Here is a group that you would think would be exemplary in their outlook but when you hear what they have to say about others you begin to see how they are more a "cult" than faithful followers of Jesus Christ. It is sad and perhaps a good example of what happens when people exhalt themselves against the Church.
I grew up just a few miles from where they are located. They weren't there when I lived there over twenty-five years ago, but even when I was living there the area was a refuge for hippie communes and other seeking to flea the city. Granted, the Boston Globe probably was fishing for just such quotes but sadly it looks like they got more than there share.
For the full story go to the Boston Globe, here is a snipet of the more sane part of the story:
In Richmond, a small town south of Keene, those traditions are immediately on display, ideas and rituals so powerful that people are willing to live at odds with their own church hierarchy to preserve them.
On Sunday mornings, 200 to 300 people gather in a hilltop chapel, a low-ceilinged basement with wooden pews. The families are huge, some with as many as 11 children, displaying, a community leader says, "their noncontraceptive glory."
Before the Mass, they recite the rosary aloud, in unison, a chorus of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, as one man walks, praying, along the Stations of the Cross. Women wear black veils. A group of celibate women in black habits with white wimples sing Gregorian chant.
The priest faces a high altar, not the assembly, as he celebrates the pre-Vatican II Tridentine Rite Mass. He distributes Communion over a rail to communicants kneeling as they receive the Eucharist in their mouths.
"We're Catholic, and to be Catholic means to be traditional," said Sister Marie Therese, 35, the prioress and the principal of the community's school, which has 37 students. "It can't be something new."
The St. Benedict Center, a 200-acre complex featuring a few church buildings and land that is being sold to sympathetic families, is headed by a Catholic priest and is home to five celibate brothers and six celibate sisters, who are part of a religious order called the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Worship services attract between 200 and 300 each Sunday. Since 1989, about 20 to 30 families have moved to the area to be near the church.
This community, like others around the country, is out of step with the official Catholic Church. The residents are so-called Feeneyites, followers of the Rev. Leonard J. Feeney, a Boston priest who was silenced by Cardinal Richard J. Cushing in 1949 and dismissed from the Jesuit order because of his insistence that there is no salvation outside the church, a doctrine that runs contrary to current church teaching that anyone, even non-Christians, can get to heaven. Feeney died in 1978.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Happy Fasnacht!
Leave it to the English to turn it into "pancake Tuesday", there is something a little more interesting about the German name, probably because I hadn't heard of it before.
From EPICURIOUS: ENGLAND: SHROVE TUESDAY:
"Shrove Tuesday, the eve of Lent -- also known as Mardi Gras (literally 'fat Tuesday' in French), Carnival (from the Latin for 'farewell to the flesh'), and Fasnacht (the Germanic 'night of the fast') -- is celebrated across the world with riotous merrymaking and feasting.
While Brazilians samba in the streets of Rio, and New Orleans throws its most famous party of the year, the English celebrate with Pancake Tuesday. It may seem an unlikely last indulgence, but pancakes use up rich ingredients like butter and eggs from the larder before the pious Lenten fast. Families gather for sweet and savory pancake suppers, and housewives still compete in the peculiar tradition of donning their aprons and racing each other holding pancake-filled skillets. "
From EPICURIOUS: ENGLAND: SHROVE TUESDAY:
"Shrove Tuesday, the eve of Lent -- also known as Mardi Gras (literally 'fat Tuesday' in French), Carnival (from the Latin for 'farewell to the flesh'), and Fasnacht (the Germanic 'night of the fast') -- is celebrated across the world with riotous merrymaking and feasting.
While Brazilians samba in the streets of Rio, and New Orleans throws its most famous party of the year, the English celebrate with Pancake Tuesday. It may seem an unlikely last indulgence, but pancakes use up rich ingredients like butter and eggs from the larder before the pious Lenten fast. Families gather for sweet and savory pancake suppers, and housewives still compete in the peculiar tradition of donning their aprons and racing each other holding pancake-filled skillets. "
Monday, February 23, 2004
My Bookreview of Stalking the Divine
Scroll down on Marly Rusoff Literary Agency's web site to Stalking the Divine: Contemplating Faith With the Poor Clares by Kristin Ohlson is heralded as a modern classic by Catholic News Service. Click on "Read more..." and you'll notice that I'm the "reviewer."
Da Vinci Code Confusion?
Amy answers all of your questions with her new book, De-Coding Da Vinci: The facts behind the fiction of The Da Vinci Code...available April 5th, order your copy now atDe-Coding Da Vinci by Amy Welborn
"For the man who hit me."
Latest update on Father Benedict from Father Glenn:
"Father's arm is in great pain. He asked Brother Daniel and I to adjust the pillow under his hand; he grimaced. The wound on his head is healing nicely; his leg I couldn't see since it was covered. Considering the severity of the accident, he looked quite good. In fact, he spoke to me about the accident. He whispered, 'The car hit me at forty-five miles an hour', and then widened his eyes. 'A van stopped for me, but a car went around the right side and hit me'. Of course, Father remembers nothing after getting hit; in fact he was surprised when I told him Joe Campo and I were by his bed days after the accident. When I asked him with a smile if his life passed before his eyes or if he went through a white tunnel, he simply gave me his typical 'no, don't be stupid' look. It was so good to see that look!
Fr. Gene Fulton and I stood by his bed and celebrated Mass while Brother Daniel served. Actually, Father concelebrated as he lie there with Cardinal Cooke's simple white stole draped around his neck. My eyes kept darting in his direction to see if he was engaged during the Mass; he was, especially during the elevation. His eyes were locked on the host. The Mass was brief but very beautiful. During the Prayer of the Faithful, Father Gene offered a few petitions, then paused for us to offer our own. Father B mouthed the words, 'For the man who hit me'. What a beautiful example of love."
"Father's arm is in great pain. He asked Brother Daniel and I to adjust the pillow under his hand; he grimaced. The wound on his head is healing nicely; his leg I couldn't see since it was covered. Considering the severity of the accident, he looked quite good. In fact, he spoke to me about the accident. He whispered, 'The car hit me at forty-five miles an hour', and then widened his eyes. 'A van stopped for me, but a car went around the right side and hit me'. Of course, Father remembers nothing after getting hit; in fact he was surprised when I told him Joe Campo and I were by his bed days after the accident. When I asked him with a smile if his life passed before his eyes or if he went through a white tunnel, he simply gave me his typical 'no, don't be stupid' look. It was so good to see that look!
Fr. Gene Fulton and I stood by his bed and celebrated Mass while Brother Daniel served. Actually, Father concelebrated as he lie there with Cardinal Cooke's simple white stole draped around his neck. My eyes kept darting in his direction to see if he was engaged during the Mass; he was, especially during the elevation. His eyes were locked on the host. The Mass was brief but very beautiful. During the Prayer of the Faithful, Father Gene offered a few petitions, then paused for us to offer our own. Father B mouthed the words, 'For the man who hit me'. What a beautiful example of love."
The Late William Simon and a Golden Rosary
I've had several rosaries turn to gold, but I've never taken one to a jeweler for an appraisal. The late Secretary of the Treasury did and the jeweler told him that it was solid gold...
From Spirit Daily - Daily spiritual news from around the world:
"In the book, A Time for Reflection (Regnery), Simon, a multi-millionaire, then drops this bombshell:
'At Medjugorje, I was actually the recipient of a miracle. Medjugorje ('between the hills') is a small village in Bosnia-Hercegovina (formerly Yugoslavia) where, since 1981, the Blessed Mother has been appearing and giving messages to the world, mainly through six young people. Since the first apparitions in 1984, millions of people of all fgaiths have visited Medjugorje. Countless have been healed and converted.
'After our first Mass at Medjugorje, I remember telling my son Billy, 'That is the closest I've ever felt to Heaven on earth.' I then pulled out the old, inexpensive rosary beads that I had bought about ten years earlier, and noticed that the chain was glittering in the sun.
'That was strange. The chain was just some cheap, dull alloy, yet it suddenly appeared radiant and golden and vibrant and remained so. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and upon my return brought the rosary to a jeweler for an appraisal. He confirmed that the chain, inexplicably, had turned to solid gold. I can't explain the transformation, either of the rosary or my own life, except as a sign of Divine intervention.'"
From Spirit Daily - Daily spiritual news from around the world:
"In the book, A Time for Reflection (Regnery), Simon, a multi-millionaire, then drops this bombshell:
'At Medjugorje, I was actually the recipient of a miracle. Medjugorje ('between the hills') is a small village in Bosnia-Hercegovina (formerly Yugoslavia) where, since 1981, the Blessed Mother has been appearing and giving messages to the world, mainly through six young people. Since the first apparitions in 1984, millions of people of all fgaiths have visited Medjugorje. Countless have been healed and converted.
'After our first Mass at Medjugorje, I remember telling my son Billy, 'That is the closest I've ever felt to Heaven on earth.' I then pulled out the old, inexpensive rosary beads that I had bought about ten years earlier, and noticed that the chain was glittering in the sun.
'That was strange. The chain was just some cheap, dull alloy, yet it suddenly appeared radiant and golden and vibrant and remained so. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, and upon my return brought the rosary to a jeweler for an appraisal. He confirmed that the chain, inexplicably, had turned to solid gold. I can't explain the transformation, either of the rosary or my own life, except as a sign of Divine intervention.'"
Why Evangelicals are Cheering a Movie with Catholic Sensibilities
Here is the question that I've been asking all along being dealt with in Christianity Today. He raises the issue but I'm not sure I found the answer to the question. About the foundation of the movie and Anne Catherine Emmerich...
From Christianity Today:
The vision thing
Mel Gibson is in many ways a pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic. He prefers the Tridentine Latin Mass and calls Mary co-redemptrix. Early in the filming of The Passion, he gave a long interview to Raymond Arroyo on the conservative Catholic network EWTN. In that interview, Gibson told how actor Jim Caviezel, the film's Jesus, insisted on beginning each day of filming with the celebration of the Mass on the set. He also recounted a series of divine coincidences that led him to read the works of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a late-18th, early-19th-century Westphalian nun who had visions of the events of the Passion. Many of the details needed to fill out the Gospel accounts he drew from her book, Dolorous Passion of Our Lord.
Here is one such detail from Emmerich:
"[A]fter the flagellation, I saw Claudia Procles, the wife of Pilate, send some large pieces of linen to the Mother of God. I know not whether she thought that Jesus would be set free, and that his Mother would then require linen to dress his wounds, or whether this compassionate lady was aware of the use which would be made of her present. … I soon after saw Mary and Magdalen approach the pillar where Jesus had been scourged; … they knelt down on the ground near the pillar, and wiped up the sacred blood with the linen which Claudia Procles had sent."
Gibson does not follow Dolorous Passion slavishly, and at many points he chooses details that conflict with Emmerich's account. But the sight of Pilate's wife handing a stack of linen cloths to Jesus' mother allows Gibson to capture a moment of sympathy and compassion between the two women, and the act of the two Marys wiping up Jesus' blood gives Gibson the opportunity to pull back for a dramatic shot of the bloody pavement.
Evil unmasked
Another detail picked up from Dolorous Passion is just as dramatically powerful, but much more significant theologically. Emmerich writes that during Jesus' agony in the garden, Satan presented Jesus with a vision of all the sins of the human race. "Satan brought forward innumerable temptations, as he had formerly done in the desert, even daring to adduce various accusations against him." Satan, writes Emmerich, addressed Jesus "in words such as these: 'Takest thou even this sin upon thyself? Art thou willing to bear its penalty? Art thou prepared to satisfy for all these sins?'"
From Christianity Today:
The vision thing
Mel Gibson is in many ways a pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic. He prefers the Tridentine Latin Mass and calls Mary co-redemptrix. Early in the filming of The Passion, he gave a long interview to Raymond Arroyo on the conservative Catholic network EWTN. In that interview, Gibson told how actor Jim Caviezel, the film's Jesus, insisted on beginning each day of filming with the celebration of the Mass on the set. He also recounted a series of divine coincidences that led him to read the works of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a late-18th, early-19th-century Westphalian nun who had visions of the events of the Passion. Many of the details needed to fill out the Gospel accounts he drew from her book, Dolorous Passion of Our Lord.
Here is one such detail from Emmerich:
"[A]fter the flagellation, I saw Claudia Procles, the wife of Pilate, send some large pieces of linen to the Mother of God. I know not whether she thought that Jesus would be set free, and that his Mother would then require linen to dress his wounds, or whether this compassionate lady was aware of the use which would be made of her present. … I soon after saw Mary and Magdalen approach the pillar where Jesus had been scourged; … they knelt down on the ground near the pillar, and wiped up the sacred blood with the linen which Claudia Procles had sent."
Gibson does not follow Dolorous Passion slavishly, and at many points he chooses details that conflict with Emmerich's account. But the sight of Pilate's wife handing a stack of linen cloths to Jesus' mother allows Gibson to capture a moment of sympathy and compassion between the two women, and the act of the two Marys wiping up Jesus' blood gives Gibson the opportunity to pull back for a dramatic shot of the bloody pavement.
Evil unmasked
Another detail picked up from Dolorous Passion is just as dramatically powerful, but much more significant theologically. Emmerich writes that during Jesus' agony in the garden, Satan presented Jesus with a vision of all the sins of the human race. "Satan brought forward innumerable temptations, as he had formerly done in the desert, even daring to adduce various accusations against him." Satan, writes Emmerich, addressed Jesus "in words such as these: 'Takest thou even this sin upon thyself? Art thou willing to bear its penalty? Art thou prepared to satisfy for all these sins?'"
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