Crazy right wingers January 3, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, General Catholic.comments closed
Crazy right wingers. That being me, apparently. See, I’ve been called that recently by certain parties involved in the Joyce Rupp issue. I’ve also been called “extreme right wing.” This, apparently, due to my strong predeliction for orthodoxy and insistence that local parishes adhere to Church doctrine.
It’s really unfortunate that some would invoke such terms to describe those who do their best to adhere to Church doctrine. You see, I don’t think anyone can ever be too close to the Truth of our Faith. And it is unfair to describe those who are doing their best to live their faith as closely in union as possible to the doctrine of the Church as somehow subborning their faith to their political preferences. I can state, categorically, that is not the case, and I constantly strive not to use such unhelpful labels.
And, I’m afraid such commentary reveals some things about the speakers. As Fr. Z has discussed in the past, there are many who really do view their Faith through a political lens, those who do subborn their faith to their political preferences. Many of these go by names such as Catholics United or Call to Action. And, the sad fact is, they often accuse others of being ‘right wing’ or whatever because they themselves place politics ahead of religion, and naturally assume that others must do the same. It’s very sad.
Fun with Google January 3, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Dallas Diocese, North Deanery, scandals.comments closed
I’m sure most of you use Google from time to time. Now, I mostly use Bing, but sometimes I still use Google.
I was having fun with Google, and I found a rather curious match. If you search the terms [wicca joyce rupp], you get alot of hits. The first hit, however, is to Joyce Rupp’s own website. Now, if you click on the cached version of that page, Google tells you something interesting. On the cached version of that page, you will see a grey box at the top. In that grey box, it will tell you that the terms [joyce] and [rupp] appear on this page, but that the term [wicca] only appears on that page because it is associated with links associated with that page. This means one of two things – either a ton of web sites associated with Wicca are pointing to Joyce Rupp’s website, or Joyce Rupp has embedded a keyword search term into the .html of her website. That term being, of course, [wicca].
Why would this sweet, innocent Catholic nun who only wants to heighten women’s connection with our Lord and Savior have such a strong connection to wicca (witchcraft) on her own website?
Oh, and Rupp’s book The Circle of Life, shows a similar association with wicca. In fact, several of her book reviews on a number of websites make positive reference to the book’s wicca elements. That is to say, people are saying, “this is a really good book for wiccans,” or something to that effect.
Why would any Catholic Church have an author that is so closely associated with witchcraft? Further, why would a pastor, and parish staff, expend so much time and political capital defending their decision to invite such a speaker? There are high costs associated with Sr. Rupp’s retreat. These costs include the disaffectation of some of the best, most reverent parishioners at several area parishes.
UPDATE: I want to make something clear. In all my posts dealing with the upcoming retreat and Sr. Rupp, I have not assailed her personally, nor have I judged her. Sr. Rupp may well be a wonderful person, charismatic, and she may have the best intentions on Earth. None of that matters a whit. What does matter is that her work is very strongly oriented towards New Age, it is veritably consumed by New Age beliefs, and some of these beliefs, like ‘circles of life’ and delving into ancient Celtic dogmas, tread very closely towards wicca practices.
Sr. Rupp may have no intention of attracting wiccans, but it doesn’t change the fact that, based on the Google results, wiccans find some of her work very attractive. Based on the Amazon keyword lists, some of her books are strongly oriented towards wiccanism. This is the evidence.
The whole point of my blogging on Sr. Rupp has been this: there are scores and scores of very good speakers who are in complete union with all Church teachings. The five parishes involved in sponsoring this women’s retreat have a long history, however, of only hosting speakers whose orthodoxy is very questionable, at best. Thousands of Catholics leave the Church every day, because they don’t understand the Faith. It is my belief that if they did understand the Faith, they would never leave. We need much better speakers at events like this to help people to understand their faith in a far more substantial way – trendy, New Age, self-oriented feel good lecturers are not going to accomplish that goal, as the last 30+ years of US Church history have amply demonstrated.
March for Life January 16 January 3, 2010
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Dallas Diocese.comments closed
The annual March for Life will be held Saturday, January 16th, at 10 am. The March is preceded by a Mass. I attended last year, and the event has been growing in popularity. Details here.
UPDATE: I should add that the January 40 days for life is still ongoing. Everyday, there are prayer warriors going out to the abortion clinics mills and doing their best, by their prayers, to end abortion. Sometimes, they may even change a woman’s mind, which is a great grace from God. So, in addition to standing with the Bishop on January 16, we also need to get out there to all the abortion mills.
The new late term abortion mill especially needs a constant stream of prayerful Catholics standing vigil. It is located at:
Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center, on Greenville just north of Royal Ln
(8616 Greenville Ave., Dallas, TX 75243; park across the street)
Map here
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