be channeling Jesus Christ who was "bringing a new Revelation to 'purify' the teachings of Christianity that are 'His old Revelation'. The 'miracles' referred to in the title are not supernatural interventions in the natural order, but products of corrected thinking, as in other New Thought systems." Williamson had Hillary Clinton, Shirley MacLaine and Elizabeth Taylor for clients.
The shocker, though, was this discovery: Miracles Circle of Pittsburgh, an organized group of study circles in Pittsburgh, dedicated to A Course in Miracles. Notice the address - 5246 Clarwin Ave., Pittsburgh, PA. The website makes it clear that this is not a Catholic organization. This is why it was a shocker: 5246 Clarwin Ave. is the home of the Sisters of the Holy Spirit. One of them is pictured at the website with Bishop David Zubik. I wonder if the good bishop helped this white-haired nun call up a spirit of the dead, or worse?
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
