March 31, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From an interview with Father Richard Hunt, Reiki Master:
What would you say is your most rewarding experience?
In life, I would say that my most rewarding experiences have been the spiritual ones. The opportunities I’ve had to go on retreats. They were very powerful for me. I got an opportunity once to spend two years with a Tibetan Lama learning meditation. And I’ve worked with a number of Zen Masters, most of them Catholic Priests, actually. I found them to be very rewarding experiences. I also got interested in healing as a side thing – and then not so much a side thing – and now I work on Friday mornings with a group of healers. We’ll see anyone who comes in off the streets.
I wonder what Father Hunt thinks about reincarnation? I don’t think I really want to know.
March 28, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The recent USCCB committee’s condemnation of Reiki included a particular admonition against its promotion and practice by Catholic institutions, retreat centers, etc. I wonder how they would feel about a Catholic priest who not only promotes Reiki, but is certified as a Reiki Master-Teacher?
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March 27, 2009 by Eugene Michael
As you know from a previous entry, the labyrinth presenter for Sacred Heart Cathedral is also an advocate of Reiki therapy. Coincidentally, a USCCB committee has just published a document that condemns this “therapy”.
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March 27, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From an AP story on 3/25:
Archbishop Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis prelate who now leads the Vatican supreme court, said President Barack Obama “could be an agent of death” if his support for abortion rights becomes a model for leaders in other countries.
Burke also said parishioners should press U.S. bishops to withhold Holy Communion from Roman Catholic politicians who back legalized abortion. The archbishop made the comments to anti-abortion activist Randall Terry in a videotaped interview that Terry showed Wednesday in Washington.
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March 25, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The Cathedral Community bulletin for March 22 identifies Joy Bergfalk as the person responsible for presenting the labyrinth at Sacred Heart. Joy Bergfalk is identified on one of her websites as a “pastor”. It appears that her denomination is American Baptist. She is also the co-director of Life Listening Resources on Westfall Rd. This address is also the location of Labyrinth House, which has a “six-circuit peace labyrinth” in the back yard. Life Listening Resources also sponsors programs that utilize Reiki and the Ennegram.
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March 25, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Photo of the labyrinth at Sacred Heart Cathedral.
March 24, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Tonight, another well known dissident makes a return appearance in Rochester. Roger Haight, SJ, the author of the Vatican censured book, Jesus Symbol of God, will be speaking at St. John Fisher College as a guest of the Department of Religious Studies. His book was censured for, among other things, Haight’s profound teaching errors regarding the Divinity of Christ, the Resurrection, the Trinity and the universal and salvific nature of Jesus and the Church.
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March 23, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following is excerpted from a speech that was given by Archbishop Chaput at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit:
Noting that there was no question about President Barack Obama’s views on abortion “rights,” embryonic stem cell research and other “problematic issues,” he commented:
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March 21, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following is excerpted from an article in World Magazine:
When human cloning looked like a near-term possibility in the 1990s, it was President Bill Clinton who first put into law a prohibition against it. President George W. Bush then renewed this ban. Both presidents-of different parties-drew a clear line in the sand that cloning human beings was a moral and ethical line we would never cross as a nation.
Then President Obama arrived. In the same speech where he authorized the new stem cell funding, he announced he would also not allow human cloning for purposes of reproduction. He clearly left the door open to allow cloning for medical research purposes. In a way that was considered unthinkable during every American administration in the past, President Obama refuses to rule out allowing scientists to actually grow human beings in a laboratory, to harvest their body parts, and conduct research for the benefit of other human beings.
Unfortunately, the words of this president must always be decoded in order to discern the truth.
Will the most anti-life president in history really take a stand against “therapeutic” cloning? Time will tell, but I have my doubts.
March 20, 2009 by Eugene Michael
My wife and I have just returned from a two day visit with the Sisters of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Steubenville, Ohio. These wonderful nuns live a life of reparation that reflects and reproduces the sacrifice which Jesus made of Himself to the Father. They do this through Eucharistic adoration, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, devotion to Divine Mercy, contemplation of Christ’s death and resurrection, Marian devotion, and an intense teaching apostolate that is active in schools, parishes and missions.
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March 18, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From the USCCB’s website:
Again this year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will co-sponsor “Cover the Uninsured Week,” from March 22-28, 2009. The purpose of this effort is to focus the attention of the nation on the 46 million Americans who lack any form of health insurance. The USCCB has joined with our ecumenical and interfaith partners in educating the public and policymakers about the need for affordable and accessible health care for all. The leadership of this project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes The Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), major health organizations, and business and labor groups.
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March 17, 2009 by Eugene Michael
From Pope Benedict’s declaration of the Year of the Priest:
“The centrality of Christ leads to a correct valuation of ordained ministry,” he said, adding that, without priestly ministry, there would be no Eucharist, no mission and even no church.
Therefore, he said, it is crucial to make sure that new bodies or pastoral organizations are not set up “for a time in which one might have to ‘dispense with’ ordained ministry based on an erroneous interpretation of the rightful promotion of the laity.”
“This would lay the foundations for further diluting the priestly ministry, and any supposed ’solutions’ would dramatically coincide with the real causes of the problems currently connected with the ministry,” he said.
I wonder what Pope Benedict would think of the DOR’s recent “installation ceremonies” for Joan Sobala and Nancy DeRycke? It would be hard to find a more egregious example of “diluting the priestly ministry”.
March 16, 2009 by Eugene Michael
Somehow I missed this one (it’s hard to keep up), but Rochester had another well known dissident speaker here on March 6 and 7. Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., spoke at Nazareth College as a guest of the William H. Shannon Chair in Catholic Studies. Her background includes Call to Action, Women’s Ordination Conference, dissent from Church teaching on birth control, and being a proponent of liberation theology. Her speaking engagement was promoted in at least several church bulletins.
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March 15, 2009 by Eugene Michael
The following is from a synopsis of the book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age:
We have oceans of information at our disposal, yet we increasingly seek knowledge in online headlines glimpsed on the run. We are networked as never before, but we connect with friends and family via e-mail and fleeting face-to-face moments that are rescheduled and interrupted a dozen times. Despite our wondrous technologies and scientific advances, we are nurturing a culture of diffusion, fragmentation, and detachment.
This is a book worth considering for anyone who is concerned about our increasingly distracted society.
March 13, 2009 by Eugene Michael
It turns out that the anti-Catholic legislation that was proposed in Connecticut was actually being coordinated by dissident Catholics. Voice of the Faithful and the National Catholic Reporter are the culprits. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
It is well past time for our bishops to come out publicly against these termites who are trying to destroy the Church. This outrageous assault on the governance of the Church is all the evidence that is needed. Enough is enough.
