Catholic/Protestant Post - San Antonio Cathedral Hosts Neo-Pagan Lay Liturgy

The Wanderer | May 20, 2003

[NYer]

A parody of the Mass was held in the newly renovated San Fernando Cathedral - the oldest cathedral in the US - on April 29, 2003 when a ceremony honoring the pagan goddess Sophia was celebrated as part of an ecumenical event for Catholics and representatives of varius Protestant groups sponsored by the Pastoral Summit.

Though the chief “celebrant” of this pagan liturgy was a nun, Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, the liturgy was “created” by Fr. Jake Emperereur, S.J., vicar and liturgist at the cathedral.

The pagan liturgy, officially called a “community worship service,” opened with the congregation turning to the baptismal font at the entrance to the cathedral.

After the water in the baptismal font was “sanctified” in the name of Sophia and Wisdom, participants in the entrance procession danced toward and into the sanctuary, sprinkling the audience with this water.

Next an offertory meal of bread and wine and fruits was brought in, and a select group of three women ritualistically set the meal on the altar. Sr. Kirk then appeared to “consecrate” the bread, fruit and wine, and a communion-like sharing was held in which the overwhelming majority of the audience participatd by breaking a piece of bread from the large loaves and consuming it.

After a short skit about Kind David and Sophia, the troupe held an exit procession.

The Pastoral Summit, led by noted Catholic author Paul Wilkes, a leader in the movement to establish a lay-run church, will hold similar three-day events in Indianapolis, and Boston in coming months.

The featured speakers at the San Antonio event, held April 28, 29 and 30, were Notre Dame professor Scott Appleby and Ruby Bridges, who, as a little girl, symbolized the integration of New Orleans public schools.

In Indianapolis, June 17-19, featured speakers will be Ken Fong and Fr. David Cozzens, while in Boston, October 6-8, the featured speakers will be Alice McDermott and Huston Smith.

The sponsor of the Pastoral Summit was the Lilly Endowment, and attendees for the summit came from across the US to learn and share information on what makes successful worship and parishes.

[ninenot]

The Caudillo would probably have thrown someone in jail for doing that during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

...but the Inquisition would have had a BETTER response than jail....

[Antoninus]

Sadly enough, this ain't the first time something like this happened in San Antonio. This article also shows a good way to fight back against this sort of nonsense...

Parishioners Disrupt New Age Ritual In Church
(Special to The Wanderer)
August 16, 2001

SAN ANTONIO - More than 100 Catholics disrupted a week long New Age nature worship workshop led by local Amchurch religious educator Deborah Hanus, held here at St. Dominic's Church, in order to draw attention to the Archdiocese of San Antonio's promotion of objectionable spiritualities through the "ecumenical" Center for Spiritual Growth and the Contemplative Life.

Parishioners became alarmed at the "Nurturing and Creativity" service, for which 20 participants paid $250 each, when they noticed the sanctuary of the church had been rearranged for the program.

Arriving for morning Mass on Monday, July 23, parishioners found their church rearranged into a strange configuration. The altar had been removed and placed in a corner, and a prop doorway put in its place. Behind the doorway stood a little altar with a basket holding loaves of bread.

Chairs were arranged in concentric circles around the little altar. All of this was positioned in front of the tabernacle.

Five parishioners, all members of the lay activist organization Defenders of the Magisterium, understood immediately that that their church was being prepared for New Age rituals, since Dr. Hanus, one of Archbishop Patrick Flores' top religious educators, has had a long and public career as a promoter of New Age spirituality.

A frequent workshop leader for Catholic school and religion teachers, who must attend her sessions for certification by the diocese, Hanus hosts such seminars as "Exploring Your Soul Map."

At one session, held on the evening of November 11, 1998, Hanus intoned:

"Salute to the sun. Become aware of your body, breathe in the spirit, exhale resistance. Call upon your God, who is God for you tonight, call upon that name. Call upon your own name, breathe it in, breathe it out, what does your heart desire? Pray our mantra, salute to the sun."

As the Catholic school teachers went down on the floor, lying prone on their bellies, she continued: "Pray your mantra over and over. Feel the moment of the spirit, turn to the people with whom you are making your journey, bow to them with hands folded. Bow to the God within each person honoring the God within. Let us all say, 'Amen'."

As the teachers laughed and sat down, Hanus continued:

"Awaking to the God within, and crossing the threshold to the new life, sometimes we have resistance. God became man, so man could become God. We are called to become divine. We make that through a love of what it means to be human. We are called to be embodied spirits as Catholics. It's our body which makes us experience spirit, not the other way around."

Hanus was also featured in a San Antonio Express-News article in April 1999, accompanied by a large photograph of her and her friends praying before a crystal ball, surrounded by a ring of 13 candles.

One month before Hanus' "retreat" was scheduled at St. Dominic's, Ed Hinojosa, a parishioner, met with the pastor, Fr. Paul Cleary, and asked if he had approved the program.

Cleary responded, "Who is Deborah Hanus?"

Hinojosa then produced the picture of Hanus praying before the crystal hall, and gave it to the priest and left. Several days later, an angry pastoral assistant, Sue Graves, confronted Hinojosa, and informed him that Archbishop Flores had approved the "retreat.”

The retreat began on Monday, July 23. Parishioners had found their church different that morning; but by that evening, when the prayer groups arrived, many parishioners were visibly upset by what they found, particularly a tablecloth covered in what appeared to be Wiccan symbols.

While most of Hanus' retreat did take place in the religious educational center, the church was available to the retreat group, and parishioners were advised not to be in the church when the retreat group was there.

Later that evening, Hinojosa was called and informed that people were "freaking out” in church and told to get there fast.

Hinojosa found women crying and saw someone sprinkling holy water on the small altar and its objects.

The next day, Hinojosa spoke with Fr. Paul again, and pleaded with the priest to put an end to the retreat. Other parishioners complained as well but to no avail.

No one knew what to do because Fr. Cleary had given his pastoral assistant full backing on bringing Hanus to the parish, and the parishioners knew that Archbishop Flores approved of Deborah Hanus.

Parishioners decided to call other parishioners and Hinojosa called the president of the Defenders of the Magisterium, Edmundo Vargas. Vargas agreed to meet Hinojosa and other Defenders at, the parish on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday, the Defenders learned Hanus was going to give a party, with entertainment by local New Age promoter and musician Rudi Harst of the Celebration Circle (see his web site: www.celebrationcircle.org), which proclaims:

"Welcome to the Celebration Circle of San Antonio. Please join us as we celebrate the Sacred Oneness within ourselves, each other, and all Creation. Our Purpose is to affirm and support you in being who You truly are - whatever your lifestyle, circumstances, or spiritual beliefs.

"The Circle has been meeting since 1992. We follow a ritual for- mat influenced by a variety of spiritual and cultural sources. We learn from the wisdom of the Native American, Christian, Jewish, Celtic Hindu, Taoist, Muslim, and Buddhist teachings - as well as contemporary science, psychology, and the recovery movement.

“We explore our common ground by experiencing and expressing Spirit through the Sacred Arts - music, meditation, movement, ritual, prayer, and poetry."

Again, the Defenders knew exactly who Harst was, for members had videotaped a performance he gave at a New Age ceremony it the University of Incarnate Word in October 1999.

The party started in the religious education building and parishioners began to arrive in the church to pray. Over 100 people came, along with a reporter from the Express-News, Scott Huddleston.

Accompanied by Huddleston, several of the parishioners crashed Hanus' party, and went up to Harst, and told him flatly they knew who he was, for they had videotaped his performance at Incarnate Word. He turned red, and looked to Hanus.

Then Vargas showed Hanus photographs of her New Age altar in the church, and she shot back, "You have violated my copyrights. I asked that no pictures or recordings be made."

Vargas then explained the photograph and the occultic symbolism in the multicolored altar cloth, with its figures of the four directions and a mandala magic circle in the center.

Hanus abruptly ended the party and her group left.

The next morning people were seen removing the strange items from the church. While the retreat continued in the religious education building, Hanus and her group never returned to the church; parishioners had their church back. But many are wondering, does the church need to be reconsecrated?

Hanus told the Express-News' Huddleston that her "ecumenical" sessions were consistent with "accepted forms" of Christian worship.

"We have done only things that are within the scope of the Catholic tradition," Hanus told him.

Hanus also told Huddleston that she "didn't mean to upset the parishioners. She said the symbols and religious practices taught in the workshop were not an affront to Catholic tradition. She denied her group was worshiping nature."

[Antoninus]

This picture goes with the story in post 22.

Caption: Retreat in session, Deborah Hanus is standing before the door. The doorkeeper guards the gates to the mandala palace, so that only the rightful disciples can get through.

Speaks for itself.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

At the high point of the mass, when it's time to proclaim the gospel, the priest joins in and dances with the 10 or 12 professional Flamenco dancers.

No words can express........

[Desdemona]

Holy Cow. And in this context that takes on many meanings.

She taught this stuff here? Argh!

[narses]

I believe there are members of religous orders here and I know there are those conversant in Canon Law. What happened here? Was it a violation of Canon Law? What penalties ought to accrue if so, and what remedies are needed to make the Church whole again, assuming a wound?

[narses]

Don't wonder, don't wander. In times past, Popes have bought and sold the Papacy, far worse abuses have occurred and the Keys have nonetheless held out. God's Promise is real, his Word is Good.

[Land of the Irish]

Thanks, NYer, for taking the time and effort to transcribe this distressing article.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"the Inquisition would have had a BETTER response than jail..."

Yes, and here it is:
http://www.ladyofthecake.com/mel/world/sounds/inquisition.wav

[dsc]

Hello, Satan.

It's convenient that I can speak directly to you through Fr. Emperereur.

As you know, in the end, the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church.

Great deal, eh? You get to lose in the end, then spend eternity in suffering on top of it.

Although rebuking sinners is one of the seven spiritual acts of mercy, I won't waste my breath calling on Fr. Emperereur to repent, because he is so deeply in your pocket that he couldn't if he wanted to.

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio;
contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.
Imperat illi Deus; supplices deprecamur: tuque,
Princeps militiae coelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus
malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in
mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen

As you already know who I am, being a spiritual being of great power, I will deny you the opportunity to use your puppet, Fr. Emperereur, to dismiss this e-mail as "anonymous."

(signed)

[B Knotts]

I'm not an ultra-traditionalist or anything...but it's stuff like this that tempts people, myself included, to move in that general direction.

I suppose all we can do with people like this is pray for them.

[B Knotts]

There is no such thing as valid "liturgical dance." It is never valid during a Mass.

[TotusTuus]

Christos Voskrese!

I noticed somebody incorrectly put "SCHISM" in as a keyword.

I put in "APOSTATE" to correct it.

[JNB]

Is it any surprise that Abp Flores was appointed to Bishop of San Antonio when Abp Jean Jadot was Papal Nuncio of the US? Abp Jadot deserves at King card in the deck if dissent.

[NYer]

Other men who became bishops during Jadot's tenure in the United States include Rochester Bishop Matthew Clark; Albany's Howard Hubbard; former Santa Fe Archbishop Roberto Sanchez, who resigned in a sex scandal; former San Jose Bishop Pierre DuMaine; former Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario; San Antonio Archbishop Patrick Flores; former Newark Archbishop Peter Gerety; Joliet,Ill., Bishop Joseph Imesch; Louisville Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, O.P., a former staffer at the apostolic nuncio under Jadot; Bernard Cardinal Law of Boston (whom Jadot selected as bishop for Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo.); Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk; Saginaw, Mich., Bishop Kenneth Untener -to name a few more - all of whom, supposedly, mirrore

Thank you! I have always wondered how these men became bishops. Now I know the connection. Look at each of these dioceses - are any of them without scandal? I can personally attest for Albany and we have all witnessed the near collapse of the Boston diocese.

Do you have a source for that? It's worth bookmarking.

[Conservative til I die]

Disgusting. An offense to God.

[Tantumergo]

A picture of Cereberus standing before the gates of Hades would be far less vile than this foul-mouthed monster!

St. Phineas - pray for us!

Num 25:1 "And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication with the daughters of Moab,
2 Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.
3 And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,
4 Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.
6 And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.
7 And when Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst; of the multitude, and taking a dagger,
8 Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel:
9 And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.
10 And the Lord said to Moses:
11 Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.
12 Therefore say to him: Behold I give him the peace of my covenant,
13 And the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness of the children of Israel."

[Tantumergo]

The Pope's personal e-mail address is as follows:

john_paul_ii@vatican.va.

Note that there is an underscore between john and paul and between paul and ii. I dread to think how many messages he gets each day - I imagine he has someone to vet them all for him!

P.S. don't tell him I gave it to you though! ;)

[drstevej]

Forget emailing JPII eleveate me to Pope Piel I and this New Age nun will be publically excommunicated in St. Peter's square. Her habit will be also publically burned.

And Fr. Jake Emperereur, S.J., will have to wear a cassock of sackcloth with a sign saying "In my case, SJ stands for Spiritual Jerk" on the front and a sign saying "Kick Me if You Love Jesus" on the back.

[Revelation 911]

this is just so wrong and sad on so many levels - the only ecumenism should be thursdays breakfast among local pastors and preists

as for this pagan nonsense - it just makes me sick