UPDATE BELOW
Originally Published on: Mar 5, 2018
The next time the Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) criticizes anyone for having a faithful, conservative understanding of the Church’s discipline or doctrine, point them to this article. The next time writers for the Fishwrap such as Michael Sean Winters or Phyllis Zagano attack, remember this article.
Fishwrap endlessly promotes a homosexualist agenda and the ordination of women. While claiming that we must all accept whatever the Pope says, they routinely undermined everything that John Paul II and Benedict XVI taught. And they have the audacity to put the word “Catholic” on their mast head.
A regular writer for Fishwrap, open lesbian Jamie Manson, has a piece today about the “ordination” of a woman as a bishop. No, it’s not objective. Here’s the first line, which just about sums up Fishwrap and their writers when it comes to aberrant behavior:
“Bye, Bishop Mema!” 4-year old Miles crooned as he wrapped his arms around his grandmother.
Blech.
Even though this was not a truly Catholic ordination, perpetrated by the “Ecumenical Catholic Communion in a Presbyterian Church (which itself is incredibly insulting towards Catholics), Mason simply accepts its validity.
Talk about your “Self-absorbed Promethean Neopelagians”! Lib, thy name is S-aPN!
We don’t have to stand idly by when these people with the help of the Fishwrap make a completely mockery of the Sacraments, the beating heart of our Catholic identity.
Pray for the conversion or the destruction of the Fishwrap.
Pray this prayer everyday for the rest of Lent.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Dear St. Joseph, Terror of Demons and Protector of Holy Church, Chaste Guardian of Our Lord and His Mother, hear our urgent prayer and swiftly intercede with our Savior, whom as a loving father you defended so diligently, that He will pour abundant graces upon the staff of that organ of dissent the National catholic Reporter so that they will either embrace orthodox doctrine concerning faith and morals or that all their efforts will promptly fail and come to their just end. Amen.
UPDATE: 7 March 2018
Fr. Longenecker has his own take on this loony farce. His conclusion is dead on target:
The only other thing I would add is that the only thing crazier than these groups are the ones who agree with everything they stand for, but not only stay within the Catholic Church, but do so intending to change it from within. How different from the members of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion are people like Phyllis Zagano and James Martin SJ and the members of the hierarchy who support and promote them?
They believe the same thing as Bishop Denise of the ECC. They just don’t have the guts or integrity to get up and go join the ECC like she did. No.
As they have said, “We prefer to work within the system.”
Do I hear an “Amen!”?
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Perhaps we should also pray that the relevant Bishop(s) determine that this publication is ineligible to use the word Catholic in its name.
A public rebuke by the USCCB with a few significant and unexpected names at the top of a list with the endorsement of Holy See would deflate this crew, now that they have become acclimated to pride of place in the era of the new paradigm.
done and will do!
I’m wondering if our prayers might be working.
The Fishwrap no longer accepts comments. (At least until they find something that “works” for them.) I have a feeling that their readership is down because certain people were drawn to the site and spent a lot of time in “discussion” in the comments section.
Perhaps things will spiral down from here. Or maybe our prayers will cause a change of heart and a change of focus! Wouldn’t that be a miracle!
Why would any woman stoop to become a bishop?
These “women” need to read a bit of Alice von Hildebrand. Being a woman is, indeed, a privilege, and not one I take lightly. I’m quite certain that no mere man has ever been assumed, body and soul, into heaven. I’m equally certain that no mere man, however holy and enlightened, has stomped the serpent to death.
Just sayin’.
I see that they are reported as having faithfully followed the liturgy of the Catholic Church. What a pity that they did not follow the teaching of the Catholic Church, which. as we know, teaches that the Church does not have the authority to Ordain women to the priesthood. No woman can serve as Alter Christi because she is not a man, as Jesus Christ truly was a complete man.
AND only women may give birth and be a mother. All the ‘male privilege’ pales in comparison.
The only CWP (yes, that’s what was after her name) I ever ran into was at a funeral home where the “catholic woman priest” had been contracted to celebrate a Mass of Christian Burial for a relative of ours. I did not concelebrate, nor did my parents or I go to communion; although one sibling did and another sibling refrained. The homily was all about the CWP herself, and why we need women priests, and there was very little about the deceased (a cousin) and nothing about the Paschal Mystery. While I’m theoretically okay with the idea of ordaining women, I’ve never met a CWP, or a female advocate of inclusive ordination, that I’d want to work with.
“While I’m theoretically okay with the idea of ordaining women,” frjim4321
Therein lies the problem.
“I’m quite certain that no mere man has ever been assumed, body and soul, into heaven.”
The prophet Elisha immediately comes to mind. Am I remembering this incorrectly?
Fr. Jim wrote:”While I’m theoretically okay with the idea of ordaining women, I’ve never met a CWP, or a female advocate of inclusive ordination, that I’d want to work with.”
Well, there is a problem with the ‘theoretical’ idea of ordaining women….you, as a priest share in the one priesthood of Christ that no woman can ever do. Our Lord is our example and He did not ordain women. Period. End of discussion. The theology of the priesthood is incredible! I know modernists either do not know it or do not accept it. We all have our roles to play and the denial of even our God-given genders are now under attack. Many women want to be priests not so much to give their lives in service and for the salvation of souls as to be in a place they see as of power and control They can never be spiritual fathers! And many priests, true enough, are not good spiritual fathers either but they could be.
But the attitude of acceptance of things in variance with the age old teachings is a red flag, father. I know too well that many in high places want ‘paradigm shifts’ and are being promoted and lauded but that does neither aid the salvation of souls nor please God.
Actually, a few decades ago when I was ordained, this was a question that could be discussed in polite company, and had not yet been turned into the third rail by the two previous popes. I never expected to see a change in my lifetime, so I never really pinned my hopes and dreams on it; but what I find offensive is that people think discussion can be foreclosed upon that easily. At the rate this planet is rapidly hurtling toward become a dead cinder orbiting the sun, it may never happen. Even in the best case, didn’t Teilhard predict the Omega Point would take a million years to reach?
Gripen:
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Don’t forget Enoch.
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Heb 11:5:
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By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.
Well, I’m not okay, theoretically or otherwise, with ordaining women. Saw a video made in Ohio wherein several mainline Protestant female clergywomen were marching, arm in arm, for abortion rights. They also participated in the “blessing” of an an abortion facilty. Ugh.
katholos; yes that’s really disturbing … and what I don’t get is that most of the vegans I know (and I’m sure you know that veganism is more of a sort of ethical thing than a diet thing) are pretty lax on the abortion issue.
I flatly would never believe that a woman was a bishop, priest or deacon even no matter who claimed it was so. If Catholic parishioners were presented with women who were claimed to be “ordained” Catholic clergy, there would be widespread rejection of their legitimacy and rejection of any sacraments attempted by them. Those Catholics who did accept them would effectively become mainline protestants by that fact. The Church has no authority whatsoever to make women priests. There is no possibility of it ever occurring at any time in the future. Pursuit of this notion is simply a form of separation from the Catholic Church.
I don’t know a single priest who thought of it on his own, all were nudged by the Holy Spirit and are happy to serve God. Women interested in the priesthood think that’s where the power is.
I will serve the Lord, not by pretending women can be priests but by polishing the neglected silver cover of the Gospel. I’d better get busy, Pascha will soon be upon us.
Tradition has it, indeed, that a select few male prophets and patriarchs were assumed body and soul from this Earth. However, it does not follow that they were necessarily assumed straight into Heaven, at first, but perhaps instead to the Limbus of the Fathers (where Abraham resided when he comforted the poor man and rebuked the rich one), to await the coming of the resurrected Christ.
Some hold that the good Saint Joseph was one of these souls, awaiting his Son (son-according-to-law-and-custom).
Please bear in mind that these traditions don’t address the question as to whether all of the just who died before Christ’s death and resurrection were assumed body and soul anywhere, only that some were.
One story has an august gathering of prophets and patriarchs, holy women, and other worthy souls in the Limbus of the Fathers. They knew that the great day had arrived for the coming of the King, and they had prepared eloquent orations and poems with which to greet the Risen Lord. But when the moment arrived, these great souls were so overcome at being in the awesome presence of the Just Judge, that they couldn’t utter a word. A vast silence settled on the gathering. At last, a figure from the rear made his way forward and approached the Lord. “Hello, Son,” he said, “how is your mother?”
It was Saint Joseph.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul straight into Heaven, where she was crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth, taking the throne there which had been prepared for her by her Son.
And Almighty God has never bestowed such an honor on any mere man.
Majuscule says:
I have a feeling that their readership is down because certain people were drawn to the site and spent a lot of time in “discussion” in the comments section.
Perhaps things will spiral down from here. Or maybe our prayers will cause a change of heart and a change of focus! Wouldn’t that be a miracle!
That is a hopeful thought. However, I suspect that the N”C”R is propped up by generous donors who, after all, need not even be Catholic. There are a lot of folks who are eager to keep this outfit going. It’s not hard to see why.
There is a colossal hypocrisy at work with the N”C”R’s ongoing coverage of attempts to ordain women. Has anyone else noticed it?
First, consider: what is the one issue on which the N”C”R most proudly claims to lead? “Accountability” and the prevention of child sexual abuse in particular. The folks there beat their chests constantly about this. They claim they’ve led the way on this, and made a big difference. Who knows but maybe they have a point.
Related to this is their drumbeat against “clericalism”; and to these ends, the N”C”R continually raises the subject of how priests are screened for training, and how they are trained, and then how they are accountable after ordination.
So now, tell me: when have you ever seen any of the N”C”R’s coverage of women’s ordination raise these questions with the women’s ordination crowd? Has there been any investigation into these women’s screening and seminary formation? Anything?
I’ve been reading the Fishwrap (online) for years, and I’ve seen nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Fr. Jim, what vegans do — and many of them do not identify as Christian — is utterly irrelevant to what professing female Christian clergy do. When I was growing up Lutheran no one I knew in my circles supported abortion, least of all the clergy. I later watched in alarm as other Protestant mainline denominations began to ordain women, support abortion, gay “marriage”, open communion to all persons even if they had never been baptized and when the Lutheran body I had belonged to began to capitulate I knew it was time to move on. Happily my father’s side of the family was Catholic and I had some wonderful memories of the Catholic kindergarten I attended. I will never forget the wonderful Christian example those faithfully Catholic sisters gave me.
It seems this has already happened. But of course, from their view, the orders of the hierarchy should only be followed if they don’t contradict the modernist agenda.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishop-finn-national-catholic-reporter-should-not-call-itself-catholic
It seems worthwhile to note that they claim to trace their authority to ordain priests and bishops to a Bishop Hickman, described as being a member of the Old Catholic Church.
This is a group no longer in communion with Rome that has a few communities in Europe and the United States that some of us may encounter, and therefore are worth being aware of. They have retained apostolic succession, so their sacraments are (crucial and relevant note: when they include valid matter, etc), by my understanding, valid but illicit, and we are instructed to avoid them in normal circumstances.
There’s more information on the Old Catholic Church here:
http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2016/10/13/what-is-the-old-catholic-church/
“Yet, for all of its radical elements, Donato’s ordination, which took place on Feb. 9, looked and felt a lot like a typical ordination of a Roman Catholic bishop.”
They should be warned that looking and feeling a lot like an ordination does not cause it to BE an ordination. During my first year of college, a choir group of which I was a member sang for a Lutheran church service. Except for two rites being placed/offered in reverse order from how they would be offered in the Ordinary Form, that service was virtually indistinguishable from Catholic Mass. Same general idea for vestments; readings, homily, and canon offered in pretty much the same way; communion offered to the faithful; opening blessing, closing blessing; all pretty much the same. In some ways, the selections for music were better than the average Catholic parish. Yet it WAS a Lutheran service, not Catholic Mass.
However similar it may appear, such a service cannot offer the same grace as Mass.
Very sad that these people have strayed this badly.
frjim4321 says:
Actually, a few decades ago when I was ordained, this was a question that could be discussed in polite company, and had not yet been turned into the third rail by the two previous popes. I never expected to see a change in my lifetime, so I never really pinned my hopes and dreams on it; but what I find offensive is that people think discussion can be foreclosed upon that easily.
In 1980 I was in formation in a religious order in the US. There was no political company discussion. Despite JPII’s comments during his US visit the previous autumn, members of the formation freely spoke about “when the change comes” in favor of women’s ordination. And those in formation dared not object. Anyone who did would be ostracized and encouraged to leave.
It was no secret that in the 1970s Catholic journals in the US would not print articles defending Humane Vitae.
Btw, Do you know of anytime in history when dogma was formally contradicted by the Magisterium?
I do agree, however, that it is naive to think that muzzling those in favor of women’s ordination accomplishes much. Universal dogma colliding with Vernacular liturgy
@frjim4321
Teilhard and the Omega Point: I am glad finally someone mentions this here! I love science fiction too, although he is not my favourite author, I enjoy Asimov, and I like a bit of Star Trek too. I am not sure about Star Wars, it has little science, more like Flash Gordon.