Saturday, June 25, 2005
BLOGGING HIATUS
As I mentioned earlier in the week, I need a break; and so next week I will not be online. If you send me email, don't expect an answer right away. Try to be nice to each other while I'm gone, ok?
CRUCITRIANGLE ?
Novus Ordo Watch calls it "Another Disgusting 'Crucifix,' courtesy of the 'New Springtime'"
UPDATE
This is the website of the community that uses that cross. They would be hard-pressed to look any more traditionally Catholic than the way they present themselves on the web. If someone familiar with pre-Vatican II Catholicism would look at them, they would see things to like. Until they got to the cross, I suppose.
They link San Egidio. The link goes to this webpage where you can see another dove with a rainbow behind it. Hmmmmm.
San Egidio seems to be about religions in dialogue for peace in the spirit of the Assisi events.
The Pallotines have a church in Florida. On the website they seem to be calling it a "U.S.A. circus church." How odd!
They have a Caritas organization at the Florida church. I wonder if it is associated with the one in Birmingham?
The website, as far as I've gone through it, looks like traditional Roman Catholicism. Yet there is that crucitriangle for a cross. Everything doesn't quite add up here. Are the Pallotines in communion with the Pope? Their prayers page is traditionally Catholic.
Is this group "Traditional" in everything except ecumenism? Is this the new trend in the Church, the one that will take root and grow with a veneer of being authentically Catholic despite the break with past encyclicals? The Catholicism of Pope Benedict? Can this truly be spun to be consistent with pre-VII doctrine?
Is there some way to dialogue while still holding Jesus up as Son of God with no equal? I just don't see how this can be possible.
ROSE OF THE WORLD
William Butler Yeats, ranked among the members the occult underground by James Webb, and member of the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, wrote a poem titled "Rose of the World." I wonder if Daniil Andreev was a fan of Yeats? Or perhaps there is some other source both of them used for the title.
* * * * * *
The Mitreya Sangha Brotherhood has a picture of a rose on their website and give this description of its meaning:
Deep red rose is an emblem of Maitreya Sangha Community as well as the Chintamani sign. Why Rose was chosen as a symbol of MS? Exoterically rose is a symbol of Beauty. It is also a sign of Love. However, esoterically Rose is also a symbol of Wisdom, Knowledge (e.g. in Rosicrucian path). Therefore, Rose of the World means the same as Chintamani, the sign of Culture or the sign of God or AUM. Rose of the World, Rosa Mundi, is a synonim of Pax Cultura, Peace Through Culture symbol of the Roerich movement. Rose is a more beautiful representation of the most important concept of the Universe than all others and therefore it was chosen as a key to the door of World Brotherhood, Maitreya Sangha. A great Russian mystic, Daniil Andreev, who was both a poet and a prophet saw Rose of the World as the sign of the future epoch of Mother of the World, the New Age of Acquarius. Nicholas Roerich while not explicitly discussing this symbol, probably knew about it since he called one of his art-promotion centers Corona Mundi, a Crown of the World, a similar concept. Exoteric purpose of this symbol is just to greet everyone visiting this site with Love and Joy which seem to emanate from a living rose. Last but most importantly, Rose means unity in diversity, where each of the petals represents a nation, a religion, a science, a philosophy etc, all in one, one for all - all for one.
Interestingly, they make the link to Theosophy:
In terms of closeness to another philosophical system, Maitreya Sangha path is essentially a petal of the Rose of Agni Yoga, Living Ethics Teaching given to us by a multitude of Messengers of Light but most recently through Nicholas and Helena Roerich, Helena Blavatskaya and Boris Abramov. But it is also a petal of a larger Rose of Mahayana Buddhism and ancient Kalachakra Teaching and is a sister to Theosophy, Esoteric Christianity, Esoteric Judaism (Kabbala), Baha'i Ulla faith, Zoroastrism, Sikh Faith and a number of other esoteric and exoteric paths of right hand.
* * * * * * *
Leon Moscona, a devotee of Andreev, believes the Second Coming is imminent. He founded a Second Coming Mission.
* * * * * * *
Another description of the Rose of the World equating it to the Shekinah:
The roses were the very offspring of Shekinah, the Rose of the World, that immanent, demiurgic power of the divine who is herself represented by the Garden. The Shekinah (Hebrew "shachan", meaning "to reside") is the female manifestation of God in humanity, the indwelling spark of the divine. In the New Testament the Shekinah is the glory emanating from God, his effulgence. She is equated with certain Sephira, particularly Malkuth, the Kingdom, and is mentioned as a messenger from on high, when she appeared to Moses. Maimonides regarded Shekinah as an intermediary between God and the World.14. This blinding light of Shekinah was the flame of the burning bush, a bush with thorns, a rose-bush no less, guarded by the angel Zagzagel, which name means "divine splendour", the angel of the Presence. This bush is the ever-flaming, ever-revealing blossoming of divine power that is truly Rosa Mundi, the Rose or Soul of the World, that had dwelt in Eden since the Creation, and which sustains the world.
* * * * * *
The Carmina Burana mentions the rose of the world. Here it refers to the Blessed Virgin. Use your own judgment about the comments on the verse made by Rob Carlson.
The satire of the organization of the Christian religions is subtle and swift, particularly in the performed presentation of the works. The verse begins as a hail to the virgin in "Ave, Formosissima":
Hail, most beautiful and good,
Jewel held most dear by us;
Hail, honor of maidenhood,
Virgin ever glorious--
Hail, thou light above all lights,
Hail, rose of the world--
Blacheflor
And Helen,
Venus,
Venus,
Venus noble-souled! (Wilhelm 86).
Ends a tribute the three goddesses of love and sex. Wilhelm accuses the poetry of being deceptively basic in order to get complex points across clearly (76). Of the poems he writes, "they are . . . diabolical, no matter how much like schoolbook exercises they may seem" (Wilhelm 76).
* * * * * * *
Interestingly, Albert Pike discusses the rose. In MORALS AND DOGMA, the 30th Degree, Knight Kadosh, a degree that discusses Jacques de Molai and the Knights Templar, he writes:
The Rose was for the Initiates the living and blooming symbol of the revelation of the harmonies of being. It was the emblem of beauty, life, love, and pleasure. Flamel, or the Book of the Jew Abraham, made it the hieroglyphical sign of the accomplishment of the great Work. Such is the key of the Roman de la Rose. The Conquest of the Rose was the problem propounded to Science by Initiation, while Religion was laboring to prepare and establish the universal triumph, exclusive and definitive, of the Cross.(pp. 821-822)
To unite the Rose to the Cross, was the problem proposed by the High Initiation; and in fact the Occult philosophy being the Universal Synthesis, ought to explain all the phenomena of Being. Religion, considered solely as a psysiological fact, is the revelation and satisfaction of a necessity of souls. Its existence is a scientific fact; to deny it, would be to deny humanity itself.
The Rose-Croix Adepts respected the dominant, hierarchical, and revealed religion. Consequently they could no more be the enemies of the Papacy than of legitimate Monarchy; and if they conspired against the Popes and Kings, it was because they considered them personally as apostates from duty and supreme favorers of anarchy.
What, in fact, is a despot, spiritual or temporal, but a crowned anarchist?
One of the magnificent pentacles that expresses the esoteric and unutterable part of Science, is a Rose of Light, in the centre of which a human form extends its arms in the form of a cross.
A few pages prior to that passage he indicates that the "secret church" formed by the Templars opposes the Catholic Church. Quoting someone he calls "an enemy of the Templars" Pike writes:
"The Johannites ascribed to Saint John the foundation of their Secret Church, and the Grand Pontiffs of the Sect assumed the title ofChristos, Anointed, or Consecrated, and claimed to have succeeded one another from Saint John by an uninterrupted succession of pontifical powers. He who, at the period of the foundation of the Order of the Temple, claimed these imaginary prerogatives, was named THEOCLET; he knew HUGHES DE PAYENS, he initiated him into the Mysteries and hopes of his pretended church, he seduced him by the notions of Sovereign Priesthood and Supreme royalty, and finally designated him as his successor.
"Thus the Order of Knights of the Temple was at its very origin devoted to the cause of opposition to the tiara of Rome and the crowns of Kings, and the Apostolate of Kabalistic Gnosticism as vested in its chiefs. For Saint John himself was the Father of the Gnostics, and the current translation of his polemic against the heretical of his Sect and the pagans who denied that Christ was the Word, is throughout a misrepresentation, or misunderstanding at least, of the whole Spirit of tht Evangel.
"The tendencies and tenets of the Order were enveloped in profound mystery, and it externally professed the most perfect orthodoxy. The Chiefs alone knew the aim of the Order: the Subalterns followed them without distrust.
"To acquire influence and wealth, then to intrigue, and at need to fight, to establish the Johannite or Gnostic and Kabalistic dogma, were the object and means proposed to the initiated Brethren. The Papacy and the rival monarchies, they said to them, are sold and bought in these days, become corrupt, and to-morrow, perhaps, will destroy each other. All that will become the heritage of the Temple: the World will soon come to us for its Sovereigns and Pontiffs. We shall constitute the equilibrium of the Universe, and be rulers over the Masters of the World. (emphasis in original) (p. 817)
Whether the "enemy" Pike quotes is accurate or not, it seems from what I've gathered up of Andreev, and what Pike writes, that a rival religious system, in opposition to the Church of Jesus Christ, has been in the making for some time, and that it is manifesting itself now. I have only read one of Alice Bailey's books, but she wrote one titled THE EXTERNALIZATION OF THE HIERARCHY which Lee quotes. Is this once secret and now manifesting church Bailey's Hierarchy? Lee's book would seem to confirm that it is, though I'm not sure how the old division between Theosophy and Anthroposophy, initiated by Steiner, would fit into this picture.
Friday, June 24, 2005
IRAQI RELIGIOUS LANDSCAPE
It has changed since the days before the war. A reader sent in this article describing a growing concern over the Evangelicals stealing sheep from other denominations and faiths.
Sleiman charged that the new churches were sowing "a new division" among Christians because "churches here mean a big community with tradition, language and culture, not simply a building with some people worshiping. If you want to help Christians here, help through the churches [already] here."
Still, the Roman Catholic prelate said he could not oppose the evangelicals because "we ask for freedom of conscience." He also said he respected how they appear "ready to die" for their beliefs. "Sometimes I'm telling myself they are more zealous than me, and we can profit from this positive dimension of their mission."
Some Iraqi Christians expressed fear that the evangelicals would undermine Christian-Muslim harmony here, which rests on a long-standing, tacit agreement not to proselytize each other. "There is an informal agreement that says we have nothing to do with your religion and faith," said Yonadam Kanna, one of six Christians elected to Iraq's parliament. "We are brothers but we don't interfere in your religion."
Delly said that "even if a Muslim comes to me and said, 'I want to be Christian,' I would not accept. I would tell him to go back and try to be a good Muslim and God will accept you." Trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, he added, "is not acceptable."
John Paul II said something similar about Judaism, but I don't have the article at hand where he said it. It concerned the Pope's comments to a conductor who was somehow related to the Vatican in a way I've forgotten, now.
This Church becomes an ever greater confusion. Our doctrine is being constantly diluted through ecumenism. At the rate we are going, we will have no idea at all about Who God is before too many more generations pass into history. One can almost sense an agenda at work in the Church.
But then, the agenda has always been at work, ever since the Garden of Eden, so this should not come as any surprise.
Thanks to a reder for the story link.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA
Hammer of Heretics.
He was also an extraordinary polemicist who would debate the heretics – not have ecumenical dialogues with them, let me note in passing – and destroy them by demolishing their arguments. God used to confirm His support for St. Anthony by working miracles while he was preaching. This twofold show of arms: a powerful debate followed by miracles was what earned him the title “Hammer of Heretics.” His life had nothing to do with the insipid and ecumenical St. Anthony presented on the holy cards that so many people have.
His feast day is June 13.
Ironically, although I did not know he is credited with being the Hammer of Heretics, above my computer a wooden plaque of St. Anthony is hanging beside a similar wooden plaque of the Immaculate Conception. They were my mother's and I don't know where they came from originally. Part of the reason they hang over my computer is sentimental. They are a familiar source of comfort remembered from childhood. Part of the reason they hang there is the Blessed Virgin's reputation as a spiritual warrior against Satan. Now, it would seem, I've had team help with this research.
The EWTN website offers some additional information about St. Anthony which makes the juxtaposition of these two plaques on my wall even more intriguing:
St. Anthony is titled the Evangelical Doctor, Wonder-Worker and Hammer of Heretics; but more importantly he is renowned for his personal holiness. His sanctity and wisdom flowed from his profound, penetrating love for the Immaculate Virgin Mary. Heroically he followed the Poverello of Assisi, St. Francis, whose tender love for the poor, humble Virgin was comparable only to that of Christ Himself. As a true friar minor St. Anthony praised and glorified the Queen of the Angels from the pulpit, where with simple yet lofty doctrine he moved multitudes to savor the sweet name of Mary. Furthermore, he imitated Her with such perfection that he became, as it were, an extension of the Virgin Mother on earth.
From the outset his life was markedly Marian, being born in Lisbon on the feast of the Assumption, August 15th, 1195 A. D., and baptized in the Church of St. Mary in Lisbon. At the age of 15 he completed his studies at the Cathedral School of St. Mary. Appropriately his earthly life, ever pure and humble, was brought to a close in a similar Marian tone, for when death drew nigh he longed to be taken to the St. Mary, Mother of God Friary in Padua. After receiving Extreme Unction he intoned his favorite hymn, "O gloriosa Domina..." (O glorious Lady). He lived and died with the Virgin Mary on his lips and in his heart.
Thanks to a reader for the link.
St. Anthony of Padua, pray for us!
JOHN MAIN SEMINAR
At this Inner Explorations website, a history of John Main's style of meditation is given. He learned it first from an Indian monk while working as a diplomat in the Far East. Subsequent to that, he joined a Benedictine monastery where he was told that his meditation practice was not Catholic and he should give it up and return to Christian prayer. In obedience, he stopped. He resumed the practice when he became headmaster after discovering evidence that John Cassian had used a mantra in his prayer life. The rest is history.
According to Laurence Freeman, the object is to come to a stillness, and in order
to come to this stillness in the tradition that John Main recovered from the early Christian writers, Christian monks, you take a single word or short phrase, and you repeat this word or phrase continually over and over again in your mind and heart. John Cassian, a Christian monk in the 4th century, called this phrase, a formula. John Main calls it a mantra. The mantra is a word or phrase which is sacred in your own tradition, so we recommend a very sacred prayer in the Christian tradition the word maranatha. The important thing is that you stay with the same word or phrase, repeating it continually in the face of all your distractions, and returning to it when you find that you have got distracted and you stop saying it. This very simple practice of the mantra helps to still the mind and bring the mind and the heart into unity.
I think the influence of Eastern religion in Western society has led in this century to a rediscovery of the Christian contemplative tradition, and a good example of this, I think, is in the life of John Main, himself.
Essentially, then, what John Main taught is no different from Transcendental Meditation. At the time this practice was more commonly discussed in America, it was thought to be a dangerous practice, opening one to the possibility of demonic invasion; but apparently John Main saw it differently. The method does produce an altered state of consciousness. The claim is that it makes possible access to the mind or the realm of God. How can we know that? It does seem to make the mind vulnerable.
Obviously it has an effect on the lives of those who do it. Is this effect necessarily an access to God? Perhaps it is a purely human explanation.
What bothers me about TM is that it amounts to a ritual whereby one "calls up an effect" by engaging in the ritual practice. The meditator, in other words, is in charge. If TM truly does make possible an access to God, that puts God at man's beck and call. And that isn't Catholic apart from the sacraments. There is no evidence for this practice in Scripture.
If the Early Church Fathers practiced it, what did they believe they accomplished by it? Was it at some level the equivalent of the sacramental calling forth of grace? Was it merely a mental health technique that made their life possible? Or did they truly believe that they could call God down into the center of their being by a non-sacramental ritual formula? Because if they did--if extra-sacramental ritual formulas are possible--why not practice magic, as in the tarot? What is the difference between calling God forth in TM and calling God forth in magic?
Since this practice can be found in Eastern religions, was it a technique the Early Fathers borrowed as we know that pagan practices were borrowed in the Early Church? If we are to believe that Catholicism is the fullness of the truth, why must a meditation practice be borrowed from an Indian religion? Why don't we have it as our own uninterrupted tradition? On the other hand, if we are to claim that other gods are demonic, why would a practice used in the worship of other gods be a good thing for a Catholic to take up? Thus it would seem that the exercise of this practice denies that other gods are demonic, rather it would seem that practitioners believe that other gods are good to seek, since seeking god is what this practice is all about, and since believers in other gods practice it together with Christians.
If the word "maranatha" is the mantra of choice, a word which means essentially "come," who exactly is being invited to appear in the room where people of various religions are seeking their gods meditatively? It would seem that if a Catholic is going to borrow this practice from Hinduism, the very least requirement would be the choice of a word that directly sought the Christian deity. Of course this would mean that a Hindu deity would be sought as well in this roomful of meditators. Perhaps a pagan deity would be sought, depending upon who is in the room, etc. This is not unlike the Assisi event that has been repeatedly branded "syncretistic."
Consider, for a moment, what it would mean if the gods sought by a roomful of interreligious meditators would suddenly appear in visible form.
Do the John Main Seminar leaders believe in false gods? If they do, they have sinned against the First Commandment because they are facilitating calling them up. If they don't, then why would a Catholic look to them for spiritual practice?
We believe that the Jews of the Old Testament were "called out" of the general society and were brought to the worship of the One God. Those Jews were punished every time they reverted to pagan worship. Why have we returned to the practice that caused our spiritual ancestors so much grief?
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
JOHN MAIN SEMINAR
The Theosophical Society offers a video of the 94 John Main Seminar:
VR 1024 The Good Heart--A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus: Parts 1-4. Dalai Lama XIV--Tenzin Gyatso. A historic discussion at the 1994 John Main Seminar in London. Examines well-known passages from each of the four Christian Gospels. (4 tapes). 1997. 404 minutes.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
NOR HAS AN ENTIRE DOSSIER ON SCOTT HAHN'S THEOLOGY
I wonder where he got his feminine theology of God?
In any case, this entry on the list is so refreshingly Catholic, after yesterday's tour of Sophiology.
Thanks to NOR for the story link.
NEW BOOK ABOUT THE COUNCIL
attempts to integrate it with Church history that preceded it. Eviction of the Spirit of Vatican II? Well, it's time.
Hat tip to Amy Welborn.
THE NEW WOMAN PRIEST
recently ordained in an undisclosed location--an upper room in someone's house (or mansion?). It would certainly be interesting to know who's?
I like this comment by Archbishop John Paul foley:
When I also put it to him that it is unfair to exclude women from the priesthood, he argued: "As a man I cannot conceive... is that unfair? By divine decision... there is this difference."
And I have a selfish reason for liking it. A couple years ago I wrote an essay using this very argument and sent it in to NOR. NOR didn't like it and didn't publish it, so it's gratifying to find an Archbishop agreeing with me.
I should dig that out and blog it. Now where did I file the thing...?
SPIRITUAL SCIENCE
"Spiritual Science" is Steiner's terminology. It is used by Ratzinger/Benedict as well, as noted in a recent post. Tomberg, a former Anthroposophist, would be familiar with it. Anthroposophy promotes clairvoyant contact with the Akashic Record.
Daniil Andreev talks of synthesizing "natural sciences, social utopias, and religious inspirations" into a world-transforming "occult super-knowledge that claims the power to transform the world." In his ROSE OF THE WORLD, he likens the new global religion to the petals of a rose, each religion represented by a petal.
The Sophia Foundation of North America, founded by Tomberg's translator Robert Powell has the symbol of the Rose Cross on its website. That symbol must represent the same Rose of the World that Andreev writes about. I make that claim because of this page in the website. There you can read about Andreev.
Often the question is asked: Why is there so much evil in the world?There are many possible responses to this question. From an evolutionary standpoint it can be said that the "mission" of evil is TO CALL FORTH THE GOOD.The more darkness and evil prevails in the outer world, the more Sophia – if we open ourselves to Her – is with us as LIGHT and GOODNESS, and the more She may be experienced in our thoughts and prayers, in our hearts, as a real presence in daily life.
While it is certainly true that God brings good out of evil for those who love Him, and thus it would seem that in times of great evil there is also great goodness coming out of it, it is also true that we may not tempt God. According to the CCC No. 2119, "Tempting God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed. Thus Satan tried to induce Jesus to throw himself down from the Temple and, by this gesture, force God to act."
Thus we cannot "call forth the good" by perpetrating evil. That was one of the errors of the Jewish Sabbtians, who according to one of them, his "force having been stimulated by the visions of the angels and the blessed souls" locked himself "in holiness and purity in a separate room and completed the morning prayer under many tears, the spirit came over" him and his "hair stood on end" and his "knees shook" and he saw the Throne of God known as the Merkabah. "I was vouchsafed true prophecy like any other prophet, as the voice spoke to me and began with the words: 'Thus speaks the Lord.' (Gershom Scholem, MAJOR TRENDS IN JEWISH MYSTICISM, p. 294-295) Sabbatianism is a Jewish heresy. Zevi regarded himself as the Messiah.
The following words quoted from the Russian spiritual seer Daniel Andreev lead from the prophecy concerning the coming of Antichrist to the creation of the new world culture through Divine Sophia outlined in his book The Rose of the World. The Sophia culture of the future is one of peace and brotherhood. It is the answer – on the scales of spiritual evolution – to the evil of our time. Thus, for many, it is the Rose of the World that serves to set our goals and chart our courses for what is to come.
If Andreev is promoting evil actions to force God's hand, it is much more likely that Satan will appear.
Yet, where is the difference between such a suggestion that man can use evil to generate a new peace and brotherhood, and the monastic interreligious dialogue that attempts to create peace by placing all religions on an equal playing field at the interreligious dialogue table? That table, by necessity, reduces Jesus to just another god. Cdl. Ratzinger admits this in his book TRUTH OR TOLERANCE, calling it the "epitome of the relativist credo." (p. 120) How is it that it has the encouragement of our current and last Popes?
Andreev, the spiritualist who channeled the "voice" while in prison, is promoting a one-world religion. The John Main Seminars are promoting a one-world religion using meditation decoupled from doctrine as the source of unity. And meanwhile the Catholics join with the Pentecostals to arrange for spirit baptism and other occult manifestations.
Am I checking into the lunatic fringe again? You tell me after looking at Fr. OLaoire's homily...
A "Sophia" homily (scroll down) from Irish Catholic priest Fr. Sean OLaoire is presented at the Sophia Foundation website. Fr. OLaoire discusses Valentin Tomberg, calling him an "extraordinary genius". He refers to God as "Itself" in the homily. I found Fr. OLaoire online. Here. He is the "spiritual director" for a group of Catholics in San Francisco called "Companions on the Journey." He is also a faculty member of The Global Medicine Education Foundation.
I found a reference to "Companions on the Journey" at the Sophia Center at Holy Name University. One class uses the phrase in the title:
261. Companions on the Journey: Spiritual Directions from a Cosmological/Ecological Perspective (Kovats) This special intensive will focus on incorporating an informed awareness of cosmological and ecological perspectives within the practice of Christian spiritual direction. Insights from the writings of Christian mystics, scientific evolutionary cosmology and ecology will be explored. The practical implications of these themes for spiritual direction will be highlighted throughout. Poetry, stories and chants will be part of our time together.
If this is what passes for rationality, than perhaps I have become a lunatic. Look at the courses being offered along with #261. If that is rationality, my lunacy looks much more Catholic.
The Sophia Foundation website includes passages from Anne Katherine Emmerich as well, who was the source for "The Passion of the Christ". In the footnotes you will find a listing of "Western Sophiologists" which includes Jacob Boehme and Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, both well-known occultists. You will find "Russian Sophiologists" Soloviev, Florensky, Bulgakov. According to George Weigel's book WITNESS TO HOPE:
(p. 568-569)John Paul...became familiar with the work of Russian religious thinkers, once convinced Marxists, who had abandoned Marxism between the 1905 and 1917 revolutions while warning both the government and the Russian Orthodox Church about the impending catastrophe: Nicolai Berdyaev, Sergei Bulgakov, and Simon Frank. These thinkers, and the work of theologians like Pavel Florensky and Georges Florovsky, whom he read in French or Polish translations, familiarized the Pope with the religious core of Russian culture and convinced him that Russia had much to give the world.
Russia does have something important to give the world--an example we should never repeat. Is this what John Paul referred to? One would certainly hope so! Yet there is a nagging question that his support of the charismatic renewal movement is somehow tied to his enthusiasm for these Russian thinkers and Sophiology. And we have an Afterword written for MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT by a theologian whom the Pope raised to a cardinal shortly before his death. We had a Pope who did not act decisively in the sexual abuse crisis. We had a Pope who did not act decisively to address the perversion of doctrine in the Church. We had a Pope who failed at governance. He was the same Pope who gave us the bishops who have plunged us into a grave crisis.
This is the Pope who created the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue on June 28, 1988. (Weigel, p. 564) Andreev and Tomberg were both published in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their books has previously been banned. Coincidental?
Weigel says of John Paul:
Hans Urs von Balthasar, the great Swiss theologian who was an important influence on John Paul's thinking and arguably the most creative Catholic theological mind of the century...(p. 565)
Creative indeed! He stretched Catholicism to encompass Tarot and Anthroposophy, something clearly condemned in the CCC. And no one called him on it. In fact no one is calling him on it now.
Occultism and Catholicism are being blended together right before our eyes, and no one seems to care.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Our Lady of Fatima, intercede for our rescue!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
DANIIL ANDREEV
In reading The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture, edited by Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Cornell University Press, 1997, the essay by Mikhail Epstein was by far the most disturbing. Titled "Daniil Andreev and the Mysticism of Femininity", the essay discusses Andreev's philosophy.
It begins:
Though Daniil Andreev's works began to be published only in 1989, thirty years after his death, his legacy is already a major factor in Russian intellectual life. His many admirers regard his treatise Roza mira (The rose of the world, 1950-58) as one of the highest peaks of twentieth-century Russian spirituality....His legacy belongs to those historiosophical and cosmosophical movements of Russian thought which attempt to synthesize natural sciences, social utopias, and religious inspirations in a kind of occult super-knowledge that claims the power to transform the world.
This combination of religion and science was a primary feature of the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, who also claimed the occult super-knowledge of the Akashic Record accessed through clairvoyant encounter. Steiner called Anthroposophy spiritual-science. It is also noteworthy that at that link Anthroposophy is described as "phenomenological reduction" and it is claimed that Steiner's work anticipated the work of Edmund Husserl--the man credited with the formulation of phenomenology--by ten years. Phenomenology was the philosophical system of John Paul II. In one of Scott Hahn's lectures, he states: "Cardinal Ratzinger once said that theology is a spiritual science." Yet CCC 2116 clearly forbids clairvoyance, mentioning it specifically. Channeling is forbidden to a Catholic. It is a sin against the First Commandment.
An article about URI at Catholic Culture, written by Lee Penn, quoting Futurist Richard Kirby, states:
"Therefore the stock-in-trade of the spiritual scientist or esoteric futurist -- the terms are almost synonymous in many ways -- is to make sure that the spiritual sciences of the world are brought to the roundtable of discussion of exoteric philosophies and their bearing on the civil governance of the world. All the spiritual philosophies of the world are coming to the great Moot, the roundtable of world religions in dialogue. The United Religions Initiative is one of many associations promoting this dialogue. ... The Theosophy of the east and the Anthroposophy of the west are summoned to the great Conclave of spiritual science."
Masonic author W. L. Wilmshurst also speaks of spiritual science, indicating that the real purpose of the Craft of Masonry is "to enshrine profound truths of spiritual science beneath its veil of allegory."
Where does it lead? The Crosscircle website shows us. It leads to a destruction of the priesthood, and with it the sacraments. Through mysticism we have direct access to God. We no longer need an intermediary in the form of a priest. On another webpage, we are told "we are not the limited, fearful, sinful individuals that orthodox religion would have us believe we are." It tells us something else: "We have the right to our sexuality, to speak our feelings and to follow our own truth for that is the universal truth encoded into our divine essence. If our bodies are the pure temples where "God" can live, then why not love and worship it?" Did the priests who abused the laity's children believe that? The website shows us where the source and shows us its intolerance for Catholicism. At the bottom of the page there is a link for "A Rebirth of Spiritual Science. The Church, and the priesthood in particular, is a target. The Eucharist must be eliminated for Satan to reign. Why are Her members helping the opposition?
Returning to the Epstein essay:
Rose of the World is an "'interreligion of the future', uniting all existing churches as 'petals'." It relies on "long-standing traditions of European and Russian mysticism, especially 'sophiology,' which treats the Eternal Feminine as the Wisdom of God and the soul of the universe."
Andreev's description of the Rose of the World is a "universal theocracy" which "ends with the accession of the Antichrist who makes use of the 'interreligious' doctrines, including the worship of the Eternal Feminine, to perpetuate his own power and to eliminate the Rose of the World." (p. 326)
Sources of his thought include Vladimir Soloviev, Nikolai Fedorov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Nikolai Berdiaev, Pavel Florensky, Andrei Bely, Velimir Khlebnikov, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the cosmists, and the Eurasians (p. 327). Some of these philosophers are the same who influenced John Paul II according to George Weigel's biography (see Weigel pp. 568-569) .
In prison, "Daniil began to hear the voices that dictated his masterpiece, Roza mira. Andreev spent these years 'communicating' with the highest spirits in Russian and other national 'metacultures' (his term); Lermontov, Dostoevsky and Blok 'guided' him in his wanderings through other worlds. During this time, he wrote on tiny scraps of paper, which were invariably confiscated, but he restored his prose and verses from memory and continued to write." (p. 329)
The language of Roza mira cannot be identified with any known language but "one sometimes discerns Russian and especially Sanskrit roots. To Andreev's admirers the very fact that these neologisms are from no real language indicates the genuine source of this mystical inspiration, comprehensible only through spontaneous contact with the highest spirits." (p. 331-332) Did the language in any way resemble John Dee's Enochian, one wonders?
The doctrine of Sophiology was rejected because "it seemed to pattern the Trinity after a trivial family union and it introduced seductive sexual elements into the dogmatic core of Christianity." (p. 337) I note that the newest Catholic theology claims that the Trinity is mirrored in the family, according to the discussion on sacred sex that took place between this blog and Bettnet. Does this come out of THEOLOGY OF THE BODY?
"For Andreev, the replacement of the Holy Spirit by the female aspect of divinity is the 'decisive thesis' of his book, though he acknowledges that he dares to break with the 'foundation of foundations,' the Holy Trinity preached by the Christian churches." The idea of World Femininity can but grow into the idea of the Female aspect of Divinity..." (p. 344)
"Femininity, as a new dogma crucial for the religion of the Rose of the World, is also realized in the specific hierarchy of the female priesthood which reflects the second hypostasis of the Trinity." (p. 344)
"Unconsciously Andreev reveals the demonic side of his utopia: his reverence for a sexually bipolar divinity lays the foundation for the sacrilegious practices of the Antichrist and the eventual doom of the Rose of the World. The Antichrist's main project, and the source of his power over humanity, is sexual permissiveness, for which he will offer religious justification..." (p. 344) That is unnerving in light of Fr. Ron Rolheiser's reference to sex as sacrament. Intrusions such as this, Andreev believed, "lead to the darkening of spirituality with [the loosening of] the sexual element, to the blasphemous identification of cosmic spiritual marriage with sensual love and, in the final analysis, with ritual debauchery." (p. 345)
The Agni Yoga Center discusses Andreev (click the "What is your attitude toward Daniil Andrees" link where you can read:
We consider Daniil Andreev one of the great mystics who foresaw World Brotherhood based on Divine Ethics practised by the enlightened rulers of the future "Rose of the World", a poetic name for Maitreya Sangha. His book "Rose of the World" was intended to reconcile the ideas and message of the Brotherhood with the Russian Orthodox Christianity. It tenderly introduces basic concepts of the Oriental thought, such as reincarnation, karma and Divine Hierarchy to someone accustomed to traditional Orthodox dogmas. This was a very difficult mission that required downplaying ideas which are in apparent conflict with the Church and emphasizing the commonalities.
Daniil Andreev's mission of a Translator from the Teaching of Life into the language of Orthodox Christianity was quite successful. "Rose of the World" might bridge somewhat the spiritual gap between India and Russia, East and West.
The Epstein essay is online here if you care to read all of it.
In light of Andreev's Rose of the World concept of all religions being like the petals of the rose and his divine feminine aspect of the Rose of the World, take a look at this Rosa Mystica website, where "Rose of the World" is one of the names given to the "Our Lady - Alma Lopez" corruption of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Ros of the World appears near the bottom of the prayer. The terminology in Andreev is Catholic. The meaning behind the terms is anything but as this website demonstrates.
As I said, this essay, of all of them in The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture, was the most unnerving. Is something like this lurking in the back of the mind of Mikhail Gorbachev?
Here is mysticism but not Christianity. Here is mysticism decoupled from doctrine which Gershom Scholem says leads to mystical nihilism. The essay demonstrates where it can lead. Consider then that our monks are proposing interreligious mysticism through the John Main Seminars, with the idea that it can blend all religions into a syncretistic unity. How is that different from the Rose of the World? Is it out of this amorphous mysticism that our sexual abuse crisis arose?
Our Lady of Fatima, plead for our rescue!
LET'S GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT
A certain poster in this blog seems to have the notion that it belongs to him, and that he can say whatever he wants. It doesn't work that way.
When I started this blog, I paid for it. As you can see, there is no commercial purpose to it. It is a place where I can discuss ideas with people whose company I enjoy. This is not the public square, it is the equivalent of my livingroom. That certain poster has walked into my livingroom and insulted not only me, but also my guests. I can overlook being insulted. I will not overlook having my guests insulted.
What rules apply? Try the Beatitudes. Toss in Christian charity. Mix a pinch of humility and love your neighbor.
But I don't need to spell them out. Everyone understands them, even the poster who has been obnoxious and chosen to ignore them.
BenYakov, you do no credit to your cause by your rude behavior. This is not the first time you have insulted me. When I see you are posting in other blogs, I leave them, and have been doing this for some time. I do not read your posts. You are unpleasant to be around.
The comments have been deleted. Since this is the first time I have had to resort to this measure, the process was messy. Other comments bit the dust as well, and I'm sorry about that. I hope the rest of you will forgive me.
If this problem returns, as I requested of the rest of you when this person first posted, please do not respond to him. Your response eggs him on, and as you can see, I find that very annoying. Out of respect for me, please honor this request.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
PICO
Richard Tarnas speaks of him in The Passion of the Western Mind. He writes:
Perhaps the young and brilliant Pico della Mirandola best summed up this new spirit of religious syncretism, broad scholarship, and optimistic reclamation of man's potential divinity. In 1486, at the age of twenty-three, Pico announced his intention to defend nine hundred theses derived from various Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic writers, invited scholars from all over Europe to Rome for a public disputation, and composed for the event his celebrated ORATION ON THE DIGNITY OF MAN. In it Pico described the Creation using both Genesis and the TIMAEUS as initial sources, but then went further: When God had completed the creation of the world as a sacred temple of his divine wisdom, he at last considered the creation of man, whose role would be to reflect on, admire, and love the immense grandeur of God's work. But God found he had no archetypes remaining with which to make man, and he therefore said to his last creation:
"Neither an established place, nor a form belonging to you alone, nor any special function have We given to you, O Adam, and for this reason, that you may have and possess, according to your desire and judgment, whatever place, whatever form, and whatever functions you shall desire. The nature of other creatures, which has been determined, is confined within the bounds prescribed by Us. You, who are confined by no limits, shall determine for yourself your own nature, in accordance with your own free will, in whose hand I have placed you. I have set you at the center of the world, so that from there you may more easily survey whatever is in the world. We have made you neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal, so that, more freely and more honorably the molder and maker of yourself, you may fashion yourself in whatever form you shall prefer. You shall be able to descend among the lower forms of being, which are brute beasts; you shall be able to be reborn out of the judgment of your own soul into the higher beings, which are divine."
To man had been given freedom, mutability, and the power of self-transformation: thus Pico affirmed that, in the ancient mysteries, man had been symbolized as the great mythic figure of Prometheus. God had bestowed to man the ability to determine freely his position in the universe, even to the point of ascending to full union with the supreme God. The classical Greeks' sense of man's own glory, of man's intellectual powers and capacity for spiritual elevation seemingly uncontaminated by biblical Original Sin, was now emerging anew in the breast of Western man. (p. 214-215) (Matthew Fox, call your office!)
"You shall be able to descend among the lower forms of being, which are brute beasts; you shall be able to be reborn out of the judgment of your own soul into the higher beings, which are divine" sounds heretical to me.
"You, who are confined by no limits, shall determine for yourself your own nature, in accordance with your own free will, in whose hand I have placed you." In other words, man creates himself. The Masons think so, anyway. A Catholic, on the other hand, recognizes the need for grace.
We have made you neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal, See CCC 407. Man is mortal. Pico's thinking was closer to Classical Greek than to Catholic.
This affirmation of the human being's self-defining autonomy and epistemological freedom has a historical background going back at least to the Renaissance and Pico's ORATIO, appearing in different forms in the ideas of Emerson and Neitzsche, William James and Rudolf Steiner, among others, but has been given new support and further dimensions by a wide range of contemporary intellectual developments, from philosophy of science to sociology of religion.(ibid. p. 406-407)
On page 232, Tarnas refers to Pico's ORATION ON THE DIGNITY OF MAN as the "manifesto of Renaissance Humanism".
The Church may have rehabilitated Pico after he denounced his ORATION, but the Church could hardly rehabilitate his ORATION, based as it was on man's self-salvation.
The Grand Master of The Regular Grand Lodge of Italy offers some comments on Pico:
The platonic theory of love, that the Florence Academy tried to merge with Christianity, is in fact to be twisted by Giordano Bruno, who sees in Eros the proof of the titanic force of the man. It is Eros that equips the man with the "heroic fury" which enables him to have a vision of the infinite Universe and to break the snares that tie him to religion. So, if Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino never look for the conflict with the Christian theology, trying to have the platonic concepts coexist with Christian theology, in Bruno, on the contrary, the platonic doctrine of Eros will become a real weapon against the Christian doctrine.
Why then, if Eros becomes a "weapon against the Christian doctrine" would von B try to revive this coexistence? "Eros"--"love"--is what we are hearing about constantly in the RCC. Now we see that interreligious "mysticism" uncoupled from doctrine--the equivalent of a "vision of the infinite Universe" that will "break the snares that tie [man] to religion"-- is becoming the newest trend within the Church. And we have a widespread sexual abuse scandal with no explanation for how it got in. Might I suggest MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT might have had something to do with it?
It is noteworthy that Giordano Bruno was recently rehabilitated.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
PASSAGES FROM SCHOLEM'S BOOKS
On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism by Gershom Scholem, translated by Ralph Manheim, Schocken Books, 1965:
In the esoteric tradition of the Kabbalah, the highly ramified mystical tendencies in Judaism developed and left their historical record. The Kabbalah was not, as is still sometimes suposed, a unified system of mystical and specifically theosophical thinking. There is no such thing as 'THE doctrine of the Kabbalists.' Actually, we encounter widely diversified and often contradictory motivations, crystallized in very different systems or quasi-systems. Fed by subterranean currents probably emanating from the Orient, Kabbalism first came to light in those parts of southern France, where among non-Jews the Catharist, or Neo-Manichean, movement was at its height. In thirteenth-century Spain it quickly attained its fullest development, culminating in the pseudoepigraphic ZOHAR of Rabbi Moses de Leon, which became a kind of Bible to the Kabbalists and for centuries enjoyed an unquestioned position as a sacred and authoritative text. In sixteenth-century Palestine, Kabbalism knew a second flowering, in the course of which it became a central historical and spiritual current in Judaism; for it supplied an answer to the question of the meaning of exile, a question which had taken on a new urgency with the catastrophe of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Fired with Messianic fervor in the seventeenth century, Kabbalism became an explosive force in the great Messianic movement centering round Sabbatai Zevi, which even in its collapse provoked a mystical heresy, a heretical Kabbalah, whose impulses and developments, paradoxically enough, played a significant part--long overlooked and becoming clear to us only today--in the rise of modern Judaism.(p. 89-90)
How does one interpret the enthusiasm for Judaism of John Paul II and now Benedict XIV in the light of that passage?
How does one see von B's commendation of MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT in the light of that passage, associated as Tarot is with Kabbalah? Albert Pike discusses Kabbalah extensively in MORALS AND DOGMA. Freemasonry has been condemned by numerous Popes starting just 21 years after the first masonic lodge was convened.
Scholem devotes considerable space to the Messianic movement of Sabbatai Zevi in MAJOR TRENDS IN JEWISH MYSTICISM, Schocken Books, Inc., 1946. This comment is striking in light of the above passage:
Moses Hagiz distinguishes between two forms of the Sabbatian heresy: "The way of the one sect is to regard every impure person who defiles himself by lighter or heavier transgressions as a saint. They say that what we see with our eyes, how they eat on the days of fast, is not a corporeal but a spiritual meal, and that when they defile themselves before the eyes of the world, that is not an impurity but an act through which they come in contact with the spirits of holiness. And of every evil action which we see them commit, not only in thought but also in reality, they say that this is precisely how it must be, and that there is a mystery in the matter, and aTikkun and a salvaging of holiness from he (sic) Kelipoth. And thus they are agreed that whoever commits a sin and does evil is good and honest in the eyes of God. But another sect among them turns the heresy to a different purpose. It is their custom to argue that with the arrival of Sabbatai Zevi the sin of Adam has already been corrected and the good selected out of the evil and the 'dross.' Since that time, according to them, a new Torah has become law under which all manner of things formerly prohibited are now permitted, not least the categories of sexual intercourse hitherto prohibited. For since everything is pure, there is no sin or harm in these things. And if before our eyes they nevertheless adhere to the Jewish law, they do so only because it is written: "Do not forsake altogether the Torah of thy mother." (p. 316)
Mysticism has a nasty habit of confusing good with evil. MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT attempts to reconcile these two sides of mysticism. Is that wise?
Mysticism cannot be decoupled from doctrine, yet that is the very purpose of interreligious dialogue that resorts to mysticism as a means to a syncretistic end.
MEDITATIONS is a dangerous book, yet no one in the Catholic press addresses these problems. Meanwhile the monastic interreligious dialogue moves ahead full-speed, seemingly with the blessings of Rome. The Assisi events complete the picture. Will Benedict put on the brakes? Or will he contribute to the morphing of Catholicism into anonymous spirituality and ultimately mystical nihilism?
Our Lady of Fatima, intercede for us!
PAPAL METAMORPHOSIS
From a story linked at the Crux blog:
He has a new name and a new job. Two months into his reign, the papal persona of Benedict XVI, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is beginning to take shape, and it's taking many by surprise.
Ratzinger had long been portrayed as the stern German theologian who guarded the church's doctrinal orthodoxy for nearly 24 years. Since his election April 19, a new, warm and smiling Benedict has emerged.
Far from a dour professor, the new pope rides standing and waving in open vehicles, willingly has his picture taken donning a Hawaiian lei or a firefighters' helmet, and at a recent public audience spoke to an apparently terminally ill nun on a cell phone handed to him by a man in a wheelchair.
"When you become pope you take a different name, a different job, and if not an identity crisis, you undergo an identity shift," said David Gibson, a former Vatican Radio reporter who is writing a book about Benedict.
Popes have not always been crowd pleasers. It has the effect of getting the majority on their side, as JPII demonstrated. The appeal is emotional only, however. We still don't know what this papacy will stand for.
If this pope is going to highlight dogma and doctrine--if he is going to be orthodox as we all hope--his crowd-pleasing capabilities will be very welcome. Imagine what would happen if he were not orthodox, however.
COMPUTERS !
My computer is acting erratically once again, very much like it did before the last three crashes. This blog may be about to go dormant temporarily.
If it does crash, I may not have the time to get to the library to post. There are a lot of real world goodies on my plate this week and next. In fact I'm considering taking a haitus from blogging next week.
Monday, June 20, 2005
MEDITATION AND THE NEW WORLD RELIGION
In researching the occult and its inroads into the Catholic Church, I have frequently come upon a “shadow”, a something not quite definable lurking just out of sight. Something so deceptive that it could only come from the Evil One. Something that appears to be authentically Catholic, but is not.
Every time I’ve seen it, I have shuddered, because its identity was elusive.
It seems to be coincidental—or perhaps there is no coincidence—that just as Lee’s book has come to publication, I am finding information on topics I’ve researched in the past that was not previously available. There is movement of the shadow. It is beginning to step into the light. And it would seem that its name is “Meditation.”
A brief refresher…
In von B’s Afterword, he wrote: “Like the anonymous author, who refers to him critically in the MEDITATIONS, Ouspensky was a Russian emigrant, and was also an influential teacher. In his work A NEW MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE, he expounds the game of Tarot according to the general outline of his world-view, partly in the framework of Eastern religion and partly in that of depth psychology imbued with erotic elements.”
Did Fr. Ron Rolheiser get his concept of “sex as sacrament” out of von B’s work? Whether he did or not, he and Fr. Richard Rohr have jointly produced a 3-cassette teaching on adult Christianity which is sold at Rohr’s website.. Richard Rohr promotes the occult Enneagram.
Sacramental sex and occult personality-type identification. That’s quite a combination.
But Fr. Rohr is into much more interesting territory than Enneagram promotion!
Both Rohr and Rolheiser were on the program at the Oblate School of Theology symposium in October 2004 where they attempted to “create new vocabulary for the faith that will speak more convincing” and to “find a common ground between polarized groups within churches, and between Christians and the secularized world.” It would appear as though these objectives are largely being met. The new vocabulary word is “meditation”—an old word, actually, but it has a new meaning, and its new meaning is the “common ground” of unity that was sought.
For some time conservative and traditional Catholics have been rejoicing that it appears the liberals are an aging and dying breed. There has been much hope a few more years would signal an end to the reign of liberalism. Meanwhile traditional Catholics have been concentrating on restoring the Catholic culture.
Liberals have gotten the message and morphed into the new breed of Catholi….uhhhhh….”universalist”?
Enter Monastic Interreligious Dialogue and the International John Main Conference.
I ask you to note something. Two of the people who appear giving cover endorsements of MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT are also prominent names in the founding and continuation of the John Main Conference—Fr. Bede Griffiths and Thomas Keating. You can read about their involvement in the John Main Conference at the website.
Richard Rohr is a speaker at a conference coming up in August as his website indicates. Additional information on the conference can be read at The World Community for Christian Meditation Bookstore and on this page in The World Community for Christian Meditation website.
You can get a feel for what The World Community for Christian Meditation is about by looking at the selections in the Bookstore. Joan Chittister is barely Catholic, and the Dalai Lama is Buddhist.
John Main Seminars are described at The World Community website:
The World Community for Christian Meditation
Meditators at the John Main Seminar held at New Harmony, Indiana in 1991 gave the community a new form in The World Community for Christian Meditation. It has now spread through a hundred countries. Individuals, groups and centres share the vision of peace and unity arising from meditation. Groups meet in homes, parishes, offices, hospitals, prisons and colleges. A network of Christian Meditation Centres helps to serve this community and its teaching work. Dialogue with other faiths has arisen from this deepening of Christian spirituality in the lives of men and women in all walks of life. The link with the Benedictine monastic family is especially valued.
A Quarterly Newsletter with a spiritual letter and news is distributed worldwide.
The John Main Seminar is held annually. Presenters have included Rowan Williams, Bede Griffiths, Jean Vanier, William Johnston, the Dalai Lama and Mary McAleese.
The International Centre in London serves the worldwide community and is happy to receive any queries or information.
The Dalai Lama is Buddhist.
A couple of additional speakers, Joan Chittister and Kallistos Ware.
Past speakers are given at this Spanish website. Despite the language barrier, there is little difficulty in reading the names. Raimon Panikkar was a leader in Opus Dei according to Maria del Carmen Tapia’s exposure of the organization in BEYOND THE THRESHOLD.
Huston Smith was the speaker in 1999, a major figure in the interreligious dialogue realm, and one of the presenters at the “Paths to the Heart” Conference along with Kallistos Ware.
Why does all of this matter?
Because “meditation” is the new syncretistic approach to religion. Check out the list of links at Teosofisk Forening Arhus, a Theosophical website. On that list you will find the Global Dialogue Institute agroup associated with Leonard Swidler who founded the Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church. You will also find the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, the World Community for Christian Meditation, and the United Religions Initiative.
Now I know about the argument that this doesn’t prove anything just because there are links on a Theosophical website. I would counter that with what your mother told you, “Be careful of the company you keep” and the old saw that “Birds of a feather flock together.” I would also ask you to note that Swidler’s group (Center for Global Ethics) can be found at the World Goodwill’s New Group of World Servers, a Lucis Trust website.
The followers of Theosophist Alice Bailey, who founded the Lucis Trust, which is the parent of the World Goodwill and the New Group of World Servers today teach meditation through the Arcana Workshops. And is that a rose up top? As in Rosicrucian? As in Rosa Mystica?
The Lucis Trust offers an Introductory Guide to Meditation.
The Christian Research Association describes small religious communities in Australia at their website offering this bit of insight:
Similar emphases on secret knowledge made available to initiates and allowing them to live a more fulfilling life can be found in a range of other groups in Australia, such as the Holy Grail Movement which originated in Austria in the 1920s, the Builders of the Adytum, Gnostic Institute of Anthropology and the International Metaphysical Ministry. A recent American expression is The Foundation of Rosa Mystica. Two Australian groups which were founded in the 1990s in Australia with an emphasis on recovering ancient secret knowledge include the Gnostic Apostolic Church and the Path of the Heart Movement.
As in Paths to the Heart Conference which included Kallistos Ware?
Syncretism has moved into Catholicism and found itself welcome. When Christ asks "Who do you say that I am," what will be our answer?
Robert Powell is the translator of MEDITATIONS ON THE TAROT. His website, the Sophia Foundation, has a Rosy Cross on it as well as a promotion of the book. He teaches sacred dance. Articles by Robert Powell, and more information about the writings of the author of MEDITATIONS, Valentin Tomberg, can be found at the Vermont Sophia website. A lot of other stuff is in there as well, including information on Rudolf Steiner.
Meditation is growing in popularity. We had better pay attention to what we are doing, or we are going to find ourselves no longer Catholic.
When Christ returns, will He find any faith on the earth?
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
EMAIL FROM LEE PENN
Here is some light reading for everyone ....
First, this story about Gorbachev and Turner, blasting the US:
CNN.com - Gorbachev slams U.S. 'sickness' - Apr 20, 2005
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/20/gorb.nuke/index.html
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the whole story is here ... all the players are named in my book
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Gorbachev slams U.S. 'sickness'
From CNN's Jonathan Wald
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, said Wednesday the United States was hypocritical over nuclear armaments and not prepared to disarm its own weapons.
"I think Russia is ready to cooperate. Now the question is, is the United States -- which is the only remaining superpower -- is the United States ready to do this? I think not myself," Gorbachev said.
"I think the United States is sick. It suffers from the sickness, the disease of being the victor and it needs to cure itself from this disease."
[Please go to the website to read the rest of the story - ct]
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And this, about a recent Soros meeting with liberal millionaires:
Soros says be patient
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/042005/soros.html
Here is the whole story, with bolding added:
--------------------------------------------
Soros says be patient
By Hans Nichols
George Soros told a carefully vetted gathering of 70 likeminded millionaires and billionaires last weekend that they must be patient if they want to realize long-term political and ideological yields from an expected massive investment in “startup� progressive think tanks.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., meeting, called to start the process of building an ideas production line for liberal politicians, began what organizers hope will be a long dialogue with the “partners,� many from the high-tech industry. Participants have begun to refer to themselves as the Phoenix Group.
[Read the rest at the website...
Two questions - is this in any way related to Phoenixmasonry, or are the names purely coincidental? Does this mean that the NWO is not on schedule? - ct]
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My comment: what makes these guys think that they can keep their wealth, once the New World Order is unleashed and in full control?
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And there is this News of the Weird item, on the cult of Putin:
President Putin Worshipped as New Apostle Paul - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
http://mosnews.com/news/2005/04/11/putincult.shtml
-------------------------------------------------
the whole story,
President Putin Worshipped as New Apostle Paul
Created: 11.04.2005 14:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:14 MSK
MosNews
Russia Resurrecting, a cult that worships Vladimir Putin as the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul, has been flourishing near Nizhny Novgorod for several years.
A portrait of the president hangs next to Orthodox icons in church, as members of the affiliation say he has come to the world to lead those who have gone astray to the light. However, it is known that Mother Photinia, head of the “Rus Resurrecti� affiliation, was involved in fraud cases back in the 1990s and spent 18 months behind bars, the NEWSru Web site reports.
The Rus Resurrecting affiliation looks like a typical parish, with regular church services and people coming to be baptized and married. Its patron saint is the Mother of God, but in addition the head of the affiliation has included some alternative members into the Orthodox tradition.
Among them is President Putin, whom the followers of Rus Resurrecting believe to be the new Apostle Paul. Putin, just like Apostle Paul, has come to the world to convert as many people as possible to the real faith, says Mother Photinia. She teaches her flock that the Second Coming has already happened, and that there are seven Sons of God and seven antichrists on the planet currently.
Other well-known people also have their places in Mother Photinia’s teaching. Russian Patriarch Alexy II for example has received the role of Pontius Pilatus. His new mission according to Mother Photinia is to protect the new Christ and keep him from a second crucifixion.
[Read the rest at the wbsite.
Was this planned from the beginning of Peristroika? - ct]
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These New Age types may have a "St. Paul" surplus. If Putin is one candidate for Paul's job, so is Nick Bunick, a New Age writer who had his moment of fame in the late 1990s:
The Memories of an Apostle: An Interview with The Messengers' Nick Bunick, (April 1997)
http://www.newtimes.org/issue/9704/97-04-bunick.html
Quote:
"
Part Two of The Messengers is transcribed tapes from 13 hypnotherapy sessions, in which Nick relives memories of a past life he lived as Paul the Apostle. Through Nick we have the rare opportunity to walk the sands of time and witness firsthand the life of Jesus. We also see Paul, the world in which these two men lived, and their intentions under a whole new light. The revelatory fact that Paul was not the persecutor history displays is peripheral to his close friendship with Christ."
There's lots more; just Google the words "Nick Bunick" apostle Paul reincarnation, and there are more than 40 hits.
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And for an update on out-of-control technology:
Human Gene Gets Put Into Rice
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/humangene042505.cfm
Human Gene Gets Put Into Rice
GM industry puts human gene into rice
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor 24 April 2005
Scientists have begun putting genes from human beings into food crops in a dramatic extension of genetic modification. The move, which is causing disgust and revulsion among critics, is bound to strengthen accusations that GM technology is creating "Frankenstein foods" and drive the controversy surrounding it to new heights. Even before this development, many people, including Prince Charles, have opposed the technology on the grounds that it is playing God by creating unnatural combinations of living things.
Opponents say that no one will want to eat the partially human-derived food because it will smack of cannibalism.
But supporters say that the controversial new departure presents no ethical problems and could bring environmental benefits.
In the first modification of its kind, Japanese researchers have inserted a gene from the human liver into rice to enable it to digest pesticides and industrial chemicals. The gene makes an enzyme, code-named CPY2B6, which is particularly good at breaking down harmful chemicals in the body.
[Get the rest of the story at the website.
Does this mean that rice can eat? If it does, will it eat us when it finds something in us that it doesn't like? (Did I really ask that question? Oy vey...]
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Sleep well!
Lee
[Not likely, my friend!
To the credit of the Anthroposophists, they oppose transgenic engineering.]
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
WELL, I FOUND IT FASCINATING, ANYWAY...
"Bound to be Free" by Reinhard Hutter who teaches theology at Duke. He mentions von B briefly in the text.
PROPHET YAHWEH
The story has appeared in other places, but a discussion of it is going on at Spero, so I'm linking that version.
Prophet Yahweh to call UFOs over Las Vegas
For only 45 days, starting June 1st until July 15, 2005, Prophet Yahweh, Seer of Yahweh, will be calling down UFOs and spaceships for the news media to film and photograph. During this time, a spaceship will descend, on Prophet's signal, and sit in the skies over Las Vegas, Nevada for almost two days
Well, that´s the way the press release starts...and since it´s obviously so serious, well I thought I´d just leave it all in one place for all to enjoy ...
Prophet Yahweh was blessed to discover the lost, ancient art of summoning UFOs and spaceships on-demand.
There is a difference between UFOs and spaceships. UFOs are usually small flying objects: glowing orbs, metallic spheres, satellite-type flying machines, etc. And, their flight patterns suggest that they are not of this world.
But, spaceships are large futuristic vehicles that are clearly designed to carry passengers in like you see in the movies.
Since 1979, more than 1,500 UFOs and/or spaceships have appeared on Prophet Yahweh's signal before witnesses or at unawares.
During this time, he was performing his summons privately with only those close to him as witnesses.
But, starting June 1st until July 15th (45 days) Prophet is going public by opening up to the news media.
Since this is June 20, the appearances should be in full swing. I searched the Vegas news over the last week for any reports about UFOs. Nothing. This seemed to be in full swing over the weekend. Perhaps Prophet Yehweh has his coordinates wrong.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
Because the Diocese of Scranton's newspaper, The Catholic Light, does not appear online, I have reproduced below the June 9, 2005 article entitled "Vatican Upholds Suppression of Society of St. John." I have also reproduced the "Official Notice" from the Chancellor which appears on the same page.
The SSJ is currently in violation of all three directives contained in the Official Notice. The SSJ's continued disobedience is a clear sign that the SSJ sodomite cult intends to establish itself as an independent "church" in Latin America, perhaps in Paraguay rather than Argentina.
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
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THE CATHOLIC LIGHT June 9, 2005
Vatican Upholds Suppression of Society of St. John
The Vatican Congregation for the Clergy has rejected the Society of St. John's appeal of Bishop Joseph F. Martino's decision to suppress the Society.
The Bishop has directed that the members of the suppressed Society may not celebrate the Eucharist at a private residence where they are now located, may not engage in any fundraising activities, and must carry a prominent notice on the website www.ssjohn.org that the Society of St. John is no longer a recognized ecclesial entity of the Roman Catholic Church.
Bishop Martino also reminds the faithful in the Diocese that the Society, because of its suppression, can no longer function as a public clerical association.
[That is only a portion of the article for copyright reasons - ct]
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Official Notice
The recourse sought by the Society of St. John against Bishop Joseph F. Martino's November 19, 2004 Decree of Suppression has been rejected by the Vatican Congregation of the Clergy.
In view of this decision, the faithful are advised that Bishop Martino has issued the following directives to those who were members of the now extinguished public association:
- in view of no. 108 of the Instruction Redemptionis sacramentum, the priests of the extinguished Society may not celebrate the Eucharist at a private residence;
- the priests are strictly prohibited from any involvement in fund-raising activities for any pious purpose whatsoever;
- the www.ssjohn.org website must carry a prominent notice that the Society of St. John is no longer a recognized ecclesial entity of the Roman Catholic Church.
James B. Earley
Chancellor
Diocese of Scranton
HOLINESS GONE OVER THE TOP
I have indicated that I tend to look to the Orthodox in the matter of discernment of spirits. The Orthodox, however, do not have a patent on holiness any more than the Roman Catholics do. Sometimes finding the devil can lead to atrocities just as pretending he does not exist can lead to serious sin. Anything can be overdone. Balance is always essential. The plunge into spirituality can turn diabolical.
From the website:
TANACU, Romania (AFP) - A Romanian Orthodox priest, facing charges for ordering the crucifixion of a young nun because she was "possessed by the devil," was unrepentant as he celebrated a funeral ceremony for his alleged victim.
"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil," Father Daniel, 29, the superior of the Holy Trinity monastery in north-eastern Romania, told an AFP reporter before celebrating a short liturgy "for the soul of the deceased", in the presence of 13 nuns who showed no visible emotion.
He insisted that from the religious point of view the crucifixion of Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, was "entirely justified," but admitted he faced excommunication as well as prosecution, and was seeking a "good lawyer."
Prosecutors said Saturday they had charged the priest and four nuns with imprisonment leading to death, while religious authorities said he would be barred from celebrating liturgy until the investigation was completed. The monastery will be shut if they are found guilty, Father Daniel's superiors said.
Cornici was found dead on Wednesday, gagged and chained to a cross, after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.
Hat tip to Spero.
A JOYFUL FATHER'S DAY
To all of the Fathers in cyberspace...both the spiritual Fathers and the ordinary kind!
COMMENTING IN THIS BLOG
Since the blog is mine, I get to set the rules. Differences of opinion are optional. "Blowing up Muslims" ( :-) Hi Joseph) is not. Neither is Saul Alinsky-style debate.
Stephanie Block, in an article at the Catholic Culture website that discusses some CTA activities, describes the Alinsky method in a segment of the article titled "The Industrial Areas Foundation" where she says:
Ed Chambers, national IAF executive director and a former Catholic seminarian, has a similar idea. He is quoted as saying, "I'd had a little training in philosophy. And I started forcing myself to look at what our kind of organizing meant to people. We worked with people in the churches, and their language was the language of the gospel. Their language was nothing like Alinsky's language [Alinsky, recall, was the IAF founder]. His language was power talk. Tough, abrasive, confrontational, full of ridicule. And those are really all non-Christian concepts.
Some posters in here have used this style. It resembles a machine gun, and has a similar effect emotionally that a machine gun has physically. The object is to annihilate your oponent, not to propose a different viewpoint. It is a power trip. It is mean-spirited. It is communistic. It comes from the mindset that the end justifies the means. It is not charitable. It is not humble. It is not Catholic. And it is not acceptable in my blog.
I will not respond to such debate, and I ask the majority of posters here who do not use this style of debate to refrain from responding to it as well.
There are only a couple of posters who use it, and I suspect they know very well who they are.
