The way of life, the way of death, and ...

[Denise]

acts of irreverence.

Liturgical and pastoral patterns of irreverence express and cultivate moral dysfunction. It is instructive to compile historical evidence, recognize the roots of cultural and ecclesial disease, and offer a clear choice for Catholics.

Scriptures reveal the Way of Life and the Way of Death: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.” (Dt. 30:19)

Chronicling the Way of Death is like reading a clinical pathology report. The evidence of disorder and disease is necessary to identify the causes of illness and death and develop methods to regain and maintain health. The Apostle Jude describes the Way of Death: “You must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ… ‘In the last time, there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’ It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” Irreverence.

Liturgical and pastoral patterns of irreverence express and cultivate moral dysfunction. The last fifty years have seen disturbing Catholic-related pictures and news stories, often inexplicably enshrined by the Catholic press. It is instructive to compile historical evidence (mostly from hard-copy publications), recognize the roots of cultural and ecclesial disease, and offer a clear choice for Catholics.

• In a 1979 photo (NC photo by Bob Edmundson) we see Father Nick Rashford, S.J., of Rockhurst College in Kansas City, MO, celebrating a children’s Mass. Father Rashford, in liturgical vestments and surrounded by children, has a little boy sitting on his lap [sic] as he breaks bread over a wicker basket. “In his homily, Father Rashford uses his puppet friends, ‘Snoopy,’ ‘Woodstock’ and ‘Charlie the Tuna’ to illustrate the Gospel message” (NC Photo by Koleen Kolenc, 5-14-79).

• In 1980, Archbishop Weakland wrote a column about homosexuality in the Catholic Herald. Gay activists Sister Jeanine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent “praised the sensitive and balanced approach [of Weakland].” The “gay ministry group [uses] Weakland’s column as a model of how homosexuality should be addressed by church leaders” (Milwaukee Sentinel, March 12, 1983). Gramick remains a favored “LGBTQ” activist today (more on that below).

• In 1983, Marquette University theology professor Daniel Maguire promoted “gay” marriage in a Crossroads book, A Challenge to Love: Gay and Lesbian Catholics in the Church, edited by Father Robert Nugent. Nugent was a leader of the national gay ministry group, “New Ways Ministry.” Maguire wrote, “We have no moral right to declare [gay marriage] off limits to persons whom God has made gay” (Milwaukee Sentinel, March 12, 1983).

• From 1987: “Father Marvin Knighton does not wear a Roman collar, lives in his own home in Wauwatosa and prefers to be called Marvin. And he recently began a new job as a counselor in a public school. ‘I do feel strongly about being a priest,’ Knighton said in an interview. But that does not always mean following the traditional role of priests, he added” (Milwaukee Journal, September 4, 1987). In 2011, the Vatican upheld Knighton’s dismissal from the clerical state for allegations of sexual improprieties.

• In 1991, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee reported that he was “falling in love all the time.” Concerning celibacy, Weakland said, “Across the board, celibacy works to our detriment as a church” (Milwaukee Sentinel, July 14, 1991). In 2002, on the ABC program ‘Good Morning America,’ Paul Marcoux reported the Milwaukee archdiocese had paid him $450,000 years before to keep quiet about his affair with the archbishop — an affair the man was now calling date rape.” In the aftermath, “LGBTQ” activist James Martin, S.J., said Weakland “was one of the most gifted leaders in the post-Vatican II church in America.” In November 2022, this news: “Pope Francis met with Father Martin in 2019 and expressed support for the American Jesuit’s ministry in a letter a year later, encouraging him to ‘continue this way.’“

• In 1994, “Houston artist Donell Hill’s exhibit at a gallery run by Roman Catholic nuns in San Antonio was closed on Tuesday after complaints were made about its content. Pieces included sculptures of genitalia and a painting of an angel having sex on an altar” (De Moines Register, September 14, 1994).

• In a 1994 photo, Father Dale Fushek, the founder of Life Teen (“the largest program for Catholic teenagers”), is at the altar surrounded by teenagers as he holds up, with one hand, (presumably) the consecrated Host. In 2008, Fushek was excommunicated from the Church. In 2010, allegations of sexual impropriety with teenage boys were settled in a plea bargain.

• In a letter to Ann Landers in 1994, an 81-year-old widow reported that she now masturbates every day and worries the habit had become excessive. She reports she is a “Catholic and have been taught since childhood that masturbation is a mortal sin.” Ann’s response was, “Granted, daily sexual release is considered frequent at your age, but it certainly is nothing to become alarmed about.” Finally, “If you want to go to confession, seek out a younger priest. The church has become more enlightened in the last couple of decades. You will be pleasantly surprised” (1994 Creator’s Syndicate, Inc.).

• Ann Landers and the late Cardinal Bernardin shared a warm friendship. Cardinal Bernardin also requested the Windy City Gay Men’s Chorus perform at his funeral.

• In 1983, homosexual activist Sister Jeannine Gramick praised Archbishop Weakland for his teaching on homosexuality. Thirty years later, on October 17, 2023, “Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of the Maryland-based LGBTQ Catholic advocacy group New Ways Ministry, met with [Pope] Francis for about 50 minutes at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta…New Ways Ministry said the meeting ‘is remarkable because it reflects the steady acceptance of Catholic officials to LGBTQ+ issues and ministry.’” A few days ago, National Catholic Reporter named Gramick its “Newsmaker of 2023,” describing her as a “tireless advocate for LGBTQ Catholics” and added: “Tireless is the word, certainly. Another descriptor would be successful. Another, perhaps more important, would be cunning.”

The Way of Death terminates in hell: “Just as Sodom and Gomor′rah…acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, [they] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” (Jude 1:7)

Saint Jude concludes by describing the Way of Life: “But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:17-22)

Choose reverence. Choose life.

Addendum: More “way of death” acts of irreverence

• In a 1968 photo, we see Sister Tina Bernal, 23, in full habit, performing “three interpretative solo dances at the opening, Offertory and close of the Mass concelebrated in St. Francis Hotel during the National convention of the College Theology Society in San Francisco” (The Catholic Mirror, May 2, 1968). “Sacred dance,” she was quoted in TIME magazine as saying (May 17, 1968), “is the unity of man in action before God. I am a community when I dance.”

• In 1984, Father Edward Hussli, in clown apparel, celebrated a Catholic School Week Mass with the 446 pupils of Saint Agnes Church in Milwaukee (“Clown serves as a symbol of love at special liturgy for children”).

• In 1985, Sister Barbara Linke conducted dance sessions at Mount Mary College (Milwaukee). “‘For me, my body is my instrument…it’s my way of expressing myself,’ she said, gesturing frequently with her hands to convey her thoughts. ‘I feel free when I dance; it’s a natural expression.’”

• In 1989 in Pittsburgh, four religious sisters are dressed as clowns: “Sisters of St. Joseph in the mime troupe ‘Faith-Filled Fools’ stand around a quilt that was sewed together as an ecumenical prayer service recently when the Sisters declared their motherhouse property in Baden a nuclear-free zone” (Pittsburgh Catholic, November 29, 1989).

• On the cover of the Roncalli High School 1991-92 Annual Report (Manitowoc, Wisconsin), there is a picture of, “Christian Brother Larry Zeman [preparing] with a student to visit a retirement home as part of the new clown ministry begun at Roncalli.” The picture depicts teacher and student clown-painting their facies. In his next assignment, he served as a vocation director for the Christian Brothers. Today, the Christian Brothers as an order is almost extinct.

• In 1991, “Susan Stack, a pastoral minister at St. Frederick Catholic Church in Cudahy [Wisconsin], says she’s abstaining from taking Communion during Lent as a means of examining not only her own sinfulness, but what she considers the church’s sin of sexism” (Milwaukee Journal photo by Gary Porter, February 15, 1991)

• In the “Classroom Corner” of the 1992 issue of the National Catholic Education Association’s publication “Momentum,” writer Kathy Coffey reports “Lesbian theologian Carter Heyward explains, in Touching Our Strength, that the same motive that urged her out of the closet also gave her solidarity with the people of Nicaragua.” Heyward is an Episcopal priestess.

• In a 1990’s photo, dressed in a “Youth Bash” T-shirt, “Father Charles C. McCoart leads the 212 teens in a dancing train ride all over Blessed Sacrament’s gymnasium as Christian rocker David Kauffman performs one of his hottest hits.” Father McCoart has since defected from the priesthood and has become an openly homosexual Episcopal clergyman.

• In the 1990s, the Washington Post showed a picture of “Pam Markowski [giving] a back massage to [a topless] Sister Rose Karen Johnson at the New Life Center of Virginia in Loudoun County.”

• In 1993, Sister Sheila McGinnis, MMS, is pictured massaging feet in “a therapy of foot reflexology” (The Catholic Standard and Times, photo by Colleen Boyle Sharp).

• In a 1977 photo, we see “Sister Margaret Ann McGurn [meditating] in yoga garb and the lotus position, with a Jerusalem Bible at her side. “Sister McGurn…teaches Yoga at Detroit’s Marygrove College.” Elsewhere and in contrast, a Catholic commentator observes: “It is almost impossible to avoid participating in the spiritual parts of yoga, which are problematic if we are to stay away from honoring murderous gods and opening ourselves up to yoga’s spiritual beliefs” (NC Photo by Catherine Haven).

• In a 1978 photo, Father John Phalen, pastor of Our Lady of the Woods parish in Woodhaven, Michigan, appears as a clown, breaking a loaf of bread in a “special interdenominational clown liturgy.” “Father Phalen is one of the many priests, nuns, ministers, and laity involved in an unusual clown ministry movement headed by a Lutheran movement.”

• In 2000 in Philadelphia, Buffy Red Feather Brown was pictured in Indian garb conducting “a prayer to the four winds during Blessed Katharine Drexel’s Feast Day Mass…at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul” (The Catholic Standard and Times, March 9, 2000).

• With guitarists arrayed in the sanctuary, in 2001 “Participants at a Tapestry of Faith, an ecumenical gathering of fourth-day communities in Woodbridge…raise their hands in praise and link arms as they sing, “Peace is Flowing Like a River.” Meanwhile, Mike May “arrives at Tapestry of Faith dressed as a rooster, a symbol of the Cursillo movement and the inspiration of the song ‘De Colores’” (Arlington Catholic Herald, August 23, 2001).

• In 2001 in at a Lexington, KY ecology conference, participants “join in a closing ritual built around a display of the four classic elements, earth, air, fire, and water. Muzaffar Fazaluddin, director of the Richmond diocese’s Appalachian Office of Justice and Peace, carries the earth, and Mary Ann Novascone of Floyd carries water” (The Catholic Virginian, April 16, 2001)

• In 1992, Sister Monique Rysavy, SSND, earned her pay as a “Minister of Humor.” “Questions about her ministry can be answered by the ‘Dept. of Sunshine and Rainbows’ at her convent in Northfield, MN” (The Good Life, April 2, 1992).

• In a 1994 photo, Benedictine Sister Benet Frandrup is identified as a “cool nun” as she “dresses up as ‘the Fonz’ much to the amusement of her students”

• In a 1995 photo, Father John Hall “talks about peace on Earth to students at S. Matthew Elementary School in Phoenix.” Father is dressed as a Klingon from the Star Trek series

• In 1996, “Liturgical dancers…remind participants of their common baptism at the opening worship service of the National Workshop on Christian unity…at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond” with Bishop Walter Sullivan inviting participants to recall their baptism (The Catholic Virginian, May 20, 1996).

• In a photo from the 1990s, pounding Indian drums, several nuns “make joyful noise…in front of McCandless Hall at Saint Mary’s College during the Circle of Blessings ceremony to welcome students…”.

• In 1994, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany was pictured anointing the altar at the dedication of the chapel of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. He was accompanied by a liturgical dancer with incense (The Troy Record, November 2, 1994). In retirement, Bishop Howard attempted marriage and sought laicization. Upon his death, the New York Times reported, Bishop Hubbard “was widely regarded as a progressive voice in the church on social issues like the death penalty and the ordination of women.” The newspaper added Hubbard was “the youngest American to be made a bishop…he died while still defending himself against allegations of sexual abuse.” May he rest in peace.

https://www.catholicworldreport.com/202 ... reverence/