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D r a g n e t
WE DON'T WANT TO BE CHURLISH, BUT…
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We have been accustomed to sending out truckloads of tracts, but a friend recently faxed us an unusual one, "A Letter to a Roman Catholic," written by Donald Charles Lacy, a United Methodist minister. The odd thing is that the tract is "jointly sponsored by Scottish Rite Masons and the Knights of Columbus." (No, we can't explain that either.) Here are excerpts:
"In terms of history and its significance I have discovered over and over again that you share in an unbroken chain the faith once revealed. We Protestants tend to see history, especially Christianity, as broken in periods of time. Perhaps the extreme view is that of charting our faith from the first century to the fourth century and then believing very little happened that was important until the fifteenth century and the birth of Martin Luther. Please forgive us!
"Deep down we know there were great Christians for that thousand years but we find it so hard to admit. Continue to befriend us that we may see and appreciate the continuous splendor of Christ's followers from the very beginning until this moment. . . .
"You have kept before the world a lovely lady. Indeed, the Blessed Virgin Mary was the Mother of our Saviour and Lord. We repent for the misunderstandings of her singular place in the faith. Surely Satan has had a good time provoking and perpetuating the stereotype among Protestants that you worship her, elevating her above her Son. Vatican II has been helpful in showing us that her ongoing power and greatness are tied to her Son. She is great because of him. Her real purpose has always been to draw others to him. . . .
"The priesthood is such a fascinating topic. I freely admit that not one of all the many priests I have known over the years has been a bad one! My early mentor was Fulton John Sheen, the archbishop. As a communicator and man of wisdom, I have never seen his equal. In fact, would you believe some of my earliest sermons were really summations from his books. I don't believe my Protestant congregations knew that. I willingly and openly confess!
"It wounds me almost daily the way your priests are oppressed by the Evil One. The issue of ordaining women to the priesthood has created conflict most often at the point of cultural values as opposed to spiritual values. The Holy Father, Pope John II, has spoken with authority and responsibility on the matter. I hope and pray you will follow his decision. The world, especially the Roman Catholic Church, cannot afford a schism. Many of us look to you for stability on such an issue and trust you will accept the direction of the Holy Spirit.
"It was in the intimacy of Christ and the apostles that our precious faith was born. The Pope in his manliness and maternal-like nurturing qualities shows all who profess Christ's name what must surely have been the style of the Saints Peter and Paul. Trust and obey!
"Thank you for an understanding of the Church that I firmly believe Christ and the apostles intended. It seems we Protestants so often just can't separate the church from the local Lions or Rotary clubs! Bless you for this wonderful way for coming to terms with the institution, ever new and yet ever old, that is both militant and triumphant.
"We have spawned so many churches and have fought among ourselves. Often we have called you bad names and have arrogantly assumed the role of 'one, holy, catholic, apostolic' Church in ways that were truly reprehensible. Your sense of catholicity in terms of universality and wholeness is something I believe we are slowly but surely learning. Bold and dominant Peter was and is the Rock. It wasn't and never has been enlightened fellows like John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Ulrich Zwingli.
"My direct spiritual mentor, John Wesley, very reluctantly formed my church. My colleagues often have to be reminded he lived and died a priest in the Church of England. You see, dear Roman Catholic friend, there are many connecting lengths that take both of us back to the ancient Catholic Church for whom Christ and his apostles gave their lives.
"How shall we survive these turbulent times without sound teaching? You are so fortunate in having a magisterium that can speak with responsibility and authority on a universal level. Protestants often long for sound doctrine, Biblically-grounded, and in touch with needs of the times that comes from an authoritative source. You have been so charitable in giving to us the Decree on Ecumenism that speaks of 'separated brethren' and not 'outcasts waiting for the fires of hell.' Thank you. The Holy Father's encyclical letter That All May Be One [Ut Unum Sint] is cause for unbounded hope. You are the leader in the cause for Christian unity and such teaching, even among Orthodoxy, is making its mark.
"Again, thank you, my brother. Please help us to appreciate the depths of the Eucharist. Please help us to begin to understand the loving power of the papacy. Maybe we can eventually find full unity in our unique relationships to the Holy Father, much as your various orders have found. . . ."
A note explains that Dr. Lacy is a United Methodist clergyman, who is "both a Scottish Rite (Indianapolis) and York Rite Mason (Muncie), plus the York Rite College (Fort Wayne)."
While it would be churlish to criticize a document that so plainly reveals Dr. Lacy's love for the Church and his desire for reconciliation, we are perplexed. If he believes Peter is indeed the Rock and that the Church has preserved the authentic teachings of Christ through the millennia, the obvious question is: Why not embrace full union with the Church?
Dr. Lacy admonishes us Catholics to "trust and obey" the Holy Father- and quite rightly. But is the successor to the Rock not owed obedience by all Christians? And if the Pope, as Dr. Lacy says, speaks with "authority and responsibility," what of the Holy Father's repeated prohibitions against involvement in Freemasonry?
Does Dr. Lacy repudiate the historical Masonic practices of attacking and undermining the Church? Even many Protestant denominations forbid membership in secret societies. How can a Christian swear a non-Christian solemn oath?
Our response to Dr. Lacy, then, is simple: You are absolutely right-the world, the Church, cannot afford a schism. Why not end at least your personal schism? Why be separated any longer? Come home. Let the Blessed Mother fulfill her "real purpose" and draw you closer to her Son, into the Body that is his very self on earth.
Recent ad: "INNER JOURNEY-NINE-MONTH SABBATICAL offers women religious wholistic [sic] experiences through a transformational journey: weekly individual counseling, group process, body therapy, enneagram, arts as therapy, parental synthesis, sound therapy, ritual, psychosynthesis, foods, nutrition, feminine spirituality, T'ai Chi Chih, prayer forms and more. Deal with stress due to burnout, unresolved grief/loss, abuse, transition, unemployment, etc. Operating since 1982 by the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota."
Obvious questions arise here, too. We have nothing against psychotherapy when warranted, or physical exercise, or even eating right. All of these can strengthen one for ministry. But how does a woman consecrated to Christ renew herself without him?
What happened to daily Mass, lectio divina, spiritual direction, silence, quiet prayer before the tabernacle? What about a reflective study of Church teachings (the actual doctrines, not a neo-pagan "reinterpretation")? Dare we mention chastity, poverty, obedience?
This "transformational journey" wends its trendy way through the Diocese of New Ulm, Minnesota, whose bishop is a member of Call to Action. (Yes, that's the group that advocates contraception, women's ordination, and married clergy, among other things-and of which Catholics in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, are now forbidden to be members.)
Which brings up Nebraska's Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz: His courageous stand against dissidents of the left, right, and in-between continues to produce predictable responses from dissenters. Last month we quoted a "Catholic" member of Planned Parenthood who defied the bishop to excommunicate him.
Now we see a similar response from Fr. Peter R. Scott, District Superior of the Society of St. Pius X (italics ours throughout):
"Your Excellency,
"I would first of all like to commend you for the formal canonical warning of interdict and excommunication against members of Planned Parenthood, Hemlock Society, Call to Action, Freemasons, and associated groups you mandated be published in the Southern Nebraska Register of March 22, 1996.
"It is, however, with the greatest dismay and shock that the faithful also read on the same list the Society of Saint Pius X and Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel. Since I cannot imagine that you are ignorant of the mission of the Society of Saint Pius X and its chapel in Lincoln, St. Michael's, this can only be interpreted as a slander gravely offensive to the good name of the Society and of St. Michael's. . . .
"It is public knowledge that we have consistently opposed the protestantized conception of the Mass vehiculed by the Novus Ordo Missae, the new ecumenism, religious liberty, collegiality, and adaptation to the spirit of the world that have sprung forth from Vatican II, and that instead we have taught the traditional doctrine of the Social Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
"It is also public knowledge that in doing so we have always based ourselves upon the categorical and infallible statements of the preconciliar Popes, teaching unchanging defined Truth. I ask and demand of you to explain how this can be 'always perilous to the Catholic Faith and most often totally incompatible with the Catholic Faith'. To make such an assertion without any explanation is a grave injustice. If you cannot explain, you owe the Society a public apology in the Southern Nebraska Register, and the faithful of St. Michael's fully expect it.
"Furthermore, I challenge you to go ahead with your threat and declare under interdict or excommunicated, either myself or the priests of the Society who celebrate Mass in Lincoln, or the faithful who attend our Masses. However, I suggest that you first seek legal advice, for such a mockery of justice will not be accepted. I recommend the following considerations.
"Archbishop Lefebvre, supposedly declared excommunicated for schism in 1988, was never in fact excommunicated, for he never committed a schismatic act. This is the opinion of the majority of reputable canonists, notably Cardinal Lara (La Repubblica of October 7, 1988), Fr. Valdini, J.C.D. (L'homme Nouveau, Feb. 17, 1988), Count Neri Capponi, J.C.D. (Latin Mass, May-June 1993), and most recently Fr. Gerald Murray, who was awarded a doctorate by the Gregorian University for arguing this conclusion (Latin Mass, Fall 1995). . . .
"In a letter of July 6, 1988, all the priests of the Society who were superiors challenged Cardinal Gantin to include them also in the excommunication, arguing thus: 'To be publicly associated with this sanction which is inflicted upon the six Catholic Bishops, Defenders of the Faith in its integrity and wholeness, would be for us a mark of honor and a sign of orthodoxy before the faithful. They have indeed a strict right to know that the priests who serve them are not in communion with a counterfeit church promoting evolution, pentecostalism, and syncretism . . .'
"Rome dared neither to respond nor to sanction them. I challenge you to issue and justify such a sanction. I challenge you to find any grounds for a valid excommunication of the priests of the Society of Saint Pius X. I challenge youto find in any of our statements or publications the denial of any defined doctrine of Catholic Faith or any evidence of refusal of submission to the legitimate authority of the Sovereign Pontiff in matters of Faith and morals. . . .
"I challenge you to declare under interdict and excommunicated the faithful who assist at the Mass at St. Michael's chapel in Lincoln. I remind you that the lay people are in no way members of the Society of Saint Pius X, which is a society of priests of common life without vows. . . .
"Nevertheless, I am certain that if you would attempt to excommunicate the priest members of the Society, the faithful who support us would not hesitate to ask you to include them in such a manifestly unjust and invalid censure, repeating with the priests of the Society: 'We have never wished to belong to this system which calls itself the conciliar church and defines itself with the Novus Ordo Missae, an ecumenism which leads to indifferentism and the laicization of all society. Yes, we have no part with the pantheon of the religions of Assisi; our own excommunication by a decree of Your (Excellency) . . . would only be the irrefutable proof of this. We ask for nothing better than to be declared out of communion with this adulterous spirit which has been blowing in the Church for the last twenty-five years' (taken from letter of July 6, 1988).
"It is with the greatest respect for your episcopal office and for your duty to feed your flock with the one unadulterated divinely revealed Catholic Truth that I present this challenge to you. I must ask for a public apology, or for an excommunication and full explanation."
Hmmm. Isn't it remarkable that the language of dissidence is always the same, from whichever end of the spectrum it exudes?
There is a word for people who presume to know better than the Catholic Church what constitutes Catholic truth, who "challenge" legitimate authority rather than humbly accepting it, who mistakenly believe that a "majority" of canon lawyers (which is to say, three) or a graduate thesis outweighs the binding and authoritative word of the Supreme Pontiff: that word is "Protestants."
The fact is that John Paul II did declare Lefebvre and the bishops he ordained to be excommunicated, and he declared it in Ecclesia Dei, which was issued shortly after the ordinations. The excommunications, which were automatic under canon law, arose from the schismatic act of ordaining bishops without papal approval.
Lori Darby and John Krejci, leaders of Call to Action Nebraska, sent Bishop Bruskewitz a letter informing him of its intent to set up shop in Lincoln-after it had held an organizational meeting, complete with a "Mass" that included an unapproved "creed" and "canon," and issued press releases to secular media.
As an example of selective misappropriation of Pope John XXIII's good name, we share part of that letter:
"Dear Bishop:
"We are in the process of forming Call to Action, Nebraska, an affiliate of the national Call to Action organization. As we go through the organizing process, we are trying to bear in mind the words of Pope John XXIII, 'In essentials, unity; in other things, diversity; in all things, charity.'"
That final quotation does not originate with John XXIII. He quoted it in Ad Petri Cathedram, June 29, 1959, paragraph 72, noting that it was a saying generally attributed to Augustine.
Here is the whole passage from the Pope, with the proper translation italicized-and note the following paragraph, which we doubt CTA has ever quoted:
"72. But the common saying, expressed in various ways and attributed to various authors, must be recalled with approval: in essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.
"73. That there is unity in the administration of the Catholic Church is evident. For as the faithful are subject to their priests, so are priests to their bishops, whom 'the Holy Spirit has placed . . . to rule the Church of God.' So, too, every bishop is subject to the Roman Pontiff, the successor of Saint Peter, whom Christ called a rock and made the foundation of his Church. It was to Peter that Christ gave in a special way the power to bind and loose on earth, to strengthen his brethren, to feed the entire flock."
Bishop Bruskewitz was too polite to point out that glaring error, but his reply to CTA covered the essentials:
"A priest-friend of mine, who had formerly been a Protestant minister, said that the difference between a dissenting Catholic and a Protestant is that the Protestant has integrity. This comes to mind as I reply here to your communication addressed to me under date of March 6, 1996.
"Your organization is intrinsically incoherent and fundamentally divisive. It is inimical to the Catholic Faith, subversive of Church order, destructive of the Catholic Church discipline, contradictory to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, and an impediment to evangelization.
"Of course, your slogan, which you claim to have from the mouth of Pope John XXIII, is not relevant to the issues at hand, since neither you nor your group possess the competence, ability, or authority to determine authentically what is essential or non-essential in Catholic doctrine, Catholic moral teaching, or Catholic Church law.
"Please advise any Catholics from or of the Diocese of Lincoln, who are members of your group, that such membership constitutes a grave act of disrespect and disobedience to their lawful Bishop. This letter is to be considered a formal canonical warning to them about this matter. After April 15, 1996, appropriate ecclesiastical censures will be imposed on those Catholics from or of the Diocese of Lincoln who attain or retain membership in your organization."
There are challenges in the Church; preserving or recovering "unity in essentials" is one of them. A small but hopeful sign is the formation of the St. Maximus Society, a group dedicated to seeking union among Western Catholics, Eastern-Rite Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox.
Named for St. Maximus the Confessor, the Baltimore-based group meets monthly for prayer and discussion, and welcomes anyone who shares the hope for unity. Founder Gerard Serafin Bugge can be reached at (410) 747-6950.
When author Annie Dillard (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Holy the Firm, Living by Fiction) became a Catholic, she told the New York Times: "What I like about the Catholics is that they have this sort of mussed-up human way. You go to church, there are people of all different colors and ages, and babies squalling. You're taking a stand with these people. You're saying: 'Here I am. One of the people who love God.'"
Nothing about issuing "challenges." No hidden agenda. Not a single New-Age whiz-bang. Just worship with others in the ordinary way. That is what draws converts and nurtures vocations. If only the saboteurs on the left and right could see it
Bill Jackson heads Christians Evangelizing Catholics, an anti-Catholic group we've mentioned before. It is merging with the Missionary Outreach to Catholics, which is headed by Tom Craggs. For some years Jackson has been talking of retiring, so perhaps Craggs has been named his coadjutor.
However that may be, Jackson is peeved. In a recent newsletter he noted that "It would be easy to assign all the 'converts to Rome' their part in the Lake of Fire," but maybe his regulars should examine the reasons these converts give. But it seems Jackson wants to do both: see what converts think andassign them to hell.
At least he seems to do that with one famous convert, writing that "many of these converts to Rome have come to share the conclusion of John Henry Newman. This pervert [sic] to Rome, who has been demonstrated as having had none of the fruits of a regenerated life, concluded that the Catholic Church is demonstrably closer to the ancient Church than [are] its Protestant counterparts."
Just who has "demonstrated" that Cardinal Newman had "none of the fruits of a regenerated life"? Apparently not anyone who has read Newman's writings, which amply show the opposite. Who is Jackson to judge the interior dispositions of a giant like Newman?
Mr. Jackson, didn't someone of note say, "Judge not lest ye be judged"?
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