Shocking Classes from Sisters of St. Joseph!

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Greetings~

I was at church today and picked up a pamphlet from the Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, a ministry of The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
I was completely shocked to see the classes being offered, To name a few: Energetic Awareness:The Leading Edge, The Generosity of the Sun- New Universe Story, and Rituals to Mark the Seasons, which features “prayer, ritual and tea”

Such classes are being given by “intuitive holistic energy healers”, teachers well-versed in ‘earth-based and Celtic spiritual tradions’. and people who have a psychology degree or the equivalent.

Now let me just say that there were many classes that appeared to be Catholic. But how does one know if these people or their teachings are even really Catholic when they offer these kinds of classes? I’d love to take one of the classes they offer, which appears to be formed of Catholic teaching, but how can I be sure?

And what the heck was this doing in my churchs’ narthex?
Opinions? Insights? Am I being silly?
In Christ,
Jen
 
Run, do not walk, away.

Just say no.

New Age+Nuns = Fallen nuns.

The sad facts of life.
 
Jen, like Shin said, your instincts are correct.
We can pray for these nuns and that people will be protected from their influence, and rather seek inspiration, healing and spirituality from the gospels, the Sacraments, and the Church

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
 
jtindell said:
Greetings~

I was at church today and picked up a pamphlet from the Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, a ministry of The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.
I was completely shocked to see the classes being offered, To name a few: Energetic Awareness:The Leading Edge, The Generosity of the Sun- New Universe Story, and Rituals to Mark the Seasons, which features “prayer, ritual and tea”

Such classes are being given by “intuitive holistic energy healers”, teachers well-versed in ‘earth-based and Celtic spiritual tradions’. and people who have a psychology degree or the equivalent.

Now let me just say that there were many classes that appeared to be Catholic. But how does one know if these people or their teachings are even really Catholic when they offer these kinds of classes? I’d love to take one of the classes they offer, which appears to be formed of Catholic teaching, but how can I be sure?

And what the heck was this doing in my churchs’ narthex?
Opinions? Insights? Am I being silly?
In Christ,
Jen
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An objection to that doesn’t seem silly to me at all. Just MHO, but it sounds like a lot of garbage. I somehow have a suspicion that this group of SSJ is of the post-conciliar “no-habit” or “mini-habit” persuasion. Not that it would make much difference, but neither would it surprise me.
 
Hi, Jen…

First, let me start by saying that not all Sisters of St. Joseph are into that kind of thing (I’m a Sister of St. Joseph!); the majority of Sisters of St. Joseph are delightful religious women, fully dedicated to Christ and the Church.

Next, unfortunately, some religious of many various congregations have gotten into this stuff and even seem to emphasize this type of thing in their lives and works.

Last, let’s hope that perhaps it is a different religious group just renting space in the facility.

Hopefully, the tide will soon turn and those who really don’t want to be Catholic Religious will feel free to depart, and those who want to be Catholic Religious will find a way to “take back” their congregations.
 
malphono said:
I somehow have a suspicion that this group of SSJ is of the post-conciliar “no-habit” or “mini-habit” persuasion. Not that it would make much difference, but neither would it surprise me.
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Actually, when we were founded in France in 1650, we were told to “blend in with the people”, not to call attention to ourselves, by dressing like the common widow. The distinguishing mark of the Sister of St. Joseph, besides “gentleness, peace, and joy”, “humility and charity”, and “great love of God and the Dear neighbor without distinction” was to be the ebony and brass crucifix that we were to wear (which I DO wear).

Anyway, you must be careful of the habit argument, because, while the habit can be a wonderful witness, many congregations NEVER wore a habit, or were originally founded not to do so. Also, when the habit becomes a source of pride or vanity (which, unfortunately can happen sometimes), it totally defeats its purpose.

Wearing a habit does not always equal orthodoxy (i.e. Thomas Merton wore a habit) and not wearing a habit does not have to mean lack of orthodoxy or being less-a-religious than the next nun.

God Bless!
 
Of course there is nothing wrong with a religious sister getting a psychology degree and teaching psychology and pyschological techniques. There is nothing inherently wrong with her presenting these within a Catholic framework. One would hope that she does. Moreover, sometimes “Celtic spiritual traditions” is just a fancy way of saying “Irish.” “Earth-based” can mean that they use rocks and potted plants instead of plaster statues and cut flowers in their liturgical decorations. Likewise, “Rituals to Mark the Seasons”, although new, can be every bit as orthodox as a May crowning of Mary, an Advent wreath, or a Christmas tree.

Catholics have a long tradition of taking what those outside the faith do, marrying it to the fullness of revelation, and getting as a result a fuller expression of our Catholic faith. You may know that the catch-phrases “Celtic” and “earth-based” are very “in” right now, both in and outside Christianity. Spirituality has its fads, too, just like restaurant menus. We, especially, live in an age of such fads.

One could look at it this way: every one of our traditions that didn’t come straight from the Apostles is the gold that lasted out of some pile of the fads of its time. The Irish invented the Sacrament of Reconcilliation in its present incarnation–that is, personal confession to a priest, rather than public confession to the entire Church–and there are many Irish saints who were both mystics and prolific writers, so one could go down more dangerous roads than the one marked “Celtic.” One has to admit that the innovations coming out of the Emerald Isles have not been bad. The Irish essentially saved the Church, once Rome fell.

This is not to say that “Celtic” means “Irish” or that “Irish” always means “Catholic”! Not everything that uses the word “Christ” is even Christian, for that matter, let alone consistent with Roman Catholicism! You are right to have your radar in operation. The many weird innovations that try to use a little bit of orthodox verbage in order to pass themselves off as a practice of spirtual depth are legion. Some are even very well-meant. Being well-meaning doesn’t make a pig’s ear into a silk purse.

In other words, the only way you can know if this stuff is Catholic or not is to do some more investigation…but it could be not only fine but just what some people need to find the riches of our faith. Before looking into things, one just can’t say.
 
Scary!

But let’s not judge “a book” by it’s cover. Some, not all!

Still DON’T buy the book!:eek:

Have you discussed this with your Pastor? If not you should AFTER you have removed all of the road maps to hell!

I too have encounterd the earth sisters… how very:(

Pray always for vocations of informed practcing RC’s.

Dear God exercise your Power nad Majesty and save all of us!
 
Shin said:
Run, do not walk, away.

Just say no.

New Age+Nuns = Fallen nuns.

The sad facts of life.
Click to expand...
It is* not *impossible to essentially leave the Church without leaving your religious order, or the priesthood, for that matter. This cannot be denied.

It is possible to teach concepts from Celtic spirituality and to still be as orthodox as the Pope.

If “Irish innovations” had never been allowed, we’d still be confessing our sins in public, and not in private to a priest. It is good to be sceptical, but that does not mean rash judgement is permissible as soon as one hears some certain catch phrase or other, or someone doing something a new way. You don’t have to like it, you may find it useless, but that alone doesn’t make* them* into apostates or heretics.
 
I am assuming that we are talking about the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille. As a French order they have a strong presence in south Louisiana.

As an American Celt of Irish, Scot, and Breton ancestry, I have books and books of lovely Celtic poems - the number one of which that I love is the Lorica of St. Patrick.

Sister J. sang in the cathedral choir with me when I was experiencing a “dark night of the soul”. One Wednesday night, she handed me three xeroxed sheets of poetry from the Jesuit priest Gerard M. Hopkins with her own personal annotated notes and said “I think these will help”. I had not talked to her about my personal life. It came completely out of the blue.

Indeed. In the poetry of Hopkins, I recognized that I was not alone in my struggle with depression or in my “dark night of the soul”. That was 15 or more years ago. I have those three xeroxed pages in my Liturgy of the Hours book.

Sister J. threw me a life-line. I didn’t even ask. Those three sheets of xeroxed poems of Hopkin’s poetry with Sister J’s underlinings and comments have sustained me all these long years.

I now longer sing in our choir. Did I tell you that Sister J served at my parish in New Orleans when I was an altar boy in 1967 and served at the 6am Mass at the convent? Our Lord works in mysterious ways.
 
I can’t comment on the Sisters of St Joseph, but those classes do not sound orthodox to me… I’d say it’s best to stay away from anything that seems suspicious, cause you never know.
 
brotherhrolf said:
Sister J. threw me a life-line. I didn’t even ask. Those three sheets of xeroxed poems of Hopkin’s poetry with Sister J’s underlinings and comments have sustained me all these long years.

I now longer sing in our choir. Did I tell you that Sister J served at my parish in New Orleans when I was an altar boy in 1967 and served at the 6am Mass at the convent? Our Lord works in mysterious ways.
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It was also a Sister of St. Joseph and a Sister J. (Sister Joan)who brought me into the Church and into the Sisters of St. Joseph, and saved me countless times, as well as teaching me everything I know that is good (the bad I picked up on my own!). I met her right after high school and she was my mom-teacher-Sister-mentor-best friend; she taught me to pray, to be a good Sister, to be a good teacher, to love God and the Church, to be faithful, and to be a generous soul. She loved everyone and her bright smile and great love for God and people quickly endeared her to everyone she met. She was to celebrate her 50th jubilee as an SSJ this year. Sadly, Sister Joan passed away very unexpectedly on January 16th; we will never see a finer Sister of St. Joseph than she.

God bless the Sisters of St. Joseph, and especially our beloved Sister Joan. :angel1: :gopray2:
 
Dear OP, I read this document by the Pontifical Council for Culture at the suggestion of my son. It is called “Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, A Christian reflection on the New Age.” It was very helpful to me. Explained alot. It helps alot to understand what is what with the New Age. My son posted the entire paper for me as a Word document. See if you can find it online. PM me if you can’t find it and I will ask him to help us.
 
Perhaps giving copies of that document to the chapter of the nuns involved in this will help. 🙂

Or as I said, one could simply run -away- quickly.

St. Joseph ora pro nobis. God help our nuns!
 
Next to the radical Immaculate Heart nuns here in L.A. in the 1960’s, the CSJ’s were the next group to go ultra liberal and start all this cazy new age stuff and it just keeps getting worse.

They were the next ones to do away with the habit, live in apartments, etc. etc. The entire thing is ridiculous and a disgrace.

I;m so glad that new, habit wearing traditional orders are growing.
At least they still have Jesus Christ as their promary focus…not chanting for seasonal changes, dancing during mass, the cosmos, ad nauseum.

The founders of these liberalized orders would roll over in their graves if they could see what has become of their communities.
 
SisterSnowflake said:
Actually, when we were founded in France in 1650, we were told to “blend in with the people”, not to call attention to ourselves, by dressing like the common widow. The distinguishing mark of the Sister of St. Joseph, besides “gentleness, peace, and joy”, “humility and charity”, and “great love of God and the Dear neighbor without distinction” was to be the ebony and brass crucifix that we were to wear (which I DO wear).

Anyway, you must be careful of the habit argument, because, while the habit can be a wonderful witness, many congregations NEVER wore a habit, or were originally founded not to do so. Also, when the habit becomes a source of pride or vanity (which, unfortunately can happen sometimes), it totally defeats its purpose.

Wearing a habit does not always equal orthodoxy (i.e. Thomas Merton wore a habit) and not wearing a habit does not have to mean lack of orthodoxy or being less-a-religious than the next nun.

God Bless!
Click to expand...
Also well-said, Sister.
 
jeanannemarie said:
Dear OP, I read this document by the Pontifical Council for Culture at the suggestion of my son. It is called “Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life, A Christian reflection on the New Age.” It was very helpful to me. Explained alot. It helps alot to understand what is what with the New Age. My son posted the entire paper for me as a Word document. See if you can find it online. PM me if you can’t find it and I will ask him to help us.
Click to expand...
An EXCELLENT document! Here is the link:

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
 
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