Posted on 05/11/2018 7:25:14 AM PDT by ebb tide
Fr. Michael K. Holleran, a Catholic priest, Sensei (Zen Teacher) and a former Carthusian Monk, is Parochial Vicar at the Church of Notre Dame in New York City.
According to his biography on the website for the New-Age Copper Beech Institute, Holleran was ordained as a Jesuit, then left the order after five years to join the Carthusians: “In 2009, he was formally received as a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and became a Sensei in the Zen tradition, at the hands of his longtime mentor, Roshi Robert Kennedy, S.J. He currently serves at Notre Dame Church in Morningside Heights, Manhattan and leads the Dragon’s Eye Zendo in midtown Manhattan.”
Referencing the Scripture reading: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32, during a 2014 homily, Holleran said:
The Jewish covenant was the natural olive tree and the gentiles have been grafted on, kinda stuck together…How is this gonna work? It doesn’t seem natural, it doesn’t seem right. He does use the phrase para phusis, which means not exactly against nature, but alongside nature, not what’s expected, not what’s supposed to work, not what’s supposed to be right. Bring in the gentiles…Interestingly, the same phrase, that I just pointed out, the very same phase, para phusis, he used in Chapter 1 talking about activity which today referring to homosexuality…against nature is too strong a translation. Its more like along side nature, not what we’d expect, not what’s customary, not what’s supposedly right. Is there a connection? Same phrase, by the same author, in the same letter. We should wake up to the fact that there are things we don’t understand. That’s gonna blow our minds, that are gonna bring us out of our comfort zone…supposedly contrary to what God said in the beginning…how are we not seeing these things? Well, I guess we’re not seeing them because maybe Jesus didn’t.
In 2017, Jesuit priest James Martin proposed that homosexuals are “differently ordered.”
During a lecture entitled: “Sodomites? Really?,” sponsored by the LGBT group at St. Paul’s the Apostle Church in New York City, on September 28, 2014, Holleran argued, among other things, that the Sodom and Gomorrah story had “nothing” to do with homosexuality, as, according to him “they must be understood in the context of their time.” With regards to the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, according to Holleran, they are built upon “shaky ground.” He said:
“…if a sincere gay person, for example, is struggling with his or her own inner discovery, then says let me look at Scripture – oh, it doesn’t say what they always said if you look at it from this point of view…then maybe my experience does have some validity…On the levels of truth that everything is infallible – This is on shaky ground according to the way it’s been presented to me and been presented over the centuries, then I actually have not only a right but a duty maybe to start questioning this. And to say maybe my experience – What Jesus is saying to me now! What the spirit is saying to the Churches now! …is something really important that we need to hear.”
He envisions change within the Church, like James Martin, through dialogue: “love shows itself in the ability to dialogue.” As an example, he pointed to a meeting between a Catholic Bishop and a “gay couple;” as he related the story, Fr. Holleran said that, afterwards, the Bishop remarked: “…how can we call people like that objectively disordered?” Holleran concluded: “what transforms hearts is when you really actually do hear people’s experience.” In his book “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity,” James Martin said the same thing:
Many church leaders do not know L.G.B.T. people who are public about their sexuality. That lack of familiarity and friendship means it is more difficult to be sensitive. How can you be sensitive to a person’s situation if you don’t know them?
Holleran also described “The Holy Trinity” as an example of “an alternative lifestyle. During this same talk, Holleran mentioned how he discussed all of these issues with a confused same-sex attracted young man: “I had a young gay man, last year, who came to me for spiritual direction.” Holleran then described how he schooled him on just how wrong the Church is about homosexuality.
During a “Gay Spirituality” retreat held at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Brooklyn, Holleran claimed that “gay” men are more receptive to spirituality because they practice anal sex:
“…men hate church and spirituality because they have to sit still and they have to be receptive. There is nothing more threatening to a male than being receptive. I mean, think about it sexually – maybe that’s why gay men are more ready for it.”
He also said: “I don’t care what people say, I think Gay Pride Parade is wonderful; all those people dancing around with not many clothes on…it’s beautiful.”
Concerning the New York City Gay Pride Parade, in his Introduction to Fr. John Harvey’s book “The Truth About Homosexuality” (1996), Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R. made the following observation:
I recently viewed the Gay Pride Parade during a prayer vigil alongside St. Patrick’s Cathedral and saw an incredible display of self-defeating and self-deprecating behavior…when one considers the ruin of human lives, the persistent spread of AIDS by promiscuous sexual activity, and the psychological conflict one observes in the gay scene, the haunting question comes, “Can I approve of behavior that so frequently leads to destruction?”
In 2014, Holleran lead a discussion on John J. McNeill’s books “Taking a Chance on God,” for the St. Francis [de Sales] Gay Straight Catholic Alliance Book Club; in that particular work, McNeill proposed an all-inclusive type of Christian spirituality which meets the “special needs” of lesbians and gays; McNeill also stated that: “In all cultures and in every period of history, a certain percentage of men and women develop as gays and lesbians. These individuals could be considered as part of God’s creative plan. Their sexual orientation has no necessary connection with sin, sickness, or failure; rather, it is a gift from God to be accepted and lived out with gratitude. God does not despise anything that God has created.”
In the St Francis Xavier Church bulletin, appeared a blurb (May 8, 2016) advertising a course to be given by Holleran. The topic of Fr. Holleran’s presentation: Amoris Laetitia. During his talk, Holleran openly questioned Pope Francis’ statements regarding modern gender theory and homosexuality – Holleran said:
“We have to welcome gay people and accept them as they are and accept it’s not a changeable thing, it’s not a choice – the Church does say that.”
On June 8, 2017, during a Facebook Live James Martin said:
That’s the way God created you. I think almost every psychologist and biologist and scientist would agree on that; and certainly LGBT people will tell you that’s the way they always felt – that they had been created that way.
In 2016, Holleran offered a course on “How to Approach the Bible.” He said:
You absolutely can not go back to any text in the Hebrew Scriptures and say this is valid now, including all the stuff against gays or whatever it is. Because it’s not the way to read the Bible.
Again, James Martin says the same:
All these Bible passages that people throw at you; I think really need to be understood in their historical context. I mean Leviticus and Deuteronomy and even the stuff from the New Testament where Paul talks about it once or twice, has to be understood in their historical context…certainly in Old Testament times, they didn’t understand the phenomena of homosexuality and bisexuality as we do today.
From June 29th to July 1, 2018, Holleran will offer a retreat at the Copper Beech Institute entitled: Buddha & Christ: Their Life & Destiny. According to the description for the retreat:
Both Buddhism and Christianity begin with actual historical figures. Come and explore their lives and the fascinating points of comparison. Also, see how their followers treated the two in succeeding centuries, and how they might collaborate today to uplift the consciousness of humanity — and your own!
In 2009, Holleran took part in a Zen ceremony in which he “received Dharma Transmission as a Sensei in the White Plum Asanga of the Zen tradition” from Roshi Robert Kennedy, S.J. – Kennedy is a professor emeritus at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey.
Please contact the Archdiocese of New York:
Cardinal Timothy Dolan Phone: 212-371-1000
1011 First Ave New York, NY 10022
No. It is hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is pretending to a virtue you neither possess nor aspire to. These men are not pretending to virtue: they are not claiming they are chaste, for instance. They are saying chastity is bunk.
The priests you reference are anti-Catholics within the Catholic church.
No. Those priests are Roman Catholic priests. Ya'll don't get to pick and choose who is or is not legit.
The whole world would be better off if the Catholics were Catholic, and the others would leave.
The whole world would be better off if people were followers of Christ...and only Christ.
Yep. The Church of Rome. The Whore of Babylon.
The Catholic church is not living holy nor does it represent holiness when it hosts cocaine fueled homosexual orgies.
You can appeal all you want to the hypothetical and theoretical, but the reality of the situation is that it’s wrong and in no way holy, and in no way indicative of Christ protecting the church.
And the *Church is full of sinners, too.* meme is just excuse making.
Yes, there are people who sin who adhere to any congregation, but when the leadership not only refuses to apply church discipline, but rather engages in the most heinous sin itself and then covers up for it, there’s no way that it has the right to bear the name of Christ.
The letters to the seven churches in Revelation show how serious Christ is about the churches being kept pure.
Church leadership is expected to apply church discipline. That’s one of their jobs.
And the total irony is Catholics then rag on others about cheap grace and feeling like we san sin with impunity and live as we please and still make it to heaven, and yet in practice, that’s EXACTLY what Roman Catholicism advocates.
Same here.
Satanic insanity.
By your very own definition, it’s hypocrisy.
The Catholic church pretends to be something it isn’t.
It puts on a good show in words and more than falls short in action.
Nobody cares so much about what people say.
But they sure do care a lot about what people DO.
Does he just cut out all the parts where God calls homosexual acts an ABOMINATION? Does he just ignore that parts that the Holy Spirit says:
But I did not mean to defend them -- AT ALL -- because I think what they are doing now is worse than hypocrisy. Hypocrisy hides its vices. But this new infidelity consists in not hiding vices, but rather celebrating them.
A hypocrite might, for instance, preach wholesome Christian marriage while secretly committing adultery with the choir director. But worse, is a person who does not *even* preach wholesome Christian marriage: a person who (to continue the example) suavely says he's juggin' the choir director and it's OK, it's "love," it's "open marriage."
In other words, worse than a hypocrite is a shameless person who won't even hide his vices and *pretend* to be following the perennial laws of God wgich the Church has always taught.
These people do not represent "The Church". They represent the betrayal of the Church. I'm sure you can see that.
My first thought was that is literally the stupidest thing I have ever heard. But that's wrong: the problem here isn't stupidity. The problem here is demonic evil.
The "Church", however, is NOT the Roman Catholic church but the universal one, sanctified body of Jesus Christ, His Bride - where all genuine believers in Christ are like living stones, being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Any time you try to assert that "your" denomination is "THE" church outside of which NO ONE can be saved, you are practicing elitist, erroneous, religious snobbery that has no support from God. His holy word tells us this. The journey to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ - who died for our sins and was raised for our justification.
Yeah, the devil is not stupid. And demons were once angels; they’ve been around a lot longer, and they’re experts at misleading lesser spirits such as we. The Holy Spirit clearly does not dwell in this “priest”, if he thinks Jesus lacked understanding. He’s missing our only real sure defense against deception.
If that is the case their terminations should be issued no later than tomorrow.
That they still have a job is astounding.
So far all we've seen from the Roman Catholic church is a shell game where the offending priests are moved around with no terminations.
The problem isn’t that these people exist.
The problem is that the Catholic leadership is either so weak or so complicit that these people aren’t being thrown out on their ears.
With poor leaders, the people aren’t being told the Gospel. Without the Gospel, there’s no Jesus. Without Jesus, there’s no church.
And the institution that calls itself Catholic is becoming more and more an enemy of Christ.
Your comment: “The Catholic church is not living holy nor does it represent holiness when it hosts cocaine fueled homosexual orgies.”
1. The Church is not holy because of her members. She is holy because her founder, Jesus Christ, is holy.
When we say that the Church is holy, we do not mean that all of her members have ceased to be sinners and have themselves become perfectly holy. On the contrary, the Church from the beginning, in her human dimension, has been composed of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “all members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners” (CCC 299). Yet the Church, properly understood, is not comprised solely of sinful human beings. St. Paul reminds us that Jesus Christ is the head of his body, the Church (Col. 1:18), and that the Church’s holiness is derived from her mystical union with Him (1 Cor. 12:12-13).
2. The Church is holy because the Holy Spirit (the Sanctifier) lives and dwells in her.
On the Feast of Pentecost, Jesus poured out the promise of his Holy Spirit upon the Church and filled her with supernatural life (Acts 2:1-4). Just as the Holy Spirit dwelt in the human body of Christ, so He now dwells in Christ’s mystical body and makes her holy. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church.
“For just as the body is one has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:-12-13).
3. The Church is holy because Christ has made of her an instrument of sanctification.
The Church was founded for no other reason than to continue Christ’s redemptive and sanctifying work in the world. By filling his Church with the Holy Spirit, Jesus has endowed her with supernatural life and the full means of salvation and sanctification. He has made the Church herald of his holy gospel, teacher of his holy doctrine, and minister of his holy sacraments (Mt. 28:19-20).
From the very beginning, the Church has been equipped with the means to help make holy the sinners who are found in her ranks. The Church has been entrusted with the holy sacraments along with the God’s holy word precisely in order to be able to help make sinners holy. It was in this sense that the Apostle Paul declared,
“Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27).
4. The Church on earth is endowed with a holiness that is real though imperfect.
There is an old latin axiom, “Ecclesia semper reformanda est” (The Church is always to be reformed). The Church, while possessing true sanctity from her divine source, is nevertheless always in need of reform and purification on account of the sinfulness of her members. She is therefore at the same time holy yet imperfect. The Catechism puts it this way:
“The Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real though imperfect.”In her members perfect holiness is something yet to be acquired: “Strengthened by so many and such great means of salvation, all the faithful, whatever their condition or state - though each in his own way - are called by the Lord to that perfection of sanctity by which the Father himself is perfect” (CCC 825).
The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity (CCC 827).
Therefore, when we speak of the Church’s mark of holiness, we always do so in reference to her divine source (The Holy Trinity) and to what the Church was established and empowered by God to do, and not the condition or status of her members.
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/on-your-marks-the-church-is-holy
1) Catholic does not mean Roman Catholic.
2) Church does not mean Roman Catholic.
It's not the job of the church to sanctify.
That is God's work through the word and the Holy Spirit.
John 17:17-19 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Acts 26:14-18 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Romans 15:15-16 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
I strongly agree. This seems to be the Great Apostasy which was prophesied in Revelation and in so many Marian messages.
That’s why I left the Catholic Church. I was sick to death, of not having a clue, whether I was going to Heaven or Hell. Now, I have assurance of salvation, something that I NEVER had as a Catholic. It’s a beautiful thing. Everyone should try it. 😁🙃🤣 If people have no assurance, that’s on them, for they surely can.
You are entitled to believe in Luther’s, Calvin’s or any other church founded by man, but I believe in the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ as taught by the apostles and their successors. All are welcome to find the Truth in the Catholic Church.
I am glad that you believe in Jesus Christ, even if one does not believe in all of the teachings of Jesus. I am glad that many try to follow God and do His will and avoid evil. I have never said that anyone who was not a member of the Catholic Church could not be saved. That is a decision made by Jesus on all of us upon one’s death.
I believe in the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ and imbued with the Holy Spirit as stated in the Nicene Creed.
Christ’s Last Commission
Some important lessons follow from the consideration of the final commission of our blessed Lord:
All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world. (Matt. 28:18)
Note first of all that Christ claims universal kingship. In the light of that see the force of therefore. It is because Christ is king that the apostles are going out to teach all nations. See then the significance of the fourfold all: “all power,” “all nations,” “all things,” and “all days.” There could hardly be a more cogent statement of the universality of the Church throughout all ages and throughout the world. Moreover it is a visible Church because only a visible Church can teach and be taught. There is, too, that final statement of our blessed Lord’s perpetual presence in his Church, something he had already emphasized several times in his discourse after the Last Supper. It follows that this Church must be one.
The rest of the article: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/christs-visible-church
There is no mention in the New Testament nor any suggestion that Christ founded a plurality of churches. The parallels used to describe the Church reinforce the idea of strict unity. It is to be a household, a sheepfold, a flock. Our Lord declared specifically: “Other sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:16). In this quotation the Greek refers both to one fold and to one flock. He had also given a warning against divisions: “Every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matt. 12:25). . . .
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