The Catholic Spectator

  1. CROP, Rohr

    April 22, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    CROP Walk

    On Sunday, May 6, many local communities will be hosting the annual CROP Walk. This walk is designed to raise funds in order to help alleviate hunger in the world. Many of our local parishes lend their support to this walk. Unfortunately, not all of the money is used to fight hunger. Some of the money goes to fund contraceptive programs. Several dioceses have withdrawn support for CROP Walks due to this issue. Follow these links for more information: link link link

    The New Age Invades the DOR

    The promotional poster (link) for the recent Convocation/Ministerium for the Rochester Diocese highlighted Father Rohr’s expertise on the enneagram. We should all be concerned that our priests and ministers were being instructed by such a New Age advocate. In 2003 the Vatican issued a document on the New Age (link) that identified the enneagram as stemming from the ancient heresy of gnosticism. Follow these links for more information on the enneagram and the New Age: link link link link link

    The Convocation poster also mentions Father Rohr’s association with “eco-spirituality”. Follow these links for more information on this suspect philosophy: link link link link

    Apart from Father Rohr’s apparent New Age theology, it is especially troubling to ponder his fascination with “nude retreats”. One must question the wisdom of bringing in a speaker who sponsors “retreats” that encourage communal male nudity. Shouldn’t this have set off alarm bells after all we have been through regarding sexual scandal in the Church in recent years ? Would any of us feel comfortable in sending our teenage sons to a “retreat” that features adult men taking of all their clothes and dancing around a campfire?

  2. Sounds Like Heresy to Me

    April 18, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    “Most people I know would never torture another human being under any circumstances. Yet people believe in a god(sic) who not only tortures, but tortures for all eternity. That is bitter vengeance by anyone’s definition. Why would anyone want to be alone with such a testy and temperamental god(sic)?…We have ended up being ourselves more loving, or at least trying to be, than the god(sic) we profess to believe!” Father Richard Rohr, retreat master for the Rochester convocation of priests.

    “Most people can actually forgive and forget. But not our god(sic)! God does not forgive until he or she gets some appropriate penance, reparations, and repayment. (Actually affirmed in common sacramental practice).” Father Richard Rohr.

    “Neither abortion nor homosexuality were litmus tests for Christian belief for the first 2,000 years of the church!…If any moral position was held absolute for the first 300 years, it was this: Christians would be non-violent, and would take care of the poor.” Father Richard Rohr.

    “We want body morality, not really a demanding Biblical morality. No concern about social values, or justice values, just puritanical concern for keeping human bodies so-called ‘pure’, by preoccupation with issues like abortion, those terrible gays, and stem cell research.” Father Richard Rohr.

    Father Richard Rohr will today be instructing the patoral ministers of the Diocese of Rochester.

  3. Radical Priests to Instruct Diocesan Personnel

    April 15, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, will be one of two main speakers at this week’s annual diocesan convocation. The convocation is a gathering of all the priests and pastoral administrators of our diocese. Follow the links for information on Father Radcliffe: link link link link link link

    The second speaker who will be instructing our priests and administrators is Father Richard Rohr, OFM. Follow the links for more information: link link link link link link link

  4. Planned Parenthood Rosary

    April 13, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    Every Saturday morning at 9:45 a group meets to recite the Rosary across the street from the Planned Parenthood facility in the town of Greece. The facility is located at 2824 Ridge Rd. West near the Raymour and Flanigan furniture store. The group gathers next to the furniture store which is across the side street from Planned Parenthood.

  5. Vatican II

    April 13, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    “I was relieved when we were told that this Council was not aiming at defining or giving final statements on doctrine, because a statement on doctrine has to be very carefully formulated and I would have regarded the Council documents as tentative and liable to be reformed.” (Bishop Thomas Morris on Vatican II).

  6. Literary Dysfunction

    April 13, 2007 by Eugene Michael

    I was reading an article today that shared some rather startling statistics about literary dysfunction in the U.S. today. Here are some of the highlights:

    • 58% of our adult population never reads another book after high school.
    • In 2001, the average reader spent 4.1 minutes book reading per day.
    • 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
    • Per capita spending on books per month was $7.18.
    • 70% of adults have not been in a bookstore in the last 5 years.
    • Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

    The National Endowment for the Arts has concluded that literary reading will virtually disappear within 50 years. Is it any wonder that the average person is no longer capable of any sort of critical thinking. Hours and hours spent in front of the television have turned many minds to mush.

    Turn off the tube and read a book. Exercise your mind. Build it up. Develop critical thinking skills that can withstand the onslaught of propaganda that comes our way day after day through the modern media. Make reading a priority. You won’t regret it.