Posted on 05/08/2005 3:56:34 PM PDT by NYer
The First Commandment is "I am the Lord Thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me." But, according to one local convert from the New Age, San Diego Catholics who aspire to know their God better are sometimes presented with information on strange gods instead.
Moira Noonan, a resident of Encinitas, authored Ransomed From Darkness which tells the story of her conversion from New Age spirituality to the Catholic faith. Noonan believes most Catholics are being insidiously exposed to New Age ideas in the Church.
How long have you been a Catholic?
I finished RCIA about 10 years ago. Actually, I was baptized Catholic and attended Catholic school as a little kid. New Agers are constantly searching, always looking for something new. The first true — I hate to say it — 'enlightenment' which dawned on me was that I didn't want to be reincarnated. And I thought, "How do I get off this wheel of reincarnation?" I remembered something from when I was a [Catholic] kid about 'eternal life.' Yet I was constantly being bombarded with reincarnation in the New Age. I just said, 'I don't want to come back. If there is eternal life, or if any of those Sacred Heart nuns who taught me as a kid are in eternal life now, won't you pray for me right now?' It triggered something.
Reincarnation is one of the biggest demonic heresies in the world. When you consider how much of the world's population believes in reincarnation, it's scary. All New Agers believe it. And most of the people I knew in the New Age were fallen-away Catholics.
What do people mean when they say, "I'm not religious, but I'm very spiritual?"?
"Spiritual" seems to be one of the trendy catch words coming out of the New Age movement, because New Agers never say, "I'm of this faith" or "that faith". What they say is, "I'm spiritual" because the New Age movement came from the spiritualist movement. The spiritualist movement was a big movement in America around the turn of the century, with people like Madam Blavatsky. This all came from the time when people started believing in Darwinism. We didn't need God anymore. Now people are saying that they are "spiritual." We don't need any religious truth or religious facts, because we can make up our own gods again.
Is their any link between homosexuality's ascendancy and the New Age movement?
I don't recall seeing homosexuals in the New Age movement, or at least I never met any. They seem to prefer to stay in their own community. But apparently now the lesbian movement is huge in the New Age. This is what's happened to some women's religious orders. Many of them were feminists who turned to Wicca or white witchcraft. It's much more pervasive on the East Coast and, thankfully, I was never a part of any of that. I agree with our Church['s position] that it [homosexuality] is gravely disordered.
I used to go to confession at the Cathedral downtown. One time, when I walked in, I saw a book on the Enneagram (a New Age personality type test) sitting on the priest's chair. What's wrong with the Enneagram?
First off, the Enneagram is being used in almost every Catholic spiritual direction and retreat house in America. It's now the main tool for teaching people how to do spiritual direction. Its origins are occult, not Christian. Now why is this different than using traditional Catholic spiritual direction and counseling, such as St. Ignatius of Loyola's exercises to discern God's will? The Enneagram isn't about working with God's will or understanding it, it's all about personality. It's a personality exercise, not spiritual, and it's not based on God's will. It relies on the human spirit, rather than something divine."
So where is this New Age infiltration happening in the Church in San Diego?
I really don't want to mention these sisters by name, because some of them were very helpful in my conversion a long time ago. I can tell you that they are in a beach community where they operate a retreat house. They also use the Celestine Prophecy for spiritual direction. The Celestine Prophecy was a popular New Age novel which, like the Da Vinci Code, was taken as fact but in reality slanders the Catholic Church. It enjoyed a brief vogue in the 1990s. It's all about developing psychic powers. I was a former New Ager and I sure didn't need these nuns teaching me New Age stuff after leaving the New Age movement. After that experience, thank goodness, a priest from out of state got me to go to Prince of Peace Abbey for spiritual direction. And that is the only place I would recommend anyone in San Diego to go."
For some time now, the La Providencia retreat center in Alpine has been offering Reiki. It's been said that Reiki is just a type of massage therapy. Is that correct?
I don't know anything about La Providencia, but I can tell you about Reiki. Reiki is psychic healing. It is not reconcilable in any way, shape, or form with the Catholic Church, because it uses spirit guides. Spirit guides are fallen angels — not guardian angels but deceivers. It's not Swedish massage. It's occult massage. In order to do Reiki, you have to follow a master. It's like being consecrated to a guru or master. I can say that, because I was an advanced Reiki master healer.
Some photos posted on the internet from Cardinal Mahony's latest religious education congress, show people walking around through labyrinths.
They're using labyrinths in Christian churches and New Age churches. The big difference is that in the New Age churches, they are doing it to a mantra. If it's done in a Christian setting and with a Christian mindset, then I wouldn't have any objection to it.
Does the San Diego diocese contribute to this New Age contamination?
I can tell you that here in North County, there is a coastal parish where I just finished a basic catechist course — I really don't want to mention it by name -- that is so bad you cannot believe it. This is where they are training people to be religious education teachers in parishes. I was told by this instructor not to mention Mary, the rosary, statues, novenas or "any of that superstitious stuff." This is the director of religious education for that parish who teaches the class. It was so unbelievably awful. And, just as in the New Age, he told us that no stories in the Bible were literal events." He said that the Bible is, "nothing but stories, not an accurate account."
LOL! You're more charitable than I am. I didn't just sigh. Where did these pictures come from? What a pack of freaks? Are they doing this during a Mass? Oh Lord. Forgive us.
St. Mary's I think the pic says. Very traditional and old. Great looking church.
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OH MY....the new Holy FATHER HAS A EMAIL ADDRESS I'd send this information to him-go to the Vatican website for the e address
LOL, that was funny, thanks for your humor.:-)
Yikes. Haven't seen anything like that.
That is none other than Cardinal Mahoney and friends at the "arena mass" which took place during the Catholic Education Conference this year in February. The LA Diocese website proudly displayed these photos and published ones like it in the Tidings diocesan newspaper.
Apparently it was a mass that was a special event here.
http://www.recongress.org/ccd-rec.htm
From what I read, they guested people who were Catholics from many places and they dances their traditional things from their state. Like kids dancing that were from Hawaii wearing and dancing native garb.
Very nice. Was at an event and is NOT traditional mass though.
Seems not to be what you called freaks at all.
http://www.recongress.org/
WHAT IS CONGRESS?
Nation's Largest -- The Religious Education Congress, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Religious Education, is the nation's largest annual gathering of Roman Catholics!
Over 38,000 in Attendance (See Congress 2005 registration statistics) -- Our last Religious Education Congress, held in February 2005, brought together 38,577 over the four-day weekend! We had 36,331 registered from across the country and as far away as Ireland and Singapore. Youth attendance at Youth Day topped at 12,222!
Variety of Topics -- Over the three days, Congress offers a variety of speakers (210 of them in 2005) presenting sessions from personal growth to music to "hot" topics -- in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Representing Many Cultures -- Congress annually offers a number of liturgies of different character. Congress 2005 offered 13 Eucharistic Liturgies including Contemplative, Jazz, Celtic, Hispanic, Samoan, Young Adult and Youth-led.
Free Exhibits (open to Registrants only) -- Congress 2005 showcased 214 companies as exhibitors -- ranging from religious art to music, and from publishing houses to educational institutions, in addition to our own represented Archdiocesan ministries. (See our 2005 Exhibitor Listing.)
Free Entertainment for Registrants -- Admission to Congress includes both free lunchtime and evening concerts -- ranging from contemporary Christian music to spirited bilingual (Spanish/English) to Vietnamese drum and dance!
Sorry, but this lady looks like a freak to me. All that's missing is the clown make-up.
That site belongs to Ingrid Shafer of 511 W MINNESOTA AVE, CHICKASHA, OK.
It doesn't say it belongs to Catholic anything. It's an occultists that seems to like to call itself Christian Catholic (which it is NOT).
nothing "NEW" in new age
what???
The lady is a YOUNG lady, since this is a "youth" conference. I believe this was a CCD children's thing.
Kids coming from all over the world with many in local outfits representing their different culture and dances of those areas.
Doesn't sound like freaks or evil to me.
Look at the site the pictures came from and don't be so judgmental over nothing.
I'm sure there are misguided attempts at stuff in different churches from ignorance, but this doesn't appear to be such an event at all.
I'm sure there are some miss-guided areas here in the states where wrong things are happening.
I haven't in any of my New York or California churches seen anything like the stuff in italics in that post you responded to.
That was some scary stuff. Therefore the YIKES!
I had years of private Catholic school on both coasts. Granted Brooklyn had the tougher nuns, but I sure haven't seen or heard too much weird stuff in my churches at all.
It was posted by murphe-I was repling to his post of what was in his bulletin-
It sure got my attention also.
If I saw stuff like that coming out of our local churches, I'd see to it proper authorities found out in the area and at the Vatican.
If this was not a Mass, then fine, whatever floats your boat. If it was a Mass, then yes, I have a problem with it, as does the Magisterium. The focus of the Mass is the paschal sacrifice, not this hippie-dippy dancing around and singing kum-bi-yah. The Mass is solemn, sacred, timeless, and sublimely beautiful. A lady in a purple dress twirling her hand like a lasso as if she were in a ho-down, looks just plain dopey. You can't tell me that the God of the Universe intended the sacred Mass to resemble "Hee-Haw".
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