The nutty stuff comes out with the full moon and with Easter. It’s like clockwork each year.
This year we have a deeply wrong offering from the loony National Sodomitic Reporter (aka Fishwrap) by lesbian Mary Hunt, student of the heretic Rosemary Radford Ruether and liberation theologian Juan Luis Segundo and a bid deal to the condemned homosexualist groups New Ways Ministries.
This is a great example of where Fishwrap really is.
Hunt uses the image of an empty St. Peter’s Square to argue the THE CHURCH is in extremis (dying throes). She ridicules hierarchy and the adoration of the Eucharist in the monstrance as “13th-century ritual” that people, who apparently aren’t as enlightened as she is, turn to out of need for comfort. She ridicules people’s sincere and creative attempts to have contact with their churches via the internet, and proposes, essentially, that people should just make up their own stuff to do. After all, As my undergraduate theology professor Jesuit Fr. Tad Guzie emphasized 50 years ago, “A Eucharist without a priest is a Eucharist without a priest.”
Undergraduate stuff, to be sure. But most undergrads students would do better.
And, of course, she hates that men are still doing things.
Thank, Mary, for exposing the Fishwrap even more.
Responses
Your Excellency, yes! “Catholic” should be dropped from that article at the Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter). It must be dropped from the entire PUBLICATION and WEBSITE. As a bishop you can bring this to your brethren. Decades overdue. Quousque tandem? https://t.co/V3leZd1Gqj
— Fr. John Zuhlsdorf (@fatherz) April 11, 2020
And then there’s this….
The wymyn-pryst nut jobs have sunk again. This time in Florida.
Look at the way that this silly writer framed this…
Defiance in DeLand: Woman ordained Roman Catholic priest
A DeLand resident followed her [faux] calling and became ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, [not] which the Catholic Church declines to recognize.
DELAND — On March 14, Shelley Rae Gilchrist joined a unique group of rule breakers when she was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest. [Not just rules and no, she didn’t. All three of those terms mean something that she is not.]
It’s a move that Pope Francis and the Catholic Church have declined to support, [“declined to support”?] but Bridget Mary Meehan, the first bishop in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, says it’s a grassroots movement that isn’t going to disappear. [Yes, I think it will.]
“Hello, 21st century, let’s embrace equality and justice in the Catholic Church,” Meehan, one of the first women [not]ordained in the United States, said.
[…]
For Meehan, Picconi, Russell and Gilchrist, the place of women in the church is documented, [Here comes the fiction…] something pointed out at the beginning of Gilchrist’s ordination ceremony, which was held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of West Volusia in DeLand. [Universalist… uh huh]
“Historical and archaeological evidence reveals that women and men served as deacons, priests and bishops during the first 1,200 years of the church’s history,” said Mary Theresa Streck, a priest and one of the founding members, along with Meehan, of the People’s Catholic Seminary. [I wonder if that’s related to the Judean People’s Front…]
The ceremony began with the hymn “Canticle of the Turning” and an opening prayer. [What a nightmare.]
[…]
Full moon, friends.
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Formerly I lived in Volusia County not far from Deland and still get the West Volusia Beacon newspaper. I saw this article several weeks ago and was disgusted. I’m glad it didn’t just fall through the cracks.
Men don’t get to decide that they have vocations to the priesthood and have themselves ordained without the agreement of the Church; why should women be able to do so?
Father Z, don’t you mean the People’s Front of Judea?
“13th century”…interesting that the liberals use the High Middle Ages, the zenith of Christian civilization, as a slur. Also interestingly, the exact same slur was leveled at Bl. Clemens von Galen when he was elevated to the See of Muenster in 1933, the same year Hitler came to power. The Cool Kids in the Church rolled their eyes and made fun of Bl. Clemens for being “entirely 13th century” because he refused to buy into their trendy modernism.
Yet “entirely 13th century” was exactly what the Church needed. Where were the Cool Kids while Hitler was persecuting the Church? We know where Bl. Clemens was: forthrightly and outspokenly opposing Nazi injustices. The thought that he might at any moment be arrested and put to death only made him speak out more, to say as much as he could and warn his flock while he was still at liberty to do so. His sermons were transcribed and smuggled out of Germany, and electrified the world. So much did the citizens of Muenster love Bl. Clemens that the Gestapo did not dare to lay a finger on him.
If just one “entirely 13th-century” bishop could make such an impact, what might the world be like if all bishops were “entirely 13th-century”?
In addition to all the very wrong things about all of this, how very odd that a person could imagine herself a priest of the Roman Catholic Church when her ordination was carried out by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of West Volusia in DeLand.
To Catholic Tech Geek: Splinter!!! Judean People’s Front, the Campaign for a Free Galilee, and the Judean Popular People’s Front!!!!
The Distorter says,
It’s a move that Pope Francis and the Catholic Church have declined to support, but Bridget Mary Meehan, the first bishop in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, says it’s a grassroots movement that isn’t going to disappear.
Like leprosy, polio, cancer, and ignorance advocates of wymyn’s ordination will never completely disappear. It’s just the latest manifestation of gnosticism, which has existed for almost 2000 years.
“She ridicules hierarchy and the adoration of the Eucharist in the monstrance as “13th-century ritual” that people, who apparently aren’t as enlightened as she is, turn to out of need for comfort.”
Another low-information outburst from the Fishwrap (er, by “she” not Fr. Z).
Well now, off we go.
Here’s a photo of the Church Militant on a road march, temporarily deployed at an assembly area in Chattanooga:
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2020/apr/08/catholic-priest-blesses-encourages-chattanoog/520190/
Airborne!:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-flies-with-monstrance-in-plane-to-bless-coronavirus-stricken-land
Not a plague cart but a tactical pickup truck, the driver seems to be working comms:
https://twitter.com/kathrynlopez/status/1240442698869465089/photo/1
On a foot march in Italy, Father singing the Litany of the Saints (no doubt Father will eventually get to the Litany of Chesty Puller, every good Christian loves the Marine Corps):
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/watch-priest-in-italy-bravely-processes-with-eucharist-to-bless-coronavirus-stricken-country
Not an Up-armored Humvee but a tactical truck in the Phillipines (hmm…appears to be an Up-canopied Emmaus Road Warrior):
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2020/04/05/priests-do-drive-by-blessings-on-palm-sunday-in-virus-hit-philippines/
Clear the airspace over Lebanon, alert the Tactical Air Control Party, a Blessed Airstrike is inbound and “cleared hot”:
https://www.albawaba.com/editors-choice/priest-flies-over-lebanon-and-blesses-it-covid-19-1344545
That’s right. Your Church Militant, out and about in the vineyards of the Lord.
I just looked up the People’s Catholic Seminary.
On the bright side, every course costs $100 and they are online.
Negatives: Online means “comments and posts on Blogger/Blogspot.” There are no primary source texts, but you do study a wide variety of dissidents, plus the obligatory “buy a book by the professor.” Nobody learns the Bible, but you do read Borg and Crossan. Nobody learns Latin or Greek.
The course on Celtic women saints doesn’t even have any texts, so I’m pretty sure they’re not studying the primary sources in Old Irish, Middle Irish, or Latin. But you do get to respond to “reflections” in dance, art, and poetry. (But I’m betting it’s not in an Irish poetic form with strict rules of assonance, consonance, and rhyming, like said women saints could and would have composed.) There also doesn’t seem to be any barefoot walking all night across rough stones involved.
So it could be worse, but I can think of several Protestant churches in Florida that have more academically rigorous adult Bible studies. Sigh.
Why can’t they be honest and say “PRIESTESS”? That would clear up the misconception that she is a priest. Priests are men. Priestesses are women. There are no priestesses in the Catholic Church. Priestesses are silly women “flown with wine prancing through the woods in the light of the full moon”.
The “Canticle of the Turning”? Nope. Walter Miller has something to say about that.
A Canticle for J. Peterman
Brother Francis Gerard of Utah might never have discovered the blessed documents, had it not been for the pilgrim with girded loins who appeared during that young novice’s Lenten fast in the desert.
Never before had Brother Francis actually seen a pilgrim with girded loins, but that this one was the bona fide article he was convinced as soon as he had recovered from the spine-chilling effect of the pilgrim’s advent on the far horizon, as a wiggling iota of black caught in a shimmering haze of heat.
[Before departing, the pilgrim scratched a rock with his staff, signalling that Brother Francis should use it to fill a gap in his wall. Brother Francis eventually pried the stone loose, discovering a hole. Widening the hole, the novice triggered a cave-in.]
A dust column which had plumed up from the site of the cave-in was tapering away on the breeze. He hoped someone would see it from the abbey’s watchtowers and come to investigate. At his feet, a square opening yawned in the earth, where one flank of the mound had collapsed into the pit below. Stairs led downward, but only the top steps remained unburied by the avalanche which had paused for six centuries in mid-fall to await the assistance of Brother Francis before completing its roaring descent.
On one wall of the stairwell a half-buried sign remained legible. Mustering his modest command of pre-Deluge English, he whispered the words haltingly:
COVID SURVIVAL BUNKER
Maximum Occupancy: 10
Provision limitations: 90 days. Upon entering shelter, see that First Hatch is securely locked and sealed, that hand sanitizer is available to repel contaminated persons attempting entry, that the toilet paper is inside the enclosure . . .
The rest was buried, but the first word was enough for Francis. He had never seen a ‘Covid,’ and he hoped he’d never see one. A consistent description of the monster had not survived, but Francis had heard the legends. He crossed himself and backed away from the hole. Tradition told that the Beatus J. Peterman himself had encountered a Covid, and had been possessed by it for many weeks before the exorcism which accompanied his Baptism drove the fiend away.
The novice stared at the sign in dismay. Its meaning was plain enough. He had unwittingly broken into the abode (deserted, he prayed) of not just one, but ten of the dreadful beings! He groped for his phial of holy water.
[With some effort, Brother Francis mustered his courage. After patient digging he cleared the stairwell. Descending, he found himself in a dark chamber before a sealed hatch. He lit a small fire. Exploring the rubble-strewn chamber he found a box.]
The box was shaped like a satchel and was obviously a carrying case of some kind. It might have served any number of purposes, but it had been badly battered by flying stones. Gingerly he worked it loose from the rubble and carried it closer to the fire. The lock seemed to be broken but the lid had rusted shut.
[Brother Francis doused the satchel with Holy Water and pried the lid open. Inside was a hand-written note signed “J. Peterman” and a large piece of folded paper.]
He handled the papers as one might handle holy things, for all were brittle and cracked with age. First, he examined the note, more of a list, the penmanship was remarkable. Purell, Form 1040, scapular, Memento Mori.
He placed the note back in the box and unfolded the large paper. Again he felt the thrill of discovery- a blueprint! Brother Francis noticed the diagram resembled the staff carried by the mysterious pilgrim. Underneath the sketch there was handwriting:
A durable walking stick of blackthorn hardwood, finely polished. Tipped with silver, perfect for staving off Nightfiends. Hand-crafted by the Irish monks of Skellig Michael. The Stat Crux Dum Volvitur Orbis Walking Stick (No. 4309). For sure footing in a world gone Modern.
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Ms. Hunt does a fairly effective job of conveying that her concern isn’t about herself being excluded (which, of course, she is not), but specifically about excluding men.
One of the bizarre elements of the second article is how casually they indulge as Catholic the “ordinations” of the women mentioned. It would be similar if they wrote an article about my membership in the Astronaut Corps “despite NASA declining to recognize my training.”
I couldn’t look away from the train wreck…in the video at the top of the article, at about 8 minutes, you get to enjoy their rendition of a preface and sanctus.
On a positive note, I think they just cured me of the misfortune of having found The Canticle of Turning catchy.
Semper Gumby, thanks for the amusing parody. I happened to have the book on the shelf next to me to glance at the first chapter of and make sure I wasn’t mistaking your reference.
Add this pagan worship in St. Peter’s (as the good Father pointed out), empty churches at Easter (not by choice; we had planned for a drive in here but the Ordinary put a kibosh on that (the local town PD was onboard and willing to, vice some places, not issue tickets but do crowd control), now faux ‘ordinations’ of women to orders…not to mention the current reaction to a manufactured virus (and suddenly Bill Gates of all people trying to infer he has the answer…guess all those years of distributing cyber viruses through his operating system taught him something…), and recently passed 50 year anniversary of the OF all seem to me to be too convenient happening at the same time.
No tinfoil hat or conspiracy theorist am I. But, too many weird things happening in the world right not to not think there is some thread, however tenuous, running through.
Thankfully, we DO have the EF and old rituals to help push back…because it’s obvious the new rituals and invocations are pretty lacking.
iamlucky13: Thank you, Canticle for Leibowitz is quite a book.
Faddah, thanks for the star, but in these trying times Gumby looks too happy. Instead, how about a gaunt-faced Gumby casting a steely gaze at the world, wearing a bandana and…
Wait, that ain’t gonna work. That’s Derek Zoolander. Lemme try again.
Okay Faddah, Gumby with a mustache, hard hat and sledgehammer!
Hmm…nope, that’s the Village People. Drats.
An eyepatch, a parakeet…I’ll show myself out.
“Splitters!”
Honestly you could have stopped by saying this would held at a Unitarian Universalist …house of togetherness? Unitarian Universalist in my experience have a special kind of crazy. Pray for them.
I would also point out that this issue isn’t going to go away when otherwise good bishops like
Nickless attended the “consecration” of a Lutheran “bishop.”
To quote an article, “Lorna Halaas. The 62-year-old female minister is now the “bishop” of the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Nickless not only attended the event but also posted about it on his personal Facebook page.”
https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-an-apology-bishop-asap
You can read the rest but to be at the “consecration of a Lutheran “bishop” at all should be huge issue by itself but a female “bishop” all the more. Its little wonder the people at fishwrap think they are on the right side of history as the left likes to say.