Saturday, July 08, 2006
BUZZWORDS
Anyone who has been around the Roman Catholic Church for more than 40 years knows that what had been a "parish" in the 1950s became a "parish community" after Vatican II. Those "parish communities" "celebrated the Sunday liturgy" instead of "saying Mass." And since Holy Sacrifice of the Mass didn't meld well with "celebration", "sacrifice" needed to make an exit.
I was driving down the Akron expressway yesterday, past a large brick building that has housed various churches over the years. The congregation that is currently using the building has put up their name on the side of the building. They are the "Celebration Church."
What sort of denomination is "Celebration"? I'd never heard of it. Checking in with Google, I found it. Welcome to the Celebration Church. You can read all about them here. At the Celebration Church you can come as you are. Be prepared to party. This is a non-denominational Bible-centered congregation. All are welcome. This particular Celebration Church is located in Georgetown, Texas, but there are others.
Does this remind you of anything?
Like, say, the FEST? Which is supposed to close with a Mass. See we, too, can be a "Celebration Church".
Bread and circuses.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
BENEDICTINE SINGLE WOMEN OF THE ST. BENEDICT CENTER
These are the women who have petitioned to be released from their vows because they are an ecumenical community that doesn't want to make their non-Catholic members uncomfortable. Naturally they do not wear habits. It almost looks as though they have adopted blue and white as their official dress standard. Perhaps crimson is the color designating the prioress?
Their website indicated that they are about "Weaving prayer, hospitality, justice and care of the earth into a shared way of life."
On the positive side, they are committed to serving their fellow man. I see that they are committed to overcoming the "gender barrier" as well.
Their retreat schedule is informative.
They offer a retreat for young women in their 20s and 30s where these young women can learn about leisure, among other things. Did St. Benedict teach about leisure? Somehow I have my doubts. Most of us can find leisure all by ourselves, thank you very much. Is this an age extension of the concept of "taking it to the youth" that turns up repeatedly in ecumenical circles? Youth seem to be a target in the gay community as well as in the Catholic Church. (But then I am probably being much too cynical.)
They offer a weekend exploration retreat for a young woman who wishes to sample Benedictine life. There a young woman can learn about God's call. Apparently they think that God is calling young women away from the faith, not to it, because they have just severed their ties to Christ's Church and established themselves as non-denominational, so I guess this God they are exploring is amorphous.
They offer to provide spiritual guidance for a fee. (Gotta pay the grocery bill.) Is this simony?
Their list of spiritual directors must be seen to be believed. There are four women and two men on the list. Are they all resident counselors? Do we want to know what happens at the St. Benedict Center after the lights go out?
On their team of spiritual directors is a Lutheran, a Catholic presumably since she is the founder, a Presbyterian minister, and a woman who is trained in the nursing profession and learned to give spiritual direction at the Institute for Spiritual Leadership where you can study spirituality without that annoying denominationalism. You can plug in just about any god you choose in their spirituality course since it's about finding the god within. I wonder which god Sandra Meek plugged into her belief system that she is offering to pass on to others for a fee? She doesn't say.
Ken Smits, a Capuchin, is the Saint Benedict Center's Pastoral Minister, a hospital chaplain, a spirituality counselor and substance abuse counselor. As this center demonstrates, we can no longer assume that being a Capuchin means that he is Catholic.
Charles Pfeiffer is a Jungian psychologist. The word "Jesus" actually appears in his bio. Of course he's into seminars on dreams, so this might be the Gnostic Jesus.
I'm thankful that Bishop Morlino has withdrawn Mass privileges and the Eucharist from these--uhmmmm---"spiritualists".
Friday, July 07, 2006
THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN SHIFT
A reader sent in a link to the blog of the Discernment Research Group. Specifically she found their blog titled "The Myth of a Laity-Driven Movement" pertinent to my blog "Catholic Buzzwords - Building with Living Stones."
In the Discernment blog you will find a discussion of the revolution that is taking place not just in the Catholic Church but throughout the religious landscape--a change that is agenda-driven and top-down. There you can read that George Barna...more openly calls the church transformation movement a "revolution."
Revolution it has certainly been. A list of the terminology used in the modern evangelical movement includes some that are familiar:
Reformation
Restoration
Revolution
New Reformation
New Apostolic Reformation
Transition
Transformation
Second Reformation
Renewal
You've heard about the "reform of the reform" in conjunction with Vatican II? Read that list again! Significantly the blog indicates this is the work of the past 30-40 years--the specific time period we have agonised through since Vatican II:
For the past 30-40 years, there has been a massive undertaking to train evangelical pastors and leaders through various entities (such as Leadership Network) and parachurch organizations to become "change agents" for "transformation." This leadership training, even though often done in the guise of "servant leader" (to make it more palatable), utilizes corporate business and marketing models.
For example, leaders are trained to develop a company "vision" and then, by using sophisticated group marketing techniques, persuade the "customers" (people in the pews) to "buy into" this vision. This approach is top-down, not laity-initiated.
Techniques are spelled out. Specifically they include "personal example," "verbal slogans," "analogy or metaphor," "phrases and logos," and "personal contact." The "verbal slogans" and "phrases and logos" are hard to ignore. We in the Roman Catholic Church have been phrased and sloganed to death. Or in other words, the Catholic laity has been suckered, using our own money--our Sunday contributions--to finance the manipulation campaign. And we have had no say about what is being done to us.
It is still happening. I could add another phrase to the list..."New Springtime." John Paul II was a master PR man.
Ironically, that Fond du Lac cluster parish well on the way to building its megachurch, gives it away. The Discernment Research Group's blog on the Laity-Driven Movement makes a reference to Saddleback Church, a nationally known megachurch.
CATHOLIC BUZZWORDS - "BUILDING WITH LIVING STONES"
Now that we've apparently all been indoctrinated with "time, talent, and treasure" it's time for new buzzwords.
To recap...first we were serenaded with "full and active participation" which moved the laity out of the passive mode of participation at Mass and into the dialogue mode.
Next...we were told "we are church," causing us to take ownership of the amorphous concept of "Church." (It had to be amorphous to be accepted, because any Catholic in the 50s knew that "Church" and "priest" were inseparable.) Taking ownership meshed well with "full and active participation" and we were easily hoodwinked.
Next came "time, talent, and treasure" which was so logical of course because afterall if "we are church," we had to take responsibility for the new laity-centered structure that was incarnating in our midst. Father got pushed aside when these two phrases were used in tandem. To explain this marginalizing we were introduced to the shortage of priests. Eucharistic ministers, first said to be "extraordinary," but very quickly becoming fixtures, were the common sight at Mass whether there were priests tripping over each other in the sanctuary or not.
This worked well with "priesthood of the faithful" or "priesthood of all believers" or "priestly people." The phrase had a few variations, but the concept never varied. The laity gradually took over the role of the ordained.
"Renovation" of aging structures was the next entry. This concept enabled the remaking of the interior of our churches from the cruciform into a layout reminiscent of the Masonic Lodge or the Wiccan safety circle.
"Vibrant" and the formal "Vibrant Parish Life" has been repeated enough times that we have come to know that the definition of "vibrant" was a parish alive with laity involved at every level. Lately "vibrant" has also come to mean financially solvent. And we all know which parishes are not financially solvent...those inner city parishes which have too often been the locus of the more traditional practice of the faith. Those churches where we could still find some remnant of the 2000-year-old faith. Those churches where the laity did not have deep enough pockets to finance the "renovation."
Now we must think in terms of "clustering" which will combine those parishes that are not "vibrant" into a "cluster parish", the ultimate goal being to wipe them off the face of the earth while building a new building large enough to accommodate the "cluster parish"...a new building that ignores cruciform in favor of "gathering space" which may or may not be a church on any given day since the church furniture is flexible if the model follows the Edward Sovik/Richard Vosko design, but which will provide plenty of room for "liturgical dance" and other elements of performance art. That works well, of course, when there is no priest, and so a "communion service" must take the place of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. A "communion service" can be laity led.
The sexual abuse scandal is supposed to be the finishing touches on the removal of the priesthood, as all of our priest have now come under suspicion, and so, I presume, we will be better prepared for their removal.
The next set of buzzwords is going to be "building with living stones."
The phrase is a variety of the concept presented in 1 Peter 2:4-5:
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
I saw it first in the website of the Holy Family Catholic Community cluster in Fond du Lac. They have already established the "Building with Living Stones Campaign."
You can find the buzzwords at the Franciscan Spiritual Center where the August 13-17, 2006 retreat is titled "Build with Living Stones Program."
You can find it in the Columban Father's chapel-building program in Valparaiso, Chile.
You can find it in this article from "Marian Helper" magazine where a new building is being bought for a ministry in the UK.
You can find it at Ambassador Presbyterian Church.
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church has a Building with Living Stones campaign.
The 2006 Spiritual Retreat at Cascade Methodist Church is titled "Building with Living Stones."
It's used in a Methodist hymn.
David H. Roper talks about it extensively in an essay titled "The Living Stones." What he has in mind, though, is taking God out of church and putting Him in man.
It's used by Shiloh House Ministries, though what denomination this one is I wasn't able to determine from the website. It looks like Jewish-Christian. In any case, what they have in mind is a theocracy.
Long before any of these uses of the phrase, there is one dated 1916, in "The Builder Magazine," June 1916. Near the bottom of the website:
In this building with "living stones," this construction of temples "not made with hands," not to be disintegrated and destroyed with the progress of the ages but to grace the unchanging landscape of the empire of God himself, what matters it that the perishable body be imperfect? If heart and mind be competent to the work the Speculative Mason is required to perform, what more in justice may we exact of him who desires to engage with us in our "great and important undertaking?"
Can the passage in 1 Peter be read to suggest that the priesthood should be eliminated? It does appear as though the priesthood is under attack here in America.
Perhaps the object of this paradigm shifting that we are seeing in the Church could be understood in the light of a passage from a book by Vicomte Leon De Poncins:
...on 20th February, 1959, the Plenary Assembly of the Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops of the Argentine, under the presidency of Cardinal Caggiano, published a long collective declaration on Freemasonry, from which we have taken the following passages...[Freemasonry and the Vatican, p. 38]
"In 1958, the IVth Interamerican Conference of Freemasonry, which was held in Santiago, Chile, declared that 'the Order helps all its members to obtain important posts in the public life of the nations'. After this came a dissertation on the theme of 'The Defence of Laicism', to be followed by directions as to the new tactics to be adopted by Freemasonry, which coincide with the latest instructions of the Communist International. Freemasons are to work for the triumph of laicism in all walks of life, and Communists are to subvert social order in order to create a favorable terrain in which to achieve their ends.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
FR. ROBERT ALTIER
This just came in from St. Paul where the many admirers and spiritual children of Father Robert Altier continue to praise him for his obedience. His bishop recently ordered that he stop recording his homilies for distribution, while he also moved Fr. Altier from a parish to a hosptial chaplaincy. Many parishioners and bloggers have wondered whether this had been precipitated by Fr. Altier's opposition to his diocese use of sex education materials that he found troublesome.
To all the wonderful friends and supporters of Father Robert Altier,
Praised be Jesus Christ!
We have some good news for both local and long distance friends:
Fr. Altier will be filling in for Fr. Echert at St. Augustines parish in South St. Paul where he will pray one Mass every week on Sunday. The schedule for July is as follows:
Continue reading...
MEDJ IN THE NEWS
LONDON (CNS) -- The bishop whose diocese includes the Bosnian village of Medjugorje has urged six alleged Marian visionaries to stop claiming that Mary has been visiting them for 25 years.
Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar-Duvno, Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the church "has not accepted, either as supernatural or as Marian, any of the apparitions" said to have been witnessed by a group of people from Medjugorje.
"As the local bishop, I maintain that regarding the events of Medjugorje, on the basis of the investigations and experience gained thus far throughout these last 25 years, the church has not confirmed a single apparition as authentically being the Madonna," he said. He then called on the alleged visionaries and "those persons behind the messages to demonstrate ecclesiastical obedience and to cease with these public manifestations and messages in this parish."
"In this fashion they shall show their necessary adherence to the church, by placing neither private apparitions nor private sayings before the official position of the church," he said.
Continue reading...
ECUMENICAL DANGERS TO THE FAITH
Catholic News Agency reports that "the St. Benedict Center, a Benedictine ecumenical community in Madison for the past 40 years, has chosen to end its ties to the Roman Catholic Church in order to live out more comfortably its ecumenical character."
The decision was inevitable. As the article indicates, having Catholic and non-Catholic members caused those outside of the Catholic faith to feel inferior. The obvious response is to invite them to join the Church, but that isn't the solution these Benedictines chose. In other words, ecumenism and evangelization are at opposite ends of the interreligious spectrum. Dialogue leads to mutual acceptance, just as these nuns indicate. It does not lead to conversion. Unity in diversity is the great leveler of religions. There is no room for it within a faith which claims to hold the fullness of truth.
There is a logical disconnect expressed in the article as well. According to the prioress, the community "will now function as an ecumenical community, similar to Taize in France" while members retain their diverse religious affiliations. Taize is seen as a good thing apparently since these Benedictines wish to copy it.
However the bishop who has approved the changes while withdrawing permission for Mass and Eucharistic reservation, indicates that "Catholic adults are free to go to the center" but that it "would not be suitable for young people or catechumens." Perhaps the bishop is not aware that Taize is about young people primarily and that it has the Pope's blessing? So what is Taize--an ecumenical community where those in attendance learn to interact with each other in peace, or a danger to the faith of young people because of its syncretism? And the other obvious question, if this community is unsuitable for Mass and Eucharistic reservation, why are these things suitable at Taize?
Who is playing on which team in the Roman Catholic Church?
Blogger credit to New Oxford Review for the link.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
THE VILATTE SUCCESSION - THE EVANGELILCAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
Yet another entry on the list - The Evangelical Catholic Church traces its Apostolic Succession through Vilatte, but also Carlos Duarte Costa, another heretical line of succession commonly cited. They also use several Byzantine and Orthodox Church lines of succession.
They welcome back inactive deacons, priests, bishops and religious:
The Evangelical Catholic Church is well aware of the existence of many fine inactive Deacons, Priests, Bishops and Religious who have been either pastorally orphaned, discarded or forced into inactive status. Not only has such shameful unprofessional behavior and attitudes deprived our sisters and brothers from experiencing the grace of their vocations, it has also robbed the People of God of highly qualified pastoral care and support.
We, the Bishops of the Evangelical Catholic Church, wish to extend an invitation to those Deacons, Priests, Bishops and Religious, who are without a sacramental and vocational home, to consider continuing their sacramental and vocational life with us. Such institutional malpractice must not be permitted to deny our sisters and brothers their sacramental and vocational lives. This Catholic jurisdiction was consecrated and mandated to reach out to all who have been pastorally disenfranchised and this includes inactive Deacons, Priests, Bishops and Religious.
If you are an inactive Deacon, Priest, Bishop or Religious who is currently inactive for reasons other than being convicted of felonious sexual abuse or sexual assault, our Catholic family would like to talk with you.
Our Catholic jurisdiction receives calls from people asking us to please establish new parish missions in their communities and we simply do not have enough qualified clerics or religious to respond to their pastoral needs. Maybe you are currently living in a community that would welcome a reformed Catholic jurisdiction establishing a mission right there. You could once again be that pastoral or religious presence uniting or reuniting the People of God with the gift of the Sacramental and Liturgical Life of Catholicism in an unconditionally welcoming environment.
I hope they have a lie detector machine ready and good liability insurance!
Apparently this has not worked out completely satisfactorily:
The following individuals named below are suspended, resigned, terminated or laicized clergy or vowed religious who no longer have faculties to function as clerics or religious within the IECCA. In each case the Church has followed all protocols of the Code of Canon Law in its decisions to either suspend, terminate or laicize a cleric or religious and it followed all protocols of the Code of Canon Law when accepting the resignation of a cleric or religious.
There are nine names on the list. One is specifically identified as formerly Roman Catholic:
Canizares, Brother Frank OSF of Chicago Illinois, Canonically Professed Membership and transferred Solemn Vows from the Roman Catholic Church into the IECCA on September 16, 2000 before the Presiding Bishop of the IECCA in Chicago. Request for dispensational laicization of vows and leave from religious life made in February of 2001 and granted by the Presiding Bishop.
The Evangelical Catholic Church is listed among the Supporters of Same Sex Marriage by Marriage Equality USA.
The Templar Cross symbol used by this church is interesting.
WHO IS JAVIER SOLANA ?
Politics are not my bag, but Constance Cumbey and her commenters have enough to say about Solana to have me wondering if it should be.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
DIOCESAN FESTIVAL
A couple of Sundays ago a 19-year-old seminarian from the Cleveland Diocese came to my church to announce "theFEST," scheduled to take place in August. This sixth Diocesan-wide Catholic Family FESTival will be held on the grounds of Borromeo seminary according to the seminarian. Brochures were passed out after Mass which indicate that this event will include
- Day-long, live music performed by national and local Christian bands
- Assorted on-going crafts and activities for children and teens
- Good food with lots of easy access parking and shuttles
- Merchandise and product displays
- Peace and Justice Coffee House with local Christian bands
- Multiple opportunities for personal prayer and reflection [????-ct}
- Legacy of Hope in honor of Bishop Pilla
- Education Village courtesy of Central Purchasing Organization
- Little Tikes Fiesta area
- BMX show
- Meet Derick Polk of the Harlem Globetrotters
- "Zorbing" from New England
- Buy a "raffle" ticket to win one of seven cars from GANLEYautomall.com or over $67,000 in cash prizes
This event is being advertised as free. Sponsors include Ohio Catholic Federal Credit Union, John Carroll University, Ganley Automall, Pepsi, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Browns, SoftRock 1021 WDOK, and Borromeo. It has its own website. Steven Curtis Chapman is on the program. There is a Mass scheduled, and a fireworks display.
Even though this is the sixth FEST, it is the first time I've heard about it.
What I'm wondering is whether this is happening in other dioceses? And if it is, what sparked this type of event?
And while I'm asking, is the phrase "time, talent, and treasure" popping up in your parish? I've been hearing it for a number of years.
RELIGIOUS GROUPS THAT USE 'ORTHODOX' IN THEIR NAMES BUT ARE NOT CANONICAL EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCHES
Interesting list. Especially this part:
"Churches" and Groups That Target Gays
St. Elijah's Orthodox Church - Encino, CA. This is apparently a gay cult. Its home page states: "A traditional Ukrainian Orthodox Church dedicated to the Salvation of all who enter our life without discrimination regarding sexual orientation, gender, race or national origin."
The Western Rite Orthodox Catholic Church - Nashua, NH. This statement tells it all: "'Traditional' in our Old Catholic Faith and Sacramental Life, yet... 'Progressive' where it matters the most, in pastoral ministry and outreach. All are welcome in the WROCC without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, financial or social standing." (Remember, same sex activity is condemned as a sin by Christ's Holy Body, the Orthodox Church.)
AXIOS - Eastern and Orthodox Gay and Lesbian Christians - Somewhere in the United Kingdom. (This link is dead. The organization in the UK may have been disbanded.)
Byzantine-American™ Orthodox Church of Central Arizona - Phoenix, AZ. This group's web site states: "We reach out to the disenfranchised, the ones that other churches look at and disregard. Gays, lesbians, transgendered people are a primary focus, but we minister to anyone that other churches have cast out, be they black, white, red, yellow, purple with green polka-dots, disabled, differently-abled, whatever and whoever wants to have a church home with us, and wants to praise Jesus. In other words, God's Lost Coins."
AXIOS! AXIOS! AXIOS! - This organization is associated with the religious group immediately above. The web page states: "Yes, Jesus is worthy of all praise! Welcome to the website of the Phoenix [Arizona] Chapter of Axios, an organization for Orthodox and Eastern Christian Gays, Lesbians, and Transgendered People. Who are we? Axios is an international lay organization. The national president is Nick Zymaris. The Phoenix Chapter is provisional at the moment, and is facilitated by Bp. +BASIL (Isaacks) and Archimandrite Brendan-Benedict."
Orthodox Catholic Church in America - Little is known about this gay jurisdiction, including where it is headquartered. It does offer all Holy Sacraments and ordains gays to be priests and priestesses. Parishes claiming to be part of this group include:
St. Luke The Physician Church - Gulfport, FL (Rt. Rev. Donald J. Herbert)
St. Aelred’s Orthodox Parish - Lacey, WA. (Rev. Robert L. Withrow) No known web site. This abomination's primary apostolate is to the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans-gendered community, and offers the Sacrament of Matrimony to same-sex couples. They are an open parish that meets in Tacoma.
Fullness of Life Community Church, St. Oscar Romero Orthodox Ministries - Garland-Sachse, TX. (This is the parish church of the web-famous Rev. Tony Begonja and wife, the Rev. Fran Begonja. Tony's web site is either enlightening or depressing, depending on which side of the bed you got out on. See: http://www.ind-movement.org/). Tony claims that his ministry is "Progressive · Inclusive · Eucharistic · Sacramental · Pastoral · Scriptural · Spirit-Filled · Independent Catholic · Alternative Catholic · Autocephalous Orthodox" all at the same time.
Pride Church International: An Orthodox Catholic Community - Somewhere in Florida or North Carolina. This homosexual cult's home page contains the "Rainbow Award" emblem purportedly given by a group calling itself Gay America. The webmaster claims to be a member of the "International Guild of Gay Webmasters. This faction uses something called the Divine liturgy of Bishop Serapion which, it claims, is a fourth century Egyptian work.The cults main "clergyman," Vladimir Sergius II," is also known as Floyd Wilson Sehorn, and he claims to be the former first hierarch (no reason given for his deposition) of the American Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Church of North Carolina. Mr. Wilson, aka Sergius II, claims to have been consecrated by the Orthodox Church of Christ of New York, Mid-Atlantic Diocese. See entry for The Orthodox Christian Fellowship of Mercy.
FR. MARSHALL ROBERTS
There is a letter online signed by him dated 1997, which explains his reasons for leaving the SSPX. Since the letter mentions Fr. Fullerton and Fr. Urrutigoity, I presume it is the same Fr. Marshall Roberts who is now associated with the Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel.
There is also a statement about the misconduct of Fr. Roberts at the SSPX Schism website. This essentially recounts the information contained in Dr. Bond's letter.
There is an entry requesting prayers for Fr. Roberts as he enters the SSJ at this Old St. Mary's Church website. A German parish, it appears to be part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The church is not listed among the independent Catholic churches, so if it's one of these, it would have to be relatively new, I would think.
The Diocese of Jacksonville doesn't seem to have a website, so I couldn't check it out there. Maybe there isn't a Diocese of Jacksonville.
There is a St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Jacksonville that is an Apostolate of the SSPX. The congregation includes 60 members and lists Father Fulham as the parish priest.
One thing seems to be a given--it is not reasonable to trust that any priest who says the Latin Mass is automatically worthy of respect. There is as great a problem on the right as there is on the left in the Roman Catholic Church.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
CLUSTERING
A comment to a blog down below with the same heading as this one will get buried in the stack, and it's too important to me to let that happen, so I'm putting it up here.
After I read the Church of the United Brethren website regarding clustering, I understand why you're so upset about the idea. We here in the Chicago archdiocese have had clusters for years; each cluster consists of a number of individual parishes, and these clusters report to something called a deanery, which is supervised by an auxiliary bishop. So far, there has been little - if any - talk about merging clustered parishes into megaparishes as you describe in this blog entry; I wouldn't be surprised if this happened in the near future, however, if the attitude shown in the Church of the Bretheren infects our archdiocese.
Robin Peters | 07.03.06 - 4:11 pm | #
EMAIL FROM DR. BOND
Dear Friends,
Fr. Marshall Roberts, one of the founders of the suppressed Society of St. John, has found a new home as chaplain at St. Michael the Archangel in Jacksonville, Florida (http://www.saintmichaelarchangel.com).
In March 2002 I exposed Roberts as one of the homosexual predators of the Society of St. John. (See my original warning at http://www.saintjustinmartyr.org/news/MarshallRoberts[1].html.) As a seminarian at the Institute of Christ the King in Gricigliano, Italy, Roberts was expelled in 1993 by the seminary's then vice-rector, Fr. Patrick Perez. Fr. Perez expelled Roberts for writing explicit love letters to a younger seminarian with whom Roberts was enamoured. The younger seminarian, who did not appreciate Roberts' advances, gave the love letters to Fr. Perez who then saw to it that Roberts was dismissed from the seminary within 24 hours.
Roberts later found a happier home with the Society of St. John where Carlos Urrutigoity and Dominic O'Connor gave Roberts the freedom to pursue a "particular friendship" with a boy who had caught his eye. The object of Roberts' affections this time was a student at St. Gregory's Academy who, upon graduation in 1999, joined the SSJ. Roberts and this boy occupied the same room on the SSJ's property in Shohola. When Roberts later visited the SSJ in France, Roberts was given special permission to spend time alone with this boy in his room after compline.
It should also be noted that Roberts was the first member of the SSJ to write to me in defense of Carlos Urrutigoity when I first exposed Urrutigoity as a homosexual predator who gave "spiritual direction" to boys while sharing a bed with them. Those who attend Mass at St. Michael the Archangel should ask Roberts whether he still believes that Urrutigoity is innocent, and whether Roberts himself is still pursuing boys and younger men.
Pax vobiscum,
Dr. Jeffrey M. Bond
Monday, July 03, 2006
THE FIRST GAY CHURCH
Last week I blogged websites demonstrating Apostolic Succession stemming from Fr. Joseph Rene Vilatte, and also blogged evidence that the diocesan website of the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac presented the history of Fr. Vilatte's activities in the Fond du Lac viscinity.
While looking at the concept of "clustering" in the Roman Catholic Church, it became apparent that also located in Fond du Lac is a clustered Roman Catholic parish formed out of six previous Catholic parishes. Holy Family Catholic Community is well advanced in promoting whatever chaos and remake the American bishops have in mind for the Church Christ established.
If you want to read through that material, you can find it here:
6/27/06 "Are you ready for the cluster parish?"
6/27/06 "Bishop Lennon has been involved with cluster parishes"
6/27/06 "Clustering is not about lack of priests"
6/27/06 "Cluster parish"
6/29/06 "Clustering"
6/30/06 "Vilatte, Old Catholics, and Anglicans"
7/2/06 "Cluster comes home"
Wikipedia gives the history of Vilatte's tangled web of Apostolic Succession in describing the lineage of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America (OCCA):
The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America was established in the United States in 1892 under the mandate of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius-Peter IV. The founding Archbishop, Mar Timotheus (Joseph René Vilatte) had been ordained priest by Bishop Herzog of the Old Catholic Church in Bern Switzerland on June 7, 1885. Working in Great Lakes area, predominantly in Wisconsin, Fr. Vilatte sought to bring about the return of a Western Rite of Orthodoxy. Much can be said about the politics of those in favor of and those opposed to Fr. Vilatte, but eventually he was consecrated as Archbishop for North America, in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) by Archbishop +Francis Alvarez with the permission of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in 1892. OCCA is grounded, therefore, both in the East and in the West.(emphasis mine)
Since the Vilatte succession is used by the Ordo Templi Orientis/Gnostic Catholic Church, an organization that uses sex magick which includes homosexual rituals in the upper degrees, the question comes to mind, does the Vilatte Succession camouflage the Lavendar Mafia? I came a step closer to answering that question last night.
The Wikipedia article linked above describes the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America (OCCA). Googling that title brought up the Religious Archives Network website LGBTRAN - Oral History Project where you can read:
Archbishop Hyde retired in 1983 for health reasons and moved to Belleair on the Florida Gulf Coast. Alfred Lankenau succeeded Hyde as archbishop of the Orthodox Catholic Church of America. When the Lankenau and the OCCA decided to ordain women as priests in 1995, several parishes and priests left in protest. Hyde agreed to come out of retirement and oversee these congregations and priests in a new Autocephalous Orthodox Catholic Church of America. Hyde continues to live in Belleair where he provides guidance for his parishes as well as carries on regular writing and communication with friends and colleagues.
Hyde is credited with opening the first known church that ministered to the homosexual community:
Rev. George Augustine Hyde
George Augustine Hyde (1923), who led the first known church to openly minister to and with homosexuals in the U.S., attended a Roman Catholic seminary, though he left before achieving priestly ordination. He became a high school teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, where he met John Augustine Kazantks, a bishop in the Orthodox Church of Greece, who had been pushed out of his post and his homeland due to his revealing his homosexual orientation. Occasioned by the denial of communion to a group of gay and lesbian Catholics in a local parish, Hyde, with Kazantks' blessing, decided to form an independent Catholic congregation for addressing their needs.
Sunday, July 02, 2006
CLUSTER COMES HOME
On June 27th I discovered clustering in the Cleveland Diocesan website and wrote:
What is a "cluster"? No one has mentioned a "cluster" in my parish, though there has been talk of parishes cooperating in using resources. Apparently other dioceses are further along in this process, whatever it is.
Today in my parish bulletin our pastor wrote:
...our Vibrant Parish Life Phase II core committee has been discerned and is meeting to present information to the parish -- and form a possible plan to CLUSTER with at least two other parishes in order that basic spiritual services will be able to be provided to the parishioners of the cluster --- as the number of priests continues to dwindle. (Some parishes may find they are not viable and will MERGE or CLOSE.) Thanks to all those who are involved in all of these endeavors.(emphasis in the original)
And the financial litany continues apace:
June 25, 2006, Sacrificial Love Offering Minimum Needed Weekly...$15,000.00
Regular Collection...$11,302.00
Deficit to Date (Fiscal Year 7-1-05)...$156,037.13
Still elsewhere in the bulletin is an announcement that Father has spent $8,200.00 for repair of a deteriorated entrance to the school. Father also announced before Mass that $26,000 will be spent to tuck-point the bricks of the church to stop the leaks. And in yet another statement from the bulletin:
I have warned/cautioned about WHAT WE ARE FACING. June 30th has ended the fiscal year. I will detail many things--probably not in one bulletin but in many bulletins. In general, these reports will not be positive--but I have warned over and over and over again--and I am sad to say--I have not been successful in my job.(emphasis in original)
Could he make the future of my parish any clearer?
But why are parish funds being spent on a building that will be closed?
What will happen to the faith I've struggled to hold on to once the liberal parishes nearby join in a cluster with my present parish? What happens to the orthodox parish when it is clustered with the likes of the parish where I attended the funeral Mass yesterday?
I am resigned to the fact that in the not distant future I may no longer be able to practice my faith. There doesn't seem to be any way to fight it any longer. There will be nowhere left in the RCC for an orthodox Catholic refugee to turn to. The takeover will have been accomplished. The liberals will have won.
