This morning I posted an article (on an unrelated topic) on LinkedIn, which posted to my twitter account, which posted to my facebook account. That’s just the way of the Internet these days. Layer upon layer upon layer. Hang on tight as I’m about to weave together various articles that caught my fancy this week. I think they all relate, but perhaps you’ll find yourself in disagreement. I’ll start with a Fr. Z post, which links to an article by John Allen Jr in which he interviewed Capuchin Fr. Thomas Weinandy, executive director of the Secretariat for Doctrine at the U.S. bishops’ conference. Here’s some snippets of what Fr. Weinandy had to say:
Theologians can be a “curse and affliction upon the church,” according to the U.S. bishops’ top official on doctrine, if their work is not grounded in church teaching and an active faith life, and ends up promoting “doctrinal and moral error.” He warned of a “crisis” in Catholic theology, caused by theologians who “often appear to possess little reverence for the mysteries of the faith as traditionally understood and presently professed within the church.”
“Much of what passes for contemporary Catholic theology,” he said, “often is not founded upon an assent of faith in the divine deposit of revelation as proclaimed in the sacred scriptures and developed within the living doctrinal and moral tradition of the church.”
Instead, he said, much Catholic theology has become “an attempt by reason to pass judgment on the content of the faith as if it were of human origin,” with theologians as “judges who stand above the faith and arbitrate what is to be believed and what is not.”
That approach, Weinandy said, “sometimes undermines genuine faith within the body of Christ” and ends up leading people “into the darkness of error.” It also, he said, “inevitably produces fragmentation within the church.”
Weinandy acknowledged that over the centuries, the Catholic church has recognized different “schools” of theology.
Yet today, he said, “the church is experiencing not a debate among legitimate schools of theological thought, but a radical divide over the central tenets of the Catholic faith and the church’s fundamental moral tradition.”
“This is not simply an expression of a plurality of Catholic theologies,” Weinandy said, “but the very disintegration of the Catholic faith itself.”
Who exactly might he be referring to? It sounds like he’s talking about real people in real institutions, rather than just some imaginary ones. Could the Diocese of Rochester’s own School of Theology and Ministry, [side note: I find it interesting that one of the words in the flash montage on the home page is “Empowerment”] which educates most of our lay leaders and deacons, be guilty of this assessment? I’m going to continue beating the same drum and bring up the Theology on Tap session I attended a year ago until I hear someone make a credible claim that this session was an anomaly and that St. Bernard’s staff usually stays within the bounds of Catholic doctrine. I think it’s safe to say, though, that Sr. Pat’s comments were consistent with the type of “education” that happens at St. Bernard’s as I’ve continually heard from people that it is typical of St. Bernard’s to challenge fundamentals of the faith and falsely present them as merely one “expression of a plurality of Catholic theologies”.
Given this context, I’d like to congratulate Deacon John Brasley as he begins a new leadership role as the diocesan director of deacon personnel and formation. What really stuck out at me in the article was that Deacon Brasley directs the four-year deacon formation program through St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, which he calls “one of the best in the country.” I’ll admit ignorance on this program, although I’ve heard rumors that it is as radically progressive as the rest of St. Bernard’s. I do pray that Deacon Brasley’s program is something other than the typical St. Bernard’s education, but I fear it is not and that the 100+ deacons at work in our diocese have been educated in a way that is less than ideal. I hope that Deacon Brasley adheres to the orthodox faith, but I fear our new “diocesan director of deacon personnel and formation” does not. Perhaps he can clear this up for us since he and his wife blog for the Catholic Courier. The deacon’s praise reminded me of the time Fr. Holland called Bishop Clark the “best bishop in America” (no joke – he really did).
There is much that is troubling in Rochester and I really can’t fathom why, on the one hand, the official Church clearly teaches something other than what is taught here in Rochester, while on the other hand, she lets everything just continue on as is. This makes it really difficult for a blog like ours to have any credibility. They say, “If it’s such a big deal, then why doesn’t Rome do anything?”. I honestly can’t answer that question. Rome has clearly spoken, but it’s true that she has taken almost zero action (at least publicly – we don’t know what goes on behind the scenes). Which also leads to the question, “You’re just some blogger [said with disgust] while these other people are accredited academics and actual members of the clergy. Who are you to think you can even fathom the heights of their intellectual prowess and ecclesial authority?” My answer leads me to what I truly love about the Internet. I am a nobody. I am a hack. I wasn’t raised in the Catholic Church and I still have a lot to learn (having only converted 4 years ago). But I fell in love with something beautiful, something intellectual, something mystical, something REAL. This is why I sit at my computer and stay up late at night pounding on my keyboard. Through the power of the Internet, I can read, link to, and directly quote what our Church teaches. I don’t have to make arguments on my own authority. I can stand on the shoulders of giants. I can lay out arguments which stand or fall on their own merit. If I have connected the dots incorrectly, then it should be easy for the progressives to deliver a knock-out blow and send our readers fleeing from such illogical posts as this one. There are some who wish to disband the Catholic blogosphere rather than engage it. They wish the Church would come out and tell everyone to knock if off and go back to their role of “pray, pay, and obey”. To their chagrin, the Church has not done this. Hopefull has already posted about the Church’s openness towards, and praise of, the Catholic blogosphere. And here today we have this from Archbishop Chaput at WYD (hat tip Papist):
So whom can you trust? Where can you go for reliable news and intelligent discussion about your Catholic faith?
Well, you can come to World Youth Day—but you’ve already done that. Luckily, you live in an age of radically new kinds of information media. You have more media choices, and more ways to access those choices, than I ever could have imagined at your age.
Many of those choices include outstanding Catholic media like Catholic News Agency, EWTN, the National Catholic Register, and Our Sunday Visitor; Salt and Light and Catholic News Service; plus Catholic blogs, websites, and Catholic satellite radio stations. Support these media and encourage their great work for the Church. Visit their websites. “Like” them on Facebook. Follow their Twitter feeds. These excellent media sources will nourish and deepen your faith in ways that the mainstream public media can never provide.
He must have forgotten the part about trusting your local heterodox School of Theology and Ministry. Such a comment from such a prominent member of the hierarchy would have been unthinkable 10 or 15 years ago. Obviously it would have been unthinkable since the Internet was still in it’s infancy (and probably still is), but also because EWTN was still somewhat taboo (just read Raymond Arroyo’s book on Mama Ang). It was generally frowned upon at that time to present doctrines of the Catholic faith as facts that must be believed.
The dialogue that the progressives have been talking up for decades is manifest in a way that no one could have anticipated. They should be basking in their glory right now if they were truly concerned about dialogue and authentic debate. What’s really fascinating, though, is that the Catholic blogosphere is almost exclusively orthodox. Where are the progressive bloggers? They don’t exist. They are sitting on the sidelines during the Super Bowl of all Super Bowls of true dialogue. So why aren’t they playing the game? It’s because their arguments don’t hold water and they know it. I don’t mean to imply that they don’t believe in their mission. But what they are coming to know more firmly (and don’t want everyone else to find out) is that their core beliefs are outside the boundaries of the Catholic faith. They are free to believe what they wish to believe, but they are not free to label any old belief-system as Catholic. When you clearly and articulately express what they believe, it is clear that it is truly a different religion (as Gretchen over at SavingOurParish so ably pointed out). They have taken their hearts and their minds and left Catholicism, but their bodies remain in the Church. Why? This, as Fr. Z recently pointed out, could be summed up by the words of Saul Alinksy:
There’s another reason for working inside the system. Dostoevski said that taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future. This acceptance is the reformation essential to any revolution. To bring on this reformation requires that the organizer work inside the system
They* don’t want you to know what they really think. They will push the boundaries only when they see an opportunity. The last 30+ years in the Diocese of Rochester, they’ve had this opportunity. Bit by bit, they’ve torn down the faith to the point where it is merely a remnant of what it once was. I’m not only talking about physical buildings, although I do believe they are symbolic. I’m mainly talking about the spirituality of the faithful. What percentage of Catholics go to mass? receive the Eucharist worthily? believe all the truths which the holy catholic Church teaches? can articulate these truths to a non-Catholic or non-Christian? cares enough about their neighbor to reach out to those outside the flock? The smart ones, though, are seeing their heyday come to an end. It seems there are “some” in the diocese that are moving towards orthodoxy (if only in perception). I truly pray that these are true conversions and that we continue to see more of them. I hope and pray that they are not subversive attempts to re-position themselves within the system (which will be shaken up when our next bishop takes the reigns).
* – The “they” I refer to are the spiritual forces of darkness. While many people allow these spiritual forces to work using their own hands, we must always remember that people are not our true enemies. Demons are our enemies. People are either lost or found. Either way we must love them. If they are lost, then we must love them back into the fold. The Gospel is relevant to all peoples at all times (including progressives).
The only way they can hold on to the little they have left is by confusion and distortion. This is why they don’t blog about their beliefs and instead spend their time talking about subjective experiences. The other thing the Internet has done is to bring vast geographic locations together for common dialogue. It can no longer be denied that the norm in the Diocese of Rochester would be considered radically progressive elsewhere. It can no longer be denied that what is considered the far-right, conservative fringe here is actually just “simply Catholic” elsewhere. Looking at the Church outside of Rochester, it really seems like things are headed in the right direction. Will Rochester get there someday? Let us hope and pray that we will. Will a new bishop turn things around from day one? Let us hope and pray that he will. Let us not forget, though, that while some challenges may be removed others will present themselves. This is to be expected for the Christian. God asks us to give Him our best and to go to battle for Him while at the same time remain in His peace and never give up the hope and joy that is within us.
pax et bonum
