Sunday, October 09, 2005
WHY I OBJECT TO TAIZE
Let me say first that I used to be a consummate ecumenist until I realized what it meant where doctrine is concerned. Since that realization I've backed further and further away from my old position.
I see no way to hold to everything the Church teaches while at the same time joining ecumenical-interreligious groups enthusiastically. Membership in such groups presupposes that what I believe is equal to what you believe. To come to ecumenical gatherings without giving up what the Church has taught since the days of the Apostles is to insult those who adhere to a faith that has rejected some of those beliefs. Or to put it simply, Lutherens, Presbyterians, Anglicans, etc. have all rejected something the Church teaches. When all gather together to pray, the assumption is that all are part of one body.
As I understand it, the premise of Taize is that religious peace is possible if we leave our doctrine at home. This is facilitated by services that foster meditation-contemplation and periods of silence. Chanting and prayers are part of this as well. Those prayers must accommodate whatever faith is present or they insult some believers. We do not insult our guests, and the only way to avoid doing so is to avoid controversial topics--which means that the faith gets watered down to a few basics that we can all agree upon, leaving a vacuum that once was filled. Lex orandi, lex credendi.
What will step into that vacuum?
A search of the web indicates that all manner of beliefs step into the vacuum. I have posted links to some of those surprises. Because Taize services skirt divisive doctrine, all doctrine becomes permissible. Suddenly those who attend Taize services are a unified whole despite serious doctrinal differences. Prayer unites us. That is the whole premise of Taize.
Once the Church believed that to worship with non-Catholics was "indifferentism" or "syncretism". Indifferentism is discussed in "The Syllabus of Errors Condemned by Pius IX", (1864) No. 15-18; and in "Mirari Vos" (On Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism) by Pope Gregory XVI, (1832) No. 13 and 14. "Mortalium Animos" by Pope Pius XI (1928), No. 9 says:
These pan-Christians who turn their minds to uniting the churches seem, indeed, to pursue the noblest of ideas in promoting charity among all Christians: nevertheless how does it happen that this charity tends to injure faith? Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of love, who seems to reveal in his Gospel the secrets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and who never ceased to impress on the memories of his followers the new commandment "Love one another," altogether forbade any intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt version of Christ's teaching: "If any man come to you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into the house nor say to him: God speed you." For which reason, since charity is based on a complete and sincere faith, the disciples of Christ must be united principally by the bond of one faith. Who then can conceive a Christian Federation, the members of which retain each his own opinions and private judgment, even in matters which concern the object of faith, even though they be repugnant to the opinions of the rest? And in what manner, We ask, can men who follow contrary opinions, belong to one and the same Federation of the faithful?
Taize violates this encyclical. There was a time when Catholics were not permitted to enter a Protestant church. Mortalium animos addresses this as well in No. 10:
So, Venerable Brethren, it is clear why this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics: for the union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it.
Current practice of ecumenism-interreligious dialogue violates this Encyclical.
Some who make use of this method of prayer are advancing the Divine Feminine. Some who use it advance occultism. Both use Taize legitimately because Taize does not discriminate. I can believe in the teachings of the occultist G. I. Gurdjieff while attending a Taize service, and nothing encountered will conflict with my beliefs apparently. Emerging Church, FutureChurch, Alternate Worship all come easily under the Taize umbrella, and these groups are quick to embrace Taize. Taize, in other words, is the equivalent to what the Masonic Lodge proposes. We have, in effect, become Masons when we embrace Taize.
Taize, in essence, is liberal Catholicism disguised as ultra holy Christianity.
Maybe, given the instantaneous communication that modern technology has made possible, this was inevitable, since religion divides; but one cannot dismiss blithely the teachings of numerous popes down through the centuries who condemned Freemasonry. It was condemned just 21 years after it developed, and no pope has changed that condemnation until the 1983 Code revised the statements on Freemasonry.
Taize, in essence, is postmodern religion. It opens the door to New Age Christianity and says in effect we can make room for you in here. How this can have the Pope's blessing is beyond my comprehension.
