Just how rare it has become for our shepherds to demand even minimal adherence to Church teachings was apparent from the stir caused by the recent communiqué from Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Lincoln (Nebraska) Diocese. His warning that Catholics must avoid membership in certain organizations made national headlines and brought indignant yelps from the Usual Suspects. Here is the text of the bishop’s extra-synodal legislation as it appeared in the Southern Nebraska Register of March 22, 1996:
“All Catholics in and of the Diocese of Lincoln are forbidden to be members of the organizations and groups listed below. Membership in these organizations or groups is always perilous to the Catholic faith and most often is totally incompatible with the Catholic faith.
- Planned Parenthood
- Society of Saint Pius X (Lefebvre Group)
- Hemlock Society
- Call to Action
- Call to Action Nebraska
- Saint Michael the Archangel Chapel [S.S.P.X.]
- Freemasons
- Job’s Daughters
- DeMolay
- Eastern Star
- Rainbow Girls
- Catholics for a Free Choice
“Any Catholics in and of the Diocese of Lincoln who attain or retain membership in any of the above listed organizations or groups after April 15, 1996, are by that very fact (ipso-facto latae sententiae) under interdict and are absolutely forbidden to receive Holy Communion. Contumacious persistence in such membership for one month following the interdict on part of any such Catholics will by that very fact (ipso-facto latae sententiae) cause them to be excommunicated. Absolution from these ecclesial censures is ‘reserved to the Bishop.’ This notice, when published in the Southern Nebraska Register, is a formal canonical warning.
“By mandate of the Most Reverend Bishop of Lincoln.
“[signed] Reverend Monsignor Timothy Thorburn, Chancellor”
Speaking to the Lincoln Journal Star, Msgr. Thorburn said the warning was a “medicinal sanction” intended “to call persons back to the faith rather than to punish.”
Predictably, though, some members of the cited groups reacted hostilely-and with a decided lack of theological and historical knowledge.
Bob Metcalf, grand potentate of Lincoln Sesostris Shrine (the highest level of Masonry in Lincoln) said, “Shriners and Masons have never taken a position against the Catholic Church.” (Freemasonry was, in fact, organized precisely as an anti-Catholic and anti-clerical movement.)
Carol McShane, a member of Call to Action Nebraska, called the warning “an extraordinarily reactionary position” and added, “I have no expectations of being excommunicated.” (One may only suppose that she means she intends to abide by the bishop’s conditions.)
But the “Unclear on the Concept” Award surely goes to Randy Moody, a Catholic who serves on the boards of both Planned Parenthood of Lincoln and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who blustered, “I challenge them to excommunicate me. This may end up in some court if they would proceed to do that.” (This from a member of a group that screams “Separation of Church and state!” at every whipstitch?)
An editorial in the diocesan paper explained, “Bishop Bruskewitz has told us that he would feel he had failed in his office and in his duty to protect the Catholic faith, unless he acted as he did.”
All we can say to Bishop Bruskewitz is: You occasioned much rejoicing among loyal Catholics. Thank you, and God preserve your Excellency. What we say to other American bishops is: Vade et tu fac similiter.
Most of the news we receive from around the country, on the other hand, is along the lines of this post to our Web site. It is from Vincent Arong:
“The following is a flyer I found in my parish bulletin. Its subject matter is quite distressing.
“‘St. Austin’s Lent Adult Education Series presents:
“‘A GUIDE TO REPENTANCE: SIN, CONVERSION, AND THE ENNEAGRAM
“‘The Enneagram is a framework for understanding self. As it has become more widely known, the Enneagram has often been reduced to just the latest tool for identifying personality types. A more authentic use of the Enneagram is as a guide for spiritual growth.
“‘In this series we will see how the Enneagram can guide us in the lifelong process of opening ourselves to God. Appropriate to this Lenten season, we will use the Enneagram to help each of us identify our core compulsion/sin and the specific turning around/repentance required for our integration/conversion.
“‘PRESENTERS FOR THE SERIES:
“‘Norvel Northcutt, Ph.D., teaches qualitative and quantitative research in the graduate School of Education at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Austin Community College. A member of Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, he has been teaching the Enneagram since 1989.
“‘Eileen M. Raffaniello, Ph.D., is a psychologist whose private practice integrates natural family systems, relational theory, and spirituality. She is the chair of the Steering Committee for the Women’s Program at CPC Capital Hospital. She is also a spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition. A member of St. Austin’s parish, she has been using the Enneagram in spiritual direction since 1983.’
“Having read Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s Catholics And the New Age, I am, to put it lightly, rather concerned (OK, worried!) about these upcoming series. I was wondering if you could give me your opinion of this flyer and advise me on what course of action to take. Please tell me that I’m not getting paranoid.”
A March 6 ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upholding doctor-assisted suicide has galvanized Catholic bishops to launch an all-out battle against euthanasia and self-murder. The campaign, announced by the National Conference of Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, will parallel the anti-abortion movement in intensity and tactics, according to Boston Cardinal Archbishop Bernard Law, drawing inspiration from the 1975 Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life activities, adopted in response to Roe v. Wade.
“We are going to look at that previous plan and build on it,” Law said.
The court decision, which found that a mentally competent, terminally ill adult has the constitutional right to speed death using a doctor’s help, was greeted with glee by supporters of assisted suicide. But Law said the bishops see the ruling as “a harbinger of terrible consequences.”
A statement from the NCCB’s administrative board said the ruling “poses a massive threat to innocent life and to American ideals of equal protection under the law. It creates a ‘right to die’ that threatens to sweep away all meaningful limits or restrictions.”
The bishops will commit financial and other resources to the fight against euthanasia, Law said-including filing a friend-of-the-court brief if the 9th-Circuit ruling is appealed.
The success of the resistance to pro-suicide forces-part of what Pope John Paul II called in Evangelium Vitaethe “culture of death”-depends, of course, on the same sort of grassroots organizing and personal witness that sustains the anti-abortion movement. Perhaps pro-life groups will form special task forces against legalized euthanasia and suicide.
Singly, each of us can make a difference, too. Letters to the editor, faxes to legislators, tracts given out near hospitals, posts on the Internet, contributions to pro-life groups, volunteering to answer crisis calls or to serve with a hospice group-all are ways we can seize every opportunity to “choose life.”
Making the rounds of Internet mailing lists is an appeal that reminds us that not even we have yet seen everything:
“Dear Friend, suppose you’re me for a minute:
“How do you think your Christian peers would receive you if you ‘confessed’ (as in Jas. 5:16) that you’ve also used drugs and mutilated your body (that is, made yourself ‘a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake’ Matt. 19:12)? . . . and then you told them you’ve seen angels, had visions, dreams, and can see all deep secrets of Bible prophecy!”
The message from “Rock Waters” goes on to warn that “orthodox” Church leaders lack knowledge of these “secrets.” We doubt it. And we bet they have all their body parts, too.
Do Evangelicals advocate human sacrifice? One might draw that conclusion from an article in Prophetic Observer (March 1996).
Quoting Pope John Paul II’s address in Guatemala City, in which he chastised Protestant missionaries for sowing “confusion and uncertainty,” Noah W. Hutchings accuses the Pope of being “racially biased” against the predominantly Indian people of Central America and says it’s the Church’s fault that they are poor and uneducated. “The Mayan civilization was one of the most advanced in the world before the Conquistadors came and took all their gold for idols in Toledo and other cathedrals.”
Before Spanish colonization, Mayans regularly sacrificed human beings; they believed it necessary to keep the sun-god alive. Is that the “advanced” civilization that Hutchings grieves?
He also says the gold “idols” in Toledo and elsewhere are now worth “billions.” We suspect this would be news to the Spanish bishops. Like many other Spanish churches, the cathedral in Toledo was looted in 1936 -when many priests and religious were killed by leftists: human sacrifice of an altogether different sort.
Looking for yet another example of poor scholarship and anti-Catholicism (does one ever see one without the other?)? You’ll find both in A Primer on Roman Catholicism, by John H. Gerstner. The title is a misnomer: Most primers are better written and more substantive. Impossible here to cite all the howlers, but here’s just one: “Take the matter of a Roman Catholic observing the Lord’s Supper, which they call the Mass. Let’s right now overlook the fact that the Roman church wrongly deprives the people of the cup of communion, restricting that to the clergy.” Where has Dr. Gerstner been for the past thirty years? Obviously not at Mass.
It remains true that Christ is sacramentally present (Body and Blood, soul and divinity) in the smallest amount of either species, so that one fully receives Communion whether one partakes of either the host or cup or both. It is also true that Vatican II reinstituted the option of offering Communion under both kinds to the laity, an option exercised by many parishes, especially for weekday Masses when numbers are smaller.
On the subject of deprivation, let’s recall that most Protestant churches don’t even have daily Communion-some have it as seldom as quarterly. Many refuse to follow Christ’s example of using wine and substitute unfermented grape juice, apparently confusing biblical teaching with nineteenth-century American views on temperance.
The greatest deprivation of all is the absence of a valid priesthood able to consecrate the sacrament for Reformed congregations. Denied the Real Presence of Christ, their chapels stand empty as so many barren wombs. No wonder that, in their unacknowedged loss, many Protestants, like Gerstner, lash out at the miraculous sacramental fecundity of the Church
“God still makes housecalls.” So goes the slogan of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate, an order of contemplative missionaries founded in New York in 1920.
When Mary Teresa Tallon began her work, neighborhood visitation was considered daring. Given the state of many urban neighborhoods these days, it is doubtless even more daring now.
Wearing a simple navy-blue habit with a black veil, the sisters continue their apostolate of prayer (“Contemplation first, because God is first!”) and door-to-door evangelization and outreach to fallen-away Catholics. “Make every soul count!” urged Mother Tallon.
Today the sisters’ “neighborhood” extends as far as Nigeria. When John Cardinal O’Connor founded his Sisters of Life, it was to a house at Marycrest, the P.V.M.I. motherhouse, that he first entrusted them.
The Parish Visitor, a colorful digest-size magazine, is a refreshing source of good news about women religious. A subscription (only $2.00) can be had from P.O. Box 658, Monroe, NY 10950.
In the Diocese of Orange Bulletin we found this account by Tony Romano, 27-year-old co-leader of the young adult group at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Newport Beach, California. It sounds a hopeful note for the Church’s future:
“Up until recently, I never understood why the Catholic Church forbids the use of contraception, yet accepts the practice of Natural Family Planning (NFP). Natural methods of birth regulation did not work, I believed, and I did not see any harm in using artificial methods. When I became engaged, I wondered if I would have to accept these teachings merely because they came from the Church. Yet I was soon to discover that, as is true with any issue of morality, there are really solid reasons behind our Church’s teachings.
“Shortly after Paige and I announced our engagement, I was discussing the plans for my wedding with a knowledgeable Catholic friend. He asked me if we were planning to practice NFP. As much as I wanted to avoid the topic, there was no way for me to steer clear this time. I shared my concerns.
“He challenged me, and after an hour-long conversation, he convinced me to listen to an audio tape on the subject. Meanwhile, Norbertine Fr. Leo Celano of St. Michael’s Abbey, a close friend who was preparing Paige and me for marriage, had also asked us to take an NFP class prior to our wedding.
“Paige and I listened to the audio tape, a lecture on NFP from Dr. Janet Smith of the University of Dallas, which prompted us to delve into the matter further. We were stunned by what we discovered. We saw the wisdom of the Church in insisting that all sexual activity between married persons be a manifestation of love open to life. It may sound trite, but, as always, Holy Mother Church knew what was best for both of us as individuals and society as a whole.
“In the early 60s, we discovered, scientists developed the Pill, the first really convenient and effective contraceptive. Various pundits declared it to be the solution to the world’s worst problems, including overpopulation, child abuse, abortion, and divorce. Women would be liberated from the burdens of unwanted pregnancies; couples could now plan their families and only have the children they believed they could afford.
“Although the theory sounded good, Pope Paul VI knew better. Standing virtually alone against the world (including opposition by many of his fellow Catholics), he issued the encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) in 1968, solemnly reiterating the Church’s timeless prohibition of the use of artificial contraception.
“The Holy Father warned that with the widespread use of contraceptives the world would see a tremen<->dous decline in morality, weakening of marriages and the family unit, an increase in the divorce rate, a general lack of respect for the physical and psychological well-being of women, increased abortion, the use of the body merely for pleasure or as a machine to produce children, and other serious social ills.
“Many ridiculed Pope Paul Vl at the time, but less than a generation later the world would have to admit, however reluctantly, that the Pontiff’s dire predictions made in Humanae Vitae had come true.
“Pope John Paul II echoed many of Pope Paul’s concerns in his 1981 encyclical, Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World). He explained that there is an inseparable connection, willed by God and unable to be broken by man, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive and the procreative. The unitive.aspect helps the couple build a lifelong bond free of selfishness, and the procreative is the openness of the couple to accept children as a gift from God.
“Contraception is man’s attempt to sever this connection, manifesting itself in the many ills plaguing society about which Pope Paul warned. With the advent of contraception, the conjugal act lost both of its meanings. The unitive dimension is negated because there is no true commitment, no total unselfish giving of one partner to another. The procreative dimension- the creation of new life-is thwarted by the use of contraceptives.
“Contraception begets selfish sex. The contracepting couple may enjoy sex but is reluctant to share in the lifelong discipline and the responsibility of raising a family. Without children, in turn, divorce is more likely.
“Contraception facilitates extramarital affairs with no ‘strings’ attached. As a result of this kind of thinking, instigated by contraception, our society is losing its concept of morality. The body has become a machine for pleasure and sex. Procreation and unity have become beliefs of the past. With this mentality our society has made sexual pleasure a priority, leading to a tremendous rise in violent sexual crimes and abuse. The rise in domestic violence can be traced back to a lack of respect for women, a product of the sexual revolution.
“My wife and I also came to see that contraception is a factor in the increasing abortion rate. Abortion has become society’s solution for failed contraception. It facilitates and encourages sexual activity outside of marriage but eventually fails, and abortion is used as a backup.
“Additionally, few people realize that most contraceptives are, in fact, abortifacients. Rather than prevent ovulation, they alter the lining of the uterus, making it a hostile environment that actually prevents the fertilized ovum from implanting there. When implantation fails, the fertilized egg passes from the woman, who never even knows that she was pregnant. . .
“These were the key arguments that led my wife and me to understand and applaud the Church’s prohibition of contraception and its encouragement of NFP for couples who have a serious reason for not having a child at a particular time. All Catholics should investigate the issue for themselves. With all the talk today about ‘family values’ and concern over the breakdown of the family, Catholics can offer leadership to society by example.”