Posted on 02/07/2006 12:06:19 PM PST by NYer
According to a priest who does not identify himself as a Conservative, the formation program of the Diocese of Rockville Centre was in dire need of a deep overhaul.
Every formation program in the diocese was handled for decades by the “Pastoral
Formation Institute” or PFI, run until recently by Sister Lauren Hanley, CSJ, whose congregation has its Mother house at Brentwood, NY, in the same diocese.
This is how our Priest, who has been a first-hand witness for years, describes the controversial program:
“For years the PFI has been forming the laity of Rockville Centre in a mix of very liberal theology and popular self-help psychology such as the Enneagram or Myers-Briggs. Oddly enough, the program was approved by the USCCB Committee of Pastoral Formation.
When Bishop Murphy came into the diocese, he immediately made very clear that he did not like the orientation of the PFI, especially its accent on New Age psychology at the expense of a theology with solid foundations on the Bible, history and the Magisterium.”
In a way, the hosh-posh nature of this New Age theology was confirmed by one of its supporters yesterday, speaking to the Dailynews:
“Frank Pesce, an attorney from Westbury and a deacon in St. Brigid Church, said the program helped him become a better Christian, as well as husband and father.
‘The beauty of the program was that it made you look inside to get to know yourself and the God within, and then to look outside and see God’s work in the world and your own place in that,’ Pesce said.”
According to our Priest, bishop Murphy had the PFI on his cross hairs from the start, but several problems prevented him from acting immediately: the controversy about his new home sparked by Dailynews columnist Jimmy Breslin; the confrontation with Voice of the Faithful for his role as Vicar General in the Archdiocese of Boston during the days of Cardinal Bernard Law; the rise of parish contributions to the Bishop’s Appeal to 25% and the call for a seven-year-long diocesan synod.
But now the time for acting has arrived.
Always according to our source, the PFI tried to assume the formation of the growing Latino community in Long Island, but thanks to the arrival of a Guatemalan layman, known as Brother Edgar, most of the Hispanic community was left out of the PFI’s influence.
Brother Edgar developed an alternative formation program, with some elements from the Charismatic Renewal, which became quite successful in the parish of St. Mathew in Dix Hills and the Jesuit parish of St. Luke in Brentwood.
The alternative Hispanic program at St. Mathew was strongly promoted by Fr. John McDonald, the same man Bishop Murphy has appointed as Rector of the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y.
According to our Priest, “the changes at the PFI will help improve the doctrinal formation of the laity, and we hope it will also help develop programs for the growing Latino population”.
Ugh! That would be the Sisters of St. Joseph, political activists and lovers of ecology. Check out their web site, if you can stomach it.
One of my HS classmates joined this order (they weren't so radical back then) and is now Principal of Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead. They doffed the habit immediately following the close of VCII.
God speed the bishop!
"...the God within..."?
Uh-huh.
I suppose I should genuflect to the good deacon if ever I meet him? (or maybe he'll do it to me?)
Good grief.
Grew up in the Diocese of Rockville Centre attending St. Joseph's in Garden City. The Sisters were basically OK back then...although that was some time ago.
I will always recall leaving SHA for summer break, the good sisters in full habit and returning in September to see them wearing street clothes.
Are you still on LI? Believe it or not, there are worse dioceses in this state.
That's PK's quick and easy test for women religious.
Habits = Good
Street Clothes = Bad
Works every time
Yep, still in the Diocese.
St. Philip Neri parish in Northport.
Just reviewed their Web site. They are big on "PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY" but no where to be found is a statement on abortion.
The following certainly indicates the "Order's" philosophy:
On Saturday, September 9, 2006, there will be a presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Fordham University, a Sister of St. Joseph of Brentwood, NY and a noted and highly regarded theologian, writer and feminist thinker.
She has written extensively on feminism, Christology, and divine providence. Author of the widely regarded book,
"She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse", her most recent book is "Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints" (2003).
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