Oxymoron For The Day...

..."Religion at the Huffington Post".

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaa!!!!

(Two posts in a row mentioning the Huff-n-Puff! Gaack! It won't happen again, I promise!)

This is a new feature at Huff-Po - which I never read, and still won't. I suppose their Religion page will appeal to a) people who don't take faith all that seriously, or b) people who like to make fun of religion. Kind of like a clearinghouse for the ungodly. Steer clear if you don't have little patience for inanity. I'm not going back.

One reason - they've pegged Sr Joan Chittister to submit columns on Catholicism. Yippee! The Popette of Erie PA pontificating to the clueless. Means more work for the rest of us to profess authentic Church teaching.

I probably shouldn't do this, but I'm going to anyway. Here's a link to her column from February 24: Catholicism: A Changing Church - Despite Itself

She makes the following statement in her article: "In the church of the 21st century, in order to be a vibrant and effective factor in society -- as well as an institutional remnant of the past -- four issues strain for attention and promise more change to come." Let's review them, shall we?

1) "Clericalism, the by-product of an illiterate society, has already come head to head with the levels of professionalism around it. To be acceptable in the 21st century, priesthood will need to be a purely ministerial function, not a civic, academic or social office. People look to the church for worship and succor, for justice and social model, for preachers of peace and harmony, not for authoritarianism. The local parish priest is neither qualified nor authorized to pronounce on secular subjects like elections or curriculums (sic) or the tenets of another faith." (She ought to brush up on her Latin...plural of curriculum is curricula. Not surprised she got that wrong) So in order to be relevant, the priest has to stay in the sanctuary and...what? Make everyone feel good about themselves and not speak of truth? Keep faith separate from everyday life? No priests teaching in the seminaries or schools? Seriously? Her claim is that the priest - and she's really talking about bishops here, make no mistake - has no business talking about political issues, or other faiths (or avowing that the Catholic faith is the superior faith), or about what is taught in schools. Hogwash. I bet there are bishops and priests who know more of other faiths than she knows of Catholicism. She believes that the Church will be relevant to the world only if it shrinks from the world. That's not what Christ taught.

2) "Gender equality will be one of the major social issues of the 21st century. Churches that cling to sexism in the name of God will find themselves ignored on other issues. Young women will begin to wonder how it is that churches that teach equality are the last bastions of sexism in the modern world. People of faith will be hard pressed to explain how it is that the question of equality of the sexes is being led by secular institutions rather than by ministers who proclaim the Good News and then stop it from coming." Yawn. C'mon, can't she come up with anything new? The Church already proclaims gender equality - but She doesn't proclaim gender sameness. And people of faith - by which I define those who believe in Church doctrine - have no problem explaining the all-male priesthood. It's just that those who disagree refuse to accept the teaching.

3) "The laity will become a driving force behind the declericalization of a patriarchal church if for no other reason than the need for personnel. Educated in every dimension of life now to the highest degree, including theology, the laity will expect both to lead and to be listened to in the church." Wait a second - doesn't this sort of conflict with the first point? If the Church is to go through a declericalization process, then why mention the role of priests at all? I believe that as "people of faith" learn more about the Church and Her theology, they will come to accept the truths of the faith even more deeply and staunchly. It's the dissenting theology students, learning at the feet of dissenting theologians, who will attempt this change. And they will fail. Because they are deficient in their reason and in their faith. That's not to say the laity are useless except to contribute to the Church and populate its pews - not unimportant, by the way. The role of the laity is important -but it is not to dismantle the clerical nature of the Church, but to strengthen it. Where else will new priests come from, except from a faithful laity?

4) "Finally, theology itself, in the light of evolution, will need to be rethought, revised and reshaped to honor a God big enough to believe in, a God beyond the maker of a child's heaven and more an impelling force than the laws of those who take literalism as the measure of the spiritual life." This is just plain gobbledy-gook. Theology in the light of evolution needs to be rethought? Well, okay then. If it's "survival of the fittest", then the Catholic Church wins. We've got Christ, Mary, the saints and martyrs and the Sacraments. What have they got? Flowery thoughts and vapid sophistry? In terms of spiritual fitness and strength against evil, the Catholic Church, protected by the Holy Spirit, will be the Last Man Standing.

A report was just released that the number of worldwide Catholics increased 1.7% in 2008 (story here), as well as a 1% increase in the number of priests. That doesn't sound like increasing irrelevance to me.

Christ promised that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church. I believe Him. These progressive fake Catholics, though, seem to believe that the Church will not prevail against the world. So, She must change to accommodate a changing world. Wrong. Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, may permit strife and trials to occur, but He won't allow His Church to be transformed into some style of New Age Cosmic Good Vibrations Eco-Spiritual Spa and Wellness Center. The Church will continue to profess what is true and right, a refuge in a world that has itching ears for what is false and wrong.

Chesterton once said "I do not want a Church to be right when I am right. I want a Church to be right when I am wrong." Chittister, and countless others like her, wants the exact opposite.