How A Diocese Is Subtly Stealing The Faith From The Souls Entrusted To Its Care by Gary L. Morella

In the January 3, 2000 edition of the Catholic Register, the Altoona-Johnstown PA diocesan paper, there was a favorable article on the National Catholic Reporter’s (NCR) idea of a millennial portrait of Christ as a new-age, pagan, unisex figure "modeled after a black woman" complete with yin-yang symbols and Indian spiritualism in the background.

An article in the Centre Daily Times of State College PA praising the artwork said that "The figure is neither male, nor female, nor androgynous" which begs the question "just what is it?" [Yin-yang - Yin is the feminine passive principle in nature that in Chinese cosmology is exhibited in darkness, cold, or wetness, and that which combines with yang to produce all that comes to be with yang being the corresponding masculine active principle that is exhibited in light, heat, or dryness.]

The last that I heard was that Jesus was a man, the most masculine of men, and a Jew. Why is there a problem with depicting that truth about "He Who is Perfect Truth?" Answer - there is none for those who insure that there are no "unicorns in the sanctuary." Thus, considering the source, The National Catholic Reporter, such depictions of Christ are understandable!

This grotesque caricature is indicative of the similarly bizarre portrait of Catholicism which continually surfaces in this "pseudo-Catholic" paper (NCR) which has become one of the most prominent mouthpieces for dissent in America from the Teaching Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Catholics have come to expect the mocking of their faith by secularists. It’s sad when a diocesan paper sees no problem with said mocking.

There were, however, other gems in this edition of the Catholic Register that cannot pass without comment. In the "Another Perspective" column by the editor, Fr. Timothy Stein, the diocesan faithful were told that "if we say we’re waiting for Christ to come again in glory, and we mean we expect to see him parting the clouds and riding on the rays of the sun, I think we’re going to be sadly disappointed!" Continuing, Stein said "As we wait for his return in glory, we know that we can already find him present among us, in the people who are all around us, but most especially in those who are most like him as he was when he first lived among us: the poor, the homeless, the sick and the suffering, the weak and vulnerable."

Regarding the first statement of Stein, there are many references from Scripture and Tradition to the contrary. Regarding the second, Stein woefully excludes the very manifestation of Christ’s real presence among us today, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Blessed Sacrament, THE cornerstone of the Catholic Faith. Yes, God is spiritually present in His creation. But you do not kneel down and adore a tree or your fellow man. God humbled Himself by being physically as well as spiritually present in the form of bread and wine in our Churches and on our altars daily. This is a Catholic truth that is continually "excluded" by those who interestingly profess despair at the "pain of exclusion" wanting the Church to welcome the sin as well as the sinner.

We get a steady diet of peace and justice in the diocesan paper to the "exclusion" of any concerns about what’s necessary for salvation, getting to Heaven as opposed to going to Hell. Was Jesus being selfish when he said as recorded in Scripture that the poor will always be with you whereas I will not referring to his nature as man? Of course He wasn’t. He is God. He was sending a message as to what our priorities should be in relation to salvation - a message continually missing in the diocesan paper.

In an article from the Catholic News Service, a group whose reports make up the bulk of the diocesan paper, the faithful were told that "Father (Karl) Rahner repeatedly reminded us that far-reaching changes of the most surprising kinds had occurred since the council, and he tried to help us come to terms with these unexpected and, for some, unsettling changes ... If the church appears confused today, Father Rahner said in 1977, it is because society is confused. Both, he said, go together ... Father Rahner was on target when he said that TODAY’S CONFUSION IS NOT ALL THAT BAD. To the contrary, it may prove providential if it forces all of us to develop a spirit of authentic Christian maturity, a deeper poverty of spirit and a more profound spirit of Christian hope ... Christian maturity is the one quality perhaps more than all others, that will be required of all of us in the predictably troubled days ahead ... The church is living in an era of unpredictable transition at all levels of pastoral life. At times it will all seem very ambiguous. Those who do not have a sense of personal fulfillment ought not to blame the church but rather their own lack of freedom and maturity, which does not allow them to put up with ambiguous situations. The crises in our lives are the conditions that make us free and mature ... One last word. A recent scholarly study of American seminaries found that today’s seminarian is less oriented toward social justice than his counterparts of an earlier generation, a phenomenon also recorded of Catholic college and university students in general. I hope and pray that this is a misreading of the evidence." - Msgr. George G. Higgins.

Before the "Spirit of Vatican II" was continually invoked to Protestantize the Church in the name of a false ecumenism, the confusion in a Godless society was countered by the clarity of the Church’s unambiguous teachings. Now the disciples of Karl Rahner tell us that instead of being a sign of contradiction to the world, the Church must conform to the point of being just as ambiguous as the world. Moreover, if the laity won’t go along with this drivel, it’s because they’re "immature Catholics."

As for the trend in recent seminarians away from "peace and justice", I say "Praise God" that we’re finally getting a group of young men in our seminaries and colleges who realize that the sole purpose for their future existence as priests is for the salvation of souls for eternity in the next life as opposed to finite happiness in this life.

In a report on the recent Catholic-Lutheran accord on justification, the Catholic position, the position of the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ is represented as just another position instead of THE position on justification. "Luther and his followers claimed that this gift was purely from God’s generosity. No actions of ours could merit it; we receive it and accept it only by faith (sole fide) in the compassionate mercy of God. Catholic theology, on the other hand, while insisting that justification is an unmerited favor from God, tended to put more emphasis on the importance of human actions."

The use of the word "tended" is problematic here. It gives the impression that the Catholic position was just a caprice as opposed to dogma rooted in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. "Faith without works is dead." (Epistle of James).

Continuing, the article said that "The Council of Trent was the great Catholic event attempting to counter the Protestant Reformation." Trent didn’t "attempt" anything; it formally spoke infallibly in clear and distinct terms to expose the Protestant Reformation for what it was, a great heresy led by a man who wanted to be comfortable with his vices.

Finally, in his random comments column, the bishop of Altoona-Johnstown, Joseph Adamec said "What might be the issues in the Church?" in regard to the new millennium. "Our faithfulness to the Spirit of the Second Vatican Council, or the lack thereof, will continue to be the source of division in the Church, probably even to a greater degree that it has thus far. It will basically be a question of what our gods are. Internal division over nonessentials is a dream for those who wish the Church ill. One of the sources of such division has been the disagreement over minutia involving liturgy and architecture. The archenemy appears to have infiltrated our ranks."

Clearly, the archenemy for His Excellency, Bishop Adamec, are orthodox Catholics who don’t understand why God is relegated to a closet (side chapel outside the Church proper), why altars are replace with tables, why kneelers are absent from Churches when the rubric for posture is kneeling from the Sanctus to the great Amen, why the Nicene Creed is changed in Masses, why the papal indult Ecclesiae Dei given in Charity by the Holy Father to those who feel a special closeness to the Tridentine Mass is totally ignored in his diocese, why the celebration of homosexuality is publicly proclaimed by priests at Penn State and a clinical psychologist who is allowed to interview our prospective seminarians with no comment from the chancery other than a rebuke of long suffering Catholics who are trying to stem the tide of hedonism overtaking their community with little or no support from the diocesan Church.

Where in the documents of Vatican II is all of this allowed?

Why are the concerns of traditional Catholics "excluded" in this "inclusionary" diocese where being a Christian Feminist is a higher priority than being Christian for a local nun who along with a priest from the Penn State Catholic Center publicly told the community that an ad put in the local paper by concerned Catholics in the way of a Catholic response to the promotion of homosexuality at Penn State and in the State College Area School District "did not come from any official Roman Catholic source." This was a heretical statement as was an op-ed by another priest from the Penn State Catholic Center who publicly proclaimed that "there are healthy aspects to homosexuality." Despite numerous complaints to the bishop, said priest still retains his position with the Penn State Catholic Community.

The clinical psychologist who interviews our prospective seminarians publicly stated that the highest teaching authority in the Catholic Church apart from the Pope himself, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), "is hardly the univocal articulator of Catholicism." This is an incredible statement given Cardinal Ratzinger’s primary charge to clarify Catholic Teaching on faith and morals. For the psychologist’s education, we’re not talking about "just another bishop" here.

The director of the Penn State Catholic Center co-sponsored a "Christian Affirmation Service honoring sexual diversity." Then, after the fact, he claimed ignorance implying he had no idea that lesbian prayers praying for priests to come out of the closet along with other blasphemies would be a part of such a service.

The following is a "prayer" which was said at that service honoring sexual diversity held at Eisenhower Chapel at Penn State on Thursday 10/10/96. Per a discussion with someone who attended this service, a Catholic priest did take part per the directive of the Penn State Catholic Community. He reportedly carried some type of sign saying "stop the hate." Unfortunately, at Penn State, this means stop the hate for the sin as well as the sinner.

PRAYER

"A priest sent a card of van Gogh’s ‘Olive Orchard.’ In the tortured brush strokes, the artist reveals his own agony as he depicts Christ’s agony in Gethsemane.

The priest sees in the reproduction his own spiritual struggle to accept his homosexuality.

Let us pray for this priest and the many like him who are part of an invisible community of suffering, unknown, unfelt, unloved by the church.

WE PRAY, O GOD, FOR THOSE WHO LIVE IN CLOSETS.

For the quarter of a million homosexuals murdered in Nazi concentration camps and those who remained imprisoned despite the Allied victory, who now live in history’s closet.

WE PRAY, O GOD, FOR THOSE WHO DIED IN CLOSETS.

For millions of lesbians and gay men in other countries in which there are no support systems or groups, in which revelation leads to imprisonment, castration, or death.

WE PRAY, O GOD, FOR THOSE WHO FEAR IN CLOSETS.

For priests, nuns, ministers, and lay church leaders who, to serve the church, cannot come out, while bringing liberation to others who are oppressed.

WE PRAY, O GOD, FOR THOSE WHO LIBERATE FROM CLOSETS.

For spouses, who also must hide—nongay spouses, protective of their loved ones’ careers, gay lovers, hiding their love under a bushel.

WE PRAY, O GOD, FOR THOSE WHO LOVE IN CLOSETS.

Thank you, God, for all who, throughout the world, struggle to make churches and cultures more inclusive, homes where there are no strangers.

O GOD, MAY CLOSETS GO THE WAY OF THE BERLIN WALL. ALLELUIA! AMEN.

[From COMING OUT TO GOD: PRAYERS FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN, THEIR FAMILIES, AND

FRIENDS by Chris Glaser.]

The following are lyrics from a hymn sung at the service.

1. Walls of color, ways of loving, Money, pow’r and war

2. Gays and lesbians and straight folks should not disagree

3. Shall we hide in degradation? Shall we fear each other?

4. It is truth, God’s truth, that frees us; Fear that walls us in.

Keep us locked in lonely prisons: God calls us to more:

God who formed us, calls and loves us. Made us to be free.

Join hands, all God’s precious people. Sister, brother, lover;

Shout for freedom, joy, and vision; Come now, let’s begin.

Reconciling, building bridges cross the gap between Visions of what ought to be and what we know and see.

[SUSTAINING THE SPIRIT, Gerald W. Holbrok, minister of music at All Saints Episcopal Church in Western Springs, Ill, Carol Elizabeth, member of Capitol Hill UMC, A Reconciling Congregation in Seattle.]

These "prayers" and "hymns" are anathema to the Roman Catholic Church per the Catechism and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s pastoral letter on the care of homosexuals which is the official Church position coming from the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Speaking as a Roman Catholic member of the Faculty at Penn State and for concerned Roman Catholic members of the administration at this university, we are embarrassed that the Penn State Community gave their imprimatur to this "blasphemy of the Faith." What occurred by the Catholic Community’s participation in this "service" was a capitulation to the pressures of homosexual activists by honoring paganism instead of Christianity.

This begs the question of "just which planet has the director of the Penn State Catholic Community been living on?" given the well known modus operandi of militant homosexual activists entrenched at Penn State University using the Vice-Provost Office for Educational Equity to misuse our hard earned tax monies in the promotion of sexual perversion as a civil right to be "celebrated".

The very title of the so-called "service" was sufficient to give away the real motives. That should have been a red flag for Catholics to avoid same at all cost for reasons of giving scandal to the faithful. These people did a disservice to their Church, the PSU Catholic Community, in particular, to the souls of the Faithful which are entrusted to them. The aforementioned ad as I read it contained verbatim statements from the highest teaching authority in the Catholic Church, the Pope and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. To say that it "did not come from any official Catholic source" is absurd! It has been asked "who signed the ad?" The Catholic Church in response to those who must reinvent religion to accommodate hedonism signed it. The Catholic Church out of unconditional love for the SOULS of the Faithful is charged to bear witness to the Truth which is a Somebody not a something.

I would respectfully submit that these concerns are not "minutia" in the words of our bishop given "lex credendi, lex orandi" (what we believe is shown by how we pray), and I might add, how we act.