Reiki Master-Teachers parading as Catholic lay ministers and priests in the Diocese of Rochester…
First it was Fr. Richard Hunt, SJ, now it’s Christina Schmidt. Ms. Schmidt is the pastoral associate of St. Joseph church in Penfield who is, according to the parish bulletin, involved with “faith formation & youth ministry.” According to her blog [Update: since made members only], and as a reader tells us, her facebook profile, she is involved with “Reiki.” Reiki is “a form of laying-on-of-hands based on the theory that universal life force (ki in Japanese) energy can be channeled for healing” (source).
Is this really the best the diocese can offer to teach our children the Catholic faith? Reiki Master-Teachers?
Just check out this entry from Ms. Schmidt’s blog:
I’m so overjoyed at having completed my Reiki training! I’m so excited and truly humbled to continue to grow in the realization of my full potential and gift as a healer of body, mind, and soul. I don’t think there are any bounds to the way that God reveals God’s self to us in the world. For me, reiki opens up a special way of recognizing God in our midst, therefore broadening my relationship with God. Reiki has become a place where I have come to recognize my God given gift of being present as a channel of God’s love, light, and healing. For me it is closely linked with prayer and a deep love and gratitude for the life I’ve been given.
…
This is what practicing reiki means to me. I would love to share it with you personally!”
Are not these Reiki lovers who claim to be Catholics aware that the USCCB has condemned this New Age fad? Below are some passages from the USSCB document on Reiki, emphais added:
“Reiki therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief. For a Catholic to believe in Reiki therapy presents insoluble problems. In terms of caring for one’s physical health or the physical health of others, to employ a technique that has no scientific support (or even plausibility) is generally not prudent.
In terms of caring for one’s spiritual health, there are important dangers. To use Reiki one would have to accept at least in an implicit way central elements of the worldview thatundergirds Reiki theory, elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science. Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man’s-land that is neither faith nor science.9 Superstition corrupts one’s worship of God by turning one’s religious feeling and practice in a false direction.10 While sometimes people fall into superstition through ignorance, it is the responsibility of all who teach in the name of the Church to eliminate such ignorance as much as possible. 12.
Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriatepersons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy.” for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or
That sounds like a pretty strong condemnation to me. I also wish to emphasize that this is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops speaking above, not myself.
Let’s take a look at some other strange entries from her blog:
“I finally got around to reading my June edition of Body and Soul magazine and an article on modern Ayurveda. The Ayurveda, meaning the “science of life” in Sanskrit, is composed of three complementary doshas, or energies…. After taking the quiz, I found out I am a Kapha.”
“The instructor made the class more than just a body experience. She intentionally led us into mindfulness. We took ample time to release the worries of the day and to set an intention for moving forward. We stopped periodically throughout the flow to pause and remember our intention and to draw it into our heart centers with our hands together in front of our bodies.”
“Because my sense and understand of God has changed so dirasticaly it feels lately, I’ve struggled to feel a relationship with this God [“this” God?] – or who I more often like to refer to as source and universe.”
“I have this idea that I’d like to do a monthly gathering of young adults to practice mindfulness together.”
“I was exposed to some American Indian spirituality at Omega. Each morning our facilitator, Nancy began with an invocation to the spirits of the four directions and concluded each directions with “Aho Mitakuye Oyasin, Aho,” meaning “all are relatives.” In this way we were invited to call forth all those who had gone before us to be present with us.”
“The Catholic mass encourages our being filled up in body and mind with the Word and Eucharist, but doesn’t seem to leave enough space, quiet time, or education around listening with our hearts.”
“The main focus of the weekend though was my One Light Healing Touch workshop where I learned a new form of energy healing work to accompany the Reiki I already like to do.”
“In my ministerial work I often attend numerous masses on a weekend and lately it has been difficult for me to enter into them.”
“If you really can see Christ as totally human – that he was happy, sad, angry, discouraged, lonely, a sexual being, a family man, a hard worker, a preacher, teacher and healer, etc., I think it becomes more difficult to understand his divinity – not to mention our understanding of our own divinity! I wonder, is there any divinity within us? Though some might not agree with me I say, “Sure!””
Tags: Bishop Clark, Democrats, Progressive Drivel
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Oh, my stars & garters. What next!
“(Mass)… doesn’t seem to leave enough space, quiet time, or education around listening with our hearts.”
Probably because we are so busy “actively participating”
Seriously, the poor woman is utterly confused about her Christian faith and should not be involved we teaching or in any way influencing young people. She should go work in a religious tradition more in line with her thinking. What she is doing with Catholic young people is dishonest. Buffalo Road: What the hell are going to do about this?
I just posted a comment on her blog. Bet it doesn’t stay there!
I’m not upset with her for the reason you just gave Bernie. I think she is definitely confused about religion, and who can really blame her with the education she probably received in this diocese. It looks like she’s sampling from a buffet of many different faiths and spiritualities, picking and choosing what interests her.
Who I am upset with is the Diocese of Rochester. Young men with a zeal for orthodoxy are rejected by the diocese for the priesthood because they are supposedly “rigid,” but they see no problem with employing people whose beliefs and interests are barely recognizable as Catholic. Also worth mentioning that this is yet another example of how the St. Bernard degree isn’t worth the paper its printed on.
God … who I more often like to refer to as source and universe.
See entry for Pantheism.
Rich–See entry for Pantheism.
Where?
[Check this link]
A couple of things:
1)People wonder why I don’t get my kids involved in youth ministry in our diocese? Wonder no more.
2)I’m with you Bernie. What the hell is Buffalo Road going to do about it? She may be confused (and I’m willing to concede that she has been poorly catechized), but now she could potentially mislead others (who are probably equally ignorant about the Catholic faith). What about the priest at this church? He is charged with being the chief liturgist and catechist. Can’t he do something?
This has GOT to be a bad joke.
Maybe it would be a good idea to mail her a copy of what the USCCB says about reiki. I think that Johnette Benkovic had a regular guest/author who speaks on New Age dangers. Her http://www.lhla.org also has a new age blog if this youth minister is interested. It’s important to make her aware of the spiritual danger and it’s our obligation to let her know.
Reiki? There was a show discussing the problems of New Age stuff on Immaculate Heart Radio and there is the possibility…….of fooling with the devil. Sounds extremely dangerous. What are they doing back east?(I’m from the west.)
Over at Catholic Cartoon blog was a cartoon making a well-deserved dig at LCWR and Reiki. A few Reiki defenders came on, so I issued a challenge under my hypothesis that it is usually never just about Reiki. My challenge was that I would give Reiki a break if a practitioner would affirm the following: 1. The Eucharist is the actual body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord. 2. Abortion, contraception, and homosexual acts were intrinsicly and gravely evil. 3. The Church has no authority to ordain women in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Response? Crickets chirping.
Sadly, this is a cornerstone for conduct of the DOR and Bishop Clark. He would sooner destroy his Catholic Physicians and marginalize his Catholic lawyers because they are faithful to the teachings of the Majesterium. He then welcomes these pagan ides and corrupts the sould of the youth of the diocese. He is a near occasion of sin and is to be avoided at all costs.
Joseph,
This blog is largely devoted to what’s happening in one diocese in NY State, the Diocese of Rochester. If you take a look through this Cleansing Fire website, you’ll certainly “get an eyeful”. It doesn’t necessarily mean the entire eastern part of our country is like this.
Permissiveness runs rampant here on Golden Pond.
I wonder if Ms. Schmidt will be offering a Reiki class at St. Bernards?
But seriously, in her search for what she’s looking for, has Ms. Schmidt tried kneeling for an hour in front of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?
We got locked out of the blog whoever wrote what appeared probably to her as a “hostile” comment. This is clearly not a good example on how to evangelize and now there is no way for us to even attempt to dialog with someone who obviously needs help.
Did we post on her blog with the intention of helping her and just failed miserably or just post sounding off our own ideas without considering (or caring) how they would come across?
I’m not trying to throw someone under the bus, but please be careful in the future with not only what you say but how you say it. In addition, please keep in mind what the end goal is and what the best strategy is to succeed.
God bless!
Wow. I tend to go with my instincts in this Diocese because before I found this website I had no place at all to go to for info. I wanted this particular youth ministry for my teen but whenever I saw/heard Ms. Schmidt I did not get a positive vibe – don’t know how to explain it because she was perky enough, but it is not simply an upbeat personality I want from a Catholic youth leader – which can mask emptiness but I did not see the depth of peace and satisfaction that emanates from a practicing Catholic. Not wanting to judge on just what could be a fallible impression, I keep my mind open and wait for God to nudge me in that direction, but He hasn’t.
Poor Christina. To have the rich privilege of attending several Masses a weekend and not know her wealth. I don’t blame her, as her poor catechesis is not her fault, and when your spirit yearns for God and your Diocese has been bent for years on making SURE you do not learn Catholic truth, and has made sure that as many of your leadership colleagues as possible have a distain for Catholic truth, then that leaves a hole yearning to be filled and Oprah-spirituality is there in your face – and you have no truth to contrast it with. Reike invites demon spirits into you, who would be vastly uncomfortable at any Mass. I pray that she feels their presence and learns what warnings are given about Reike (see some Johnette Benkovich programs live on her website) and that she is alarmed enough to confess and get an excorcism.