You all know that His Holiness, George Augustus Stallings, Jr., Patriarch and Founder of the AACC or Imani African American Catholic Congregation is an excommunicated heretic. So, is Archbishop Milingo going to join him? Let’s find out what the AACC believes.
Here is their version of the "Nicene" Creed (ehem… this is not the Nicene Creed). Do you detect anything wrong? Read carefully. And oh… how many Creeds have an elipsis and [ ]. I have given emphasis to some of the best parts.
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, only begotten Son of God – God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, one in being with God through whom – all things were made both in heaven and on earth. We acknowledge Christ as the True Truth, the Way, and Abundant Life. We believe that Christ is mighty to save and strong to deliver. For all of humankind and for our liberation, [God] came down from the heavens, divested of the… preexistent glory, became flesh, took on the form of a slave, and humbled Himself in obedience.
His birth was the work of the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary and He became a person and lived among us. We believe that in the salvific act of Jesus Christ, God radically identified with us — the transcendent became temporal, the infinite interrupted the finite, and the Beyond entered into our midst. Ours problems are His problems, our sorrows are His sorrows, and our joys are His joys. We believe that Christ being found in the fashion of a person, accepted the will of God for His life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried. On the third day, He arose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of God. [God] will come again as promised, to judge the living and the dead, and [God’s] kingdom will have no end. We believe that God has highly exalted Him and that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. We believe in the ‘Holy Spirit who as our Guide, Inspiration, Comforter, and Giver of Live proceeds from the Mother-I’ Father and the Son and is worshipped and glorified with them. We believe that when the Holy Spirit is present in our lives we have power to be "stand fast" … in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free."
We believe that just as the Holy Spirit has spoken through the prophets, the Holy Spirit is still revealing to all of us anew the will, the way, the witness, and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as a manifestation of the brotherhood and sisterhood of all people under the Motherhood and Fatherhood of God. We believe in the communion of saints, we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and we look with joyful hope to the resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come. Amen.
On the other hand they are open to the Koran!
Of the Holy Qur’an
We believe that with the eyes and hear of a soul filled with live for Jesus Christ and with the search for truth, at] those who undertake the study of the Holy Qur’an (The Holy Book of Islam) and the figure of its prophet will realize that the Lord and His Mercy make their presence felt in the message of the Holy Qur’an and in Mohammed’s spirit.
We believe that like the Holy Bible, the entire message of the Holy Qur’an is a recall to God. This call is constantly repeated: “And you will all return to Him” We believe that human life, according to both the Holy Qur’an and the Holy Bible, is nothing else but a “path toward God "
We read in the Holy Qur’an: "In the name of God; the Merciful and the Most Compassionate. Praise be to God; the Lord of all the worlds. The Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help. Guide us on the right path, the path of those upon whom Those hath bestowed favors, not those upon whom wrath is brought down, nor those who go astray." (The Opening 1: 1-7)
You should believe in God and His Messenger, and strive hard in God’s way with your wealth and your lives. That is better for you, did you know! He will forgive you your Sins and cause you to enter Gardens wherein rivers flow, and goodly dwellings in Garden of Perpetuity — that is the mighty achievement 0 you who believe, be helpers in the cause of God; as Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples: ‘Who are my helpers in the cause of God ", (The Ranks 61:11-12,.14)
We believe that since Islam is really the Abrahamitic Mystery of the descendants of Ishmael (Abraham’s 1st son). Then it must have an actual, though mysterious, relationship to the Mystery of Christ. We believe that the Holy Qur’an can be interpreted and understood in the light of Christ and ofO1ristian Revelation. Therefore, we accept the Holy Qur’an as a Holy Book of Faith that sheds light and meaning to the Mystery of Life. We believe that the Holy Qur’an shares with us true knowledge of God and self.
My heavens. Who wrote this tripe? But wait! There’s more. Have you ever wondered how to celebrate KWANZAA properly?
Of the Nguzo Saba
We believe as a people redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, we are called to live out that liberation as a KWANZAA PEOPLE. We believe mat the NGUZO Saba (the seven principles/values) of which the African American’s Holiday Kwanzaa is based is projected as a minimum moral set of African values that we need in order to rebuild and strengthen the family, community, culture and Church. Through the daily living of these values, we become a self-conscious force in the struggle to control our destiny.
We believe that as a people deeply rooted in our culture, we will be able, with Jesus, to break the chains of suffering, oppression, and death. We believe that as we re-affirm and re-store our authentic African heritage and culture, we will realize True Liberation:
(Unity): "to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, race and humanity. " (‘7hat all may be one as’ you, Mother-Father, are in me, and I in you…I pray that they be one in us. "John 17:21)
(Self-Determination): "to define ourselves, name ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named and spoken for by others." ("When God. in the beginning, – created man and woman, God made [them) subject to [their) own free choice…Sirach 15: 14)
UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility): "to build together and maintain our community together and to make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together and to celebrate our brothers’ and sisters’ joys." ("make my joy complete by your unanimity, possessing the one love, united in spirit and ideals. Never act out of rivalry or conceit… rather, let all parties think humbly of others and superior to themselves, each of you looking to others’ interests rather than to [thy} own." Philippians 2:2-4)
UJAMMA (Co-Operative Economics): "to build and maintain our own stores shops, institutions and other businesses and to profit together from them.” ("that though Jesus was rich, yet He for your sakes became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich… For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened…but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, ‘that their abundance also may supply your lack be equality- that there may be equality." 2nd Corinthians 8:9, 13-14)
NIA (Purpose) "to make as our collective vocation, the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.” (And to some, His gift was that they should be apostles; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the Body of Christ. In this way, we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God until we come the perfect Person, fully mature with the fullness of Christ Himself" Ephesians 4:11-13)
KUUMBA (Creativity): "to do always as much as we can, in the way we can in order to leave community more beautiful than we inherited it. " ("They gathered their brothers [sisters) together, then sanctified themselves, and in accordance with the Words of Yahweh, they began purifying the Temple of Yahweh." 2nd Corinthians 29:15)
IMANI (Faith): "to believe with all our hearts, minds, and spirits in our parents, teachers, leaders, our people and our God and the righteousness and victory of our struggle." "Faith is confident assurance, concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
We are a KWANZAA people and Jesus… er um… pretty much everything is our name!
Hey! this can help us understand the progressivists’ foundation liturigcal song! Kumbaya Everyone!
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What a mess. The Creed as rewritten by Gustavo Gutierrez,
Earth Church, Celestial Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church USA.
Apologies if I left somebody out. :-)
Milingo, Milingere, Milinxi, Milictus, -a, -um.
v. To act in such a way that the antics of St. Joan of Arc parish in Minneapolis seem almost Catholic.
Tim: Just be careful not to confuse it with “mingo, mingere, minxi, minctus” as in “Haec faciat Deus inimicis David, et haec addat, si reliquero de omnibus quae ad ipsum pertinent usque mane mingentem ad parietem.” (Regum I, 25:22).
Which is rendered by the Douay-Rheims version as: “May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that pisseth against the wall.” (1 Kings 25:22).
Which is why it’s always a wise thing to be very, very careful when attempting to order a mixed drink in a Latin bar…
Kwanzaa was started by an athiestic professor to try to get Blacks to replace Christmas with something more in line with their “heritage.”
Oh totally cool! We can be “Kwanzaa people” now. I was getting tired of that
“Easter people” thing anyway. Sheesh! Some people (and heresies) just never go away!
It is very interesting that the Roman Catholic Church feels so challenged by married priests that they threaten to excommunicate them, yet repeatedly reassign and pardon homosexuals and pederasts in their midst. Having married clergy is sound biblically, and the presence of normal heterosexual married priests would do a lot to solve the many problems in the Catholic faith community.
Damian: Your comment is without foundation. First, the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t “feel”. You might “feel” glad about your glib comment or an ice-cream cone or the fact that your favorite team won. The Catholic Church is not an individual guided by mere emotions. The Church is guided by laws founded on common sense, long experience and the dictates of Scripture and Tradition. The individual members of the Church feel and, more importantly for this issue, think.
A married clergy has not “solved” any problems in any other Church. As a matter of fact a married clergy has caused problems: divorced clergy… adulterous clergy… lousy examples of husbands clergy… etc. So, that is a bad argument too.
A married clergy is not “sound” biblically. If some clergy were married (can we call them “clergy” yet at that point?), the High Priest Jesus Christ was not married. All human endeavors inevitably fall short of the perfection of the Lord’s example, but His examples are nonetheless examples to be followed, not to be ignored. Priests should strive to be like Christ, right?
The reference here to “homosexuals” and “pederasts” is a straw man that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the issue of married or celibate clergy. Married men commit these same sins.
Damian… think before you post.
John,
Please excuse my poor verb choice. I don’t see you taking umbrage at the other uncharitable posts here mocking your former colleagues, but you take exception to my use of the word “feel” to refer to the collective church. Evidently, people in the church think and feel individually.
As you say, marriage per se is no panacea for the problems of the church. The first institution that God ordained was the family, not the church. God said it was not right for man to be alone so he created male and then female. Marriage and heterosexual union are divinely ordained. Jesus came to build the Kingdom of God, not just to form a human institution. According to the prophet Isaiah, the Kingdom involves a royal line of kings, with the King of Kings as the dynastic founder. Surely that would have involved marriage? Surely, the church ought to model the kingdom so that the unbelievers can see God in the world through our example.
Damian:
The “Unification Church”? Yeah, I guess you guys DO know something about “marriage”!!
And it’s FATHER John to you, Damian, you impertinent whelp!
Damian: You fail to consider various things.
Marriage is not monolithic. God both changed the dynamic of marriage and also taught the value of NOT marrying.
God changed the institution of marriage by changing the law of divorce and also by raising the bond itself to that of a sacrament.
Secondly, Christ Himself spoke of a non-marriage for the sake of the same Kingdom you mention (using the image of the “eunuch”) and St. Paul also upheld the goodness of not marrying for similar reasons (eschatological) while defending marriage as well.
Also, Christ gave His own authority to Peter and his successors in matters of doctrine and discipline in the Church. It is up to competent authority to determine how the sacraments are celebrated, who may receive them, and under what circumstances. The Church’s Legislator has implemented in the Latin Church the discipline of a celibate clergy (with some exceptions). For good or for ill (as you wish) this has been done for good reasons which can be sought in the pages of Holy Scripture and the writings of the early Fathers and numerous writings and documents.
Those reasons are not merely “practical” in nature (e.g., celibate clergy avoids a subsequent problems with divorces, it is cheaper to maintain a single man than a family, etc. etc.). There are spiritual and theological reasons also. You are ignoring them in your emotion filled exhortation.
Moreover, priestly celibacy detracts nothing from the goodness of marriage. By having a celibate clergy, the Church is not thereby teaching that marriage is bad. On the flip side, by upholding the goodness of marriage, the Church is not saying that everyone must be married! Neither God nor the Church command a married priesthood. Nor do God or the Catholic Church forbid a married clergy: there are some instances of married clergy in the Latin Church and in the Eastern Churches. Celibacy is a discipline in the Latin Church. There is a matter of vocation to be considered in this. You have entirely missed the point of the dynamic between the Church and her teachings and disciplines and the issue of vocation.
What you are doing is failing to consider that there may be good reasons for this discipline. Instead, you seek to promote something without considering either the good reasons or the negative results that would follow. In short, you haven’t really thought this through. I am sure you “feel” strongly about it, however.
Whatever the Church may do in the future about celibacy in the Latin Church, creating public scandal and confusion through truly UNDIGNIFIED sideshows is NOT the way to effect a change of the discipline! If anything, Archbp. Milingo’s actions dealt a blow to those who hope for changes and set their efforts back by many decades.
And yes – it quickly degenerates to name calling. Well done Didymus. You show the colors fast and true.
Can we get some things straight about there being “married” priests from the beginning in the Church. Christ may have men who were married, but they were asked to give up everything for the sake of the Kingdom. Later, as things are oft to do with human nature (like Moses allowing divorce) when men remained living the married state, there were all kinds of restrictions placed on them where no one could say they were living the normal life of a married man in the “secular” culture.
No wonder there is the prediction of only a remnant remainging for the New Era – only one quarter of the earth’s inhabitants. With these kinds of pied pipers arriving on the scene daily, folks are easily succomging to the sea!
Damian:
1. You ARE impertinent. In the Anglosphere, an priest of the Roman Catholic Church is addressed as “Father” as a matter of courtesy. I address and have always addressed non-Catholic clergy as “Pastor”, etc. Not by the Christian name. Clearly undue familiarity on your part.
2. You are evidently a Moonie, ergo beyond parody when it comes to marriage.
3. I date myself. All mammals are “whelped” (Webster’s may help on this). The question at hand is as to whether one remains a “whelp.”
4. Your comment byline change notwithstanding, you are STILL evidently a Moonie. K know, I know; you get a pass because you believe in “heavenly deception.” Am I right?
Okay… let’s make this about ISSUES, please, and not individual commenters.
There is evidence that, even when married clergy were allowed in the West, they had nonetheless to abstain from carnal relations with their wives:
[e]piscopi, presbyteri, diaconi aut virgines eliguntur aut vidui aut certe post
sacerdotium in aeternum pudici.
St. Jerome, Apologeticum ad Pammachium, 21c
Bishops, priests, and deacons are chosen either virgin or widower or certainly chaste forever after the ordination.
I don’t think the champions of married clergy would settle for that :-)
Father, you have a great blog.
Koran part really lost me. Have they ever read it? I disagrees with their own version of the Creed.
Milingo should be taken seriously. He is an embarrassment to the Catholic Church not because he is a bad person but because he is controversial in his approach to Catholic traditions and the taboos associated with them. The controversy he raises is over serious issues that inevitably challenge the church as it is forced to deal with the realities of today’s world.
His first run-in with the Vatican was over his practice of healing and other unsanctioned spiritual activities. Milingo is first of all an African, and his efforts to marry African spiritualism with Catholic orthodoxy addresses the seminal issue for the Catholic Church in Africa.
His second run-in with the Vatican, over his marriage to a Korean woman, addresses a universal issue for the Church: why not allow priests to marry if they don’t feel called to a celibate life?
Ironically, the Catholic Church is virtually alone among Christian denominations in forbidding marriage to its clergy. Most Orthodox churches allow marriage of priests, but not senior clerics, such as bishops. Protestant churches encourage marriage for their pastors.
That is not to say that celibacy is without virtue. Monks in various faiths accept it as a spiritual discipline that helps them transcend desires of this world. (Buddhists join Christians in this view. As far as I know, only Islam specifically teaches against monasteries and a monastic life.)
Milingo is now questioning Catholic policy that allows priests no choice: remain celibate or leave. He is doing so against a background of tens of thousands of priests of good character being forced to leave their vocations (and avocations) because of sincere love for a female partner. (I have known several priests of outstanding character and virtue, trained in top Catholic institutions, such as Maryknoll, who were lost to church service in this way.) And he is doing so against a background of widespread moral corruption in the priesthood related to homosexuality and pedophilia.
Character assassination is a well-used tool in undermining a person with an unwelcome message. But it is a cheap and ultimately self-destructive tool. The Catholic Church, and its defenders, would do well to give a serious hearing to the archbishop from Zambia. He may not be cut from traditional Catholic ecclesiastical cloth, but his message is one the Church should consider.
ROLF! I love this. The Church is being “forced” and “challenged”. Riiiight!
Having someone of questionable mental stability as your spokesman isn’t really a good strategy. But, if it works for you…
Damian: I removed another of your comments. TISK TISK!
Please note that this, my blog, is not a Moonie blog.
Thomas said:
Ironically, the Catholic Church is virtually alone among Christian denominations in forbidding marriage to its clergy. Most Orthodox churches allow marriage of priests, but not senior clerics, such as bishops. Protestant churches encourage marriage for their pastors.
Ironically, Thomas is wrong here. An Orthodox priest who wishes to marry would under guarantee be kicked out of office AND priesthood by his bishop. There is NO SINGLE Orthodox church which allows their priests to marry, though I think all of them allow married people to become priests. Thus, Thomas’ core argument is null and void.
It is quite another thing to ask why the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church does allow only celibate men to the priesthood. But that is not what Archbishop Milingo is advocating for, is it?
Being a Christian is not about doing what you want to do – it is about doing what you should do. This sometimes implies hard decisions. But our happiness is not in this world, but in the New World promised to us. Some critics of the church might need to be reminded of this fact.
There can be no intelligent discussion of priestly celibacy in the absence of at least some appreciation of celibacy.
We have a number of things driving such discussions as this one taking place simultaneously:
a. Lack of appreciation of celibacy/virginity.
b. Lack of understanding of marital chastity (contraceptive mentality).
c. Lack of appreciation of Ecclesiastical discipline.
You put it all together and you get “Catholics who favor married priesthood”.
How about contrasting the “loss of good men” – of priests falling in love with women” with “holy celibate priests experiencing spiritual ecstasy from being closely united to the Lord”.
Oh yes, there is joy in spiritual realities. Oh yes, ultimately that’s the only kind of joy.
Another thing: If a priest wants to quit because he has decided to do something else, fine. Let him apply for the proper dispensations. There is a process for this.
However, if he just takes a hike he should at least have the decency at that point to admit that what he is doing is contrary to the norms and then not make an ass out of himself in public.
o{]:¬)
— Damian: I removed another of your comments. TISK TISK!
— Please note that this, my blog, is not a Moonie blog.
— Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf  13 July 2006 @ 4:00 pm
Tisk, tisk. When you can’t stand the heat, close down the kitchen, eh?
I am only a mere evangelical, and hence open to correction on the exact and original phrasing of the Creed, but I am
a Nicene Protestant, and, if I recall, the Creed doesn’t say:”For all of humankind and for our liberation”,
but “for us men and our Salvation “. Liberation from what, pray? Why do I have the feeling that he doesn’t mean “sin”?
Damian: As Publius Syrus says, there are questions which deserve no response.
John: You got it, pal! Whatever it is these folks are professing, it isn’t the Christian Faith.
Milingo is clearly mentally ill, and being used. He’s the one who needs to be freed.
Furthermore, Kwanzaa was not instituted merely by an atheistic professor, but a rapist one.
The fact that said professor supported terrorism is merely the icing on a very ugly cake.
However, kuumba is Swahili, whereas kumbaya is English — from the Gullah dialect found on the
Sea Islands in Georgia. (It means “Come by here”.)