Catholic Beliefs Threatened

The Catholic News Service recently quoted Pope Benedict XVI as saying that ‘Catholic beliefs are not open to popular vote’.

Pope Benedict XVI is absolutely correct ‘Catholicism is not open to popular vote or democracy’.   However, there is little doubt that the institutional Church under Pope Benedict is operated under a distinct form of autocracy or even a theocracy.  History teaches that the Roman Catholic Church once claimed the role of supreme ruler of the world (a role Jesus clearly rejected while spending 40 days in the desert).  It is precisely this form of institutional religion Jesus came to reject and turn upside down. By following a way of life as lived by Jesus we no longer have the need for earthly power or control.  When our communities are places where everyone is welcome we will discover the true meaning of God's unconditional love.  Here we lead by example not by fixed dogmas or doctrine which has brought the world so much division and exclusion.

God did not create us to be robots.  God created us for greatness endowed with holiness and diversity. God created us to become responsible adults trusting in the Holy Spirit. God created us as unique individuals to share our diverse gifts as a means of unity and reject any feelings of superiority.  Even before we were adults we were confirmed in the Holy Spirit.  Has Benedict forgotten that ‘the People of God’ through this sacrament were assured that ‘the Holy Spirit will teach us all we need to know’? (Jn 14:26; Lk. 12:12) Now Benedict XV! would have us surrender what God gave us freely through his Holy Spirit.  Why? Because the Vatican seeks power and control by reinforcing and centralising its hierarchical institution.  Benedict has rejected many of the visions held by Vatican II.  For example , why is collegiality is no longer practised, and why must theologians now surrender their God given inspiration to the Bishops?  And why must the laity now surrender and hide their gifts of the Holy Spirit under a bushel? (Mt. 5:14-15) What has happened to the supremacy of the individual conscience as stated in the documents of Vatican II? There simply is no hierarchy among Kingdom people.     

Jesus never wrote anything down and never insisted we embrace or practise his Jewish religion.  Jesus merely asked we become kingdom people. Isn’t that what we pray for when we say let ‘thy Kingdom come’? Here is the place where God accepts us as we are not as others would have us be.  Here is the place we have no need for condemnation, scapegoating or separation from all others be they relativists, secularists, atheists, gays etc., etc.. Here is the place where God is only interested in our potential not our sins.  Here is the place where it is safe to acknowledge that the ‘Devil’ or ‘Satan’ is none other than our individual ego’s which is responsible for so much pain and suffering in the world.  Here is the place we will discover that the life we lead is not about us, but rather about God experiencing himself through each of us in a unique and mysterious way.

Democracy versus Autocracy

Old and New model of church

The term ‘People of God’ was first introduced by Vatican II in its document now known as the ‘Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Church’ (Lumen Gentium). This document radically introduced a church that has moved away from the previous overemphasis on the hierarchy to a concept of church as including the whole people of God. Thus the major shift at Vatican II was from a church too concerned with juridical and the official church aware of itself as a mystery that expresses the love of God for all humankind.

Pope Benedict XVI on several occasions firmly criticized dissent from church teachings as disobedience of God's will.  While this charge would affect an estimated 90+ percent of Catholic women who have practiced birth control at one time of more during their lives – it is hardly encouraging for any meaningful and true dialogue between the faithful and the clergy on matters of faith.    

In this regard “the body of the faithful as a whole, anointed as they are by the Holy One (cf. 1 John 2:20,27), cannot err in matters of belief. Thanks to a supernatural sense of the faith (sensus fidei) which characterizes the people as a whole, it manifests this unerring quality when ‘from the bishops down to the last member of the laity,’ it shows universal agreement on matters of faith and morals” (Lumen Gentium, 12).

When Benedict quotes his understanding of “sensus fidei” he subordinates its meaning by adding that this sense of faith “can come only when Catholics actively participate in the life of the church and follow the teaching of the pope and bishops”.  In other words, only the Catholic hierarchy alone holds the truth.    

The Church Is a Democracy

Daniel C. Maguire, Professor of Ethics at Marquette University offers this valuable insight on why the Church Is a Democracy  

http://www.religiousconsultation.org/Church_IS_a_Democracy.htm

Respect for Religion

In a letter, dated November 11, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI addresses Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling for “respect in each person's relationship with God as an essential part of building a just social order and real peace, as being vital for peace in the Middle East.” A summary of this letter appeared in the National Catholic Reporter dated November 12.


While this blog is not intended to diminish the serious nature of this announcement against a background of increased persecution of Catholic minorities in the Middle East the letter from the Pope did justifiably prompt this uncensored response by Justina Collini to the National Catholic Reporter on Nov. 12, 2010.

“1. The pope lacks respect for RCC religion. He suppresses theologians, clergy, religious men, and women, anyone who does not lockstep with his own bizarre idea of the RCC faith.


2. He lacks respect for Jesus as he refuses to be the image, the vicar of Jesus as he will not tolerate requests of the people, will not allow dialogue or discussion therefore that makes him not at all like Jesus.


Read MATTHEW and other books of the bible. Jesus states we are to make requests; Jesus encourages discussion, arguments, dialogue. He praises the Phoenician woman for requesting he heal beyond the children of Israel, "Woman, how great is your faith." He praises the theological questioning and sincere arguments of the wonderful Samarian Woman Apostle. He disrespects Jesus by considering girls and women too "different" too" unclean" and "not man-like" enough to be in the sacred part of a church or to touch anything sacred, when Jesus invited women to do exactly that and healed, allowed "unclean" hemorrhaging woman to touch his sacred self.


3. The pope lacks respect not only for freedom of religious inquiry, scholarship, freedom of conscience.


4. This pope lacks respect for all other Christian churches, calling them non-churches. Ridiculous and severe lack of respect for religion is what this pope BXVI is about. He is very damaging and does great disservice to the RCC and the world.


5. He lacks respect for our brothers and sisters of the book, the Jews, and had reinstated prejudicial prayers against Jews in the Latin mass.


6. He showed his lack of respect for Muslims in his remarks a few years ago. It is so hypocritical for him to try to pretend he respects religion.


7. The pope lacks respect for women and treats them as breeders of priests and laity, as grunt free labour for the church, as subhuman beings not at all as good as men or boys are. He does not respect the creations of God who are female.


8. He lacks respect for religion by not respecting homosexuals. He has self-loathing for any but hidden, secretive homosexuals. He denies human rights to homosexuals and is cynical and hypocritical, His idea of chaste celibate priesthood is no sacrifice at all as most have no sexual interest in women, and by his condoning and hiding, enabling abuse of children and seminarians, he shows he actually understands, allows and condones pedophilia of these really non-celibate priests if it is kept quiet and hidden.”

While I believe that the Pope was correct in asking the leaders of Iran to respect the religion or beliefs of non Muslims in their country, Benedict must also offer that same respect to those Catholics who challenge his ideas of what it means to be a member of his fold. In recent years the Catholic hierarchy seems bent on reversing the advances of Vatican II and implement changes without consultation or dialogue with any of its faithful followers. Accordingly the Roman Catholic hierarchy is creating a religion devoid of God’s mystery, a religion based on absolutism, a religion that continues to celebrate the glories of a medieval past and therefore unable to serve its people in the present, a religion that exists strictly for the purpose of ‘pomp and circumstance’, a religion unable to learn from and come to terms with its dark past, i.e., persecution of pagans, heretics, Jews and gays. A religion bound in legalism from which it can pronounce those who belong and those that don’t - a religion that interprets ‘ecumenism’ to the exclusion of all other faiths and religions in the world. A religion that insists that repentance is the way to reform but unable to recognize and accept its own shortcomings. A religion that speaks of dialogue, freedom, hope, compassion and peace at the exclusion of those it serves - a religion that fails to listen and respect people like Justina Collini and more than one billion faithful Roman Catholic followers.

A Bishop’s Lament

Our Catholic bishops have been taught that they are the successors of the apostles and are therefore endowed with unquestionable knowledge and wisdom. Many were but a great number were not. Has anyone ever considered that the apostles would not qualify as Catholic bishops today? For example, the apostles:

• were allowed to marry
  
• continued to celebrate their Jewish heritage and traditions
  
• did not speak Latin
  
• never read the Bible (probably could not even read)
  
• did not receive indoctrination into Catholic Tradition and way of life.
  
• never recited the 'Hail Mary'.
• would not have understood the words 'Church', 'bishop', dogma, doctrine or term 'excommunication'
  
• would not have worn a crucifix
  
• did not wear a mitre or silk clothing
  
• lived in simple homesteads
  

Perhaps the only thing the apostles held in common with today's bishops is that they frequently misunderstood Jesus true message.


Now that we perhaps reached a better understanding of who our bishops are, we may begin to see how they have influenced our understanding of our Catholic Tradition as presented by Fr. Tom Doyle as follows:


The Church is a visible institution. The Church teaches as official dogma that the Church as we know it, that is, a hierarchical structure that is totally run by celibate male clerics (mostly bishops), was instituted by Jesus Himself. The Church teaches that the pope is the representative (Vicar) of Christ on earth. It teaches that Christ founded His church and left it in the control of the twelve apostles and explicitly willed that these apostles pass this power down to their successors. Consequently the official teaching is that the visible church is run by men who have been explicitly chosen by the Supreme Being. Furthermore the Church teaches that priests are fundamentally different than other humans. They are, in the words of John Paul II, uniquely configured to Christ. Catholics are taught to believe that priests are special. They represent Jesus Christ. They have very special spiritual powers. Their intercession is essential for anyone who wishes to make it to heaven in the next life.


This teaching is the foundation for the clerical culture that runs the Church. Clericalism is the belief that clerics (deacons, priests and bishops) are superior to lay persons and are rightfully entitled to deference, unquestioned respect and exemption from many of the obligations born by most lay people. This clerical world is the home of the men who make up the Church power structure. The Church teaches that this structure is the church. To be a Catholic, one must believe totally in the teachings about the nature of the church strictures and the sacredness of the Church's clerical ministers.


If all of these teachings were true, would there be a need for all of the secrecy? If these teachings were true, especially about the "Christ-like" nature of priests and bishops, would there be such widespread corruption, dishonesty and abuse found among clerics at every level?


If all of these things were true! The problem is that there is no authentic historical evidence that any of it is true. The various titles, roles and offices attributed to popes, bishops and priests are not products of divine revelation but of human invention, often as a response and reaction to serious external threats to the power and wealth of the clerical aristocracy. For example, and it's a good example, Papal Infallibility was literally invented by Pope Pius IX and forced through the First Vatican Council . . . for political reasons. The pope's kingdom, the Papal States, was threatened with dissolution by the Italian social upheaval at the time. Likewise the title "Vicar of Christ" was part of a conscious program of a medieval pope to fortify papal power. This title has had a long and complex and by no means consistent history. It was not applied to the Papacy until the 13th century when Pope Innocent III took it to enhance his overall program of actively concentrating just about all power in the Church in the papacy.


Consequently this massive institution seeks above all to preserve itself. Sexual abuse of children or anyone by members of the sacred elite is potentially disastrous for the image, credibility and hence the power of the Church. The bishops really believe that they are essential to the existence of the Church. Therefore protecting the hierarchy is essential and believed to be God's will. The popes and the bishops did not have to conspire to keep sexual abuse by clergy buried as deeply as possible. The secretive response is in the blood of the bishops. It is rooted in the fundamental urge to survive. Disruption and disintegration of the monarchical structures of the Church means the end of the system of power and control as we know it. This poses an unthinkable threat to the clergy and to the clerical world. The threat is personal because this world, this monarchical institution, this magical theological support system is the past, present and future of the bishops. It is their source of identity. To change or destroy it is a threat to the very being of the clerics who feed off of it.


Readers are invited to read Fr. Doyle's entire text at http://www.richardsipe.com/Doyle/2010/2010-07-25.htm


More than twenty five years ago, the Rev. Thomas Doyle warned the nation's Roman Catholic bishops about the church's looming sexual abuse nightmare. Since then, he has become a hero to the victims, speaking out on their behalf and helping them in legal cases in recent years. In doing so, Father Doyle also became a thorn in the side of the church hierarchy.For more on Fr. Doyle please read: http://www.snapnetwork.org/news/otherstates/doyle_loses_job.htm


The Lament of a bishop: "Wherever Jesus went there was a revolution; wherever I go people serve tea!" Anthony deMello, SJ.

on Religious Intolerance

There is no longer any doubt that there is a growing crisis within the Catholic Church today. A crisis that could set back the Church more than four hundred years. Many Catholics unwillingly find themselves on opposite ends of the religious spectrum. As the Vatican desperately clings to many outdated teachings and the need for more control; more people are leaving and seeking meaning in other Christ like life giving communities. The obsessive pursuit for control could eventually spell the demise of the entire Church. While many ordinary Catholics continue to question the mystery of God the Church insists that it already has the privileged but arrogant position of possessing all the necessary truths. All that is expected from the rest is an unquestioning obedience to all Church teachings. Failure to comply is once again seen as heresy. This unhealthy position has put many searching Catholics in direct opposition with the ruling hierarchy of the Church as well as members of their own community. The Church steadfastly ignores the fact that many Catholics have a much broader understanding of what it means to be ‘church’ in a multi-religious community. For the first time in history more lay people are studying theology than members of the clergy.

Ignoring the call for the reforms instituted by Vatican II the hierarchy persists in implementing more and more rigid forms of orthodoxy. It is understandable then that a vast number of Catholics, throughout the world, are experiencing profound feelings of alienation from the faith and Church they once embraced. For its part the Catholic hierarchy makes no apologies for its unbending position and unwillingness to enter into dialogue with its followers especially anyone who does not agree with its teachings. In fact Pope Benedict XVI has stated on several occasions that the future of the Church will depend on a much smaller community of believers. Just think of what kind of Catholic that will be? It seems that today the Catholic Church will no longer tolerate anyone who dares question authority. It has even inaugurated various forms of punishment, ranging from withholding communion, to silencing and finally excommunication. Right wing elements, drunkenly empowered with the support of the Vatican, have launched specific campaigns to shame and condemn entire factions within their own Catholic community! This has caused some courageous individuals such Jesuit Fr. Kavanaugh to conclude: 'We Catholics are in danger of becoming known not by how we love but by how we hate.'

Many parishioners today fearful about growing problems such as the economy, global warming, swine-flu, or war in the middle east find that their greater spiritual needs go completely unanswered. Working on a diet of fear; hardly a week goes by when the Church does not issue a stern warning about what a Catholic is to believe or not to believe and practise. Most official Church edicts are expressed in difficult or archaic legalistic terms which tend to create more division than understanding. The terms are reminiscent of the G.W. Bush era when the latter stated ‘if you are not with us, you are against us’! In the absence of true dialogue there can only by division.

Catholic news services provide an alarming increase in the spreading division among Catholics believers. An on-line edition of an US based Catholic weekly today carried the following headline “Kansas City Bishop to pro-lifers: ‘We are at War!” In his rant to a group of high school students, the Bishop was not condemning non-believers but all Catholics who may not agree with his opinion!!! His religious intolerance combined with a constant use of the term ‘warriors’ for God, to fight those who stand in his way, spoke in a manner reminiscent of a return to the dark ages, the crusades, Spanish Inquisition and burning of people at the stake. Canadian readers should note that the issue of abortion has several important political ramifications unique to the recent Democratic election USA.

As the battle for orthodoxy heats up the Church will continue to polarize its remaining followers instead of building bridges to those it has so shamelessly abandoned. Is there not enough religious intolerance in the world today?