Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The American Catholic Conference--A Place Where No Roman Catholic Is Allowed To Go

 
 
Detroit's Archbishop Vigneron has laid down the law to priests and deacons in his diocese about this weekends American Catholic Conference.  For even more fun and instruction about the potential evils of this conference, check out this link from the Archdiocesan website.
 
Abp. Vigneron Letter on the American Catholic Council
 
Issued: June 3, 2011

 My dear brother priests and deacons, 
 
As you may be aware, a group calling itself the American Catholic Council will be meeting at Cobo Hall on the weekend of June 11 and 12. Despite my attempts to engage in a dialogue with them about this planned event, the organizers of this conference have not replied to me directly. I have a number of concerns about this event and caution any Catholic against participating for reasons expressed already in previous communications sent by the Archdiocese. (Maybe this has to do with your letter of Oct. 12, 2010.)

Of particular concern is the "Eucharistic Liturgy," noted on the schedule for this conference on Pentecost Sunday, June 12. The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council instruct us, "Every legitimate celebration of the Eucharist is regulated by the bishop, to whom is committed the office of offering the worship of the Christian religion to the divine Majesty and of administering it in accordance with the Lord's commandments and with the Church's laws, as further defined by his particular judgment for his diocese." (Lumen Gentium, 26). I take my role as moderator of the liturgy for the archdiocese (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22) very seriously. To confirm the legitimacy of what they had planned, the ACC had been asked to provide details regarding this liturgy. The response received was ambiguous, and there are good reasons for believing forbidden concelebration will take place by the laity and with those not in full communion with the Church.

In order to fulfill my responsibilities, so clearly enunciated by the Second Vatican Council, of fostering of communion with both the local and the universal Church, I am compelled to caution any priests or deacons who may be considering participation in this liturgy. It is not being celebrated with my permission as required by the law and the good order of the People of God. Further, clergy should be aware of the impact of forbidden concelebration with those who are not in full communion (canons 908 and 1365). This is a serious delict, for which recourse to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is required, and which may result in dismissal from the clerical state (cf. Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela, 2001 and 2010). (This kind of thing gives me heartburn.  He's threatening laicization over this, but it took decades to get the Vatican to act on clerical pedophiles?)


I ask that you pray with me for the unity of the Church. As we commemorate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin in this upcoming Solemnity, may the Holy Spirit come afresh on all of us, keeping us united in the love of God and keeping our attention and energies focused on the task of sharing Christ in and through His Church.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
The Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit

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Honest to God, all I can do any more is laugh.  Seriously.  On one day Benny is telling us all about the sainted war criminal Stepanic and the next day Vigneron is threatening laicization for priests and deacons who might share the Eucharist with people like Hans Kung and Joan Chittister.  It's funny to think wishy washy bleeding heart liberals are a bigger threat to my soul and body than autocratic fascist war criminals and child pedophiles.

Am I the only one who has come to the conclusion Roman Catholicism has degenerated to the level of surreal absurdity.  Are we all waiting for Godot?

I say bring on American Catholicism.  It can't be any worse than what currently passes for Roman Catholicism. 

16 comments:

  1. Are we all waiting for Godot?

    No, dear, Buddy Christ.

    "Catholicism WOW!"

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  2. You raise a question I'm pondering, how long until the bishops force a new American Catholic Church to rise out of the wreckage they have created? And which Retired Bishop will be the first to publicly endorse it? I think when it happens it will be after a LONG time (which we are in now) but then it will be quickly established. Because I don't think we can take much more nonsense.

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  3. Sue, it's for that very reason I am going to closely follow what happens in Detroit. There are a lot of progressive heavy weights on the schedule. Detroit may very well lay the groundwork for a future American Catholic Church. The Vatican has bent over backwards in the last couple of years to make it damn obvious there is no room in their inn for any other than card carrying traditionalists and political autocrats. It's destroying the spiritual health of the Church. Rome my run things, but ultimately they don't own the Spirit.

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  4. So pleased to hear about this conference. I will follow it's deliberations with great interest. If only we had a voice like this in the UK. Last time we had such a meeting was the National Pastoral Congress in Liverpool 1980. It's recommendations (The Easter People)were slid under the carpet and smothered by the 1983 visit of Pope JP II and have never been heard of since ! May the Holy Spirit inspire you
    Nick Young, liverpool UK

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  5. I'm glad you're laughing, Colleen, because maybe it will help me to laugh about it too. After reading the link to Betty's article yesterday in the Open Tabernacle about WWII it just got me so sad, deeply sad, that Catholic priests would slowly brainwash people to hate others and inspire Catholics to separate children from their mothers and kill them, force people to convert to Catholicism, burn people alive, take whole villages of people and torture them and send them to their death, in god's name, etc. and then have the audacity to make "Blessed" its worst perpetrator of crimes against men, women and children, and to claim papal "divine" authority, make any type of claim that they were in any way, shape or form in right relationship to Jesus Christ and His teachings. For Pope Benedict XVI to offer any praise towards Stepanic will be remembered, I hope, as a sign of what must go down like the titanic.

    Maybe the new American Catholic Church needs to start making a new flag.

    Butterfly

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  6. Butterfly, I think the thing that angers me so much about Stepanic is the Roman Catholicism, which is supposed to represent Christ on earth, was totally overcome by the bigotry and sectarianism of the region. Catholics were not better than any other group of people who maintained their cultural identity at the expense of 'others'. This truth is a fundamental testimony to the fact Catholicism has failed in it's duty to faithfully present the teachings of Jesus Christ. Catholicism is good at giving lip service but nothing else.

    I find Vigneron's take funny because it is so childish. This comes across very strongly in the Q&A column I linked to in my post.
    It reads like he's stamping his foot and throwing a parental fit about those heretical children who won't listen to him much less obey him. It was just really hard for to imagine some the scheduled speakers kissing Vigneron's ring in abject obedience. Most of us are so far past that it's sad, but what's sadder is too many of us can't or won't admit it.

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  7. Some of the ground work for an Independent American Church has been put in place for the past twenty or so years. There has been a growth both in the US and South America of many independent Catholic Churches. I am familiar with the Ecumenical Catholic Church because I have attended several marriage preformed in this one for young catholics fed up with the RCC. Most of these Independent Churches claim to be apostolic as they trace their ordinations through the Apostolic Old Catholic Church. However, a true apostolic trace is through baptism and not ordination.

    One young woman physician told me that when she approached her pastor with her fiancée showing that they had already taken precana work at their Catholic University where she and her husband were studying, the pastor had the audacity to tell her. “So you believe that the Jesuits are smarter than us. I will not marry you until you take a parish scheduled coarse.” He did not marry them as they approached the Ecumenical Catholic priest. It is interesting, I know the parents of this family well. They put 7 children through Catholic schooling several of them through Catholic Universities and now most of them have left the RCC. The young physician that was married in the Ecumenical Catholic Church now has her two young children in Lutheran Schools.

    I think, however, that there is no solution better than tearing down the current Clerical stucture and having men and women help us celebrate the Eucharist that have a profession of some sorts along side there ministry. The stucture of the leadership of the Church could be changed from the bottom up getting rid of even the names of positions called Bishop, Cardinal or Pope. The Way of Christ has noting to do with a fossilized stucture of obedience to men with perceived but not actual authority.

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  8. I hear you, Colleen. I protest any sort of ring kissing as a test or measure of my Faith in Jesus Christ or proof of my Catholic identity, which is what someone like Vigneron would like all good little catholic boys and girls to do, or else.

    If Detroit's Archbishop Vigneron was really a shepherd of Christ he would be washing the feet of Catholics like Sister Joan Chittister and Hans Kung.

    Butterfly

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  9. This reminds me of the RC weekly paper of my childhood, i.e, the Catholic Friday Fishwrap. It often warned: Beware of Feeneyites!
    Feeneyites, it seems, were "followers of the excommunicated Father Feeney." Who he was, and what he did to incur this sentence, were never specified. Later I did read some books he had written. Stickier, more sentimental sap cannot be imagined. Anyhow Feeneyites, calling themselves "Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary" or some such drivel, were ringing doorbells in Catholic neighborhoods. Watch out!
    I never encountered one myself. Perhaps the Jehovah's Witnesses drove them off.

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  10. Translynx -
    You think you had problems. I received my First Holy Communion from Feeney, S.J. himself. Occasionally since, I've wondered if that had anything to do with odd things in life. That was before he was excommunicated - not for preaching heresy all over town but for disobedience.

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  11. Feeney ran afoul of Cardinal Cushing because Feeney insisted on teaching "outside the Church there is no salvation," which the current crop of hierarchs seem to be returning to as an operating principle. It didn't go down well with Cushing, nor did Feeney's anti-Semitism. Cushing's brother-in-law was Jewish, and Cushing thought highly of his brother in law. Cushing excommunicated Feeney after Feeney refused to retract his statements, but Feeney wound up reconciled. As with Lefebvre, the ultimate tipping point was more over the perceived defiance of ecclesiastical authority. I think Vigneron is eager to initiate a similar confrontation in his archdiocese.

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  12. I agree Kathy which is why I wonder if Tom Gumbleton is going to show up in Cobo Hall.

    Brian Coyne from Catholic.AU is in Detroit and posting his observations of what is going on. It's been interesting to read, but Brian is not the least bit optimistic. His wife got to meet Joan Chittister so at least she's happy. :)

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  13. Feeney's not gone yet.

    Brian Coyne www.catholica.com.au Live Report: Saturday Afternoon 6/12 4:49
    Has an Australian commentary on the Leonard Feeney affair and its relevance to the Bishop Morris removal. Will post.

    James Carroll in Detroit is also talking about Leonard Feeney as a lesson for our time. Hard to imagine how this is all going to fit together.

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  14. Jack I don't have much of a problem figuring out how Feeney fits into all of this. Since Pio NoNo the Church has made a very bad habit of backing political fascists for it's own economic survival. Feeney was too out in the open about his anti semitism. Using Jews as the 'other' didn't fly by the time Feeny was doing his thing. It was way too counter productive which is why he was probably excommunicated more for his writing in the Point and not his notions about no salvation outside the Church. Either issue could have resulted in his excommunication. What I find more interesting is he was rehabilitated while not being forced to recant any of the reasons for his excommunication. Exactly the same thing Benny did for the SSPX bishops. People may forget, but Williamson is still a member in good standing of the Roman Catholic Church.

    Benny is losing it all the way around. I don't know who is writing his script, but it is not Jesus nor any other member of the Trinity.

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  15. Thursday, March 8, 2012
    THAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO BE A VISIBLE MEMBER OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS THE OFFICIAL TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND NOT JUST THE VIEW OF FR.LEONARD FEENEY
    http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.com/2012/03/that-everyone-needs-to-be-visible.html#links

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