Monday, July 25, 2005
ADVENTURES IN CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY
While surfing Peter Koenig's website I came upon this page describing the "Programme of Construction and the Guiding Principles of the Gnostic Neo-Christians O.T.O." published in 1920. There you can read these passages:
Mankind, tortured by the World War, needs a new faith, a new
Christianity, and a new civilization built upon it.
That the much praised European civilization and the Christian Church
were unable to prevent the cruelties of this World War or the greed and
hatred of the peace that was meant to end this world war, this alone is
sufficient proof, that Christianity as it reigns to-day, and modern
civilization it created, are no longer capable of living, and must be
replaced by a new Christianity and a new civilization.
That sentiment must have been common in Europe after the First World War because Rudolf Steiner expressed similar sentiments and helped to found churches that promote Anthroposophy called The Christian Community.
Some of the principles outlined in the O.T.O. Programme of Construction were surprising in light of the Roman Catholic debates over sexual education in the Catholic schools, and the frustration of parents who believe their children's morals are being corrupted by this curriculum. The Programme tells us:
The Master Therion says: The act of love consummated with overflowing
energy, under control of the Will, is the "Act of God", a "sacramental
act", is "In-God-with-God-at-onement". A man to whom it was granted to
unite with God, under control of Will, in the godly, sacramental
love-act, is a channel for the deity. Yet, says Liber Legis: "Although
much is said in the law of highest Love, of enthusiastic, yielding,
selfless, flaming, fiery, overflowing, love, there is no word about
sentimental love". This also one has to ripen within oneself. Because
the results are seen in a 1000 channels of earthly, daily life; they
contribute to beautify it; they build a bridge to "Art". Love alone
makes life bearable, Life, - otherwise so cold and often cruel....
Youth must look upon the sexual organs as something holy right from
early childhood. Their functions must be explained to boys and girls as
"holy actions", as soon as the mother notices that the sexual forces
are beginning to appear. These doctrines must be given out by parents
in the most natural manner from earliest childhood. And in school, men
and women doctors, instead of the present teachers of religion, will
exercise priestly office and teach doctrines with scientific basis as
"teachings for this life". On the foundation laid by these
physiologists (priestly doctors) the "teachings for the Other life"
will be then given by doctors of the soul (spiritual priests).
At the moment it is the other way around. From the earliest childhood
children are crammed with otherworldly teachings and religious fables,
which collapse completely which the child grows up, because the adult
finds that they do not represent facts. This belated discovery produces
a struggle in developed people, which brings an immense amount of
unhappiness and misfortune for all that were misled in this fashion.
People less advanced become liars and hypocrites, which encourages
moral catastrophes and h as consequences such as we now have to witness
at the end of the war. Therefore new morals have become essential. In
future the doctor-priest, under the parents' supervision, will teach
children from earliest youth that the sex organs are holy, and that
they have to be particularly guarded and protected, because in actions
which later on be done through these organs, invisible God will make
himself manifest to Man. Because this act, accomplished with these
organs, is a repetition on earth of God's original act of creation, in
which God reveals himself to us, works through us, and through whose
execution we always re new our union with God, and constantly create
new beings, according to His will and command, "in his image".
Fr. Rolheiser, call your office.
In my daughter's parochial school, the public health nurse taught sex education classes to the fifth grade. I sat in on one, discovered that the Catholic perspective on sexuality was not being given, and took my daughter out of the classes. I have to wonder how this occult concept preached by the Gnostic Catholic Church made its way into my daughter's Catholic school. Granted it was not a doctor who taught it, but a Public Health nurse was almost the equivalent. Could be coincidence, someone is going to say.
The Gnostic Catholic Church was founded by Jules Doinel according to the History of the church by T. Apiryon. It was derived out of spirit commuication that took place during a seance:
Doinel had long been associated with Lady Caithness, who was a prominent figure in the French Spiritist circles of the time, a disciple of Anna Kingsford, and leader of the French branch of the Theosophical Society. She considered herself a reincarnation of Mary Stuart; and interestingly, a Spiritist communication in 1881 had foreshadowed to her a revolution in religion which would result in a "New Age of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit." Doinel's Gnostic seances were attended by other notable occultists of various sects; including the Abbé Roca, an Ex-Catholic Priest and close associate of Stanislas de Guaita and Oswald Wirth. Communications from the spirits were generally received by means of a pendulum suspended by Lady Caithness over a board of letters.
At one seance, Doinel received the following communication:
"I address myself to you because you are my friend, my servant and the prelate of my Albigensian Church. I am exiled from the Pleroma, and it is I whom Valentinus named Sophia-Achamôth. It is I whom Simon Magus called Helene-Ennoia; for I am the Eternal Androgyne. Jesus is the Word of God; I am the Thought of God. One day I shall remount to my Father, but I require aid in this; it requires the supplication of my Brother Jesus to intercede for me. Only the Infinite is able to redeem the Infinite, and only God is able to redeem God. Listen well: The One has brought forth One, then One. And the Three are but One: the Father, the Word and the Thought. Establish my Gnostic Church. The Demiurge will be powerless against it. Receive the Paraclete."
"A revolution in religion which would result in a "New Age of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit", and the name "Sophia" all brought forth in a channeled communication. They were prophetic. Today the revolution of Pentecostalism has spread around the globe. The Paraclete has been received by a great many.
According to Webb, Doinel abandoned the Gnostic Catholic Church and returned to the Roman Catholic Church for a five-year period near the end of his life. During that period he was involved with Leo Taxil and wrote a book under the pseudonym of Jean Kotska. The book was titled LUCIFER DEMASQUE. It attacked occultism in general and in particular his own Gnostic Catholic Church. Leo Taxil is credited with writing the fraudulent "Protocols of the Elders of Zion." (James Webb, THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT, Chapter 4) Whether Doinel's accusations are any more reliable than Taxil's probably cannot be determined. In any event, he reverted and was readmitted to the Gnostic Catholic Church before his death.
The French Rosicrucian Movement incorporates that same information on Doinel in its history at this website.
I tried Googling "Our Lady of the Holy Spirit" to see what would come up.
This did. There in the mission statement of La Ermita - The Hermitage, Inc. you can read:
La Ermita formally came into existence December 27, 1994 when its founder rededicated his life to Sophia, the Holy Spirit, before the Abbot of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery and some members and friends. He is known as a hermit in the marketplace, a man who desires to integrate, well, the life of contemplative prayer with daily living in a world of work and problems.
La Ermita is dedicated to proclaiming the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as the Divine Feminine of the Godhead, equal to the Father and the Son. She is the Spouse of the Father and the Mother of the Son, as well as the Divine Mother of the man Jesus. In order that She be accepted more fully as a Person of the Trinity, She wishes to be known as Sophia. La Ermita is also dedicated to help all experience a personal and intimate relationship with each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, the Father, Sophia and Jesus.
There is no name on the webpage. I found the index for the website where the "brothers and sisters" link took me right back to the mission statement. The "Sophia, the Holy Spirit" link is interesting. Hard to say what religion is being promoted there exactly. It purports to be Catholic but the Catholicism certainly has a unique twist reminiscent of the Gnostic Catholic Church.
I did notice that the icon by Robert Lentz is "used with permission." Lentz is Catholic.
Scan the titles of the links at the bottom. "The Holy Spirit as Feminine", "Sophia & Mary, Are They One?", "Holy Spirit/Divine Feminine", "The Feminine Gender of the Holy Spirit", "Our Cosmic Mother, Wisdom". This is another gospel.
They have a radio program.
The second index webpage showcases another Catholic iconographer, Fr. John Giuliani, who has also given permission to use his image on this website.
I found the DVD and Audio CD webpage where there was an address. This organization is located in Macon, Georgia.
The "Sex and Spirituality" webpage seems to indicate that they are soft on masturbation, and on extramarital and homosexual sex:
Likewise, a single man caressing tenderly, even sexually, his friend, sharing his love and respect for that person, sharing actions that are truly loving, actions that are not manipulative and controlling, is using his body as instrument of sharing love. If these actions are sharing love, then the law cannot forbid them. The law cannot forbid the sharing of love, provided that the person receiving the love is open to receive it.
When sexual actions, be they with self or with others, are accepted in the heart as instruments of love, then one is open to a growth that will be deep and profound. When one shares love on this level, doors of fears, hurts and anger are opened - doors that lead to these fears and hurts which do not want to be accepted and embraced in healing love. It is precisely these fears and hurts that push us into abusive acts or into expressing conditional love.
Why the blue ribbon? This is their explanation. Is it the same as this blue ribbon? There's really no way to tell.
I did finally find the owner of the website. His name is Ted Meisner. Ted offers us his own particular variety of spirituality:
According to Scripture this is the age of Sophia, the Holy Spirit, the Divine Feminine. To me, Her work in our era began with Pentecost. She was to replace Jesus. However, the church got stuck on Jesus, and kept him as the main focus because of the male superiority. I believe She is coming at this time to take her rightful place in our lives and that of Church and Society.
I also believe that She has in a way incarnated Herself in Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Well, it's certainly not Roman Catholic!
If you want to know more about what Ted Meisner and his friend Burl Hall believe, click the links at the bottom of the website. It's quite an education. That "Angel of the Grail" art by Pamela Mathews displays a goddess, with the dove above and the chalice below. Quite an image. Pamela Mathews' goddess art can be seen at the link for "yogalifestyle" at the bottom of Burl Hall's website.
Don't miss the links here. It looks a lot more like Gnostic Catholic Church than it does like Roman Catholic Church., and I believe it violates the First Commandment. There was no further indication of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery in the webpages I visited. I didn't see any references to channeling or to seances, but those ideas are coming from somewhere. They do talk about "contemplation" quite a lot.
