Posted on 10/18/2007 10:13:48 AM PDT by NYer
Via Thomas Peters, we learn that the cross-dressing Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, two of whom received communion from the hand of Archbishop George Niederauer on October 7th, have posted a facetious press release concerning the incident, headlined "Sisters Upset Communion Being Turned into Political Issue." The press release quotes the "abbess" of the gay agit-prop group, who calls herself Sister Edith Myflesh.
The moniker "Edith Myflesh," it goes without saying, makes reference to John 6:54 (in its King James Version), "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life." The disdain conveyed by the flip allusion to Jesus' Eucharistic teaching, compounded by the lewdness of the sexual double entendre, points to a hatred of Christianity that borders on frenzy.
The intensity of the gay-activist antipathy as well as its target of choice is displayed with exceptional clarity in the Drag Nuns Communion incident, and the reactions to the incident highlight the fault-lines along which the U.S. Church is split. One might think gay-friendly moderates would cringe at the flamboyance of drag-queen activism and the belligerence of the Sister Edith sacrilege, but in fact the reproaches come exclusively from the conservative side of the aisle, while the progressivists seem unable to grasp what all the fuss is about. Some have hesitantly conceded that the Sister Act was "inappropriate" -- as if the dispute hinged on the etiquette of church-going -- but the general liberal consensus seems to be that anything that antagonizes the Catholic League must be on the right track and worthy of defense.
Deplorable though their stuntmanship was, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence may, contrary to their intent, perform a signal service for orthodox Catholics and for the Church at large. Think back to the 2005, and the in-fighting surrounding the upcoming Doomsday Doc, eventually issued as the Vatican Instruction on "Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies." The controversial point was the Holy See's contention that homosexual men lack the "affective maturity" necessary to the spiritual paternity in which the priesthood is authentically lived out. Remember the delegation sent ahead of time by the U.S. bishops begging that the Instruction be shelved? Remember the squeals when it was issued all the same? Remember the gasps of indignation at its statement that homosexuality was a "disturbance of a sexual nature ... incompatible with the priesthood"?
So picture a priest or bishop working in the Vatican curia who lived through the Doomsday Doc warfare and the arguments back-and-forth. And now on his office computer he's got a video-link to the Mass at Most Holy Redeemer. "Deep-seated homosexual tendencies are objectively disordered," he recites to himself, watching adult men in mascara and nun-drag given communion by a U.S. archbishop, "Got that right." No screed, no treatise, no series of lectures could make the point more memorably.
Will it make a difference, concretely? Not in the short term. The majority of U.S. bishops, remember, was trained in a theological culture that views the Sister's principal lapse as "over-accessorizing." Blasphemy (little different from heresy in this respect) is treated as a quaint, 19th-century sort of sin, the censure of which would be as comically obsolete as a treatment for dropsy or St. Vitus Dance, and few churchmen speak ill of the objective disorder in whose service the blasphemy is uttered. We can expect few efforts to tackle the current scandal. But the post-Conciliar ecclesiastics are passing away, and their successors are bolder where they're wrong and bolder where they're right. By putting their real motives on open display, Sister Edith and her pals have helped shape the terms of the conflict for the next generation.
It's beginning to sound like that might be the only solution. I had no idea things were that bad there. I wonder if any Catholics in the area have thought about attending mass at this church in order to speak out against any further sacrileges. Just a couple people to stand up during the next incident. If I lived out there I'd be tempted to follow these "sisters" wherever they went.
This is what I find so mind-boggling. I can't imagine anything like this going on in any church I have been to. I can't imagine anything like this going on in any house of worship, where an individual flaunts his contempt for your beliefs. That parish is essentially in schism, and needs an excorcist assigned there immediately.
there was one i can’t find the article but there was a priest who performed a same sex wedding for a bribe and they defrocked the priest and razed the church...
Personally, I'm half-expecting the ground to open up, and the entire city of San Francisco to disappear. I guess that would take care of shuttering the parish! For the sake of the remnant in the city, we need to pray hard that it not receive something along the same lines as the punishment as Sodom.
I had no idea before this incident, and spending a little time reading about them, how truly disordered and virulently ( somehow that word doesn't seem to fit here ) anti-Catholic they are. I think that Catholics should counter-demonstrate everywhere they make a public appearance. Catholics need a version of Al Sharpton to counter egregious displays of blasphemous behavior. No other denomination or ethnic group would tolerate such a hateful group. To think that the archbishop would give them communion and that a Catholic parish would even befriend their activities, is unimaginable.
Gee thanks :o)
http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2007/10/sisters-react.html
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are appalled that some media outlets have unwittingly spread these distortions while others have intentionally taken advantage to fuel a mean-spirited and divisive political agenda. These forces have been critical of Most Holy Redeemer for their welcoming approach to the diverse community they serve and have frequently seen fit to attack the parishioners as part of a larger campaign against "San Francisco values."...They wouldn't give money or talk like this unless it was (shudder) *THEIR* parish. The hammer needs to fall on this wicked den of sacrilege.Our hearts go out to the parishioners of Most Holy Redeemer and to the Archbishop who have been unfairly stigmatized by these disingenuous campaigns for doing nothing more than following the welcoming teachings of Christ and administering Communion in keeping with the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
In fact, we have given several thousand dollars in grants to several religious-based organizations, including Most Holy Redeemer.
You will find the good people of our parish old, young, married, gay, lesbian, transgender, affluent, homeless, blue-collar, converts, cradle Catholics, radical, traditional, questioning, fervent.
Traditional even! Wow Father, I'm sure that 10:30 Solemn High Mass you guys have in place must be real popular...even drawing people away from the nearby SSPX chapel!
/sarcasm
This story has me more infuriated by the minute. How do we FReep this church into closure?
http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2007/10/more-on-bill-or.html
http://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a02xAlert_MFR_Engel.html
I’m an East Coaster and didn’t know much about Niederauer, but the more I read the more repulsed I am. This bishop has a LOOOONG history of supporting gay causes. Check out the plethora of links in that first article...this is no innocent mistake. He knew exactly what he was doing.
He needs to go, the pastor needs to go, the parish needs to be put under the Interdict.
I was perusing their bulletin and webpage as well. Interesting.It certainly is a different parish. Where else would you find a 3 to 1 attedndance ratio, where the men outnumber women? Or see congratulations to James and Joel on the baptism of their adopted twin children?
They have a peace and justice ministry that seeks positive change within and outside the church. A centering prayer group with the prominent centering prayer guru, Fr. Thomas Keating, scheduled to deliver the homily this Sunday.
They have AA aand al-anon meetings there. I wonder if they ever heard of the outreach group that helps people out of the gay lifestyle. Nah.
the weird get weirder.
Posthaste. Thanks, I think, for those links. The silver lining is that Niederauer (sp?) is 71 and must tender his resignation in less than four years. It is clear that San Francisco needs an archbishop who is a saint like St. Anthony, the hammer of heretics, or St. Francis de Sales who helped to convert thousands.
Yes.
Well said!
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