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D r a g n e t
THROWING AWAY THE KEY
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Greg Adams is incarcerated at the Charlotte Correctional Institution in Punta Gorda, Florida. We don't know what he was convicted of, and we don't particularly care. But we do care about his soul-his and those of other prisoners-which is why Catholic Answers has never turned down a request by prisoners for free literature, including subscriptions to This Rock. Given our Lord's admonition in Matthew 25 (see the account of the sheep and the goats), our policy has seemed right and necessary. But not all Catholic apologists agree. Mr. Adams sent us the following letters, reprinted in full because there is a lesson in them that should be learned by all aspiring apologists. First, his letter to Catholic Answers . . .
"I am writing to request a free subscription to your publication. The reason for this is because recently I sent a request to another organization, supposedly of Christian origin. My response from the organization was that, in order to prove myself worthy of a subscription to their publication, I must first obtain a subscription to yours, read and review it, and then send my opinion of it to Mr. [Vincent P.] Lewis of All Roads Ministry in order to show my worthiness of my receiving a subscription to Armamant [Lewis's newsletter].
"I am truly sorry that your organization is being used as a judgment seat of other Christians. I at first could not believe what Mr. Lewis had written to me in response to my simple request for more knowledge about our Lord and Savior. His response was that it was his ministry's practice not to cast pearls before swine, i.e., convicts. The hatred in his letter was very appalling to me and the other brothers whom I allowed to read it. It hurt me to my heart to know that this man and his organization are considered to be Christian. It let me know that if Jesus returned today, he would be tried and convicted-yes, convicted-once again by people like Mr. Lewis. I will include Mr. Lewis's letter to me so that you may understand better my feelings.
"Please, even if you do not consider me worthy of your publications, if you could return Mr. Lewis's letter to me. I will keep it always to remind myself why Christian men come to prison and turn away from God. I see these men come to hate God and to reject Jesus Christ, and I never knew why, but now I do. Now I feel anger at those so-called Christians who tear at the body of Christ and raise their blood-stained hands to the faithful and say, 'Look at the good I have done in the name of Jesus.'
"I am sickened at the thought of how many more like Mr. Lewis are inflicting themselves on the babes of the faith. In this place, prison, a great many come to God only to be driven away by the Mr. Lewises in the Church. In my heart I feel an all-consuming anger at this man. I await your response to my letter. Please forgive my words; they are words of pain."
Mr. Adams enclosed the following letter from Vin Lewis, head of All Roads Ministry, a one-man organization located in Hopewell Junction, New York:
"You recently wrote us and asked for donations of materials. Our policy is NOT to give such to cons. There are several reasons for this. One is that most 'catholics' behind bars and outside do not really want our stuff. It is real Catholic apologetics and evangelism and that is not popular. You are probably not any different, and if we gave you anything it would most likely be pearls case to swine. I try not to do that.
"However-who knows?-you may be different. So I write this letter. As a good deal of our funds come from contributions, I must husband them carefully and not waste our resources, and, of course, like every other con, you have no money (does not anyone go to prison for theft any more? Do none of you guys have families? PLEASE do not answer me; I don't care!).
"So, if you care, then you submit yourself to a test to see if you are worthy of our stuff. If you are like most other cons, then you won't bother and I can ignore your request with a clear conscience. Here is your test: (1) Write to the following address: This Rock, P.O. Box 17490, San Diego, CA 92177. Ask them for a FREE subscription to their publication. (2) When you get one or two issues, read it carefully. (3) Review it and send your review to me. This will give me a better understanding of judgment as to your worth.
"I don't expect every to hear from you again, as I expect that you will find even this 'too much' to do. But, nevertheless, good luck, and God bless.
"By Our Lady & St. Luke,
"Vincent P. Lewis
"P.S. If you do reply, PLEASE no more 'sob' letters; it makes you sound too much like a woman. Play the man!"
Mr. Adams has been sent a complimentary subscription to This Rock.
Tom Burns, of Burton, Michigan, came up with a novel use for Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth. He incorporated quotations from it into the 1998 directory for Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. The forty-page, full-color directory features not just photographs of the congregation, parish groups, and activities, but numerous "pull quotes" consisting of selections from our booklet
In a National Catholic Reporter article on a meeting of priests attending the convention of the National Federation of Priests' Councils, one paragraph stands out: "Franciscan Sr. Katarina Schuth of Rochester, Minnesota, who serves on the Catholic Common Ground Committee and who has visited every U.S. seminary over the past fourteen years, noted that seminarians are coming from the center and the right, but 'almost none' from the progressive side." And who says there's nothing but bad news about the Church today?
Archbishop Carmelo Cassati of Corato, Italy, in whose archdiocese the cause for beatification of Luisa Piccaretta has begun (this means the promotion of the cause is a local thing, not something under Vatican auspices), has written a letter to the American promoters of Piccaretta's books. He noted that in 1994 he wrote a "To Whom It May Concern" letter in which he named Thomas Fahy and others as "authorized persons" who were encouraged "to speak about Luisa."
But things seems to have gotten out of hand. Instead of restricting themselves to a consideration of Piccaretta's personal spiritual status, they have been pushing her supposed revelations (the "Divine Will" movement), allowing readers to conclude (rightly, it seems, given the texts) that Piccaretta believed she was given a new general revelation-impossible, since general revelation ended with the death of the last apostle. "To insist a lot with conferences and propaganda on Luisa can be dangerous for the cause [of her beatification] because," says Cassati, "before the Church pronounces itself in her regard, a true 'cult' to Luisa could develop, and this would in no way be in harmony with the tradition of the Church."
Oops. Too late, it seems. There already is such a cult. The Archbishop worries that "America is very far away, and the bishop responsible for the cause [Cassati himself] cannot know what is being said in Luisa's name. . . . You can keep the conferences you have already been committed to, but after them you must stop your activity both concerning conferences and printed matter." In other words, Fahy and his associates are instructed to close down their operations.
The letter is diplomatic, but it's clear that Cassati is worried that things have gotten out of hand. He seems interested only secondarily in what Piccaretta may have thought she heard by way of supernatural locutions; his main interest is in determining whether she had the requisite sanctity to be numbered among the Church's beati. Of course, she could have lived a life of exemplary holiness while being in error theologically; she could have had the soul of a saint while imagining revelations that never happened. But her sanctity isn't what is being pushed by the Divine Will proponents, except incidentally. They're pushing the content of her supposed revelations, which contain theological errors and improbabilities. (She claims, for instance, to have obtained a higher spiritual state than any canonized saint, including the likes of John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Piccaretta's only "competition" is the Virgin Mary).
Immediately after the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre ordained four men as bishops for his Society of St. Pius X, Pope John Paul II wrote that Lefebvre and the others had incurred automatic excommunication for participating in an episcopal consecration without papal approval (in fact, contrary to papal orders). There was nothing surprising in the Pope's statement, since canon law, in both the old 1917 code and the new 1983 code, provides for automatic excommunication in such cases. But Malachi Martin disagrees. At his web site he says, "In the spiritual reality of the Church, neither Marcel Lefebvre, nor his bishops and priests, nor the people who frequent the SSPX chapels, suffered or suffer excommunication. History will record that the intent to impose such an excommunication was invalid and illicit." The excommunication wasn't "imposed," as by a positive act of a religious superior. Lefebvre and the other bishops were excommunication by their own acts, just the way that, in the 1950s, Chinese bishops who joined the "Patriotic Church" and ordained new bishops, all without papal approval, were excommunicated automatically.
As for the New Mass, Martin says, in contorted language, that "the Novus Ordo rite can be celebrated in such as way as to configure a valid enactment of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary"-that is, the Mass can be celebrated validly, but it's not likely to be. And sedevacantism, the theory that there hasn't been a valid pope since Pius XII? Martin uncharacteristically defers judgment: "Any question about the sedevacantist condition of the papal throne can only be decided authoritatively by somebody with authority to do so. I am not that person." On other matters Martin doesn't hesitate to speak "authoritatively." Why not on this issue, which isn't complex? It should be possible to give a Yes or No to the question "Is John Paul II a valid pope?"
Martin goes on to say that "Cardinal Ratzinger and other Roman authorities have made it quite clear: SSPX and SSPV Masses are perfectly acceptable." This is disingenuous-and worse. The SSPV (Society of St. Pius V) is an offshoot from Lefebvre's SSPX, and its members hold to the sedevacantist position. Its priests and those of the SSPX celebrate the old Latin Mass, which, of course, is a valid rite of the Mass. Did Cardinal Ratzinger at some point note that the old Mass is valid? He hardly had a need to, but let's assume he did. Would he have phrased it this way: "The Mass of the SSPX and the SSPV is valid?" Not likely, since such a phrasing would be interpreted as indirect approval of those two schismatic groups. So where did Martin get his statement? Well, not from Ratzinger . .
Lucian Pulvermacher, O.F.M. Cap., claims the Church no longer exists-or, more precisely, that what is considered to be the Catholic Church isn't. His is the not uncommon complaint that everything fell apart at Vatican II, and since that time just about everyone has defected-except for Lucian Pulvermacher, who now is counseling Catholics to perform their own marriages. The problem is that you can't find any real Catholic parishes nowadays, so where will you get hitched? How about in the privacy of your own home?
Pulvermacher notes, correctly, that a bride and groom administer the sacrament of matrimony to one another, but it long has been Church teaching that, for validity, marriages between Catholics need a priest (or, nowadays, deacon) as the Church's official witness. Given Pulvermacher's theories, though, most priests aren't real priests at all, which means most couples wanting to marry won't be able to locate a priest. They'll have to fend for themselves. "You may be married before the State either shortly before or shortly after this Catholic rite," he says. "Then you are to make and keep records of the Catholic marriage. Note well, what I am talking about here is a marriage between two Roman Catholics. The Novus Ordo Catholics, in my book, are Protestants."
And if it doesn't work out? Well, there's always Bishop David L. Cooper, O.M.M., M.S. An Internet advertisement says that "Bishop Cooper will accept you as you are. You will be assisted. Referrals to valid priests and bishops throughout the U.S.A. Annulments available-seven-day processing! Bishop Cooper [who claims to be an "Orthodox Catholic Bishop"] has the Roman Catholic apostolic succession as well as numerous Eastern Orthodox lines. [Why several, if the first one "took"?] In the Roman Catholic view, where the apostolic succession is, validity is-even after excommunication. [So he was excommunicated? By whom, for what?] The Roman view is that holy orders cannot be taken back-they are indelible. Bishops and priests, once ordained, always carry effective power of orders. [Priests don't have the power to ordain.] Inside California call (800) 447-7769. Outside California call (818) 773-7309."
Robert Sungenis, author of Not by Faith Alone, and his colleagues at Catholic Apologetics International are going on a speaking tour this autumn. They will be available to speak on salvation and justification, Scripture and sola scriptyura, the sacraments, the papacy, and other topics. Aside from Sungenis, the team includes Sal Ciresi, Brian Paul, Michael Lopez, and Jeff Darcy. Prospective hosts can receive a seminar package by calling 800-531-6393. The CAI team hopes to "re-evangelize Catholics to their faith and to counter the propaganda of anti-Catholic groups." They're willing to go anywhere in the U.S.
The slippery slope: A couple of decades ago Hans Küng rejected papal infallibility. He rejected other Catholic teachings before and after that. It doesn't come as much of a surprise that now he embraces euthanasia. Having killed off the life of the faith, he's willing to kill off the life of the body. In his new book, Dying with Dignity: A Plea for Personal Responsibility, Küng and co-author Walter Jens argue against the teaching of Evangelium Vitae and in favor of "active voluntary euthanasia." Küng says there is no difference between turning off a respirator and increasing drug dosage to a lethal level. "One cannot simply leave everything to God."
George Pell, the Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia, refused communion to seventy homosexual Catholics and their supporters. He told the Pentecost Sunday congregation at St. Patrick's Cathedral that someone engaging in homosexual acts could not receive Communion. " The Church's view on sexuality …is clear and unequivocal and derives from natural moral law, which we believe is unchanging. "
The protesters, wearing rainbow-colored sashes and lapel ribbons, got in line for Communion but were offered a blessing instead of the sacrament. The leader of the protesters, Michael Kelly, said his group chose Pentecost for the protest because it was the day the Holy Spirit blessed everyone, " but apparently not the gay and lesbian people. "
Nan McGegor, mother of a gay activist and member of the group supporting" gay rights" said that being denied Communion was "an extremely emotional and very confronting experience. Archbishop Pell said he couldn't give me Holy Communion until I took the sash off. I said I was a heterosexual mother, but he said he couldn't until I took the sash off because the sash indicated I rejected the teachings of the Catholic Church. I feel very sorry for him. I think he is lost in his own bigotry and small-mindedness"
In possibly unrelated news, there is talk now that the next pope may be from a lightly-populated, English-speaking country.
On the May 5 " Art Bell Show", Malachi Martin struck back: " There are some Pollyanish people, you know-everything's the best for [inaudible]. We have them in the Catholic Church, too, " he said. " We have a man called Karl Keating, who writes rapturously about the new evangelization. There's nothing going on at allin the Catholic Church-except decadence. We have those people like Karl Keating, and we've got to put up with them because they feel happy that way. They do attack the rest of us"
So, the only thing " going on" in the Church today is " decadence"? That seems like a rather brutal judgment, but one shouldn't make too much of it. Consider the source. At his website, Martin says that one of the top three issues facing the Church in the next few years will be figuring out how to deal with the inter-galactic visitors.
A small group of dissidents calling itself Catholic Speak Out is splitting proceeds with CORPUS, the association of former priests who married and now want their jobs back. Catholics Speak Out will share with that group profits from full-page advertisements proclaiming " the need for the Church to return to its tradition of remarriage" -remarriage after divorce, that is. The ads claim that during the first eleven centuries of the Christian era the Church permitted remarriage. An appeal is made to the usage in Orthodoxy, which " allows divorced members of that faith to marry again without annulment. " (Not mentioned is that Orthodoxy, in most of its branches, has a limit: up to four marriages, and than that's it.) Of course, the Orthodox usage itself is a defection from the original Christian usage, which is still preserved even in Protestant wedding rituals: " until death do you part. "
The South African Bishops' Conference issued a statement saying that "the parish priest of Regina Mundi [parish] states that the staff of the U.S. President asked, prior to the [March 29] Mass, whether the President and Mrs. Clinton could receive Holy Communion if they wished to do so. The priest responded by saying he saw no objection to their receiving Communion on what he saw was a special occasion. He said it would be rude to turn the President away. The local bishop had not been asked, as required by the Church practice, whether in his opinion it would have been appropriate under the circumstances to administer Holy Communion to the Presidential couple. It is doubtful whether the priest applied his mind to the conditions that needed to be fulfilled as stated in the 1993 norms published by the Holy See and repeated by the South African Bishops'Conference ecumenical directory.
That's a polite way of saying the priest was flat-out wrong. He could easily have turned to canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law, which states that Communion may not be given to "other Christians"(Christians who are neither Catholic nor members of "oriental [including Eastern Orthodox] churches"-so "other Christians" means Protestants, though that term isn't used) unless "the danger of death is present" or There is some "other grave necessity" and the person "manifest[s] Catholic faith" in the Eucharist and is " properly disposed" spiritually (that is, is in the state of grace.) While we cannot judge the last condition with respect to the Clinton's, it seems clear that the other two conditions weren't met-there was no danger of death or other grave necessity, and the Clintons (he's Baptist, she's Methodist) don't believe in the Real Presence anyway.
Why Not Here? Department: The Peruvian bishops' conference issued a strongly-worded document denying that, among the bishops of that country, there was any "division or discrepancy on issues relating to sterilization and birth control." After the Archbishop of Lima, Juan Luis Cipriani, used harsh words to describe the governments's population control program, the Peruvian media claimed there was a split of opinion within the ranks of the bishops. The bishops' conference replied by saying "we are strongly unified in our belief of the evilness of the government's program, and we share a common, undivided outlook in this respect…Peru's bishops, as one single entity, reiterate our most energetic rejection of this inhuman, immoral, and vile population program, aimed at the poor and not against poverty".
Reminder: Catholic Answers makes available the popular Topic Tabs designed by Norbertine Father Peter Muller. If you're a Bible studier (or even just an occasional reader), Topic Tabs allow you to turn instantly to the key verses used in apologetics. They are color-coded into categories such as the divinity of Christ, teachings on Mary, baptism, the papacy, and the Eucharist. Topic Tabs are available for $8.50 per set and fit Bibles that are at least seven inches tall. For your set, call Catholic answers' order line at (888)291-8000.
Want a dangerous job? Be a Catholic missionary. Last year sixty-eight missionaries were killed, twenty more than during the prior year. The number includes one bishop, nineteen priests, one monk, seven nuns, and forty seminarians. Most of them were killed in Africa (all of the seminarians in Burundi).
Reminder: The "Path to Rome" conference-featuring Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Francis Cardinal George, convert Leonard Graham (former Anglican bishop of London) and This Rock contributor Kenneth Howell-will be held September 18-20 in Chicago. Reservations and information can be obtained by calling (800) 654-7945.
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