Wiccan Outreach?

[HabemusFrancis]

Maybe its the spirit of Halloween that is prompting me to ask this, but here it goes

I know it is a general practice of the Catholic Church to have “interfaith outreach” with other religions: Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. I belive the Church does this in an effort to produce good relations with other people and to advocate the Christian message.

I have noticed however, that there is little to no “outreach” to the Wiccan Community.

I have never seen or heard of a Catholic bishop having a “sitdown” meeting with the head Witch of a local Wicca coven.

Why is that?

Is it because the Church finds Wicca, (unlike other religions) to be involved with Sorcery, going directly against the Bible?

But even if that is the case, aren’t Wiccans in even more need of Jesus/the gospel than other non Christians:blush:

Thoughts please!

 

[Verdandi]

Because while other religions have aspects of truth according to Catholic teaching, Wicca and the New Age movements in general were declared by John Paul II to be diabolically inspired, Gnostic and evil.

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html#fn6

Wicca claims to be a revival of the same paganism the Catholic Church went to great lengths to purge from the earth, there are many ancient papal bulls which while not initially designed to apply to a faith that wouldn’t come into being for another nineteen hundred years are being applied to it amongst other new age movements.

In short Wicca is not the target of ecumenicism for the same reason Infernal Satanists (the ones who do believe the devil is real and worship it) aren’t; because there is nothing in it whatsoever the Catholic Church considers to be of any worth or good.

 

[PRmerger]

Because while other religions have aspects of truth according to Catholic teaching, Wicca and the New Age movements in general were declared by John Paul II to be diabolically inspired, Gnostic and evil.

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html#fn6

Wicca claims to be a revival of the same paganism the Catholic Church went to great lengths to purge from the earth, there are many ancient papal bulls which while not initially designed to apply to a faith that wouldn’t come into being for another nineteen hundred years are being applied to it amongst other new age movements.

In short Wicca is not the target of ecumenicism for the same reason Infernal Satanists (the ones who do believe the devil is real and worship it) aren’t; because there is nothing in it whatsoever the Catholic Church considers to be of any worth or good.

This is incorrect, in almost every utterance.

 

[Verdandi]

This is incorrect, in almost every utterance.

Oh?

PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR CULTURE, PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE states:
The appeal of* New Age* religiosity cannot be underestimated. When the understanding of the content of Christian faith is weak, some mistakenly hold that the Christian religion does not inspire a profound spirituality and so they seek elsewhere. As a matter of fact, some say the* New Age* is already passing us by, and refer to the “next” age.
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html#1.4.%20The%20New%20Age%20and%20Catholic%20Faith

Demonic spirits are real and many new age religions and wicca practitioners are praying to and worshiping demonic spirits, whether they know it or not.

And even if it isn’t real, they believe it is, and the results are often disastrous. Matthew Arnold explains why in his talk titled, “Overcoming the New Age Movement” from Catholic Lighthouse Media. Matthew was completely immersed in these New Age religions and his talk is excellent.

-Tim-

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=878542

It seems a good many of your fellow members disagree with you, this was the first result on google.

 

[PRmerger]

Oh?

Yes, sir.

It seems a good many of your fellow members disagree with you, this was the first result on google.

I’m not sure you understand.

Vico’s and TimonthyH’s posts are completely different from what you asserted.

And their posts are 100% correct.

Your post, not so much.

 

[Christianus_Dei]

One big problem, and this is just my personal observation so I might be wrong:

Neopaganism is largely a “make it up as you go along” thing. There’s not enough established or consistent canon to look for aspects of truth to bridge the gap in. There’s so much variance of belief that it ends up being more effective to consider neopagans as atheists and work on a case-by-case basis.

This would obviously make it difficult to have an outreach to an entire community.

 

[book_and_bead]

I’ve heard of interfaith dialog between Christian pastors and Wiccan leaders of larger established groups like Covenant of the Goddess, so it’s not unknown. We had a missionary priest concelebrate Mass at our parish and in his homily spoke of interfaith gatherings (Wiccans included) to discuss fostering peace and understanding between religions. But, these tend to be more educational, to learn about the beliefs of Wiccans rather than attempts at conversion.

The problem with this sort of outreach is that except for these large national level groups with high profile leaders, you’d be hard pressed to find local Wiccans to get involved in such discussions because of the possibility of being socially shunned or worse because of their beliefs.

 

[Mordocai]

I think the main outreach here needs to be intentional intercession rather than trying to dialogue in a group way. These kinds of conversions will come through personal friendships and a lot of prayer.

 

[book_and_bead]

I think the main outreach here needs to be intentional intercession rather than trying to dialogue in a group way. These kinds of conversions will come through personal friendships and a lot of prayer.

I agree. I was a Wiccan for 34 years before becoming Catholic last year and I’ve met many ex-Catholics in the Wiccan community. A great majority were turned off to the Church from Catholic school and/or a strict upbringing. I like Pope Francis’ idea of bringing souls to the Church through attraction, not proselytizing:

Link to article

However, many in the Wiccan community left the Church because they felt that they were marginalized; woman, gays, etc. So how do we attract these folks to come to the Catholic faith?

 

[djames99]

In this secular world, much of it’s spoiled idealism rubs off on people, even into the subject of religion. The Church has always been prominent and welcoming to those who respond to the graces of the Holy Spirit. We can root the cause to the subject not being properly disposed to receiving such graces. The subject must make an effort to communicate by prayer to our Lord for help and understanding. Sometimes a dry period of testing may be needed before some help is received. The weak may make choices in other areas.

The extremes of sin grades these accordingly. Witch craft is a basal evil, in that it is a formal contract to enter the world of demons. It cries out, “Please make me one of yours.” Scripture is a dark world to these, as the “light” is by degrees a darkness hurtful to the rejected soul. The outright refusal of human society in favor of the trappings of evil society is their life. The ‘religion’ here is worship of the god of this world. It is not really a religion in the true sense, but a cult ritual presided by Satan.

So yes indeed, they are truly in need of help.

Certainly, knowing their religion has practical uses to the Catholic. It helps to know beforehand the most likely beliefs and arguments they will bring up for discussion in a proper conversion environment, that is, if the occasion and conditions should present itself.

Outside of the respect and dignity that is warranted to them has Heirs to the Kingdom, it does not give them qualification as Teachers while they remain students, either invincibly ignorant, or by degree shackled to errors. It is not an assembly of like colleagues.

The obligation to reach out is the mandate of the Church, and in so doing it is substantiated by being present at such meetings ready for them to reap the benefits of the association with Catholics, and to use the opportunity to their advantage. The Church holds public talks, uses the media to get out the word,etc. Indeed in this techno world, it seems to be very difficult to find anyone invincibly ignorant of the existence of the True Church.

(Radio Replies) Q610. Will you receive understanding from any source other than your Church?
“Yes. For knowledge of science, I go to scientists; of history, to historians; of law, to lawyers; of medicine, to doctors; of other religions, to textbooks of other religions; for knowledge of the religion revealed by Christ, to the Catholic Church”.

1. How is it possible to believe all the religions that claim to be true?
   It is not possible. If any one of them is right, then the others are all wrong. No one asks you to take our word, however, for the truth of the Catholic Church. It can be proved historically that Christ lived, that He was God, and that He founded an imperishable Church, which was to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Find that Church and you will have the true religion of Christ.

 

[pax85]

I have never seen or heard of a Catholic bishop having a “sitdown” meeting with the head Witch of a local Wicca coven.

Why is that?

Thoughts please!

I think a couple of reasons:

-Despite protestations from some Wiccans themselves, evidence suggests that there are not that many of them (relatively speaking). Not that this negates the need for dialogue, it’s just more difficult to establish.

-Wicca tends to be very loosely organized and, except for larger groups, has little hierarchy, at least as we understand it. This presents a problem in figuring out who to talk to; a person from one group may have completely different views compared to another person from another group.

In the end, I think the primary way of reaching out, as mentioned above it through intercessory prayer. When we come in contact with Wiccans, just like anyone else, we need to be respectful, charitable, and when the opportunity presents itself, share the truth and beauty of the faith in a way that respects their dignity as human persons. This will win over many more souls, I think, than official “sit downs.”

-Pax

 

[Padres1969]

I think a couple of reasons:

-Despite protestations from some Wiccans themselves, evidence suggests that there are not that many of them (relatively speaking). Not that this negates the need for dialogue, it’s just more difficult to establish.

-Wicca tends to be very loosely organized and, except for larger groups, has little hierarchy, at least as we understand it. This presents a problem in figuring out who to talk to; a person from one group may have completely different views compared to another person from another group.

In the end, I think the primary way of reaching out, as mentioned above it through intercessory prayer. When we come in contact with Wiccans, just like anyone else, we need to be respectful, charitable, and when the opportunity presents itself, share the truth and beauty of the faith in a way that respects their dignity as human persons. This will win over many more souls, I think, than official “sit downs.”

-Pax

I’d say the bolded is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. Wicca isn’t very centralized even it’s largest groupings for those that do group together aren’t that big. Which is very much in opposition to the Catholic Church which is probably the largest most formally and hierarchically organized of all single religious sects on the planet. It’s hard for an organization like the Catholic church to reach out to Wiccans when you’re not really sure who to reach out to?

 

[pax85]

I’d say the bolded is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. Wicca isn’t very centralized even it’s largest groupings for those that do group together aren’t that big. Which is very much in opposition to the Catholic Church which is probably the largest most formally and hierarchically organized of all single religious sects on the planet. It’s hard for an organization like the Catholic church to reach out to Wiccans when you’re not really sure who to reach out to?

Exactly, and on the flip side, it is uncomfortable for many Wiccans to be in dialogue with a religion that is so different from their own on so many levels, much less structure. Again, most of the outreach must happen at the personal level. I was in Wicca for many years, and it was the outreach of two ladies who owned a Catholic bookstore that first introduced me to the Church…