Sympathetic to Chávez, a New Church Draws Fire

[Dale_M]

The defection of a handful of priests and their formation of the Reformed Catholic Church, a breakaway church openly sympathetic to Mr. Chávez’s government yet oddly allied with conservative Anglicans from Texas, has raised the ire of Roman Catholic leaders in Venezuela. Since its founding in June, the infant church has fueled a fresh debate over the interplay of religion and politics in one of Latin America’s most secular nations.

“What they want to do is put an end to the Catholic Church, but they have not succeeded,” Archbishop Roberto Luckert, one of Mr. Chávez’s most strident critics in Venezuela’s Roman Catholic hierarchy, said in a radio broadcast denouncing the new church.

The leaders of the Reformed Catholic Church, however, say their new church represents a fusion of the best of Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions. And though they adamantly deny receiving financing from Mr. Chávez’s government and insist that their church has no political affiliation, they do profess solidarity with Mr. Chávez, who has repeatedly clashed with the Roman Catholic hierarchy since rising to power a decade ago.

nytimes.com/2008/08/01/world/americas/01venez.html?_r=1&em=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=all

 

[FickleFreckled]

This is very interesting. There must be a second “Reformed” Catholic Church here in Texas, a liberal version, causing even more confusion. Not long ago I spoke with a woman who called herself “Mother” and claimed to have been ordained by the Reformed Catholic Church. Unfortunately she is in a very spiritually-sensitive line of work that puts her in front of people who are in need of spiritual support.
Very sad and misguided.

 

[FickleFreckled]

This is very interesting. There must be a second “Reformed” Catholic Church here in Texas, a liberal version, causing even more confusion. Not long ago I spoke with a woman who called herself “Mother” and claimed to have been ordained by the Reformed Catholic Church. Unfortunately she is in a very spiritually-sensitive line of work that puts her in front of people who are in need of spiritual support.
Very sad and misguided.

 

[Dale_M]

Apparently the new church is benefiting from mandatory television advertisements.

The archbishop pointed out that the church was founded be a former Catholic priest, a Lutheran minister and an Anglican minister, “and that the government pays priests to attend their events, including hotel and airfare.”

“Rejection (of the new denomination) has not only come from the Catholic Church, but the Lutheran and Anglican Communions have also expressed their disapproval of this church,” the archbishop said.

He also pointed to TV stations that have been required to air ads promoting the new church as proof of the government’s support for the new sect.

“This church only aims to use the name ‘Catholic’ to confuse the weakest of the faithful. They are against the unity of the Catholic Church and are therefore outside it,” Archbishop Lückert warned.

catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13260

 

[peregrinus_WA]

Shades of what the old USSR did to the Russian Orthodox and what China is still doing. Marxism is Marxism no matter where it is.

 

[LRThunder]

I don’t know how any could support Chavez, who is trying to become the new Hitler, or at least, Mussolini of South America. No, he hasn’t engaged in genocide (yet), but he’s bullying his neighbors, engaging in virulent rhetoric and allying with our enemies. He also seems to want to impose his own “Third Reich” on South America.

With close relations with Iran, we need to keep an eye on Chavez very closely because he could be more dangerous than Castro ever was, even when the Soviets put missiles on Cuba.