Orthodox Rabbi: Dissidents Catholics are destroying the faith

Father John Zuhlsdorf over at W.D.T.P.R.S. is flagging an article on LifeSiteNews.com reporting on an interview it conducted with Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the head of a group of 800 Orthodox rabbis in the U.S. and Canada.

The article is reprinted below (with my emphasis), but a visit here to read Fr. Z.'s comments would also be worth your time.

Left Wing of the Catholic Church Destroying the Faith Says Orthodox Rabbi

By Hilary White, Rome correspondent

ROME, February 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The dissident, leftist movement in the Catholic Church over the last forty years has severely undermined the teaching of the Catholic Church on the moral teachings on life and family, a prominent US Orthodox rabbi told LifeSiteNews.com. Rabbi Yehuda Levin, the head of a group of 800 Orthodox rabbis in the US and Canada, also dismissed the accusations that the Holy See had not sufficiently distanced itself from the comments made by Bishop Richard Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) on the Holocaust.

"I support this move" to reconcile the traditionalist faction in the Church, he said, "because I understand the big picture, which is that the Catholic Church has a problem. There is a strong left wing of the Church that is doing immeasurable harm to the faith."

Rabbi Levin said that he understands "perfectly" why the reconciliation is vital to the fight against abortion and the homosexualist movement.

"I understand that it is very important to fill the pews of the Catholic Church not with cultural Catholics and left-wingers who are helping to destroy the Catholic Church and corrupt the values of the Catholic Church." This corruption, he said, "has a trickle-down effect to every single religious community in the world."

"What's the Pope doing? He's trying to bring the traditionalists back in because they have a lot of very important things to contribute the commonweal of Catholicism.

"Now, if in the process, he inadvertently includes someone who is prominent in the traditionalist movement who happens to say very strange things about the Holocaust, is that a reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater and start to condemn Pope Benedict? Absolutely not."

During a visit to Rome at the end of January, Rabbi Levin told LifeSiteNews.com that he believes the media furore over the lifting of the excommunications of the four bishops of the Society of Saint Pius X is a red herring. He called "ridiculous" the accusations that in doing so Pope Benedict VXI or the Catholic Church are anti-Semitic and described as "very strong" the statements distancing the Holy See and the Pope from Williamson's comments.

Rabbi Levin was in Rome holding meetings with high level Vatican officials to propose what he called a "new stream of thinking" for the Church's inter-religious dialogue, one based on commonly held moral teachings, particularly on the right to life and the sanctity of natural marriage.

"The most important issue," he said, is the work the Church is doing "to save babies from abortion, and save children's minds, and young people's minds, helping them to know right and wrong on the life and family issues."

"That's where ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue has to go."

Although numbers are difficult to determine, it is estimated that the Society of St. Pius X has over a million followers worldwide. The traditionalist movement in the Catholic Church is noted for doctrinal orthodoxy and enthusiasm not only for old-fashioned devotional practices, but for the Church's moral teachings and opposition to post-modern secularist sexual mores. Liberals in the Church, particularly in Europe, have bitterly opposed all overtures to the SSPX and other traditionalists, particularly the Pope's recent permission to revive the traditional Latin Mass.

The Vatican announced in early January that, as part of ongoing efforts to reconcile the breakaway group, the 1988 decree of excommunication against the Society had been rescinded. Later that month, a Swedish television station aired an interview, recorded in November 2008, in which Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the four leaders of the Society, said that he did not believe that six million Jews were killed in the Nazi death camps during World War II.

At that time, the media erupted with protests and accusations that the Catholic Church, and especially Pope Benedict XVI, are anti-Semitic.

Rabbi Levin particularly defended Pope Benedict, saying he is the genius behind the moves of the late Pope John Paul II to reconcile the Church with the Jewish community.

"Anyone who understands and follows Vatican history knows that in the last three decades, one of the moral and intellectual underpinnings of the papacy of Pope John Paul II, was Cardinal Ratzinger.

"And therefore, a lot of the things that Pope John Paul did vis-à-vis the Holocaust, he [Benedict] might have done himself, whether it was visiting Auschwitz or visiting and speaking in the synagogues or asking forgiveness. A lot of this had direct input from Cardinal Ratzinger. Whoever doesn't understand this doesn't realise that this man, Pope Benedict XVI, has a decades-long track record of anti-Nazism and sympathy for the Jews."

Seminarians are becoming a bumper crop in the Midwest

Last month I put up a couple of posts (here and here) regarding the surge in vocations in the Diocese of Wichita. This is borne out by the fact that this diocese of just 120,000 Catholics currently has 46 men studying for the priesthood.

This was preceded by a post last May reporting on a surge in ordinations in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, which presently has 120 men in formation.

Now a couple of hundred miles to the northeast of Wichita the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas and the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph are also reporting impressive upticks in their numbers of seminarians.

According to The Catholic Key the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, with 200,000 Catholics, has 21 men in formation while its neighbor, the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph has 26 men out of its total Catholic population of 144,000 studying for the priesthood.

To put this in perspective, here in DOR we have about 350,000 Catholics and just 6 seminarians, 5 of whom entered formation last fall, a development Bishop Clark has called "encouraging."

Seminarians per 100,000 Catholics

Since these dioceses vary widely in their numbers of Catholics the only instructive way to compare them is by looking at their numbers of seminarians per 100,000 Catholics:

Perhaps before closing another parish due to a lack of priests, Bishop Clark would like to explain to his flock why DOR is doing so poorly relative to these dioceses in attracting men to the priesthood?

Vitamin B16 and Vicar's VapoRub

LarryD over at Acts of the Apostasy is something of a modern day Jonathan Swift, mingling parody and satire to give us a heads-up regarding a new scandal brewing in the Church:

Tuesday February 10, 2009

Another Bishop Scandal Brewing?

(AoftheAP) It's not just Alex Rodriquez, Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada that are feeling the heat for steroid abuse. Similar accusations are being leveled against a small number of American Catholic bishops as well.

According to a Justice Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, federal investigators are drafting subpoenas on behalf of several unnamed elected members of Congress. Indications are the subpoenas will be served before week's end, and that the Bishops to be summoned are Archbishop Burke, Bishop Martino and Archbishop Chaput. If so, a Senate subcommittee hearing might be scheduled as soon as early March.

Allegations of steroid abuse comes as sweet justice to many progressive groups, including Gimme Back My Church. Agnes Flurferstine, co-director of Gimme Back My Church, is especially pleased.

"There is no way that these bishops are not doping," she said, resplendent in a silver-blue pantsuit with matching hair. "Their recent statements regarding Catholic politicians are much too powerful to not be enhanced in some way."

When asked what type of illegal substances the bishops might be taking, Agnes was reticent in her reply. "Well, I'm not sure what they're called out on the street. We don't rely on unnatural substances in our organization - we rely solely on the Spirit of Vatican 2."

One substance these bishops are rumored to be taking is called "Vitamin B16". The reported effects of "Vitamin B16" are increased boldness, improved resistance to liberal public opinion, and pronounced Magisterial teaching. Another suspected substance is "Vicar's VapoRub", a topical cream that is very difficult to test for, and extremely powerful. According to an unverified lab report, its use can only be detected by heightened levels of liberal Catholic Internet outrage, usually within 24 hours of use, and sustained for days and weeks afterwards.

None of the bishops were available for comment. However, a spokesman for Bishop Martino issued the following statement:

"The allegations against Bishop Martino are baseless and completely devoid of facts. The bishop's name is being smeared by gutless, evil-cooperating anonymous politicians engaging in a campaign of character assassination."

Upon hearing this, Senator Bob Casey appeared on CNN and declared that he is not gutless.

It is unclear what penalties would be assessed if it's proven that the bishops are indeed taking illegal steroids. Canon lawyers are poring [over] legal texts for direction, as this is unprecedented.

"In the past, strong forceful bishops were usually martyred for speaking the truth," canon lawyer Mark Wittington remarked. "I guess today, in America, it's far worse to be called before a Senate panel."

CMA Update, part 2

For the first time of which I am aware the diocese is including the actual number of donors in its Parish-by-Parish reports on dor.org. This information allows us to look at the progress of the 2008-09 CMA drive in a new and revealing way.

Below is a graph showing the number of new donors per day appearing in the various Parish-by-Parish summaries I have collected over the last 4 months. (For example, if the time between two data sets is 8 days and the difference in total donors between those data sets is 240, then there would have been an average of 30 new donors per day for that period.) Also included is the average donation made by those new donors.

While the average new pledge over the last month or so is hovering around $142.00, the number of actual new donors over that same period seems to be leveling off at somewhere around 25 to 30 a day. At this rate the CMA won't realize its goal until late June or early July.

4,000 donors go missing

According to the diocese "more than 37,000" people donated to last year's CMA campaign. As of last Friday the total number of donors to this year's campaign stood at 32,766, well over 4,000 shy of last year's number.

The economy is certainly playing a role in this decline, but it doesn't seem to be the whole story. For example, the difference in unemployment rates from last year to this year accounts for about 1,000 fewer donors, but that still leaves over 3,000 AWOL for other reasons.

Many parishes coming up short

As of last Friday just 22 parishes had reached 100% of their CMA assessments. The remaining 107 parishes were a combined $822,000 short, with the median deficit being about $6,450.

Furthermore, 32 parishes were still $10,000 or more short of their assessments, with St. John of Rochester "leading" with a deficit of $28,692.50.

CMA Update

An article appeared Wednesday on CatholicCourier.com describing some of the creative measures taken by various pastors in an attempt to reach their parishes' Catholic Ministries Appeal assessments.

This reminded me that I hadn't posted a CMA update in a couple of months (previous posts related to the 2008-09 CMA are here, here, here, here, here, and here) so I gathered up all the data I'd been grabbing every week or so from the Parish-by-Parish page on dor.org and began to plot some graphs.

A look at the groups

The first graph is a comparison of the group of Monroe County parishes that lost their schools with the group that did not, with data for the diocese as a whole included for reference. (It should be noted that the former group does not include Holy Family Parish as it is now closed, while the latter group omits Peace of Christ Parish as it is conducting a combined CMA/building drive and is not reporting CMA results separately.)

The data shows all three groups nearing something of a plateau, with the "Kept Schools" group outpacing the "Lost Schools" group by some 16.7% of CMA assessment. Were the latter group contributing at the same rate as the former its total pledges would be some $128,200 higher than they actually are.

Individual Parishes

Of those parishes that kept their schools all but two are currently ahead of the DOR average. Our Mother of Sorrows, having raised some $17,354 more than its assessment, is clearly outshining the rest. (I wonder how Fr. Bradshaw is pulling that off.)

Almost the opposite is true of the parishes that lost their schools, with only three at or above the diocesan average.

It is obvious that CMA lacks the appeal it once held at these 12 parishes, almost certainly due to resentment at the way the 2008 school closings were handled by the diocese and Bishop Clark's ongoing refusal to address the dozens of legitimate questions that still remain.

I do hope, however, that those of us who now refuse to donate to the CMA are at least giving their parishes what they otherwise would have given the CMA. Right now those 12 parishes are more than $143,000 short of their combined assessments and, were the CMA drive to end today, the bishop would just take that amount out of their Sunday collections. Without the buffer of extra donations to the parishes in lieu of CMA pledges, such a confiscation would wreak havoc with a lot of parish budgets, something that none of us want to see.

Justice and mercy for the even more powerless

Just posted on CatholicCourier.com ...

ROCHESTER -- Bishop Matthew H. Clark will reflect on the national immigration debate during an interfaith prayer service at 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Road.

A coalition of organizations that represent Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faiths is sponsoring the event to promote the need for addressing comprehensive immigration reform as part of the national political agenda.

Participants will demonstrate their commitment to just and humane treatment for all immigrants, both documented and undocumented, as part of their faith traditions, according to organizers. Rochester Episcopal Bishop Prince Singh, who recently became a U.S. citizen, will offer the keynote address.

"With the perilous condition of our country -- a deepening recession and two unresolved wars -- it would be all too easy for us to let immigration reform fall off our national and local agendas," Sister Janet Korn, the event coordinator, said in a statement. "This must not happen. Justice and mercy call us to action on behalf of those who find themselves to have become even more powerless."

The local prayer service is one of the prayer vigils taking place throughout the nation from Feb. 13 to 22 as part of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, www.interfaithimmigration.org.

For more information, call Sister Korn, social-justice awareness coordinator for diocesan Catholic Charities, at 585-328-3210, ext. 1287.

 

That's quite an interesting list of evils from Sister Janet. We have

• A deepening recession.
• Two unresolved wars. 
• Immigration reform falling off our agendas.

What could possibly be missing?

Former Catholic school teacher: Bishops are clueless

A former teacher in Albany's Catholic school system has published his view on the problems shared by many dioceses.

With exquisitely bad timing, the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese announced the closing or merger of churches and schools just as we approached Catholic Schools Week. I am certain that parents will rush to enroll their children in schools that may not be around, staffed by people who do not know if they will be out of a job.

And yet, the actions are typical of dioceses all over the country. In the late 1960s, bishops began closing Catholic schools, faced with dwindling numbers of religious to staff them. It was a catastrophic decision betraying a lack of foresight.

Now we have reached 2009: Many churches are closed; there are few young people attending services in the ones that are open; priests, nuns and religious brothers are species approaching extinction — and the bishops have not yet figured out what is wrong.

Nothing in the church is more important than the maintaining and expansion of Catholic schools. That is why generations of Catholics of very modest means sacrificed and why many dedicated laypeople continued to teach for substandard salaries.

Catholics have a way in the upcoming Bishop's Appeal to make this diocese realize that change and creative thinking are needed now.

There is at least one diocese where the Holy Spirit seems to be showing the rest of the American Church not only how to stabilize a Catholic school system but also how to grow it.

That diocese, of course, is Wichita, and the key to its success is a true, diocesan-wide stewardship program. 

The success of a stewardship program, however, seems predicated on something else: orthodoxy; i.e., true fidelity to Rome and all that she teaches.

Orthodoxy seems to pay other dividends, not least of which is a flourishing of vocations to the priesthood.  The Diocese of Wichita, with but 120,000 Catholics, currently has 46 men studying for the priesthood.

These is an answer to the malaise gripping many of our dioceses. The only question is whether our bishops have ears to hear.