Posted on 08/15/2015 3:24:21 PM PDT by NYer
We need an update on the Assembly of the Great Swirly, the LCWR annual confab at the Hyatt Regency in Houston.
They had a speech by one Fr. Stephen Bevans, SVD. No, he’s a priest. He couldn’t be bothered to dress like one to talk to the sisters, however. He’s from CTU, after all.
These neck-tie priests… how pretentious! If you are not going to wear a Roman collar, why wear a tie? Why not just wear a polo shirt? Because you are… what… a professional? You are… German?
He has the Great Swirly before him but he has Katsushika Hokusai’s Wave behind him. It’s watery there.
What is it with nuns and water?
Isn’t water a 60’s and 70’s thing?
No, really… what’s this all about?
Anyway, the LCWR site says the assembly is reflecting on a theme:
The assembly theme, “Springs of the Great Deep Burst Forth: Meeting the Thirsts of the World,” comes in part from the account of the creation of the world in Genesis 7:11. As the Israelites named the enormous reservoir of water that they believed was beneath the surface of the earth “The Great Deep,” so we use the same name for the reservoir of wisdom that we believe can be accessed through living a life of contemplation.
Genesis 7….? They want to access… the “great deep” which they say is “wisdom” (which is really thinly-disguised Gnostic “Sophia“. Some Christian Gnostics (there was zillions of variations) juxtaposed antithetical figures Christ and Sophia, male and female. She was, for them – and perhaps for the sisters – the world-soul, spiritual principle which sank down into the primal chaos. You know.. the usual Gnostic B as in B, S as in S.
What is Genesis 7 about? Noah goes into the ark with his family and the flood overflows the earth and kills everything. A distinction is also made between clean and unclean animals. Here is some of the chapter in the Douay version:
[9] Two and two went in to Noe into the ark, male and female, as the Lord had commanded Noe. [How sexist of the Lord to make discriminate against the other sexed and transexual animals which He left outside to die!] [10] And after the seven days were passed, the waters of the flood overflowed the earth.
[11] In the six hundredth year of the life of Noe, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened: [12] And the rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. [13] In the selfsame day Noe, and Sem, and Cham, and Japheth his sons: his wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, went into the ark: [14] They and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle in their kind, and every thing that moveth upon the earth according to its kind, and every fowl according to its kind, all birds, and all that fly, [15] Went in to Noe into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein was the breath of life.
[16] And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in on the outside. [17] And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased, and lifted up the ark on high from the earth. [18] For they overflowed exceedingly: and filled all on the face of the earth: and the ark was carried upon the waters. [19] And the waters prevailed beyond measure upon the earth: and all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. [20] The water was fifteen cubits higher than the mountains which it covered.
[21] And all flesh was destroyed that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beasts, and of all creeping things that creep upon the earth: and all men. [22] And all things wherein there is the breath of life on the earth, died. [23] And he destroyed all the substance that was upon the earth, from man even to beast, and the creeping things and fowls of the air: and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noe only remained, and they that were with him in the ark. [24] And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.
This is an odd thing to celebrate and contemplate… the forces of nature through which God destroyed every living thing but Noah and his own.
Back to Bevans… what does Fishwrap think important? A sample with my emphases:
Divine Word Fr. Stephen Bevans told approximately 800 members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious gathered here for the group’s annual assembly that only by focusing on the Holy Spirit can they quench the thirsts of the world.
To live God’s mission, Bevans said, the church must live in what he called “prophetic dialogue” — “an openness in contemplation to discover the thirsts of the world and a determination in humility to work for the slaking of those thirsts.”
Bevans said the world longs for the water of integrity, the wine of hope, the nectar of justice and the elixir of beauty, adding that the spirit’s awakening of those longings requires us to try to meet them.
He talked of those leading the charge in integrity, such as Malala Yousafzai[young female Pakistani activist] and Nelson Mandela, and hailed as prophets Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Sandra Schneiders [who on occasions writes as if she believes that Christ had a human intellect that wasn’t illuminated by His divine nature. Rather, we Christians believe that Christ’s human intellect was never not illuminated by His divine intellect.] and Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister. [who suggested not long ago – when the CDF was watching – that the LCWR be disbanded]
The thirst for justice, [and apparently thirst for global death by flood] he said, is why people are part of Call to Action or protest annually at the School of Americas, now the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, in Fort Benning, Georgia. And the thirst for beauty is great because of the violence in the world, he said.
One of the sisters was moved to say of Bevan’s reflections:
“We can’t meet [the world’s needs] personally, but we can in spirit,” she said. “If we keep operating out of that spirit and we share that spirit, then there can be that hope.”
That sounds like a sin against the Holy Spirit.
Another said:
“We can’t meet [the world’s needs] personally, but we can in spirit,” she said. “If we keep operating out of that spirit and we share that spirit, then there can be that hope.”
Hope for what? More water? Maybe she’s from California.
This reminds me of what Peter Kreeft has his demonic character suggest as a way to distract people from true godliness. The demon wants their “patients” to be concerned about “poverty”, in the abstract, rather than actual poor people.
In any event, they are quenching and slaking there in Houston these days, as they ponder the life-annihilating global-killer Flood of Genesis 7.
QUESTION:
Did the nuns choose this Genesis 7 Flood theme because of the new movie about Noah?
Coincidence?
Ping!
My favorite quotation from some years ago, from one of these nun conferences, went something like this: “We must go to the Vatican and tear down the idols of patriarchy, the idols with the smoke of the burned bodies of women belching from their nostrils, the hideous idols of the patriarchal hierarchy! Smash them! Smash them all!,” said Sr. Iliana O’Brien, of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary.
The purpose of the conference shall be to promote a developing understanding and living of religious life by:
assisting its members personally and communally to carry out more collaboratively their service of leadership in order to accomplish further the mission of Christ in today's world.
fostering dialogue and collaboration among religious congregations within the church and in the larger society.
developing models for initiating and strengthening relationships with groups concerned with the needs of society, thereby maximizing the potential of the conference for effecting change.
Nothing about establishing a relationship with Christ themselves, huh?
Just .... amazed
I didn’t even see that it was a Catholic Caucus.
Somewhere along my childhood days I learned that this was an evil symbol and rested with the group of activities such as fortune telling, astrology, etc.
The imagery and wording just baffles me, but NYer apparently believes this is something worthy of Catholic comment
Jesus, when He lived on earth as man, was subverted from within by Judas. Now His Mystical Body, the Church, is subverted by disobedience from people who once swore obedience, and those who feel God’s Laws don’t apply to them.
Four LCWR officers spent 50 minutes with Francis, discussing his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, which, they said, “has so deeply impacted our lives as women religious and our mission in the world. Our conversation allowed us to personally thank Pope Francis for providing leadership and a vision that has captivated our hearts and emboldened us as in our own mission and service to the Church.”
As a woman, I don't feel that I'm treated unfairly. I used to do the First Reading and Psalm Responses when I was in Junior High level. When I finished, I went and sat in a pew. The boys who read got to stay in the Sanctuary, and I had no problem with that. Was a girl or woman's place less important? No. Different, but still important. The bottom line: it's not about having the most prominent place- that belongs to Jesus. It's kind of a Mary-and-Martha thing. Women swept and cleaned; put fresh flowers; washed the Altar linens; sang in the choir (I used to be a soprano).
St. Paul likened us to a body, with each member playing an important role. These are members who don't know their place...
Mother Teresa began one person at a time: whoever God put in front of her just then. Not simply in spirit, but in reality. These women, their leaders and their ilk, would be better out where they’re needed, or as contemplatives- if they could keep silence for awhile.
All of this is bafflegab that boils down to Marxist community organizing and agitprop on behalf of Democrats.
I thought it was the inside of the shell of a chambered nautilus, a conch, or even a snail. But, then again, people can even use tea leaves in the wrong ways.
Thanx G2G
Over at the Fishwrap (aka National Sodomitic Reporter) Jamie Manson (openly lesbian activist, promoter of women’s ordination, mentored by Sr. Margaret Farley, and darling of the LCWR), laments the Church’s teaching about homosexuality.
One f the reasons that we do not have more vocations to the consecrated life is that there are not enough nuns praying for these vocations.
These ladies, btw, are not nuns....sisters, yes, but not nuns.
Vows of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity missing.
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