When dissident ideas come to roost...?

[st_felicity]

We had a “Mission” that claimed to be based in Merton’s theological perspective, but it was incredibly vague and had some strangely broad interpretations of Catholic ideas interspersed with Broadway musical renditions sung by the retired priest presenting this program. I was sufficiently dubious to research this particular guest priest because our parish priest is new and I fear it may reflect his leanings.

Anyway–the guest priest is a board member of the ARCC arcc-catholic-rights.net/ . This appears to be a dissident group. I know that one should not assume guilt by association, but it would be terribly imprudent of a priest to invite someone to celebrate Mass and speak to the church in a so-called “Advent Mission” if he is unaware of what that mission might present to his flock. Therefore, I am a bit worried about the future for our parish.

I have never dealt with a situation where I personally experienced immediate questioning of the Catholicity of what may come from the pulpit. Any comments and/or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Liberian]

St. Felicity,

I don’t have any specific suggestions, but I would like to note that parish priests get complaints from their parishioners all the time–and most of these complaints are very ill-founded. If you would like the parish priest to pay attention to what you have to say, you will need to be very specific about what concerns you and why it concerns you. I would suggest also that you emphasize that this is not about your tastes or preferences, but rather about whether the things that were said are in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

Beyond that, I wish you all the best.

• Liberian

 

[ricko]

They are renegades. They are for women priests, divorce, homosexuals, etc. Following is some of their charter:

No. 1. All Catholics have the right to follow their informed consciences in all matters. (C. 748.1)

No. 2. Officers of the Church have the right to teach on matters both of private and public morality only after wide consultation with the faithful prior to the formulation of the teaching.4 (C. 212, C. 747, C. 749, C. 752, C. 774.1)

No. 3. All Catholics have the right to engage in any activity which does not infringe on the rights of others, e.g., they have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association. (C. 212:2,3, C. 215, C. 223:1)

No. 8. All Catholics have the right to express publicly their dissent in regard to decisions made by Church authorities. (C. 212:3, C. 218, C. 753)

No. 15. All Catholics, regardless of race, age, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, state-of-life, or social position have the right to receive all the sacraments for which they are adequately prepared. (C. 213, C. 843:1)

No. 16. All Catholics, regardless of canonical status (lay or clerical), sex or sexual orientation, have the right to exercise all ministries in the Church for which they are adequately prepared, according to the needs and with the approval of the community. (C. 225:1, C. 274:1, C. 1024)

I would complain to the priest and if that doesn’t work to the Bishop. These are misfits masquerading as Catholics

 

[Liberian]

They are renegades. They are for women priests, divorce, homosexuals, etc. Following is some of their charter: (snip)

Hmmm … they sound worse than I realized they were.

It might be useful to cite the Vatican’s recent confirmation of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’ excommunications of people belonging to this sort of group.

• Liberian