@JamesMartinSJ praises preaching by a religious sister. Let’s consider what he praised!

Once upon a time, when you could recognize religious by the habits they wore, a Jesuit was riding grandly in his carriage when he spotted a Minim, of the the order founded by St Francis of Paola, on foot and begging as the mendicant he was. As he passed the little friar, this grand Jesuit chortled in Latin, “Minime! Minime! Semper minimus eris!” (Hey Minim/Shorty! Hey Minim/Shorty! You’ll always be the least!) To which the Minim duly replied, “Jesuita! Jesuita! Non ibat Jesu ita!” (Hey Jesuit, Jesuit! Jesus didn’t get around that way!).

The Jesuit was caught in his hypocrisy.

You could still hear this barb in Rome, back in the day: “Iesuita! Non Iesu ita!” (A Jesuit, but not like Jesus.)  Fair or unfair, it writes itself.

Speaking of Jesuits, James Martin posted this bit of virtue signalling from high atop his carriage.

Martin once posted that he was “stupefied” that women weren’t allowed to preach.  Isn’t he amazing?

I remind the readership that Jesuits reject women, unlike the Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites… etc.

So, what does “distinguished” Sister have to say about the Assumption?  Let’s see what Martin is praising.

BTW… this seems to be a set piece for the video, not during a Mass.  Also, Osiek taught at the dreadful Chicago Theological Union for a long time and is involved in FutureChurch.  You wouldn’t know she is a RSCJ, Religious of the Sacred Heart.   You could tell immediately that she is a religious, but not because of an identifying habit.

Quotes and paraphrases…

“The feast of the Assumption means that Mary is just as good as the guys.”

We tend to talk about Christ’s Ascension as if he did it on his own and Mary’s Assumption as if she needed some help.

But Jesus and Mary are not the first to have gone “somewhere up there where God is”.  In addition to Elijah and Enoch, Livy said that mythic Romulus, and Roman Emperors was taken up.

“So, the Ascension of Jesus, the Assumption of Mary are by no means unique. Rather, they conveyed a message to their world. Jesus and Mary rate with the great ones.”  (I am not making this up!)

Then she says that inclusion of Mary’s Assumption was “early”, 4th or 5th century.  (Patently absurd.)

Then she mocks the image of the Assumption by Murillo.

Going on, she likens the image of the woman and child in Revelation, threatened by the dragon.  To protect the child the woman must flee, just like all the immigrant mothers who must flee to protect their children.  (I am not making this up… this is what the Jesuit thinks we need!)

“Look out those who sit on thrones of worldly power.”  (Wow… she’s really subtle.)

Anyway, after an struggle with the clutch and stick shift of linear thought she goes to another gear about 1 Cor 15 and finishes with a quote from Chesterton’s Regina Angelorum.  This part had zero to do with the first part of her “sermon” and was therefore the best part.

Meanwhile, I contacted a priest friend who had to study at CTU back in the day.  I asked him about Osiek and he responded with a single word: “Heretic”.  I mentioned that I would post about Martin and Osiek’s “sermon”.   “A perfect combo”, quoth he.

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17 Comments

  1. ArthurH says:

    It was as bad as you said it was :( :(

    How can such be preached and have the person still remain a professed religious? Easy: Her Bishop does ot know, or if he does, does not care to face the consequences of sanctioning her.

    You likely are aware of the great furor here over our brave Archbishop (Sample) dismantling a parish operation that had gone the way of such madness, such sacrilege as she preaches. The secular groups are all on the side of the now-“oppressed” (mostly women) as, sadly also, are too many Catholics.

    If a formal schism does not occur– or rather the official name be given to what is already here– what are new Catholics to do when so many old ones have gone native?

  2. Suburbanbanshee says:

    The content of her “sermon” isn’t true, and she knows it’s not true. She also knows that it was never the teaching of the Church.

    If you look at early Christian and medieval sermons, east and west, there is usually a big explanation of the John 3:11-15 passage for the feasts of the Ascension and the Dormition/Assumption.

    “Amen, amen I say to you that we speak what we know, and we testify what we have seen, and you receive not our testimony. If I have spoken to you about earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I shall speak to you about heavenly things? And no man has ascended into heaven but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man Who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”

    In this passage, Jesus answers two OT passages.

    Baruch 3:29 — “Who has gone up into heaven, and taken Wisdom, and brought her down from the clouds?”

    Proverbs 30:4 — “Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has held the wind in his hands? Who has bound up the waters together as in a garment? Who has raised up all the borders of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of His Son, if you know it?”

    And the answer was always in Psalms 67:32-33/68:33-34 — “Sing you to God, Who ascends above the heaven of heavens, toward the east.”

    So yes, the point is that Enoch and Elijah and Moses’ body and Mary are all brought up to Heaven; they do not ascend into Heaven by their own power. Psalm 44:16/45:15 — “They will be brought with gladness and rejoicing; they will be led into the palace of the king.”

    As for the pagan Roman examples — obviously they didn’t really happen! But even if you go by the pagan Roman explanation, they were talking about apotheosis of a hero into a god, someone who received sacrifices and had a star or comet in the sky (in many cases). Not the same thing!

  3. mcferran says:

    Saint Ignatius’ Presupposition requires “that every good Christian is more ready to put a good interpretation on another’s statement than to condemn it as false. If an orthodox construction cannot be put on a proposition, the one who made it should be asked how he understands it. If he is in error, he should be corrected with all kindness.” I grimaced when I heard some of the things said by Sister Carolyn, especially in the first half of her reflection. But there was a great deal of good as well, especially in the second half. I love Murillo’s paintings, and didn’t think that Sister Carolyn was mocking his depictions of the Assumption (I thought her description was technically accurate). [I think she was mocking it.] For a podcast reflection, I thought that Sister Carolyn’s style was very inviting. [A “great deal” of good is very kind indeed.]

  4. Spinmamma says:

    “So, the Ascension of Jesus, the Assumption of Mary are by no means unique. Rather, they conveyed a message to their world. Jesus and Mary rate with the great ones.” How is this not blasphemy?

    [It could be… could be… that she was suggesting that our forebears thought this up in order to compete with pagans. It could be that she was suggesting that our forebears just sort of carelessly absorbed it by a kind of syncretism. Anyway you look at it: FAIL!]

  5. Credoh says:

    Jesuita! Jesuita! We all fall down…

  6. Suburbanbanshee says:

    On the bright side, I got to observe the Dragon Effect.

    Some of the kids were rambunctious and some of the adults were restless. The first reader had a strong accent which made the reading difficult for some to understand. And then he pronounced the words, “It was a huge red dragon.”

    You could have heard a pin drop.

    Hee! Seriously, it works every time. Lions also get attention.

  7. Gab says:

    I’m so over Martin’s inanities. He’s what we call in the business a ‘Media whore’. Sorry but he really is leading people astray morally.

  8. JonPatrick says:

    “Look out those who sit on thrones of worldly power.”

    The supreme irony is that it is the ones who “sit on thrones of worldly power” that are in the forefront of pushing to break down national borders and encourage more illegal immigration, as well as advancing the LGBTQ agenda so favored by Fr. Martin and his ilk. It is the mostly powerless that fight against it as best they can, the “deplorables” here in the US, the “yellow vests” in France, the brave young man in Poland, etc. People like Sr. Carolyn like to think they are the rebels fighting the establishment but the reality is the opposite.

  9. Amerikaner says:

    That Fr Martin continues to get away with all that he does indicates how wishy–washy those in higher positions are. The rot goes deep. But in the end the Immaculate Heart will triumph and these folks will be ashamed or at least made irrelevant.

  10. MB says:

    I went to a Catholic college right out of high school, and met with a few professors with similar notions and they almost destroyed my faith. I was so young and impressionable, and they had such a knack for humiliating you if you dared object to their ideas. Looking back on it I’ve often reflected that a man may violate a woman, but he can only do one at at time, and he can only violate the body which, though precious, is finite. However, a man (or a woman) may violate souls, infinite and priceless in the eyes of God, with their speech by the room-full.

    Given that you are responsible for the souls you lead away, I’m shocked that so many engage in public speaking so eagerly.

  11. departing contestant says:

    I am sorry, I know this is serious, but I just couldn’t help laughing, re-reading and laughing again. This is the stuff of Eye of the Tiber…

    [We laugh so as not to cry.]

  12. Sandy says:

    The minute I read “RSCJ” I knew what was coming. That once holy order of nuns has “gone worldly”. They began getting advanced degrees (not bad in itself), tossed the habits, left the cloister (as at my “college for women”), etc. I prefer to remember them as they were at my alma mater, in habits, and providing an excellent spiritual foundation and education for all of us.

  13. mcferran says: Saint Ignatius’ Presupposition requires “that every good Christian is more ready to put a good interpretation on another’s statement than to condemn it as false. If an orthodox construction cannot be put on a proposition, the one who made it should be asked how he understands it. If he is in error, he should be corrected with all kindness.” I grimaced when I heard some of the things said by Sister Carolyn, especially in the first half of her reflection. But there was a great deal of good as well, especially in the second half.

    Look, if you are given a bottle that contains nine parts Dom Perignon and one part cyanide, you’ll still die if you drink it, even though it’s mostly Dom Perignon.

  14. Glad no Boomer nuns preaching at the Assumption Day Mass I attended.

    Why is so much “New Testament scholarship” these days nothing more than pure ideological wishful thinking plus smart-alecky remarks:

    “The feast of the Assumption means that Mary is just as good as the guys.”

    That’s supposed to be a “distinguished New Testament scholar”?

  15. sewsnow says:

    “You wouldn’t know she is a RSCJ, Religious of the Sacred Heart.”

    I would. She is wearing a standard RSCJ logo pin which signifies that she is an RSCJ.

  16. sewsnow: She is wearing a standard RSCJ logo pin which signifies that she is an RSCJ.

    Ah! Yes, how could we have missed that. The distinctive nun pin by which all the world knows about their commitment to the evangelical counsels.

  17. Luminis says:

    I tell my children to never trust nuns in pantsuits!

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