September 24, 2003 - on sexual morality
With so many Catholics rejecting an official church teaching, and the pope insisting on it at the same time, questions of authority and its proper role cannot be avoided. As a matter of fact, the authority issue has been connected to the sexuality issue for more than a quarter of a century, raising the importance of trying to sort out and resolve the human sexuality questions.
There is a tradition within Catholicism that speaks of the sensus fidelium. It literally means "sense of the faithful." It means that the faithful, as a whole, have an instinct or "sense" about when a teaching is -- or is not -- in harmony with the true faith. At a minimum, the sensus fidelium has been demanding that the church reconsider its teachings on human sexuality.
Prominent Catholics have made repeated efforts to do just this since the 1968 papal encyclical. Those who have dared enter these waters have more often than not been denigrated by church authorities for setting forth. Connected to any reassessment has been considerable fear and trauma. Theologians who have dared have found their careers thwarted. As a result, as pressure has grown to probe church teachings on sexuality so has the resistance by key authority figures.
October 10, 2003 - on Church authority
The process reminds me of a statement that the spiritual guru, Edwina Gately, once made, referring to today's Catholic hierarchy. "The God they give us is too small to worship."
November 18, 2003 - on priestly celibacy
Our bishops have become cafeteria Catholics. They seem to think we can do without the Eucharist......
The bishops, however, are so resistant to considering optional celibacy that they view Catholics who raise the issue as "having an agenda," implying that those who seek change really, deep down, want to hurt the church, not extend its mission to build the Reign of God.
This is crazy. No, it's worse. It's scandalous. Let me be clear: to place an arbitrary church discipline in the way of the building of Eucharistic-centered Christian communities is offensive to God.
November 20, 2003 - on homo "marriage,"
We who profess a relationship with a Diety must be especially diligent to remind ourselves that no one has the full picture, no one can claim an inside track. Believers and non-believers alike will be better off when humility reins in certainty, when policies are shaped by attempts to understand and offer care to the hurting and insecure.
How about the current issue and "Liturgical coup is a lousy way to do business"
Five years ago, when our now Vatican writer John L. Allen Jr. first began to uncover exactly how the revisionists were attacking the reform, he discovered that a secretly appointed committee of 11 men -- no women included -- met quietly at the Vatican to overturn decades of work on translation, work that had been done under the approving mandate of Pope Paul VI.Of those 11, only one held a graduate degree in scripture studies, two were not native English-speakers, one of the advisers was a graduate student and several had a history of objecting to inclusive-language translations, including two of the American archbishops and the lone scripture scholar. A rather poor representation of scholarship and pastoral sensitivities,, given the dimensions of the English-speaking segment of the church.
“What has also become clear,” our story reported, “is that the elaborate consultative process used in developing English-language translations for nearly three decades meant little. Powers in Rome handpicked a small group of men who in two weeks undid work that had taken dozens of years.”
The unfortunate thing is that the new translations, or the return to old translations, is being done in the style of the pre-Vatican II church, heavy-handed and at the whim of those in power.
It’s a lousy way to do the church’s business -- and it doesn’t withstand the scrutiny of serious, adult, educated Catholics in the early 21st century.
Round off whining and condescending pieces like the above with regular contributors like Gumbleton, Chittister, McBrien and you got yerself National AmCatholic Distorter!
Average age of subscriber: 68
... many American bishops feel reservations about some aspects of John Paul’s pontificate, especially the way in which it seems to have operated at times on an adversarial model with respect to bishops and bishops’ conferences. The symbol of this approach would be the 1998 document Apostolos Suos, which held that episcopal conferences have no right to teach on matters of faith and morals in their own name.Personally, I thank God that the Bishops' Conferences do not constitute ecclesiastical authority. In the U.S. for each relatively sound document or idea they come up with at least three heretical ones. Most recent "nugget" is the National Review Board assisted by a bunch of ("former") FBI agents overseeing the bishops.
Most Americans, along with a large chunk of the rest of the Catholic world, regarded this a classic exercise in raw power politics. Faced with a wealthy, respected and influential national conference in the United States, and equally impressive regional conferences in Latin America and Asia, the Vatican wanted to cut them off at the knees. Many American Catholics were proud of the accomplishments of their bishops’ conference in the 1980s, with well-received documents on the economy and on peace. The idea that their bishops were being “punished” for such success was galling.
We’re not certain why this recent flurry of activity has taken place, but it is one of the healthiest signs we have observed in the priesthood in some time. In an institution aching for leadership, some priests are finding the courage to step up and, in a true example of pastoral service, to raise the deep concerns of the people they serve.Writing stupid diatribe against 2000 years old Catholic moral teachings is "flurry of activity" and "one of the healthiest signs" according to NCR.
Perhaps no step has been as remarkable or courageous as that taken by 23 Chicago priests who signed a letter strongly objecting to “the increase in the use of violent and abusive language” in Vatican declarations directed at gays and lesbians.
Perhaps John Paul’s comparatively enlightened approach to women -- appointing women as his spokespersons at international conferences, opposing discrimination against women in public policy -- is the most one could reasonably expect from a Polish church leader of his generation and life experience.Allen doesn't expect too much from the Pope because he is a Pole? What a dude Allen is! I would like to see this dude use comparable phrase for a ......... (fill in the blank ;)). I think he knows what the "career killer" is.
Measured against the expectations of many educated Catholic women, however, especially in the developed world, the pope has often seemed a disappointment.
Allen uses a catch phrase, "Educated Catholic Women." Once I went to a discount store with the slogan "An educated consumer is our best customer." The customers there didn't look particularly "educated," but the slogan was nice to any customer.
Allen implies two things, 1. To dislike the Pope is a sign of education, 2. A woman fond of the Pope must be uneducated.
They know that Allen will quote them accurately, and will not berate them in his columns.
If you don't like the NCR, don't read. I will continue to read it, post from it, and comment on it.
You obviously can ignore my threads and my posts.
Following is the text of a statement issued by Bishop Charles H. Helmsing of Kansas City - St. Joseph (Mo) Diocese. The statement pertains to the National Catholic Reporter, which is published in the diocese and is an outgrowth of its diocesan newspaper
The Catholic Reporter, formerly the official newspaper of the Kansas City - St. Joseph, was begun by my predecessor under a policy of editorial freedom. That policy of editorial freedom [I] endorsed on my appointment as bishop of Kansas City - St. Joseph. When the National Catholic Reporter was launched, that original policy of editorial freedom was announced as basic to the new publication.
At all times it was presumed that the policy of editorial freedom was none other than that legitimate liberty declared and defended by the Second Vatican Council in its Declaration on Religious Liberty, further defined in the conciliar Decree on Communications, and, likewise, defended in the Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. It could not imply that pseudo-freedom from man's obligations to his Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier in vogue under the standard of the 19th century liberalism. It could not imply, as a conciliar declaration on religious liberty clearly states, freedom in the moral order. As Cardinal Koenig pointed out in his recent address to editors, there is a legitimate freedom of opinion to be exercised by the Catholic press so long as it is absolutely loyal to the Church's teachings. If an editor is to merit the name "Catholic," he must remember "to think with the Church."
As long as the Catholic editor carries the name Catholic, he can never forget that he is a teacher of Christ's revelation. What he writes necessarily touches on faith -- that gift of the Holy Spirit which "we carry in earthen vessels" and by which we accept Christ, the Word of God Incarnate, and His revelation.
The Catholic editor must manifest a reverence which must shine through in his attitude and in his every expression. The Gospel is clear on the destructive effects of ridicule, for example, in recounting of the taunts hurled at Simon Peter: "You also were with Jesus of Nazareth," and their effects on him who, once converted, was to confirm his brethern.
As the editors of the National Catholic Reporter know, I have tried as their pastor, responsible for their eternal welfare, and that of those whom they influence, to guide them on a responsible course in harmony with Catholic teachings. When private conferences were of no avail, as is well known, I had to issue a public reprimand for their policy of crusading against the Church's teachings on the transmission of human life, and against the Gospel values of sacred virginity and dedicated celibacy as taught by the Church.
NOW, AS a last resort, I am forced as bishop to issue a condemnation of the National Catholic Reporter for its disregard and denial of the most sacred values of our Catholic faith. Within recent months the National Catholic Reporter has expressed itself in belittling the basic truths expressed in the Creed of Pope Paul VI; it has made itself a platform for the airing of heretical views on the Church and its divinely constituted structure, as taught by the First and Second Vatican Councils. Vehemently to be reprobated was the airing in recent editions of an attack on the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the virgin birth of Christ, by one of its contributors.
Finally, it has given lengthy space to a blasphemous and heretical attack on the Vicar of Christ. It is difficult to see how well instructed writers who deliberately deny and ridicule dogmas of our Catholic faith can possibly escape the guilt of the crime defined in Canon 1325 on heresy, and how they can escape the penalties of automatic excommunication entailed thereby.
In fairness to our Catholic people, I hereby issue an official condemnation of the National Catholic Reporter. Furthermore, I send this communication to my brother bishops, and make known to the priests, religious and laity of the nation my views on the poisonous character of this publication.
As a bishop, a member of the college of bishops, and one in union with the head of the college, Christ's Vicar on earth, I proclaim with my brother bishops that the Church is, indeed, always in need of reform. This reform is a matter of putting on the mind of Christ, as St. Paul declared, through our contemplation of Christ in His teachings and through our loyalty to the teachings of the Church so painstakingly expressed in recent years in the constitutions, decrees and declarations of the Second Vatican Council.
The status of the world when our Lord came was a deplorable one. We are not surprised that the status of man, wounded by original sin, remains deplorable as long as he does not heed the voice of Christ and his authorative teacher, his Church. Sociological studies, according to modern techniques, can help us appreciate the status quo -- the exact thinking and acting and attitudes of our people. For this we are grateful. But it is a total reversal of our Divine Lord's policy to imagine for a moment that the disclosure of attitudes through such surveys becomes the norm of human conduct or thinking.
Christ and His apostles preached first and foremost penance, metanoia, the change of mind and heart. The Church continues to do so today, but it finds itself increasingly more frustrated in its teaching of the ideals of our Lord by the type of reporting, editorializing and ridicule that have become the week-after-week fare of the National Catholic Reporter.
IN AS MUCH as the National Catholic Reporter does not reflect the teaching of the Church, but on the contrary, has openly and deliberately opposed this teaching. I ask the editors in all honesty to drop the term "Catholic" from their masthead. By retaining it they deceive their Catholic readers and do a great disservice to ecumenism by being responsible for the false irenicism of watering down Catholic teachings.
I further ask the editors and the board of directors, for the love of God and their fellow men, to change their misguided and evil policy; for it is evident to me that they have already caused untold harm to the faith and morals not only of our laity, but of too many of our priests and religious.
I make this statement with apostolic freedom as given by our Lord to His followers; I make it conscious of the heavy burden that is mine as a bishop, as one enjoined by the Holy Spirit through the pen of St. Paul: "Reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine; for there will come a time when they will not endure the sound doctrines; but having itching ears, will heap up to themselves teachers according to their own lust, and they will turn away their hearing from the truth and will turn aside rather to fables." (2 Tim. 4:2-4)
----------------
Notes:
The underline and bold attributes have been applied to the text for emphasis.
A single underline denotes a capitalization not in the original copy.
The [I] is what probably was under a small (2 space) blank spot on the original copy.
The original had "II Tim. 4." instead of "(2 Tim. 4:2-4)"
Bishop Charles H. Helmsing Hierarchy info here
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CANTON, Mass. - A gay man interrupted a church Mass on Sunday when he told congregants he objected to a video opposing same-sex marriage that was shown moments earlier. Chuck Colbert created a brief disturbance when he stood up after the eight-minute video, identified himself as a Catholic and said he objected to the video, said the Rev. Michael Doyle of St. John the Evangelist church. . . .
Colbert is a freelance writer who contributes stories to the National Catholic Reporter, an independent weekly newspaper that has endorsed same-sex marriage.
PLACE: Holy Spirit Center, Anchorage, AK
TIME: Summer 2003
DESCRIPTION: Enjoy this summer in Alaska! Make your retreat at Holy Spirit Center. Rest, pray and find God in this beautiful mountain setting overlooking Anchorage. Personally directed retreats in the Ignatian tradition are offered year-round. Cost: $60/day. An eight-day directed retreat will be held June 25-July 2, a five-day directed retreat will be held from July 6-10. Massage and reiki are available by appointment. Early airplane reservations are suggested. For information and reservations contact: Holy Spirit Center, 10980 Hillside Drive, Anchorage, AK 99507. Phone: (907) 346-2343.
PLACE: Benet Pines Retreat Center, Colorado Springs, CO
TIME: June through October 2003
DESCRIPTION: Retreats--all retreats led by Benedictine Sisters, except where noted. June 23-30, individual directed retreats; July 6-11, hiking retreat; July 24-27, "Spiritual Quest," Anthony D'Sousa, SJ; July 31-Aug 3, fly fishing retreat, Jim Qualey; Aug 18-23 and Sept. 2-11, individual directed retreats; Sept 7-11, hiking retreat; Sept. 13, discernment retreat. The hiking and fishing retreats are day trips that take you into areas of breathtaking beauty with a return to the retreat center for reflection, prayer and relaxation. Benet Pines Retreat Center, 15880 Highway 83, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. Phone: (719) 495-2574; fax: (719) 495-0469. E-mail: bpinescs@hotmail.com Web site: benethillmonastery.org
PLACE: Wisdom House, Litchfield, CT
TIME: Fall -winter 2003
DESCRIPTION: Sept. 20: "Women's Spirituality Bay," Jane Silk, RSM; Sept. 26.28: "Enneagram," Barbara Schmitt; Oct. 24-26: Casagrande Interfaith institute: "There Are No Strangers," Thomas Merton on interfaith dialogue; Nov. 14-16: "Teilhard de Chardin," Donald Gray, PhD. Ongoing: labyrinth walks offered throughout the year. Wisdom House is an interfaith retreat and conference center offering programs in the arts, education and spirituality. For information about this and other programs please phone: (860) 567-3163. Or visit: www.wisdomhouse.org
You get the idea.
It's a terrible paper.