Finding Groups That Oppose Church

[jegow]

I always knew that there were religious, past and present, even in our own country, that as groups or individuals that have or still support things that are against Church teaching. As a priest it befuddles me as to how a religious could publically go against the Church. Recently Archbishop Burke, at the Institute on Religious Life’s national meeting at Mundelein, said exactly what has been on my mind for a while.

Parts of Burke’s speech have been made available by The American Papist, here are a couple:

“The spiritual harm done to the individual religious who are disobedient and also the grave scandal caused to the faithful and people in general are of incalculable dimensions” and “Now is the time for us all, and in particular for consecrated persons to stand up for the truth and to call upon our fellow Catholics in leadership to do the same or to cease identifying themselves as Catholics.”

In my opinion this standing up for truth not only applies to our responsibilities to call out Catholic politicians but also any religious who has some role of authority or some prominent position of influence in any group or institution that is for anything that goes publicly against Church teaching. I feel that it is something that should be done to prevent any further scandal from their end. My question is how do we do this? As a priest who sees this need to say something, what do I do? I know several parishioners, those in my parish and in others, and those I keep in touch with often have recently informed me that they found out that their parishes have given a part of their tithe to places like NETWORK or 8th Day Center for Justice in the last year. They expressed how this has scandalized them in knowing that through their tithe they have given money to support these groups that promote things against Church teaching. I totally agree with them.

This brings me to my point. I agree with them and I would love to see something done but I don’t know where to start with this.

Parishes should let their parishioners know what their tithes are getting used for and the parish should be on top of things enough to make sure they are not giving money to groups that promote things against Church teaching. So, if something should be done to draw awareness to these groups so that parishes know what they are supporting – what form does that take? Does it become a website that researches these groups? I don’t know. I ask this because I need your (name removed by moderator)ut. For while it is easy to call people out - this task is something that must be done lovingly if it’s done, something that of course needs to be out of charity; something that has no agenda of its own but that of the truth.

So … I’d like to know

1. Should there be a group within the Church (for our case, maybe in the USCCB) or an independent one that looks into all groups or institutions so that parishes know what they are supporting?
2. If there should be one what should it look like? (website or blog, a quarterly update of some kind)
3. How far should someone go in drawing awareness to these individuals or groups?

 

[rwoehmke]

While I admit there does seem to be a problem, I cannot imagine how it can be managed without doing considerable harm to the relations that one hopes exists between people who populate our pews. For some reason the parable about the tares in the wheat popped into my mind when I read this post.

 

[lutherlic]

I wish there was a way, but I can’t see how it could work.

For one thing, websites and organizations are moving targets - constantly changing. What is good one day may not be the next.

For another, the ways and degrees in which they may be deficient can vary widely.

One place that is trying to rate websites, FWIW, is CatholicCulture.org.

 

[Ignatius]

I wish there was a way, but I can’t see how it could work.

There are individuals involved. These individuals have superiors to whom they are responsible. The superiors need to step up and take action against those that are causing public scandal or publicly opposing Church teachings. A wide range of disciplinary actions are available, particularly for those who are members of religious orders.

One of the cardinal acts of mercy is to correct those who have gone astray.

 

[jegow]

While I admit there does seem to be a problem, I cannot imagine how it can be managed without doing considerable harm to the relations that one hopes exists between people who populate our pews. For some reason the parable about the tares in the wheat popped into my mind when I read this post.

I know. And that would be what I would want to avoid as well - doing harm. If something caused harm in this then it really wouldn’t serve its purpose. It’s just that I keep seeing that need that something needs to happen - I’ll keep praying for sure.

 

[jegow]

There are individuals involved. These individuals have superiors to whom they are responsible. The superiors need to step up and take action against those that are causing public scandal or publicly opposing Church teachings. A wide range of disciplinary actions are available, particularly for those who are members of religious orders.

One of the cardinal acts of mercy is to correct those who have gone astray.

I would definitely hope that the superiors of these people would do something. On another level though, should there be some kind of resource that parishes can go to make sure the groups they give tithes to are not doing or promoting something that is out of line with the Church? I know I would love it if there were one because there are some Sundays I have no idea who is getting part of our tithe when they announce " … and 10% of our tithe goes to so-and-so this week." If I have a hard time figuring it out it is safe to say many of the laity do as well.

 

[lutherlic]

There are individuals involved. These individuals have superiors to whom they are responsible. The superiors need to step up and take action against those that are causing public scandal or publicly opposing Church teachings. A wide range of disciplinary actions are available, particularly for those who are members of religious orders.

One of the cardinal acts of mercy is to correct those who have gone astray.

In some cases. In many others the superiors are in agreement or the whole point of the organization or website is contrary to Church teaching.

Think about Catholics for Choice, the Gay Catholic Forum, the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian & Gay Ministries, Rev. Jenkins at Notre Dame (and for that matter many administrators and professors at many Catholic universities), Sister Carol Keehan, a large number of high profile Catholic politicians, etc.

These are difficult to address. Even those that should be easily addressed often are not (apparently anyway, it is hard to tell for sure). Examples are speakers and topics and USCCB conferences, LA Archdiocese conferences (there is now some hope on this one), and liturgical abuses of some priests (Fr. Pfleger).

I wish this was more of an urgent priority. These people, situations and events do very significant harm to the Church well beyond their direct sphere of influence.

 

[jegow]

Thank you to everyone who has contributed and/or voted. I appreciate your responses.

 

[SGT_ROCK_33]

Father -

There are plenty of things that can be done. There will no doubt be people that will be offended, but this is our Faith, at least the one thing in this life that we MUST defend. In your position you have the ability, the authority, and the jurisdiction to lead the faithful away from such atrocities. As stated before, there will no doubt be people that are upset, or possibly even turned away. But God has given us the free will to choose whether we want to accept the truth or to deny it. And not to accept the True Faith wholly, is to deny the Faith wholly.

These are tough times that we are living in, no doubt, especially for Catholics and our Eternal Church that continues to come under immense persecution. You have an obligation to speak the truth, as the truth shall set you free. You have a higher calling that few will ever have and I will pray that the Holy Spirit guides you in your decision to do the right thing for our Holy Church.

If you would like to discuss any ideas in detail, please feel free to send me a message. My grandfather worked for the Archdiocese of Chicago for over 40 years in the fundraising business and he set up his fundraisers to disclose to the parishoners every penny that was spent on behalf of the parish.

I will pray for you to do the right thing…

God Bless

 

[Langdell]

Father,

I voted yes, but I have no idea how to go about designing a real solution. The apparent disagreements among nominally Catholic groups, especially religious, is very damaging to the faithful and perpetuates the false idea that some Church teachings are a matter of individual choice.

God bless you for giving this issue attention.

.

 

[jebeau]

As charity towards God has grown cold, the mutual charity of men among themselves has likewise cooled. (Leo XIII, Mira Caritatis)

Personally, I don’t care about offending Fr. Phleger or Sr. Keehan. When we worry about the people in serious, knowing, error over and above the will of God, we are letting the tail wag the dog.

I’m NOT saying “get in anyone’s face.” No, that would not be productive. And it would not be charitable.

But to make it clear to your people that you stand with the church, and they should too, is not a problem.

And to make it clear to them where their money goes when they give tithes, well, that’s something we should already be doing shouldn’t it?

Everyone is too worried about hurt feelings. How superficial of us! Offending someone’s feelings when they are in knowing error is NOT a sin against charity, in fact, it’s an Act of Charity!

The sin is very public. Why do we think the repentance should be private? Let’s all act on principle about this and try to thwart Satan wherever we can. He is our ultimate enemy. We walk around acting like we don’t have an enemy. What we need is faith and courage.

I have had specific instances of being scandalized myself at Mass. Thankfully, my priest was receptive to a letter I wrote to him (sort of). He made an announcement at Mass for people NOT to wear political clothing to Mass. That was something. He wouldn’t speak out any more specifically though. I think he’s worried about money.

My own great fear is that we Catholics will grow cold and we will compromise our beliefs for the sake of paying the airconditioning bills at our mega-Catholic churches. Wouldn’t the devil just love to have some big empty Catholic churches dotting the landscape? But even worse. . .wouldn’t he love seeing those same churches filled with people who have lost the power of Christ to effect saving change in the world. (Come to think of it, there are churches like that already. The Anglicans come to mind! Sorry.) Let’s not lose our salt!

I am praying for you for courage and trust, and that your answers will come.