Planning For The Millennium: Where Is The "Amchurch" Heading?
By Paul Likoudis
Thousands, if not millions, of Catholics across the country are
currently engaged in parish or diocesan planning programs,
devising parish mission statements or charting a diocesan "vision"
as the Church prepares for the third millennium.
But where, precisely, are Catholics heading as they wade through a
sea of guidelines and projects pouring forth from their chancery
headquarters?
Or, from another angle, where are the Catholic lay faithful being
pushed as the "fourth wave" of renewal in three decades hits the
Catholic Church?
Consider:
In March, Chicago will play host for the Great Lakes Pastoral
Ministry Gathering's 21st annual conference, "Come Feast at the
Table," a three-day event for parish leaders featuring leading
"Amchurch" reformers, such as John Buscemi, Richard Sparks, Pat
Livingston, et al.
Among the subjects: Theologian Fr. Peter Phan (a Catholic
University-based critic of <The Catechism of the Catholic Church>)
on celebrating the Eucharist around a round table; William Bausch
on moving the parish into the next millennium through "a retrieval
of the wisdom tradition, and the New Age and the Third Age of the
parish of the future"; Sr. Regina Coll, C.S.J., on ministering to
women and women in ministry; sex educator Fr. Richard Sparks,
C.S.P., on "moral decision making."
St. Anthony Messenger Press, a principal organ of dissent for
nearly 30 years, has launched a new publication now being heavily
marketed to parishes. Entitled <Millennium Monthly>, a part of the
"Follow Me: Disciples for the 21st Century" parish renewal program
copublished by St. Anthony Messenger Press and Msgr. Philip
("Common Ground") Murnion's National Pastoral Life Center in New
York, the new publications features such longtime dissenters and
critics of traditional Church teaching as Dr. Brennan Hill,
Dolores Curran, Fr. Richard Rohr, Jose Hobday, Mary Luke Tobin,
Evelyn and James Whitehead, et at.
It's the old dissent establishment continuing to set the agenda
for the Church.
In the Diocese of Evansville, Ind., Bishop Gerald A.
Gettelfinger has engaged his priests and people in a vast
downsizing project, to plan for the coming priest shortage when,
it is estimated, there will be only 44 priests to serve 73
parishes in a mere eight years.
In the Diocese of Dodge City, Kans., Bishop Stanley G. Schlarman
unveiled a plan to reduce the number of parishes from 57 to 41
over the next eight years, and created 17 "clusters" to be served
by 24 priests in the 58-county diocese. The plan follows a "self
study" by each parish council.
In the Diocese of Rochester, N.Y., Bishop Matthew H. Clark and
his chancery staff have ordered each parish council to devise a
parish "vision" statement, to plan on clustering with neighboring
parishes in anticipation of a severe priest shortage within a few
years, and to come into compliance with his distorted "vision" of
the Church.
And as part of his efforts to create an "inclusive" Church, he
will be chief celebrant and homilist at a "Mass for Lesbian and
Gay Catholics and their Families and Friends" at Sacred Heart
Cathedral on March 1st, 1997.
In the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, religious educators are
receiving indoctrination from staff at the Archdiocesan Office of
Worship to institute the archdiocese's new "provisional
guidelines" for "preparation and celebration" of the Sacrament of
Penance and Reconciliation, which embody neomodernist notions of
personal sin, particularly the idea that mortal sin is "relatively
infrequent."
These six examples illustrate what might be called "the program"
already under way in numerous dioceses, as "pastoral planning" and
"sacramental revisionism" accelerate and the American Church
prepares for the turn of the century and the new millennium.
What's The Model?
But the model the Amchurch is following, agree a number of
critics, is the Episcopal Church.
One particularly sharp critic of the Amchurch's modus operandi who
requested anonymity explained the preoccupation with planning and
institutionalizing neomodernist theology this way:
"The Amchurch has decided to imitate its cultural icon: the
Episcopal Church.
"The Church of England has always been our colonial master. It
forged the path we are now treading: the feminist agenda, women
priests, women bishops, parish autonomy, doctrinal irrelevance,
moral chaos, rationalization of the sexual revolution. . . .
"It leads to a Church with an excessive clergy and no flock,
living on government largesse. It's a phony facade that serves the
cultural elite, providing a religious patina for their weddings
and funerals, while nominal Christians become 'soap opera people.'
"San Francisco under Archbishop John Quinn set the pace. There,
Mass attendance dropped 60%, there's an abundance of clergy, and
the moral climate earned the city the epithet, 'Sodom on the
Bay'."
One manifestation of the attraction of the Episcopal "model" is
the astonishing popularity of the novels of Albany (inactive)
priest Joseph Girzone, who will be among the featured speakers at
Roger Cardinal Mahony's religious education congress in March.
In his latest book, <What is God?>, released at Christmas, Girzone
tried to help people overcome the idea that God punishes them for
their sins. Too many people, he told <The Albany Times Union>,
believe in a punitive God. "When you are wrong, you commit sin....
God's not happy with me.... That's a terrible way to go through
life.... For Jesus, being holy is nothing but being a beautiful
human. He was gentle kind, and caring. He had the highest of
ideals. He had beautiful dreams. He was simple as a dove and sly
as a fox....
"No one tries to really understand Jesus as a person, what He
thinks, what He feels, or what His understanding of God is. I'm
convinced that what we share is the authentic Jesus. It's not
something we concoct."
(Significantly, Girzone and Sr. Dorothy Ederer were preaching
their version of Jesus in China last year, at the same time that
the Communist Party intensified its persecution of the underground
Catholic Church.)
Our Amchurch critic continues: "Look who's the paradigm bishop in
Girzone's <The Shepherd>: He's a man who aligns himself with the
Episcopalians and Lutherans. He says, 'Look, we don't have to be a
shabby, foreign church anymore. Let's join with the
Episcopalians.'
"Girzone is becoming a cult figure; there are Girzone study
groups; Catholics are buying his books in bulk. And what's his
message? Contraception is okay; divorce is okay; religious
indifference is a virtue; practically speaking, the hypocrisy of
Vatican officials is the only sin. Why would Cardinal Mahony-or
any bishop -promote Girzone unless Girzone were part of 'the
program'?"
A Sign Of Failure
There are, however, other ways to explain the obsession with
planning for the future, with micromanaging parishes from downtown
headquarters, with issuing new sacramental guidelines embodying
the latest thinking from the dissident <Chicago Studies> (as do
the Archdiocese of Indianapolis' new guidelines for Penance).
One is that Church leaders do not know how to confront the reality
that the Church is "in retreat" all around them.
"Despite all their plans for renewal, their change agents, their
control of institutions, and their money," said an expert on
recent Church history in Rochester, "they are failing.
"Plans like Bishop Clark's are 'cries of desperation.' He has been
a bishop for almost 20 years, during which time he's pushed for
ordaining women, protected [Fr.] Charlie Curran and other
dissident theologians, advanced the homosexual agenda, and what's
the result? He has a priest shortage, he's losing his flock, he's
closing parishes, and he's grabbing for pages from the corporate
management style handbook trying to find a strategy to keep the
whole kit and caboodle afloat.
"He's running out of money and people, but he's so committed to
changing the traditional Catholic Church that he has to keep the
bureaucratic wheels grinding on to change the liturgy, change
catechesis, change morality, change the entire concept of Church
enshrined in the new <Catechism of the Catholic Church>."
In his project to bang all parishes and pastors under chancery
control, Clark is managing to alienate even his liberal priests.
As one told <The Wanderer>: "Why doesn't he just run my parish
from a computer in the Pastoral Center?"
Aside from the issue of control, however, there is the fundamental
problem that the new "vision" of parish being "articulated"-not
just in Rochester, but across the country-is a construct at odds
with both canon law and <The Catechism of the Catholic Church>
which defines parish as:
" '. . . a definite community of the Christian faithful
established on a stable basis within a particular Church; the
pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own
shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop' (Code of
Canon Law, 515.1). It is the place where all the faithful can be
gathered together for the Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist. The
parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression
of the of the liturgical life: It gathers them together in this
celebration; it teaches Christ's saving doctrine; it practices the
charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love."
In ordering parish councils to develop "vision statements" to
manifest their compliance with the essentially "womanchurch" goals
of his diocesan synod, Clark didn't provide the simple definition
of "parish" in the Catechism, but rather demanded that parishes
show what steps are being taken to prove they are becoming "a
community known for its warm hospitality . . . a welcoming
community that actively includes all members . . . that is ready
to wrestle with the difficult issues of the day with a radical
spirit of faith."
A concrete example of what "faith" parishes are expected to
promote in the Diocese of Rochester is provided in the 30-page
publication given to all parish council members: <Pastoral
Planning for the New Millennium.>
The report advises parishes that the staff of St. Bernard's
Institute is available for adult education programs, with its "on
the road" program, where Clark's top theologians sanction
contraception and homosexuality.
An example of how "pastoral planning" is burdening parishes can be
seen in the parish mandates for complying with synod goal three:
"To recognize and value the dignity of women in the Church and
society."
Parishes must show the diocese's pastoral planners that 50% of all
parish ministries are staffed by women, that parishes provide
"evidence of progress in: reducing violence toward women, reducing
the poverty of women, being inclusive in our language and in our
images of God, recognizing and celebrating women's spirituality,
women in leadership positions."
Parishes are also to submit reports showing that income disparity
among men and women is decreasing and that a portion of the parish
budget is dedicated to providing education and training for women
to prepare them to be pastoral administrators, pastoral
associates, pastoral ministers, and pastoral liturgists.
Yet another example of Bishop Clark's theology and ecclesiology is
present in his recent pastoral letter on the Eucharist, in which
he called on parishes to begin a planning process to ensure that
they remain "eucharistic communities" even when there is no
resident priest.
He managed to write an entire pastoral without once mentioning the
term "Sacrifice of the Mass." Already, "Communion services"
conducted by women are multiplying in the diocese.
No Sin But Sexism
It's true that Catholic Americans seldom hear about sin in
homilies or see the word in their newspapers or religion texts.
The concept of "sin" cannot be totally abandoned, however, and so
it is being reworked, as the "provisional guidelines" recently
issued by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis show.
The guidelines were written to make Rite II-the communal Penance
service-the norm in the archdiocese, and their inspiration is
"Second Thoughts on the Rite of Reconciliation," an article
published in <Chicago Studies> by John E. Price and R. George
Sarauskas.
Price and Sarauskas contrast the "old emphasis" on confession with
the "new emphasis" on reconciliation. For example, "sin" in the
"old emphasis" was "individual-solitary-acts-specific-often-
mortal," whereas the "new" is "social-ecclesial-lifestyle-
disharmony-relatively-infrequently-mortal."
The "old emphasis" of "morality" was "laws concerning things to
avoid (bad actions)," while the "new emphasis" is "how to live
positively in response to the Spirit."
"Feelings" that prompted recourse to Confession in the "old
emphasis" were "guilt, sorrow, shame," while in the "new" they are
"warmth, hope, healing, conversion."
In addition to promoting the "new theology" of Price and
Sarauskas, the authors of the Indianapolis model also provide a
detailed program for communal Reconciliation services, which
downplays individual Confession and provides for a common penance:
the singing of a song, such as <Amazing Grace.>
The guidelines also contain a section, "A Word About Sin," which
explains sin according to dissenting theologian Bernard Haring.
While downplaying the traditional understanding of mortal sin and
implying its rarity, the authors also describe a new "development
in the understanding of sin....
"Individual participation in worldly structures of sin can tear
down human dignity, violate human rights, and contribute to
oppression and abuse. Catholics are called to take a stand against
these realities and join in efforts to change them. Indifference
to social evils or refusal to act on behalf of justice for all is
a <serious matter> [emphasis added] for all Christians."
While the document pays "lip service" to the teaching of <The
Catechism of the Catholic Church> on sin with a single footnote,
it completely glosses over the Church's teaching on the gravity of
individual mortal and venial sins.
The War On The Catechism
Another dramatic illustration of the institutionalized opposition
to <The Catechism of the Catholic Church> in the American Church
is St. Anthony Messenger Press' new publication <Millennium
Monthly.>
The significance of this project was powerfully expressed by a
<Wanderer> reader in Michigan who wrote, "Now, since we're all
softened up after the past 30 years, it looks like they're coming
in for the kill.
"Already, two of the three parishes in my neighborhood have
announced plans for in-house groups to start meeting in Lent '97
with facilitators using this program....
"It looks like Cardinal Bernardin's Common Ground guru Msgr. Phil
Murnion, found someone with a printing press, but it doesn't look
like a project that was put together in just a few weeks!"
Indeed, <Millennium Monthly,> "written for everyday Catholics," is
the work of Brennan Hill, a professor of theology at Xavier
University in Cincinnati, and his wife Marie, associate director
of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Family Life Office.
Brennan Hill is also one of the leading critics in the United
States of <The Catechism of the Catholic Church>, and coauthor of
<The Catechism: Highlights & Commentary> -described by Msgr.
Michael J. Wrenn and K.D. Whitehead as "one of the more
significant responses to the Catechism from the catechetical
establishment." (See elsewhere in this issue William Doino's
comprehensive review of the Wrenn-Whitehead book <Flawed
Expectations: The Reception of The Catechism of the Catholic
Church.>)
Hill's <Highlights & Commentary>, they said and their reviewers
agreed, is for the religion teacher who does not intend to read
the Catechism, and its purpose, say Wrenn and Whitehead, is to
"modify, undermine, and even nullify what the Catechism itself
says."
Wrenn and Whitehead especially target the various ways <Highlights
& Commentary> undermines and nullifies the Catechism's teaching on
sin, penance, and Confession; but that is hardly its only problem.
Throughout the <Commentary>, Hill and his coauthor William Madges
subvert Church teaching on Scripture, the divinity of Christ, the
Pope and bishops, the sacraments, sexual morality, and the
indissolubility of marriage.
Conclusion
As America's 60.2 million Catholics prepare to enter the third
millennium with fewer priests, fewer religious, an increasing loss
of Catholic identity at Church hospitals, colleges, and schools,
decreasing Catholic solidarity, and rapidly declining Mass
attendance, they are unequipped intellectually and spiritually to
be a countercultural force against the secular state.
An ominous development is the growing fear among faithful and
increasingly marginalized Catholics that they will face actual
persecution by the leaders and ideologues of the American Church,
who can no longer ignore or tolerate any resistance to their plans
and programs.
As one observer said, "If the bishops don't act against the
dissenters who are destroying the unity of the Church, they will
have to act against faithful Catholics, just to prove they are
doing something.
"It's time for faithful Catholics to start acting. For 30 years
we've been trying to hide or ignore the postconciliar
disintegration, and things have only gotten worse. Now it is time
to engage ourselves in the process and planning strategies, in
order to give witness to authentic Catholic truth-and to challenge
disastrous pastoral policies."
This article was taken from the February 6, 1997 issue of "The
Wanderer," 201 Ohio Street, St. Paul, MN 55107, 612-224-5733.
Subscription Price: $35.00 per year; six months $20.00.
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