JUNE 21, 2013

Errors in Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor – 08

Protestant approach: Condemnation of any drinking of alcohol

THE REASONS FOR OUR CONTINUING THIS SERIES ON DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE

1. The spirituality of the Divine Retreat Centre [DRC] is “charismatic”. One gets the impression that the DRC‘s “charismatics”, both preaching teams as well as regular devotees, believe that they are “superior” to other Catholics.

Since my antecedents are not known to many who visit our web site, I proudly affirm that my spirituality is charismatic.

I must add that one of my spiritual directors, a holy and orthodox French Benedictine priest, actually finds it impossible to reconcile my “conservative” ministry with my being “charismatic”. To him it’s an oxymoron. To me, it seems a natural thing.

I have attended literally dozens of retreats and special events including a Bible College and a training programme in Counselling at the DRC between 1995 and 2000. I still do, as in the past, recommend to others these retreats for the reason that the preaching of the Word of God at the DRC has led to the transformation of many lives.

However, it is generally accepted that the contents of the retreat programmes have not evolved much since their inception over two decades ago and the retreats have continued to be by and large what can only be termed as an “initiation” into the Faith. This has resulted in little growth in the spiritual lives of most regular retreatants for whom the Centre becomes a place of pilgrimage and recourse when in need. Many, lacking “solid food” which they now pursue, end up as Pentecostals.

2a. It has been my observation for a very long time that the Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor, has been the propagator of errors and abuses, including in the liturgy of the Mass, something that, as an apologist, I now find impossible to ignore.

I admit adhering to and participating in most if not all of them at one time or another for several reasons, the chief among them being ignorance; moreover, no one objected to them and almost every charismatic priest, religious and lay leader practised them. However, circumstances — and the personal counsel of some good CCR leaders who would like to see these abuses and errors stopped — make it imperative that they be now exposed. Some teachings at the DRC are not Catholic.

2b. It has been my experience — when I have pointed out these errors and abuses from time to time — that most die-hard devotees of the Divine Retreat Centre are not very receptive to fraternal correction of any sort, or even discussion of the possibility of the Centre being in error. Their responses have ranged from indulgence to hostility. My pointing out that I am only appealing to the teaching of the Church has not saved me from being labeled “anti-Divine Retreat Centre”.

The DRC has become a holy cow for many both within and without the institution and any criticism is viewed as bordering on the sacrilegious. I can truthfully state that this attitude goes right up to the top of the administration. In case my statements appear outrageous, let the reader be assured that, in the course of this series,
I will provide the necessary evidence
to support them.

3. The focus of the first article in the series was on DRC‘s Enneagrams proponent, Sri Lankan preacher Lalith Perera; see DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-01,
http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-01.doc.

It was originally published as ENNEAGRAM PRACTITIONER MINISTERS AT DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE.

The Enneagram is a New Age, occult personality-typing system. See ENNEAGRAMS SUMMARY
http://ephesians-511.net/docs/ENNEAGRAMS-SUMMARY.doc
for more information on Enneagrams.

Despite the evidence provided to its Director, Fr Augustine Vallooran VC and letters of protest sent to him by several Catholics, DRC continues to invite occult-tainted Lalith Perera to minister at the Centre every year sine our report in 2006.

4. The immediate reason for this series on the Divine Retreat Centre, Muringoor, was the refusal of priests at the Centre to engage in civil correspondence with us in regard to our genuine concern about their promotion of a controversial mystic, see our September 2012 report MAUREEN SWEENEY-HOLY LOVE MINISTRIES
http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MAUREEN_SWEENEY-HOLY_LOVE_MINISTRIES.doc. This resulted in the report DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-02, http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-02.doc.

If that attitude was an isolated one, there would have been no necessity for this series. Unfortunately, it was a repeat of the 2006 enneagram preacher DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-01 issue. These first two reports of the series do indeed confirm that the Divine Retreat Centre indeed does not take kindly to fraternal correction or attempt to correct serious error. More evidence of that will be provided.

The Vincentian Fathers have either never replied to my letters drawing their attention to errors that are propagated at their retreat centres and in the Indian church at large, or if they ever did, as in the cases of the Enneagram proponent Lalith Perera [DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-01] and the controversial mystic Maureen Sweeney‘s devotions [DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-02], the letters are evasive or harsh.

5. In closing DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-02, I wrote, “Apparently, the Divine Retreat Centre has made a habit of promoting false mystics, one such being a Greek Orthodox woman, Vassula Ryden whose messages have been condemned by Rome as dangerous” and to be shunned by Catholics.

That was the subject of the next report,

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-03

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-03.doc.

6. The fourth report in the series is on the use of Hindu and superstitious marks on forehead and face by the Centre’s Catholic devotees and retreatants. See

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-04

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-04.doc

7. The fifth report concerns the top echelons of the DRC‘s Vincentian administration’s dalliance with yoga.

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-05

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-05.doc

8. The sixth report

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-05-B

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DIVINE_RETREAT_CENTRE_ERRORS-05B.doc

is a continuation of the above. I had written to the DRC-Muringoor priests, received a response from Fr. Augustine Vallooran VC at long last, and wrote a rebuttal to which he never replied.

9. The seventh report

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-07 concerns a retreat given by Edmund Antao‘s “Crusaders for Jesus with Mary” team from Vasco, Goa at the Divine retreat Centre, Muringoor.

Edmund Antao and the Crusaders for Jesus with Mary team have conducted “pilgrimage” tours to Naju, Korea, to the site where Julia Kim claims to experience heavenly visitations and phenomena such as consecrated hosts mysteriously materializing and falling from the sky to the ground, consecrated hosts becoming flesh and blood on her tongue, etc. An Indian bishop and several priests have accompanied Edmund Antao and the Crusaders for Jesus with Mary team to Naju and celebrated Mass there. The local ordinary and the Korean Bishops’ Conference have ruled against the alleged seer and the site, advising Catholics to stay away. The
local bishop has issued a decree excommunicating all those who even visit the alleged apparition site. Despite the Korean Bishops’ condemnations and warnings, Edmund Antao and the Crusaders for Jesus with Mary team propagate the messages of Julia Kim and lead tours to Naju. This amounts to gross defiance of and disobedience to the Catholic Church.

The team also conducts charismatic retreats at different places in India, mostly at the invitation of bishops, but also at the behest of regional service teams.

During these retreats they speak about Julia Kim and their Naju experience, offering two CDs on sale, one in Konkani and the other in English, thus promoting the banned site nation-wide.

The detailed report can be accessed at

JULIA KIM-MARYS ARK OF SALVATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/JULIA KIM-MARYS ARK OF SALVATION.doc

I quote from my concluding statements in the above report:

“Those who propagate the alleged mystic Julia Kim and her messages, those who conduct pilgrimages to Naju, and those who argue on her behalf as well as on the behalf of her supporters in defiance of the bishops’ pronouncements, are guilty of being “not in union with magisterium“:
“… all who fail to follow the directives are to be considered as willfully opposing the magisterium, the Catholic Church’s divinely guided authority to teach true doctrine.”
In effect, they have incurred automatic excommunication.”

10. The present report

DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE ERRORS-08 questions the DRC‘s consistent condemnation of the consumption of alcoholic beverages as nothing short of mortal sin, with no allowance for any exceptions.

I myself, by a personal decision, abjured the drinking of both hard liquor as well as beer when I commenced part-time ministry in May/June 1982. I never again permitted alcohol to enter our home and completely avoided indulging in drinking socially. But I was never fanatic about it. Until I visited DRC for the first time in 1995. That year, over a period of 11 months, I made five separate retreats at the Divine Retreat Centre.

I was enthralled with the “Full Gospel” preached at DRC. I made several more retreats there between 1996 and 2000, and always heard the same thing preached: “To consume liquor/alcohol is a mortal sin”.

Preacher after preacher, testimony after testimony, they all said the same thing. I became a believer from day one. They couldn’t possibly be wrong. Some of the priests proclaiming that teaching were theologians.

At least one of the preachers, Vinu Philip from Kochi who testified at the couples’ programmes, was a recovering alcoholic. And the DRC had opened a centre for people addicted to narcotics, psychotropic substances and alcohol. Yes, smoking too was always clubbed with alcohol as being a grievous sin, with not only physical but spiritually mortal consequences.

I remember Advocate A.M. Mathew, one of the stalwarts of DRC, upbraiding me for smoking in the lobby of the Community Centre of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, New Delhi, somewhere in the mid-1980s, during an intermission at a retreat he was giving. He was there at the invitation of the Delhi Service Team of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal of which I was a founder-member [1982/1983]. I was surprised silly more than anything else. I was into preaching, counseling and all the things that good charismatic leaders do, and I maintained a highly visible profile in the Church in Delhi. Everyone knew that I smoked, and I mean everyone. A couple of our priests and I even used to bum cigarettes off of each other.

I recall that the once-a-day ‘luxury’ indulged in by one of the 20th century’s most highly revered Protestant figures, the Lutheran Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a cigar permitted him – in his Nazi prison cell. In his Letters and Papers from Prison, there are twenty entries indexed under “smoking”. Bonhoeffer was executed by the minions of Hitler. The great Anglican C. S. Lewis incessantly smoked cigarettes and a pipe. Prominent European and American theologians, Protestant and Catholic, some of them priests and pastors, smoked. I have known some pious Vicars-General, Chancellors and an Archbishop or two to smoke cigars and seen pictures of Cardinals with lit cigars drooping from their lips. Are they all condemned to hell, I wondered.

The most vehement objections to tobacco use arise mainly in fundamentalist or evangelical circles although enthusiastic smokers can also be found in the ranks of conservative evangelicals: the famous Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon was a smoker who responded to critics
saying that he would continue to smoke “to the glory of God”. What then does one make of 1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20 wherein St. Paul asks, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you … Therefore glorify God in your body”?

That brings me back to the matter of the teaching that drinking alcohol defiles the body. This absolute condemnation of liquor and nicotine use by the DRC was one of the leading areas of disagreement between the ministry of the DRC and the mainstream Catholic Charismatic Renewal [CCR]. In my association with it since 1982, I don’t remember the latter — despite its American Protestant origins — ever proclaiming a moral judgement on alcohol and tobacco. But I remember that at one time, during the first half of the 1990s, if you were an honest-to-God ‘charismatic’, attending a retreat at the DRC or ‘witnessing’ to ‘Potta‘ at mainstream CCR prayer meetings was anathema. As a twice-former chairman of the Madras Service Team of the CCR had aggressively said to me, then a self-appointed DRC-apologist, “Potta is full of aberrations”.

To my DRC-tuned mind and ears, that was blasphemy. Speaking against ‘Potta‘ was indefensible. ‘Potta‘ was a holy cow! It was a ‘Divine‘ place, literally. I reacted, as do many DRC-devotees to criticism of the Centre even if genuine, with a condescending and judgemental poor-ignorant-lost-soul response. The referred leader was a non-smoker, but there were some in the Madras CCR who smoked, and many more including the leader himself who drank. I know other Regional Chairmen of the CCR who drank, always secretively, while in office. One was an army officer who was elected chairman thrice in three different cities and states.

A recent chairman of the Madras Service Team, a rich businessman and reportedly a relative of one of the priest-Directors of the DRC was and is a habitual drinker, I have been informed. I am fairly certain that there are more than enough of tipplers in the Renewal leadership to make a solid case [pun not intended].

Private and semi-public criticism by the mainstream CCR of “Potta‘s” anti-drinking, anti-smoking policy ceased when the Indian Bishops’ Conference forcibly married the two powerful streams to each other in an effort to resolve a host of sticky problems largely territorial — and of course financial!

The greatest problem appeared to be a personality clash between two very powerful people: the longest-serving three-term Chairman of the National Service Team who is now on the verge of achieving his ambition to make it to the number one seat at the ICCRS [International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services], Rome, and Fr. Augustine Vallooran Director, Divine Retreat Centre. Much more on this later.

Senior- and middle-level regional and local leaders were urged to lift the unofficial ‘ban’ on their members’ attending retreats at DRC and to themselves go there. Which they did, some of them sheepishly. DRC, with its extensive and excellently-managed facilities became a major centre for a host of CCR national programs.

In return, a priest-Director of the DRC was co-opted on to the National Service Team of the CCR, and he shared the dais with CCR leaders at several national programmes. One could now safely share at a prayer-meeting about one’s having been to “Potta” without being at the receiving end of derisive looks and smiles or being emotionally hustled out for being a fundamentalist.

But it was a cosmetic arrangement, an artificial alliance, and the game of one-upmanship at the very top did not go away as hoped by many. Eventually, the two have gone their own ways, as it was in the beginning…

I do not know of any leaders of the CCR who gave up smoking and/or drinking during the honeymoon with the DRC.

The crusade against alcohol was most aggressive in the Malayalam section of the DRC, quite prominent in the Konkani language section, and enough to make teetotalers and ex-smokers of many who attended the English language retreats. And that is good. About what is not good about it, we will come to, soon.

An ex-Communist party functionary and firebrand preacher P.J. Antony would testify every week that his little daughter called him a “dead man” because he was spiritually dead from consuming alcohol. I believe that the exact words that he used were, “You are dead, man”. I have made copious notes of every talk at every retreat I have ever attended including all those at DRC, but I am not consulting them here. P.J. Antony was a “dead” man not because of any other sins, though he never denied that truth, but because of drinking.

Lesson to be learned: If one drinks, one is spiritually dead; one is in the state of mortal sin.

At the DRC, preachers do not distinguish between social drinking and compulsive, habitual drinking or alcoholism. There is simply a blanket condemnation of alcohol. P.J. Antony’s talk used to be reinforced by Professor C.K. Joseph in his talk on “Sin” and again by the other firebrand preacher John Paul, who faded into oblivion five years to the month he joined DRC. The news is that this former Hindu-turned-Catholic preacher had signed a five-year contract with DRC at the end of which he left the Catholic Church and joined a Pentecostal congregation in Kerala. So much for an individual who was for five years their star speaker [in nine Indian languages if I remember correctly] on the elite inner circle of Fr. Augustine Vallooran‘s team and privy to all the intrigue at the Centre. Some say it was ‘for money’, others believe that he was disillusioned by what he saw and experienced for five years. During his tenure he avoided contact with retreatants.

He has not been the first DRC preacher to leave the Church or to leave DRC, trailing a host of unanswered questions. Other DRC stars have preceded or followed him, some like Paul Ganesh Iyer, the singing duo Abey and Swapna, Vinu Philip who testified at the couples’ programmes, etc leaving a trail of deceit, scandal, divorce and reversion to drugs and alcohol. The attrition rate of DRC preachers has been abnormally high. Their succumbing to the very sins that they themselves railed against after being projected as shining examples of virtue and Catholicity begs looking deeper into and this will be done over this series of reports.

To return to the ‘problem’ of alcohol, by the evening of the first day of the week-long weekly DRC retreats, the preachers would urge retreatants to empty their pockets and surrender the narcotics on their persons and to go to their bunkers and rooms and collect their stashed away supplies of liquor bottles and cigarette packets, which they would proceed to do to the sustained applause of the other retreatants.

On a later day, retreatants would confess to a priest that they had been smoking and/or drinking and after receiving absolution go for counseling if they so desired.

The DRC publishes the ‘Divine Voice’ magazine in English and ‘Vachanolsavam’ in English, Malayalam, etc.

Each page carries a verse of scripture from the Holy Bible. Some of these selected verses are those that concern the drinking of wine, drunkenness and the like. The magazine themselves, especially the latter which is heavily Scripture-based, also carry articles against the evils of drinking.

All of this is highly commendable. However, like the preaching at Divine, they do not distinguish between drinking and drunkenness. By implication, alcohol is taboo for the Catholic reader.

Protestant preaching is always Scripture based. It is called “Sola Scriptura” which means “Scripture alone”.

The phenomenon of “Sola Scriptura” arose from the Protestant Reformation which was a rebellion against the Pope and the teaching authority of the Magisterium. Protestants do not have such a teaching authority; neither do they have the other pillar of Catholicism which is called Tradition. Tradition would include the teachings of the Early Church Fathers.

Vatican Documents*, Apostolic Letters, Papal Encyclicals, Motu Proprios, etc. are Magisterial teaching.

Genuine “Full Gospel” Catholic preaching and teaching would appeal not only to the Bible but also to Magisterial teaching and Tradition, and to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] is, to put it simply, an explanation by the Catholic Church of the contents of the Holy Bible. Protestants may — and do — interpret verses of the Bible to mean whatever is convenient to them, to their listeners or what interpretation supports their particular church’s Statement of Faith. It is not so for Catholics. If a Catholic needs to know or to teach someone else what the Bible says about anything, she or he must consult the CCC. If a Catholic in authority teaches something that is not in consonance with or in opposition to what the CCC says, it is a most grievous matter. It is being Protestant.

I have completed 32 years of part and full-time ministry, both in the CCR as well as independently. I must have attended altogether over a hundred retreats, seminars, conventions, schools of evangelization and Bible colleges over these three decades.

I do not recall the CCC ever being cited except on a few rare occasions. Certainly no preacher actually used or consulted the CCC — with the singular exception of Fr Jose Vettiyankal, a Vincentian priest [of the same congregation that runs Potta/DRC] and who has an independent ministry. Fr Vettiyankal not only cites the CCC, he carries it around with him to his retreats, along with the Youth Catechism [YouCat] of Pope Benedict XVI, and has the relevant passage read out by one of the participants who is allotted a separate microphone.

He also uses the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India [CCBI]‘s Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Copies of the CCC, the YouCat and the Compendium are made available for sale to the retreatants by independent book agencies at many of the retreats given by Fr Vettiyankal. Now, that is Catholic re-evangelizing for you! That is the “new” evangelization in action. Instead of being given fish to eat, Catholics are taught by Fr Vettiyankal how to fish for themselves and how to meet the needs of others.

The DRC has always had a bookstall that stocks and sells everything from Bibles to rosaries, from scapulars to CDs and DVDs, from icons and pictures to religious books. But I don’t believe that they have ever sold a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

*Vatican Documents were cited at the first batch of the English language Divine Bible College that I attended in DRC, July 4 to August 15, 1999. Most of the faculty were from outside.

I remember Fr. Augustine Vallooran VC, the Director of DRC, saying on a couple of occasions that there are three levels of reading and understanding Scripture: the literal, the theological and the spiritual.

One such occasion was at the Bible College. Fr Leslie Ratus** of the Ministry of the Word programme in Mumbai was one of the guest preachers. During one of his talks, the good priest ridiculed the stand of the DRC on drinking. Incensed, I stood up at my seat among the crowd and challenged Father Ratus to a public debate, offering to use Scripture to prove him wrong and the DRC right. He argued with me and we shouted at each other back and forth with the other students joining in. The result was pandemonium, with a section of the students shouting me down and another group urging me on. Just as the dust settled, Fr. Augustine Vallooran VC, the Director, strode on to the stage and gave Fr. Ratus a public dressing down while repeating the two lines at the top of this paragraph, inferring that Fr. Ratus was not interpreting the Bible verses on alcohol with a “spiritual” exegesis. Humiliated, the poor priest wept. That evening, I met Fr. Ratus, identified myself as the person who had disrupted his talk, and apologized for what I did because I had felt obliged to do it. The good priest forgave me even though I added that I would repeat my intervention if I had to in order to uphold the truth. But was it the truth that I had fought for?

**The late Fr. Leslie Ratus, a Jesuit, completed his Masters in Theology in Rome, and taught scripture at the St Pius X Diocesan Seminary in Mumbai. His Ministry of the Word Programme was inaugurated on Pentecost Sunday 1990.

I have admitted that after my first visit in February 1995 to the DRC when I heard the message that drinking of alcohol was a mortal sin, I became a firm “believer”. I must now admit that I took the message so much to heart that I hurt not only my ministry but also my relationships with others. It must have been a full ten years before I came to know the truth, but by then the damage caused by me had become irreparable.

It is easy to preach from the safety of the DRC stage that drinking alcohol is a mortal sin. It is quite another thing to pronounce the same to a family member or relative or friend in their home.

I have seen the top leadership of DRC stay at ‘star hotels’ that had the flashing neon sign that said, “Bar Attached”, and at the homes of rich Catholic businessmen who are known to drink liquor. I was scandalised, because had I been in their place I would never accept the hospitality of “dead” Catholics without trying to enlighten them that they were in all reality “dead” and evangelize them back to life by throwing the Book at them. What I mean to say I that I would have extended my hard-sell preaching at DRC to wherever I went, not soften it, not sugar-coat it, and not bury it to derive any sort of pecuniary benefits by my compromise.

And that’s where I was naïve, ignorant, and horribly wrong.

I was naïve because I believed that the teachings of the DRC could not be in error. Other charismatics simply had not heard the “Full Gospel”, while “normal” Catholics, poor things, were in total darkness. That I adopted such a self-righteous posture is in no way the fault of the DRC. It was not even due to pride or a sort of gnostic approach. It was due to sheer ignorance. I had not yet encountered the Catechism!

I remember being scandalised in the year 2000 when I came to hear that at their deliberations, an international body for evangelization with centres world-wide including India would meet over beer and that in the West, Catholic priests would preach at pubs and bars in a program called “Theology on Tap”* co-founded by Fr. John Cusick and Fr. Jack Wall in Illinois, USA in 1981, now adopted by other denominations.

The latter were, in my opinion, preaching to “dead” people. The former were, of course, themselves “dead”.

One had to first bring them to abjure alcohol before preaching to them the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I repeat that this erroneous attitude of mine, which I diligently applied to my pre-Internet one-on-one ministry till around 2003, was not the fault of the DRC or of anyone else. It was simply that I had not asked a crucial question, “What does the Catholic Church say about this?” The result was a trail of broken relationships because, as is common knowledge, many Catholics drink. Another result was that I could not even begin to evangelize those Catholics whom I deemed to be in darkness. It finally occurred to me that I had to give people Jesus Christ and let Him do the transformation in their lives. I was after all not a retreat centre giving a time-limited retreat with a standardised formatting to a captive audience. *See page 14

It was during this transitory period of enlightenment that I had a one-on-one with a respected lay preacher who regularly gives talks at the DRC. Since he hails from a socio-cultural community and family that drink a fair bit on festive occasions, I asked him what he thought about DRC‘s “drinking is a mortal sin” policy. His answer was a tad evasive, but it started me thinking. “Michael”, he said, “they minister mainly to the people of Kerala where alcoholism is an epidemic. Don’t you think that they are doing good by that?”

Not the perfect answer, maybe some compromise because everyone [well, almost!] wants to be invited to DRC to preach and it is better to refrain from criticism of that Centre, but it sufficed for that time.

I had earlier engaged myself in an in-depth cover-to cover study of every single verse of the Holy Bible that had anything to say on wine, drinking and drunkenness. Even though I badly wanted the Bible to endorse my firm DRC-influenced belief that drinking is a mortal sin, it did not. The Bible condemns drunkenness.

I will not cite any Scripture passages here as there are simply too many of them and also as this is not a theological treatise. Neither will I argue that at the request of Mary, Jesus turned water into wine [John 2] or from 1 Timothy 5:23, where St. Paul advises “Do not still drink water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thy frequent infirmities.” [Douay-Rheims]

I read about one of the recent Popes having his daily glass of wine and of monastic orders raising vineyards and making and selling wine.

This present report is not an apology for drinkers or an attack on those who campaign against alcoholism.

It is an assessment of the absolute condemnation of alcohol as evil by some Catholics.

I was gradually learning not to accept the teachings of anyone at their face value. I learned about the early Christians of Berea who did not blindly accept everything that Paul and Silas were teaching them. Rather, “they received the word with all willingness and examined the scriptures daily to determine whether these things were so”

Acts 17:11. We are thus enjoined to follow their example and do the same.
We check out what the CCC says.

Here, under the sub-heading

II. Respect for the Dignity of Persons

Respect for the souls of others: scandal

is what the CCC says [Source: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P80.HTM]:

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. the person who gives
scandal becomes his neighbor‘s tempter. He damages
virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual
death. Scandal is a grave
offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately
led into a grave
offense.

2285 Scandal
takes on a particular
gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little
ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”⁸⁵
Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus
reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep‘s clothing.⁸⁶

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish
laws or social
structures
leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious
practice, or to “social
conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian
conduct and obedience to the Commandments
difficult and practically
impossible.”⁸⁷ This is also true of business
leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger,⁸⁸ or manipulators of public
opinion who turn it away from moral
values.

2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly
encouraged. “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!”⁸⁹

Respect for health

2288 Life and physical
health are precious
gifts
entrusted to us by God.
We must take
reasonable
care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common
good.
Concern for the health of its citizens
requires that society
help in the attainment of living-conditions that allow them to grow and reach
maturity: food and clothing, housing, health
care, basic
education, employment, and social
assistance.

2289 If morality
requires
respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute
value.
It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for it’s sake, to idolize physical
perfection and success at sports.
By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human
relationships.

2290 The virtue of temperance
disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur
grave
guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.

2291 The use of drugs
inflicts very grave
damage on human
health and life. Their use, except on strictly
therapeutic
grounds, is a grave
offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous
practices. They constitute
direct
co-operation in evil, since they encourage
people to practices
gravely
contrary to the moral
law.

A SITUATION THAT PARALLELS THE ONE EXISTING AT DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE:

HOLYSPIRITINTERACTIVE - THE 2007 WARNING ISSUED BY CATHOLICCULTURE.ORG:

In October 2007, a cautionary alert was issued by the international rating site
catholicculture.org
against the Catholic web site ministry of HolySpiritInteractive founded by
Aneel Aranha
of Dubai [AN EXTRACT]:

“There is much to recommend about this site but readers should be aware of charismatic elements which confuse sound Catholic theology with Protestant Biblical understanding.“

Weaknesses

Example(s)

: Numerous articles by non-Catholic author, Marcia Montenegro

Example(s)

: Protestant approach

Example(s)

: Omission of Catholic approach in youth section

Protestant Christian music and “resources” under the youth/kids sections

Example(s)

: Total condemnation of any drinking of alcohol

HOLYSPIRITINTERACTIVE THEN MADE SOME CORRECTIONS AND CHANGES AFTER WHICH THE AMBER WARNING AGAINST IT WAS REMOVED BY
CATHOLICCULTURE.ORG.

THE SECOND AND CURRENTLY-IN-FORCE 2013 WARNING FROM CATHOLICCULTURE.ORG:

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=2458
EXTRACT

Website Review: Holy Spirit Interactive

While there is much to recommend on this site (especially the articles by some excellent Catholic priests and apologists such as: Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Fr. John McCloskey, Fr. William Saunders, Mark Shea, Mike Aquilina, etc.) the main organizers of the site, Aneel Aranha and Dominic Dixon, promote Protestants and Protestant teachings over the nine sites that their ministry utilizes.
These various sites are all part of Holy Spirit Interactive.

Since Protestantism is so intertwined with authentic Catholic teaching on these sites we feel that we must give Holy Spirit Interactive a “yellow” rating even though parts of it are very good. We feel that there is too much for Catholics to have to sift through to find what’s worthwhile.

Weaknesses

Total condemnation of any drinking of alcohol
Example(s)
²

² http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?Example=6956&recnum=2458&task=showexample

From How sweet was the wine at Cana? By Aneel Aranha

I have little doubt that most of us, if not all, would consider nipping a shot of whiskey or vodka in a church an act of desecration. Yet, we would desecrate our own bodies with no second thought, unmindful of the fact that it is home to the Holy Spirit, who is God himself! The fact that God would, indeed, consider this desecration is obvious from this passage that Paul wrote to the Galatians:

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

Let me abridge that in the event anyone missed out a word or two. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: drunkenness and the like. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

There are those who will still continue to justify their drinking by saying this refers only to people who get intoxicated. Frankly, at this point I begin to lose the plot. Why would anybody drink a foul tasting, foul smelling liquid that has no redeemable qualities whatsoever — on the contrary, whose qualities are proven to be detrimental to mind, body and soul — unless it was to get drunk?

For details, see

HOLYSPIRITINTERACTIVE-WARNING ALERT ISSUED BY CATHOLICCULTURE.ORG
19 MAY/5 JUNE 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HOLYSPIRITINTERACTIVE-WARNING_ALERT_ISSUED_BY_CATHOLICCULTURE.ORG.doc

MY QUESTION IS THIS:

IF HOLYSPIRITINTERACTIVE IS RATED DANGEROUS, WITH AMBER LIIGHT FLASHING AGAINST FIDELITY TO CATHOLIC TEACHING FOR ITS ERRONEOUS STAND ON ALCOHOL, DOESN’T DIVINE RETREAT CENTRE AUTOMATICALLY FALL IN THE SAME CATEGORY?

On the Internet, there are numerous articles, all of them Protestant, debating the pros and cons of drinking and smoking, especially the former. They argue for and against even the moderate consumption of alcohol.

There is no reliable Catholic information that I could find except these two, plus a third from my files:

1. Alcohol: Biblical and Catholic Teaching

http://socrates58.blogspot.in/2007/03/alcohol-biblical-and-catholic-teaching.html

March 15, 2007 – Written by Dave Armstrong, August 1999

Catholics believe alcohol is acceptable in moderation (which we would say is the biblical and traditional Christian view). We regard drunkenness as a sin. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church condemns drunken excess and illegal drugs in #2290-2291:

The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.

The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.

In my understanding, the notion held by some Protestants that alcohol is intrinsically evil derives primarily (if not solely) from the temperance and prohibition movements in the mid-1800s and onward. Several denominations, such as the Presbyterians and the Methodists (maybe even the Baptists?), changed at that time from serving alcohol (following the implied “wine” of the biblical description) in the Lord’s Supper / Communion, to grape juice, almost entirely on political grounds: they were caving in to the temperance activists, in my opinion; adapting and compromising the gospel and Christianity to the political / moral and cultural fashions of the moment.

Lutherans and Anglicans have always used wine for Holy Communion. Neither Martin Luther (who was quite fond of wine) nor John Calvin (Institutes, 3:19:7; 4:13:9 – citing St. Augustine) opposed wine-drinking. Calvin casually assumes that wine will be used for Holy Communion (4:17:43), as it had always been used in the Church previous to that time. The third major Protestant Reformer, Zwingli, while rejecting the Real Presence altogether and adopting a purely symbolic view of the Lord’s Supper, nevertheless assumed that wine had always been used in the Christian celebration of the Eucharist, and kept on using it.

The weak arguments from the Bible used by fundamentalists to oppose all alcohol use whatsoever collapse upon even cursory examination, in my opinion. They try to assert that the biblical “wine” is merely unfermented grape juice. The term “strong drink, ” however, in contrast to “wine,” is seen, e.g., in passages such as Lev 10:9, Num 6:3, Deut 14:26, 29:6, Jud 13:4,7,14, 1 Sam 1:15, Proverbs 31:4, Micah 2:11 (cf. Proverbs 20:1, 31:6, Is 5:11,22, 24:9, 28:7, 56:12, Luke 1:15). This Hebrew word is shekar, defined by Strong’s Concordance (word #7941) as “intoxicant, i.e., intensely alcoholic liquor – strong drink.” Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon (1st ed., 1847; reprinted by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1979) likewise defines it as

strong drink, intoxicating liquor, whether wine, Nu 28:7, or intoxicating drink like wine, made from barley . . ., or distilled from honey or dates. It is often distinguished from wine . . . (p. 823)

Note that God doesn’t outright forbid this “strong drink” as immoral in and of itself. It may be avoided (along with wine) by some for fasting or ascetic (voluntary self-denial) purposes (as in Lev 10:9, Num 6:3, and Deut 29:6), but that is not a sweeping prohibition. In fact, in Deut 14:26, Moses (see Deut 1:1) says in so many words that it is perfectly acceptable to drink it. The writer of Proverbs advises giving “strong drink” to the dying, and “wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty, and remember their misery no more” (31:6-7; NRSV). This is similar to the Apostle Paul’s suggestion to “take a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Timothy 5:23; NRSV).

In many of these passages, it is implied, however, that excessive drinking of this intoxicant, or drunkenness, is a bad thing, characteristic of the wicked. Thus, the Bible (and the Catholic Church, following it) condemns drunkenness, but not all use of alcohol or wine (e.g., Deut 21:20, Proverbs 20:1, 21:17, 23:20-21,29-35, 26:9, Is 5:11-12, Rom 13:13, 1 Cor 5:11, 6:10, Gal 5:21, 1 Tim 3:3,8, Titus 1:7, 2:3, 1 Peter 4:3).

Many OT passages praise wine (e.g., Jud 9:13, Ps 104:15). Having “plenty” of wine is a divine blessing (Gen 27:28). Wine was used at the ancient Jewish festivals (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles), and on the Sabbath, and was offered as a libation in Jewish rituals (Ex 29:40, 1 Sam 1:24), which may account for its later use in the Passover Seder. The Talmud called for red wine to be used. The Last Supper was a Jewish Passover (see Mt 26:17 ff., Mk 14:12 ff., Lk 22:15 ff., Jn 13:1 ff.); hence Jesus undeniably used wine as the example of what was to become the Christian Eucharist.

Jesus partook of wine and was absurdly accused by His critics of being a drunkard (Matt 11:19, Lk 7:33). He turned water into wine (not grape juice), in His first miracle (Jn 2:1 ff.). Jesus drank wine on the cross:

A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

(John 19:29-30; cf. Mt 27:48, Mk 15:36; NRSV)

This word, oxos in Greek, is translated as “vinegar” in the King James Version. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (4th ed., 1901, rep. by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1977) defines it (Strong’s word #3690) as follows:

. . . used in the NT for Latin ‘posca,’ i.e., the mixture of sour wine or vinegar and water which the Roman soldiers were accustomed to drink. (p. 449)

In fact, the Roman soldiers offered this drink to Jesus before the crucifixion, and He refused (Mt 27:34, Lk 23:36, Mk 15:23). But the interesting thing is that the best texts of Mt 27:34 have the NT word for “wine,” oinos (Strong’s #3631), rather than oxos, thus strongly inferring that what Jesus was given on the cross was indeed wine, not vinegar. Likewise, even the KJV manuscripts (older and now outdated) have oinos at Mk 15:23:

And they gave him to drink wine [oinos] mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. (KJV)

Jesus refused this drink because it contained myrrh, which – combined with alcohol – would have had a narcotic effect. But he accepted this same drink without the myrrh on the cross, just before He died (John 19:29-30; cf. Mt 27:48, Mk 15:36). Some might still dispute that it was (or contained wine, with alcohol), but several modern translations render oxos at John 19:29-30, Mt 27:48, and Mk 15:36 as “wine,” “sour wine,” or similar description:

John 19:29-30: “sour wine” (NASB, Living, Phillips, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, REB, Wuest, Goodspeed, Beck, Williams),
“cheap wine” (TEV),
“wine vinegar” (NIV),
“vinegar (a sour wine)” (Amplified),
“bitter wine” (Barclay),
“common wine” (Confraternity, NAB)
Matthew 27:48: “sour wine” (NASB, Living, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, REB, Wuest, Goodspeed, Beck),
“cheap wine” (TEV, NAB),
“wine vinegar” (NIV),
“vinegar [a sour wine]” (Amplified),
“common wine” (Confraternity)
Mark 15:36: “sour wine” (NASB, Living, NEB, NRSV, NKJV, REB, Wuest, NAB, Beck),
“cheap wine” (TEV),
“wine vinegar” (NIV),
“vinegar [a mixture of sour wine and water]” (Amplified),
“common wine” (Goodspeed, Confraternity)

The conclusion is overwhelming: Jesus drank wine on the cross. It was the last thing He did before He died. Even modern revisions of the KJV and RSV change the “vinegar” to “wine” (e.g., NRSV, NKJV, NASB). Perhaps this was in part due to the sort of cross-referencing just examined.

The NT oinos ["wine"] was a fermented drink, though probably less strong than our current wine. Fermentation is implied, e.g., in the mention of the bursting of the wineskins (Matt 9:17, Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37). Eph 5:18 states that one can theoretically get “drunk with wine” and Paul commands us not to do that (cf. Jn 2:10). Wine is to be avoided if it stumbles a brother (Rom 14:21).

This is the biblical teaching on wine and alcohol. The Catholic Church follows it closely, while the absolute anti-alcohol position of some Protestant fundamentalists cannot possibly be sustained on a biblical basis. There is no biblical evidence whatsoever that unfermented grape juice was ever considered as “wine” (see, e.g., Gen 40:11-12). No amount of wishful thinking or Puritanistic moralizing can change that fact (and the others above).

COMMENT

Great, but what you fail to indicate is the level of alcohol content in the fermented wine was substantially less than what is today distilled, etc. The wine was also mixed with water and the amount of alcohol was not as substantial.
Therefore it should be made clear the wine of the biblical times is nowhere as strong as the wine of today.
I would also like to reference: Pastor David L. Brown
http://www.believersweb.org/view.cfm?ID=183

OLD TESTAMENT
“yayin” (3196) [pronounced yah-yin] — This word occurs 140 times. It is a general term for grape beverages and includes all classes of wine, non-alcoholic or alcoholic; unfermented, in the process of fermentation and fermented. It was always diluted with water.
“shekar” (7941) [shay-kawr] — This Hebrew word occurs 23 times. It is the word for strong drink, unmixed wine. The 1901 edition of THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA says “Yayin, wine, is to be distinguished from shekar, or strong drink. The former is diluted with water; the later is undiluted.”
“tirosh” (8492) [tee-roshe'] — This word is used about 38 times. It refers to fresh grape juice. It is referred to often as new wine or sweet wine.

NEW TESTAMENT
There are some New Testament counterparts to these words.
“oinos” (3631) [oy'-nos] is the counterpart of the Old Testament word yayin. It is used 33 times. It is a general term for grape beverages and includes all classes of wine, non-alcoholic or alcoholic – unfermented, in the process of fermentation and fermented. It was always diluted with water. Often the context has to be used to determine whether the drink was intoxicating or not.
“sikera” (4608) [sik'-er-ah] is the counterpart to the Old Testament word shekar. It is the word for strong drink, unmixed wine.
“gleukos” (1098) [glue-kos] is the counterpart to the Old Testament word tirosh. “It refers to a fresh wine, a new wine”

IN BIBLE TIMES, WHAT CHRISTIANS DRANK WAS SUB-ALCOHOLIC, BASICALLY PURIFIED WATER
Remember the Hebrew word “yayin” and the Greek word “oinos” that we looked at earlier? These were the companion words for wine whether fermented for unfermented. Remember, the key emphasis was on the fact that whether fermented or not, it was MIXED WITH WATER. -Cyber Tech Reviewer, USA

RESPONSE

It was weaker than wine today, of course. No biggie . . . but they could still get drunk. If not, there would be no warnings against drunkenness in the Bible, would there? So the same dynamics apply: moderation is required. It was simply easier to drink in moderation than it is today. –Dave Armstrong

2. The Lost Art of Catholic
Drinking

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2012/the-lost-art-of-catholic-drinking

By Sean P. Dailey, April 13, 2012

This article originally appeared in the November 2009 edition of Crisis magazine

There is Protestant drinking and there is Catholic drinking, and the difference is more than mere quantity. I have no scientific data to back up my claims, nor have I completed any formal studies. But I have done a good bit of, shall we say, informal study, which for a hypothesis like this is probably the best kind.

To begin with, what is Catholic drinking? It’s hard to pin down, but here’s a historical example. St. Arnold (580-640), also known as St. Arnulf of Metz, was a seventh-century bishop of Metz, in what later became France. Much beloved by the people, St. Arnold is said to have preached against drinking water, which in those days could be extremely dangerous owing to unsanitary sewage systems — or no sewage system at all. At the same time, he frequently touted the benefits of beer and is credited with having once said, “From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world.”

Wise words, and St. Arnold’s flock took them to heart. After his death, the good bishop was buried at a monastery near Remiremont, France, where he had retired. However, his flock missed him and wanted him back, so in 641, having gotten approval to exhume St. Arnold’s remains, they carried him in procession back to Metz for reburial in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles. Along the way, it being a hot day, they got thirsty and stopped at an inn for some beer. Unfortunately, the inn had just enough left for a single mug; the processionals would have to share. As the tale goes, the mug did not run dry until all the people had drunk their fill.

Now, I’m not saying that Catholic drinking involves miracles, or that a miracle should occur every time people get together to imbibe. But good beer — and good wine for that matter — is a small miracle in itself, being a gift from God to His creatures, whom He loves. And as G. K. Chesterton wrote in Orthodoxy, “We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.” In other words, we show our gratitude to God for wine and beer by enjoying these things, in good cheer and warm company, but not enjoying them to excess.

Just what constitutes excess is for each person to judge for himself. However, we now approach the main difference between Catholic drinking and Protestant drinking. Protestant drinking tends to occur at one extreme or another: either way too much or none at all, with each being a reaction to the other. Some people, rightly fed up with the smug self-righteousness of teetotalers, drink to excess. And teetotalers, rightly appalled at the habits of habitual drunkards, practice strict abstinence. It seems to occur to neither side that their reaction is just that: a reaction, and not a solution. If they considered it a bit, they might see a third way that involves neither drunkenness nor abstinence, yet is consistent with healthy, honest, humane Christian living.

Here we encounter Catholic drinking. Catholic drinking is that third way, the way to engage in an ancient activity enjoyed by everyone from peasants to emperors to Jesus Himself. And again, it is not just about quantity. In fact, I think the chief element is conviviality. When friends get together for a drink, it may be to celebrate, or it may be to mourn. But it should always be to enjoy one another’s company. (Yes, there is a time and place for a solitary beer, but that is the exception.)

For example: The lectures at the annual Chesterton conference are themselves no more important than the attendees later discussing those same lectures over beer and wine (we tend to adhere to Hilaire Belloc’s rule of thumb, which is to avoid alcoholic beverages developed after the Reformation). These gatherings occur between talks, during talks — indeed, long into the night — and we typically fall into bed pleasantly stewed. I cannot imagine a Chesterton conference without this. And yet I also know how detrimental it would be if we all stumbled back to our rooms roaring drunk.

Avoid each extreme — that’s how you drink like a Catholic. This is the art of Catholic drinking. There are plenty of our brethren who consider drinking somehow immoral, and there are plenty of others who think drinking must end with great intoxication. But the balanced approach — the Catholic approach — means having a good time, a good laugh, sometime a good cry, but always with joy and gratitude for God’s generosity in giving us such wonders as beer and burgundy. Remember that, and the lost art of Catholic drinking may not remain lost.

SELECTED 10 OUT OF 22 COMMENTS

I disagree that conviviality (with those on earth, at least) is a quasi-essential aspect of ‘Catholic drinking’. There is as much wrong with having a beer alone as there is with eating chocolate alone, watching a sunset alone, reading a book alone, drinking coffee alone, or, pretty much, doing anything good alone. I think it is more often that people abuse alcohol in groups (which would not, however, justify a ‘only drink alone’ policy). I frequently drink alone; I had a beer earlier this afternoon (emphasis: A beer) while I read some of my homework about modernity and VAII, and it was quite awesome. In a little bit, I’ll be heading down to dinner to enjoy beer with my seminarian brothers and formators. My point is that, unlike a protestant conception which thinks alcohol is inherently evil, to Catholics it is, as it always has been, one of the basic goods of life–an ordinary part of your day–not something to obsess about. -Anonymous Seminarian

You ought to be more careful throwing labels around like that. I’m not Catholic, so you would probably label me Protestant. However, I’m familiar with what scripture teaches in regards to alcohol and it mentions nothing of the sort that it is regarded inherently evil. Moderation is the key. Like much of Catholic doctrine, the Protestants you’re speaking of here are holding their own experiences and traditions equivalent, or even above, the authority of scripture. Now you can see why that causes such confusion. -A Protestant

As easy as drinking is to make light of, it is the cause of many broken souls. The traditional Catholic moral theology understanding is that drinking is seriously evil when the drinker becomes so inebriated he can no longer make responsible moral decisions. That pretty much includes all drinkers who have had more than two or three drinks. Drinking often encourages anger and lust, and very often leads to an unchristian illicitness. Perhaps Mr. Dailey is better reminded of the alarming alcoholism numbers in Ireland before he makes light of alcohol use. -Allan

Allan, alcohol itself does not bring out anger and lust. It does bring down your inhibitions, and if you have underlying anger or lust, that will come out. There is this old habit, where a father would invite the suitor of his daughter for a meal, and would give the young man enough to drink to get him drunk. Then he would watch how the young man behaved. Would he become aggressive, or loud, or would he calm down or become quiet? That would give him a clue as to how the suitor would treat his wife to be, and give him direction as to allow the suitor to see his daughter, or not.

Also, God would never give us something that inherently would cause us to sin. Yet Christ himself changed the water at the wedding into wine (and not just any wine, but probably the best there has ever been), and used wine when he instituted the Eucharist.

As a brewmaster myself, I have spent many an evening with a group of very erudite friends, who love the selection of foods and drinks my table always offers. I never have sent any of them home inebriated. I cannot even remember when I had too much to drink myself. Our conversations span a wide range, from the mundane to the philosophical to the divine, from very lighthearted to very serious. So from my experience, Catholic drinking is far from dead, far from a lost art.

If you’re ever around, Allan, I’d love to invite you to my table as well, so you can see for yourself. I am certain we all would have a great time! -Brewmaster

Allan, respectfully, yes, while drinking to extreme excess is a sin, neither you nor anyone else can tell a person what, to him, may be excessive. But it certainly does not include “all drinkers who have had more than two or three drinks.” And what does the rate of alcoholism in Ireland have to do with it? And anger and lust may be encouraged by any number of things, not drink only. -Sean P Dailey

Allan, you must be drinking wrong. Sure, if you slam three beers in a row beer-bong style, you will probably impair moral decision making. However, one can easily drink six to eight beers (it all depends on the person) over a period of time, while eating food, in the right environment, and never even get buzzed. This whole thing is akin to pointing out how many people are led astray by sins of lust and thus concluding that a husband and wife having joyous marital relations while creating another human life is to be frowned upon. Catholicism is not Jansenism, let’s leave that to the Muslims and Calvinists…

-Professor Bo Bonner Obl OSB

it was Benedictine monks who invented Champagne. Also, whisky and brandy were made before the reformation, quite often in monasteries. -Allen Fennelly

There are those who have a very legitimate disease of alcoholism that do need to abstain from alcohol. Many of them are Catholic and would love to drink as you suggest, in moderation, but they cannot. There should have been at least some mention of this segment of the population in your article. -Sober

A Catholic moral theologian once said:

He is not drunk who prostate lies but can once more to drink arise,

But drunk is he who prostrate lies and can not drink and cannot rise. -Flamen

A great article and one that I will share on Facebook and Twitter.

When I was an undergraduate (1994), I took a course with an orthodox Jesuit priest. You could probably take a guess at who it was since there aren’t many orthodox Jesuits this side of Heaven. Ha! Nevertheless, I will never forget the lecture we received in the course one day about how beer and wine are God’s creations and how we should drink both in moderation. Somehow he got on this topic and we ended up never talking about Everlasting Man by Chesterton. I still remember the lecture to this day. He talked about the yeast and the barley with beer and the importance of growing the grapes properly. He even brought into the lecture how Jesus is the Vine. It was a great class!

In the same class, on another day, I remember we were reading C.S. Lewis’ – Miracles. So many of us were having a difficult time understanding it, especially chapter 4 – Nature and Supernature. The Jesuit priest happily explained it to us and then told us to go to the store, buy a six-pack of good German beer, and go to the park to read our C.S. Lewis and drink our beer doing it. He said that should help us understand it better. We all laughed.

A student (the only one who was over the age of 21 and now a priest himself) said to the Jesuit, all of these students (I was 20 and two months from 21) are underage and cannot purchase the beer for themselves. Without skipping a beat and with that Jesuit wit and sarcasm he said, then you need to go out and buy it for them because understanding the Divine Law is more important than any Civil Law. The class was laughing hysterically and we all wanted our beer that afternoon. I don’t think any of us got any (I had beer at home), but it was fun being in that class.

I will leave you with this poem taught to me by an old friend who first turned me on to GOOD beer -

In Heaven there is no beer,

that’s why we drink it here, and

when we’re gone from here,

all our friend’s will be drinking all our beer.

-Tom Perna

I certainly agree that there’s a Catholic ideal for drinking, and that certain Protestant sects are teetotalers with questionable reasoning, but I’m not aware of this drunken Protestant segment to which Dailey refers. I’ve seen just as many intemperate Catholics as I have Protestants, or even non-Christians. I agree with Dailey’s ideal of drinking, but not the dichotomy that seems to group all Catholics as living up to that ideal, and at the same time seeming to condemn all Protestants as being ignorant of or poorly practicing it. -Joshua Horne

3. Catholic Morality – Is it wrong to drink Alcohol?

http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Catholic_Morality/Is_is_wrong_to_drink_alcohol.htm

Among the evils which society suffers nowadays, the excessive number of road accidents is without a doubt worth remembering. One of the causes of this evil is driving under the influence of alcohol. If drinking is sometimes dangerous, is drunkenness always morally wrong? Can we not admit that it is possible to drink in a reasonable fashion?

Is drunkenness always morally wrong?

Drunkenness is sinful only if it involves avidity and the immoderate use of alcohol. The state of intoxication may be divided into three cases:
    First case: If one drinks alcohol and is completely unaware that one is doing so to excess or that the drink is intoxicating, the consequential drunkenness is not culpable. That is, the complete inadvertence excludes sin.  Such was, for example, the case of Noah after the flood (Gen. IX 20-21).
    Second case: If while drinking, one is conscious of an excessive intake of alcohol, but sincerely unaware that drunkenness could follow, there is therefore only a small or venial sin.
    Third case: If one is perfectly aware of drinking in an excessive fashion and willingly accepts that drunkenness can follow, there is therefore a grave or mortal sin. In this case the deliberation and consent are complete and entire.

Why such strictness over culpable drunkenness?

    First reason: Drunkenness deprives us more or less of the use of reason.  Now reason is one of the faculties which distinguish human beings from animals.  To deliberately lose the use of reason reduces us to a level lower than that of animals because animals benefit from the instinct of self-preservation which the drunken person has lost.
    Second reason: Drunkenness deprives us more or less of the use of reason. Now it is through our reason that we adhere to goodness and avoid evil. To deliberately lose the use of reason thus exposes us to the danger of committing a wide variety of evils, reason no longer being there to control our actions.

Consequence: That is why anyone who dies after deliberately depriving himself of his reason through drunkenness goes directly to hell, as, for example, the apostle St. Paul teaches: “Do not err: neither fornicators nor idolaters (…) nor drunkards nor railers nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God” (I Cor VI 9-10).
Frequent drunkenness, besides, as a natural consequence, causes medically-proven detriments to health:
1. Liver failure and cirrhosis,
2. Brain atrophy and dementia,
3. Diarrhea and Peptic Ulcers,
4. Bleeding and Anemia,
5. Delirious tremens from alcohol with withdrawal.

Is there a place for moderate drinking?

If voluntary drunkenness is condemned, it does not follow that the drinking of alcohol is absolutely forbidden. Our Lord Jesus Christ made wine at Cana, and it was “good wine”, as the Evangelist Saint John remarked (II 10). Saint Paul even advised his disciple Timothy to take a little wine for his bodily infirmities (I Timothy V 23). Moreover, the book of Ecclesiasticus informs us (XXXI 36): “Wine drunken with moderation is the joy of the soul and the heart.”

But moderation is necessary in drinking if we want to avoid sin.  Such is the object of the virtue of sobriety. The word ‘sobriety’ comes in fact from a Latin word, ‘bria’, which means moderation, and one is called sober who maintains moderation. This is why Sacred Scripture teaches that: “Sober drinking is health to soul and body. Wine drunken with excess raiseth quarrels and wrath and many ruins” (Ecclesiasticus XXXI 37-38).

What persons are particularly advised to practice sobriety in consuming alcohol?

Young people because the ardour of their age could easily lead them into worse excesses.
Women because of their lowered resistance through consuming alcohol. That is why, as Valere Maxime tells us, in ancient Roman time, women did not drink wine.

Older people in order to instruct the young by example.
Political leaders in order to govern their citizens with wisdom.

Conclusion:

“We say that we should shun drunkenness, which prevents us from avoiding grievous sins.  For the things we avoid when sober, we unknowingly commit when drunk” (St. Ambrose: De Patriarchis; Lib 1; Cap. 7).

Alcoholism among the clergy is a grave but suppressed issue in the Indian church -Michael

State Act to sack drunken bishops
Hyderabad, Deccan Chronicle, December 9, 2007:

The draft legislation for protection of Christian properties has provisions that govern general and religious administration of the church. According to the draft, a drunkard priest or bishop or even an archbishop who heads a Christian organisation can be sacked by the government-appointed board.
Clause 57(1) (e) says that the head of a Christian organisation “if proved to be addicted to drinking liquor or other spirituous preparation or is addicted to the taking of any narcotic drugs” will be removed from the post. It does not say who would prove that a man is addicted.
The draft says that those of unsound mind or suffering from mental or physical defect or are undischarged insolvent, those who continuously neglect their duties or commit any misfeasance can be sacked.
Priests who disobey orders of the Central and state governments and the proposed board will be sacked.
Other clauses deal with misappropriation of funds.
When contacted, the AP Federation of Churches executive secretary, Fr. Thumma Anthonyraj, said, “Usually the clergy is not addicted (to liquor) except in rare cases.” “How can the government interfere,” he asked, adding, “We are not servants of the state.” “If the priests are addicted they are sent for correction and reinstated,” Fr Anthonyraj said. “This power vests with the head of the denomination. Churches themselves take action.” Recently the Catholic Church of Hyderabad had sent a priest to a de-addiction centre and reinstated him.

Source: Konkani Catholics yahoo group digest no. 1304 dated December 10, 2007

Use of Mustum at Mass

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/use-of-mustum-at-mass

ROME, June 13, 2006 (Zenit.org) Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: I am a priest in a religious community. One of our confreres is an alcoholic and for many years has abstained from alcohol, even if there is just a little bit in pastry. He is really faithful to his promise and I admire him for that. When he presides over our Eucharist, he uses mustum and, of course, all the participants communicate with it. Some have doubts about that way of doing things and think it may be illicit for them. (When he concelebrates, he takes only the consecrated host.) What do you think? Perhaps might it be better to have a second chalice with wine, as it is done when there is a larger number of concelebrants. We are usually about five. — R.T., Quebec province
A: The question of the validity of the use of “mustum,” or grape juice, for priests suffering from alcoholism or for some other medical reason was finally resolved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1994 in a letter signed by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Among other things this letter stated:
“A. The preferred solution continues to be communion ‘per intinctionem,’ or in concelebration under the species of bread alone.
“B. Nevertheless, the permission to use ‘mustum’ can be granted by ordinaries to priests affected by alcoholism or other conditions which prevent the ingestion of even the smallest quantity of alcohol, after presentation of a medical certificate.
“C. By ‘mustum’ is understood fresh juice from grapes or juice preserved by suspending its fermentation (by means of freezing or other methods which do not alter its nature).
“D. In general, those who have received permission to use ‘mustum’ are prohibited from presiding at concelebrated Masses. There may be some exceptions however: in the case of a bishop or superior general; or, with prior approval of the ordinary, at the celebration of the anniversary of priestly ordination or other similar occasions. In these cases the one who presides is to communicate under both the species of bread and that of ‘mustum,’ while for the other concelebrants a chalice shall be provided in which normal wine is to be consecrated.”
The document required furthermore that the ordinary must ascertain that the matter used conforms to the above requirements; that he grant permission only for as long as the situation continues which motivated the request; and that scandal be avoided.
The precise question in hand is addressed in points A and D. The priest in question should therefore not normally preside at a concelebration except for very special occasions. When such a situation arises, two chalices must be provided: one with mustum and another with ordinary wine.
Likewise, if the priest presides alone at a religious community Mass where Communion under both kinds is habitual for religious seminarians, then a second chalice with ordinary wine should also be provided. A deacon or at least an instituted acolyte should also be present to assure that the Precious Blood is fully consumed after Communion.
The reason why the principal celebrant in a concelebration may not avail of the permission to receive only under the species of bread probably derives from the necessity to assure that the sacrifice is completed before Communion begins. The sacrifice is completed only after the presiding celebrant has consumed both species. This is also why the individual priest must also consume both species before Communion begins. The faithful’s exercise of their baptismal priesthood is carried out with and through the priest. Thus, their full participation in the holy sacrifice of the Mass through Communion would be incomplete if the priest fails to first complete the sacrifice by consuming both species.

See also

The Use of Mustum and Low-Gluten Hosts at Mass

http://old.usccb.org/liturgy/innews/1103.shtml

By the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 2003

Strong Brew, Theologically

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/when-mozart-stunned-rome-god-at-the-pub

By Elizabeth Lev, lizlev@zenit.org, January 26, 2006
The ancient Greeks invented the “convivium,” pleasant gatherings where youths and adults, mellowed by food and wine would talk of gods, politics and culture. While this custom had problematic elements for Christians — namely polytheism and a males-only rule — the last few years have seen the spirit of the convivium Christianized.
Theology on Tap was started in the United States as an initiative to get young people to talk about Catholic faith and issues in a less formal setting than a church or classroom. Invited speakers give a short talk and then answer questions afterward. The relaxed atmosphere (and happy-hour prices) tends to draw considerable crowds.
Here in Rome, Theology on Tap has been gaining momentum ever since it was started last year. Last Thursday, a particularly interesting talk demonstrated even greater values to Theology on Tap than just getting young people to talk about God in the pub instead of just sports or movies. Father Robert Sirico, president of the Michigan-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, opened the 2006 lectures with the provocatively titled talk, “Can a Rich Man Go to Heaven?” With hundreds of business students arriving that week to get their dusting in humanities, the talk couldn’t have been better timed. The aptly-named Scholars Lounge in Rome was packed.
Father Sirico approached the scriptural question with scriptural answers. He reminded the young people of Genesis, the creation of the world and that God deemed it “good.” He spoke of Adam and Eve and the dignity of human work. He reminded a rapt audience of how “God takes the material world seriously.” So much so that the Redemption took place in the material world. With a few well-delivered phrases, Father Sirico knocked down the barriers between business students and theologians, and he then went to on to find common ground for the politically left or right. Elucidating the dangers of “canonizing the poor while demonizing the rich,” Father Sirico also warned against “Calvinism on steroids” policies, which imply that attainment of wealth is a sign of God’s favor. In one of the most engaging moments of the evening, Father Sirico waxed autobiographical, revealing that briefly in his youth he had worn tie-dye and dreamed of redistributing wealth. The crowd, their jaws dropped in wonder, stared at the starry-eyed socialist turned captain of a Catholic think tank.
The discovery of Father Sirico’s remarkable transformation also answered the question that had brought everyone to the pub that night — “with God all things are possible.”

Elizabeth Lev teaches Christian art and architecture at Duquesne University’s Rome campus.

St. Michaels Church Mahim refuses Communion to a Kneeler – Has Jesus Christ been insulted?

http://mumbailaity.wordpress.com/2013/06/24/st-michaels-church-mahim-refuses-communion-to-a-kneeler-has-jesus-christ-been-insulted/

By
The Voice Of Bombay’s Catholic Laity, THE LAITYTUDE June 24, 2013

June 22nd 2013 will go down as a very sad day in the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Mumbai as in my opinion Jesus has been insulted.

One of the persons who came for the 6 am mass and knelt down to refuse communion was refused communion by an Assistant Parish Priest Fr. Blaise and told that he would receive Jesus only if he stood up.

Mr. Dominic Fernandes a daily mass goer and a resident of Mahim for many decades who was also in the line then told the priest that what he has done is totally wrong and is not acceptable. He was then taken away by an usher, Mr. Tim.

The said complete incident was witnessed by the new Parish Priest Fr. Simon Borges who was standing at the side of Fr. Blaise and also distributing Holy Communion. He too did nothing.

After the mass and novena got over the said usher Mr. Tim was confronted by many catholic daily mass goers and his explanation for communion to be given to only standees was that it flies away. He also spoke about Canon Law.

What could be the reason for the Church authorities refusing to give communion to a kneeler?

Does it take extra time?

Has the mass got less relevance to the Church authorities as compared to the novena?

Some years ago during the last stint of late Fr. Salvadore Rodrigues had just taken over he had also made announcements that communion would not be given to any person who kneels.

It is a pity that such was the stand taken by person who was the Episcopal Vicar of the Mumbai Church.

How many priests have got guts to refuse communion to persons who are not properly dressed?

Yes Jesus is being persecuted and will continue to be persecuted not by outsiders but by insiders.

It is high time that the religious come out openly against their fellow brothers for doing these types of acts as more and more people may leave the church or will it be a case of turning the blind eye?

February 04, 2013

To,

Most Rev. George Antonysamy

Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,

SUBJECT: Aberrations, errors and other problems in the Liturgies of the Sunday Holy Masses at the National Shrine of St. Thomas

My wife and I have been attending the Sunday Eucharistic services in English regularly for about 15 years.

We have always been concerned by a few issues, but since the last few years, and more especially over the last few months, attending Sunday Mass prayerfully and reverently has become almost impossible for the few people like me who are more keenly aware of what is actually going on at Holy Mass vis-à-vis what is correct.

We have followed protocol and met with the parish priest, Fr. Kanickai Raj, all his assistants at one time or another, the other priests on the campus, visiting priests from St. Bede’s and Sathya Nilayam, deacons like Bro. Charles, etc., and voiced our concerns, with two responses. Fr. Kanickaraj, laughingly replies that the “people like it/want it” and the others dismissively suggest that I discuss my problem with the parish priest.

Some of the problems are not the fault of the celebrant but that of the lectors, choir, etc. but it is still the responsibility of the parish priest to ensure that the rubrics are strictly adhered to, and those who ignorantly do otherwise be educated correctly.

During the terms of the previous two Archbishops, it was never possible to get a response to my emails or an appointment with their Secretaries, though you may find that impossible to believe. The last attempt was made by us about three months ago. The Father Secretary said he would confirm an appointment for me with His Grace, but if he did call back, I did not receive his call.

Since we heard the good news of your appointment, we have waited with new hope, for you to settle down before we wrote to you. I will try and list as briefly as possible a few of the “problems” that we have observed.

1. The celebrant greets the assembly with “Good morning” after making the Sign of the Cross, and the people respond with “Good morning, Father.” One priest then adds “Welcome for [sic] this Holy Mass.”

2. The lectors unfailingly introduce the two readings thus, “The first reading”, and “The second reading”.

It is not required for them to do so.

3. The Responsorial Psalm is NEVER recited or sung. It is ALWAYS replaced by a hymn which has no connection whatsoever with the Psalm of the Sunday.

4. After each reading, the lector incorrectly says, “THIS IS the Word of the Lord”.

5. At the conclusion of the Second Reading, the lectors incorrectly say, “Please stand FOR THE [GOSPEL] ACCLAMATION”.

6. A common aberration is proclaiming the readings using the St. Pauls Sunday Liturgy leaflets. Last Sunday, at the 7:15 am Mass, a person read from the Lectionary, then carried it away to the choir section. The next reader brought it back, placed it on the altar and then read from the leaflet in her hands. The great majority of lectors display unfamiliarity with the Scripture passages, READ instead of PROCLAIMING the Word, have poor diction and accentuation, and one finds people in the congregation themselves reading from the leaflets instead of LISTENING to the Word that is being PROCLAIMED.

7. The priests who come from Sathya Nilayam use inclusive language in their greetings and during the prayers. One priests always addresses us as “My dear sisters and brothers” and God as “God, Our Father and Mother”.

8. Now and then, we have noted some priests departing from the rubrics and ad-libbing the prescribed prayers.

9. There is no time for silence [deep prayer] after we have received Jesus into our hearts at Holy Communion. Since the Masses are scheduled back to back with inherent vehicle parking problems, one cannot come early or stay late and pray. Till not long ago, the choir would start a second Communion hymn — almost as if it were their duty to keep us entertained — if it was observed that the minister and the extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion were still engaged. Since of late, the second song has been replaced with a Prayer, which however again translates into no time given, not even two little minutes, for total silence in the Church after Communion.

10. Some of the hymns sung by the choir are not liturgically compatible, especially for Holy Communion. If carefully examined, the “theology” of others, like “Amazing Grace” for instance, is Protestant.

11. If one takes a seat in the nave near to or opposite of the choir, even a casual observer cannot fail to see the almost continuous consultation and smiles that are exchanged. This is disrespectful to God and to the other attendees, and can be very distracting to someone who appreciates what the Sacrifice of the Mass signifies.

12. You may find this again difficult to believe, but there have been many Sunday Masses when we have not seen the priest for much of the service. We used to occupy the second or third row in the nave of the church to the priest’s right side and found the elaborate flower arrangements completely obstructing our view of him.

13. From being silent observers at Holy Mass, as in my youth, the faithful have regressed so far as to imitating the celebrant. It took a long time to bring an end to the congregation’s joining in the final Doxology. Today, a majority of them lift their hands in the Orans position, of course with the best of intentions, which is the posture ordained for the celebrant alone. The priests are responsible for that inasmuch as they do not correct the faithful.

14. Applause during Holy Mass has become standard procedure. Obviously, it is always invited by the celebrant. The reasons vary from a priest’s birthday to an appreciation of someone [like, say, the choir]. Recently, applause has been a standard feature of EVERY Sunday Mass that we attended.

Things get worse, if that is possible.

15. The 9:30 am Mass has degenerated into a theater show. I have approached the person directly responsible for that, Deacon Charles, and met with hostility and rudeness. Characters dressed in costumes, role-playing accompanied by information over the microphone, etc. have been incorporated either with the homily or at the offertory procession. In addition to that, the celebrant unfailingly solicits applause from the faithful in appreciation of the Deacon and his helpers. One such show was put up by the Santhome Communications Centre people whom I found laughing and chatting outside the sacristy with the Deacon immediately after their role play and while Mass was still going on. At other Masses during the following weeks, two families per week have been inducted into the arrangements and they are applauded during every service.

16. At one Mass a few months ago, Fr. Jerry Rosario SJ was the celebrant. During the homily, he attempted to initiate a dialogue with the congregation failing which he left the altar and came right down the main aisle going up to people and asking them questions. I immediately went to Fr Kanickaraj and apprised him of what was going on, and that was when he asked me what was so wrong about that when the people “liked it” and “want it”.

There are several more liturgical issues that concern us but we would like to end that topic here.

Before we end, there are a couple of related matters that we would like to include.

One of them is people strolling in late, the same people on a regular basis. The four side doors are so placed that many in the Congregation can see the late-comers entering. One family of four which includes children in their twenties, lives nearby and owns a car has NEVER been on time for Mass. Last Sunday they seated themselves behind the priest near the high altar where all could see them take their place during the homily. There is a senior prayer group leader and his wife who also have NEVER been on time [up to 30 minutes late] for Mass, NOT EVEN ONCE in all the 15 years I have been here. I have eventually had to admonish both parties, but to no avail.

Lest I be construed as judging others or generalizing, I assure you that this is not so. As a trained Catholic apologist whose work has appeared in magazines and web sites in India and overseas, I am distressed by the liturgical ignorance of the faithful which is only sustained and enhanced by the deacons and priests who should be fraternally correcting them or teaching them what the Church says.

As parents and grandparents, we have inculcated in our progeny the Fear of the Lord and a love and fidelity to the Church and all Her teachings. The last range from the grave sinfulness of contraception to regular Confessions and from never being late for Mass to never receiving Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin. It is very difficult for us to answer their frequent questions as to why everybody else in our congregation appears to think and behave differently than us, and the priests have nothing to say at all about any of this.

To be fair, Fr. Kanickaraj is the only priest we have heard reminding people to make their Confessions. But, as to the accessibility of the priests — including Fr. Kanickai Raj — for confession, the less said by me the better. My family members will readily testify to the humiliation and difficulties that we have been put through and finally drive down to other parishes to find priests more disposed and available to us.

We repose our confidence in Your Grace who has no local affiliations and who, we believe, Rome has selected as our Archbishop confident that with your background as Nuncio in other countries you have the experience, the will and the pastoral heart to effect the transformation that our Archdiocese so badly needs in various areas, only one of which we have addressed in this letter to you.

Praying for you to be greatly blessed by our God to usher in a new Spirit-filled era in our Archdiocese,

We remain,

Yours obediently,

Sd. /-

Michael and Angela Prabhu

Printed without the masthead and mailed by Registered Post [RT118538795], Acknowledgement Due, on Feb. 5, 2013

The letter was delivered to the office at the Archbishop’s House on February 6, 2013 as per the postal receipt.

A reminder copy, personally given by me to Fr. Kiran, the archbishop’s secretary, on 9.3.2013, was not accepted by him.

FOLLOW-UP

March 11, 2013

To,

Most Rev. George Antonysamy

Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,

SUBJECT: 1. Aberrations, errors and other problems in the Liturgies of the Sunday Holy Masses at the National Shrine of St. Thomas

SUBJECT: 2.
The Convenor of the “Forum for CATHOLIC Unity” is NOT a Catholic

On February 6, 2013, as per the Acknowledgement Due postal receipt, my first referred letter dated February 4 was delivered at the Archbishop’s House.

The second referred letter in the form of a report dated March 9, 2013, was delivered personally by me to Fr. Kiran, your secretary, at the Archbishop’s House on March 9, 2013*.

Since the communication sent by me to you regarding the liturgical errors and aberrations at Holy Mass on Sundays, the drama and theatrics have ceased, but my letter coincided with the hospitalisation (due to an accident) of the organiser, Deacon Charles. However the status quo of the other issues continues without any change.

In connection with my first letter, I must inform you that at 9:25 am on Sunday, March 10, I was accosted in the church by one Mr. Richard Xavier, a parishioner, who informed me that he had seen my letter to you and he would be sending me his response to it. To put it mildly, I was shocked. I wonder how many other parishioners have seen the letter even before I have received your response, considering that five weeks have elapsed since my letter reached you.

I do not want my letters to be subjective, or to be complaints against parishioners, but Mr. Richard Xavier is an individual that many would like to give a wide berth; I must say a few words about him because he exemplifies laity who like to serve the Church but have little or no formation — as I had stated in my earlier letter. He has an excellent singing voice but his proclamation of the readings is accentuated in all the wrong places and he cannot correctly pronounce many biblical terms.

He determinedly joins in prayers like the Lord’s Prayer, and in responses, but his loud voice always lags a second or two behind the congregation, creating discordance. He cannot be unconscious of that. His hands are always lifted high in the Orans position which is prescribed only for priests. He would obviously take personal objection to my letter to you.

Another example of discordance is when a prayer such as the one for the Year of Faith is prayed. The entire choir joins in.

Different people, led by two male voices with opposing accents use separate microphones, and with the cacophony of sounds that ensues, the prayer is entirely lost on the faithful. I have never understood till today what the prayer says.

I am constrained to share with you all of this because Fr Kanickai Raj will not entertain any suggestions or discussions.

The Sunday immediately following my letter to you was, if I recall correctly, the parish priest’s birthday. I was informed by a cousin of mine that the priest was felicitated and applauded during the Mass.

On October 4, 2009, the mid-day [12 noon] English service accommodated a number of animals during the celebration of Holy Mass; Fr. Jerry Rosario SJ, the celebrant, and Fr. Kanickai Raj permitted a non-Catholic lay man “to walk up to the altar with his pet dog … and share his thoughts with the packed congregation” [a newspaper reports] in lieu of the homily.

A priest is expected to enunciate his words clearly. Fr. Kanickai Raj is quite unintelligible when he speaks. Other priests have smothered smiles when I mentioned that one can understand only a couple of his words at the end of every sentence.

The homilies of almost all the priests, barring a few exceptions such as Fr. Bosco SDB from St. Bede’s, are lackluster and do not challenge the average Catholic who gets to hear the word of God only that once in a week. This week we had a visiting priest who preached on Luke 15 [the Prodigal Son] at the 7:15 am Mass. The preaching was lucid and powerful. Why does the congregation have to be subjected to listening to poor homilies week after week after week?

Parishioners of St. Louis Church, Adyar, have informed me that Fr. Savio uses terms like “bloody” and “bastard” during his sermons and at least one person has taken issue with him on this. Liturgical abuses have been informed to me from St. Teresa’s Church, Nungambakkam, and St. Francis Xavier’s church, Broadway, where slides and videos are used at Mass.

It is my humble suggestion that you attend different Masses incognito to verify for yourself the truth of what I write to you.

There is one other issue that I wish to bring to your notice. There is an acupressure-cum-reflexology clinic run in the church premises by one Mr. Colin D’Souza. A 2003 Vatican Document lists these alternative therapies as New Age. The two systems are based on esoteric/occult pre-Christian philosophies. At the outset, I had talked to Mr. D’Souza as well as the priests about the spiritual dangers of these practices and given them some Catholic literature, but the clinic is still open.

Yours obediently,

Michael Prabhu, 12 Dawn Apartments, II Floor, 22 Leith Castle South Street, Chennai 600 028. Tel: 2461 1606

*NB. It would help if your secretary verifies our copies of letters hand-delivered at your office, but he declines to do so.

May 20, 2013

To,

Most Rev. George Antonysamy

Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore [Acknowledgement receipt dated May 24, 2013 received by me]

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,

SUBJECT:
Liturgical errors/abuses/aberrations at the 9:30 am Holy Mass, Pentecost Sunday, May 19, 2013, at the National Shrine of St. Thomas

Permit me to recall to you my first letter of February 04, 2013 succeeded by a follow-up letter on March 11, 2013, after which you acknowledged receipt of them vide yours of March 15, 2013. It is now almost 15 weeks since my first communication to you, but I find that little has changed in respect of the issues that I brought to your attention.

My wife and I attended the Sunday 9:30 am Mass on May 19, 2013. I do not know who the celebrant was, but he was assisted by Deacon Charles. After the opening prayer, an “Introduction” to the liturgy was made by a lay person, one of the dozen or so “animators” used by Deacon Charles at all Masses wherein he assists. The celebrant invited the congregation to shout three times “Praise the Lord, Hallelujah”. The Responsorial Psalm — suited for Pentecost – was substituted with an unconnected hymn by the choir. The Second Reading was taken from I Corinthians 12. My Missal says that it should have been Romans 8: 8-17. There was the usual “Please stand for the Gospel Acclamation”. The Deacon’s homily contained no reference to the Second Reading or the Gospel of the day. In developing on the First Reading, he spoke negatively about those Catholics who attend prayer meetings, advising us several times to understand that the Holy Mass is the supreme sacrament of the Church. There was no need for him to group the two distinct situations together. It came off as a veiled criticism of charismatics since he failed to use the occasion to warn the congregation about the real danger which comes from the Pentecostals. Some time after the homily, a group of “animators” gathered below the altar rails with lit candles. On “Vacation Bible School” [VBS] Sunday, May 5, the VBS students were the “animators”. Some time after the Holy Communion service was over, Deacon Charles got fully into his element. Reminding us that it was the birthday of the Church, he announced that a cake would be cut and invited children ["You'll get a cake if you come"] to come up and receive their share. While the cake was cut in what I understand to be the sanctuary, cake was fed to the mouths of some children while others walked away from the altar eating of pieces of cake held in their fingers, to the accompaniment ["Let's all sing together 'Happy Birthday' for our Church"] of “Happy Birthday Mother Church” — or so it sounded to us — from the choir. The congregation was then invited to “clap your hands”, and everyone – well, almost — complied happily as the Deacon thanked them. Next, the “animators” were named and thanked by the Deacon and the audience [I now find it difficult to regard us as a congregation] when he once again called for applause, which he got in full measure.

Finally, the Deacon invited potential animators [for future Sunday Masses] to give their names to “Mrs. Joan”.

I have avoided including in this letter the continuance of other errors, etc. that I wrote about in my first two letters.

Apparently, my letters to you have not gone down well with the Parish Priest*
and the Deacon. I was one of only three laity who attended the sessions for VBS teachers at the DPC. Deacon Charles was given my contact information by the others, but he still did not contact me. I turned up to take the VBS classes after making my own enquiries.

My wife and I attended the Good Friday service, entering at 2:30 pm under the wrong assumption that we were 30 minutes early but the Church was already packed. We managed to find two seats on the side by the Sacred Heart altar, in the fourth row. A member of the 7:15 am Sunday choir had “reserved” three seats in the pew behind us and she did not allow anyone to occupy them till almost 3:10 pm though by that time latecomers were seating themselves on the floor. She was finally obliged to remove the items with which she had blocked the seats. To my right, a senior charismatic couple had brought their 4-year old along with a crayon set and colouring book which were put to good use. The only time they intervened was to make him raise his hands in the Orans position for the Lord’s Prayer, emulating them, the priest and a majority of the faithful. A young woman in the front of us used her cellphone while a lady in the first pew, the sister-in-law of a Salesian priest, chatted incessantly — through many of the most solemn parts of the Good Friday service — with the ladies to her left and to her right, and another member of her group used the cellphone a few times before leaving midway. *The Parish Priest profusely thanked the choir, mentioning the choir master by name, and asked us why there should be objections from some people to publicly thanking the choir who have toiled so hard to provide excellent singing. He spent almost three minutes expanding on that message. But he did not mention the lectors and many others who serve at Mass. Deacon Charles does that in his unique way every Sunday. I do not cast any aspersions on the Deacon’s integrity, zeal and reverence which are outwardly most exemplary. But neither he nor the Parish Priest are masters or owners of the liturgy for them to innovate and manipulate it in any way. As its servants, they are obliged to restrict themselves to the rubrics.

The Deacon himself, in his Pentecost homily spoke of the supremacy of the Mass and took joy in the birth anniversary of the Church. He should therefore be the last person to undermine the sacredness of the proceedings during Mass and to flout the guidelines set for priests and deacons by the authorities of the universal Church. The entertainment approach of the clergy has contributed to the laxity and irreverence of the laity that I have recorded for you earlier in this paragraph.

Yours obediently,

Michael Prabhu, 12 Dawn Apartments, II Floor, 22 Leith Castle South Street, Chennai 600 028. Tel: 2461 1606

Printed without the masthead and mailed by Registered Post [RT151917117], Acknowledgement Due, on May 23.

June 25, 2013

To,

Most Rev. George Antonysamy, Archbishop of Madras-Mylapore

Dear Archbishop George Antonysamy,

SUBJECT:
Liturgical errors/abuses/aberrations during the Sunday Masses at the National Shrine of St. Thomas [and elsewhere in the archdiocese] continue unabated

I have been writing to you for almost five months as summarised below and this will be my final personal appeal to you.

1. My letter of February 04, 2013, Registered Acknowledgement Due

2. Reminder to the above handed over by me to Fr. Kiran, your secretary on March 9, 2013

3. Report, “The Convenor of the ‘Forum for Catholic Unity’ is not a Catholic” dated March 9, 2013
personally delivered by me to Fr. Kiran, your secretary on March 9, 2013 [NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT RECEIVED TILL DATE]

4. Follow-up letter to serial nos 1 and 3 dated March 11, 2013 handed in at your office’s reception desk the same day

Your response dated March 15, 2013, assuring me that

1. my letters were “forwarded to the concerned person”
   

b) whatever I write “will be given due consideration”

5. My Registered Acknowledgement Due letter dated May 20, 2013 on abuses at the Good Friday and Pentecost services.

Over a month has past since my last letter to you, and virtually nothing has changed at the Sunday Masses.

I attended the 9:30 a.m. Masses on May 26, June 2, 9 and 23, 2013. Though I have maintained separate weekly records, I will provide you with just a few limited details in the form of a running list since they are mostly the same as earlier:

-The applause [clapping of hands] to “thank” the animators and others continues at every Mass, invited by Deacon Charles ["Let's give them a big round of applause"]. I noted that he does the same at the Tamil language Masses.

-A hymn unrelated to the psalm for the Sunday continues to be sung by the choir instead of the Responsorial Psalm

-The flower arrangements continue to obstruct a view of the priest for some of the congregation

-Priests commence the Credo [I Believe…] before the Congregation is on its feet.

Since the Deacon is preparing the ‘animators’ before-hand why then do such problems and errors continue:

-Most readings continue to end with “THIS IS the Word of the Lord”

-After the second reading, most invitations ask us to “Please stand for the GOSPEL ACCLAMATION”

May 26, 2013: The First Reading [taken by a lady], chapter and verse not read out; the Deacon read the Gospel, concluded [correctly] with “The Word of the Lord”, and joined the congregation in responding with “Praise be to you O Lord Jesus Christ”. June 2, 2013: Little children were used to give the “introduction”, etc. Their voices were inaudible. Such reading defeats the purpose of having someone read. June 23, 2013: The first reading by a little girl was completely inaudible from first word to last. No one made a move to adjust her microphone. In a “good” service, lectors are properly schooled and are familiar with the Bible. The readings are to be proclaimed not read like from a school text book with poor punctuation, wrong emphases and important Biblical names including that of the book itself often mispronounced.

There are two aspects in my communications to you. One is the disregard of the rubrics of the Mass by the celebrant, and in this case, also by the Deacon, Charles. The other is the growing irreverence that is observed in the congregation to which I believe the clergy has contributed by commission as well as by omission [a lack of catechesis?]. People walk around venerating statues, even to the crucifix in the sanctuary at the left hand side of the priest during Mass, drinking water from bottles [before receiving Holy Communion] and using their mobile phones. On June 23, 2013, a youth in my row was checking his email! People entering late nod and smile at one another; some converse seriously during Mass. In my estimation 40 to 50% of the faithful enter after Mass has started, some of them are unabashed regulars; On June 23, a family of three entered when the Our Father was being recited. Young women are immodestly dressed with skin-tight jeans, and very short tops, often sleeveless. Young men have worn T-shirts with messages like “Evil Doer”, “Hell Rider” and “F**K”. Because I requested the youth to stop checking his email last Sunday, he and two others intimidated me for almost ten minutes after Mass saying he had his “priorities”. Deacon Charles himself, apparently aware of my letters to you but doing nothing to rectify what you wrongly referred to as my “complaint[s]“, has attempted to victimize me in subtle ways.

As I wrote in an earlier letter to you, there are problems, abuses and aberrations in other parishes. At Our Lady of Light Church [6:00 pm, June 16], the celebrant asked the faithful so many questions ["How many wives did King David have", etc.] during his otherwise excellent homily, a member of the congregation might as well have preached it. Many priests, even during the Masses at the Cathedral, ask questions and elicit answers from the congregation. At the 12 noon English Mass in St. Teresa’s Church, Nungambakkam, a solo hymn in Malayalam is sung by a young woman as entertainment!

If the Eucharist really is the “Source and Summit of Life” [CCC 1324], shouldn’t you as our Bishop intervene and ensure that the greatest reverence and strict adherence to the rubrics are the hallmark of every single Mass in the archdiocese?

Yours obediently,

Michael Prabhu, 12 Dawn Apartments, II Floor, 22 Leith Castle South Street, Chennai 600 028. Tel: 2461 1606

Printed without the masthead and handed over personally at the Archbishop’s Office on June 26, 2013.

JUNE 25, 2013

Asia’s leading “Catholic” news agency, UCAN, continues its campaign for women priests

Ordaining women is not a new idea. Adherence to this heresy is widespread in the Indian church. The first time that I wrote about it was in my 119-page April 2010 [updated April 2012] report

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 15-DEMAND FOR ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS-FR SUBHASH ANAND AND OTHERS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_15-DEMAND_FOR_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS-FR_SUBHASH_ANAND_AND_OTHERS.doc

In that report, no. 15 of a series of 20 on a Bombay-archdiocese backed Hinduised “bible” with imprimatur, I documented that Fr. Subhash Anand [a diocesan priest based in St. Paul's School, Udaipur] and others do not believe that the cultic priesthood was instituted by Jesus Christ and would like to see it scrapped altogether, ushering in a priesthood of believers, non-ordained persons, whereby the members of the congregation become co-celebrants at Holy Mass, having the authority and power to transform the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus. This has long been proposed as a solution to the “shortage of priests”.

The other alternative of course is to ordain women, which Fr. Subhash Anand and other “theologians” such as Virginia Saldanha, Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, a coterie of feminist nuns and some religious brothers and priests are ferociously advocating. The first articles in the women priests’ series, published April/May 2012, are

VIRGINIA SALDANHA-ECCLESIA OF WOMEN IN ASIA AND CATHERINE OF SIENA VIRTUAL COLLEGE-FEMINIST THEOLOGY AND THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIRGINIA_SALDANHA-ECCLESIA_OF_WOMEN_IN_ASIA_AND_CATHERINE_OF_SIENA_VIRTUAL_COLLEGE-FEMINIST_THEOLOGY_AND_THE_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS.doc

VIRGINIA SALDANHA-WOMENPRIESTS INFILTRATES THE INDIAN CHURCH-CATHERINE OF SIENA VIRTUAL COLLEGE http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VIRGINIA_SALDANHA-WOMENPRIESTS_INFILTRATES_THE_INDIAN_CHURCH-CATHERINE_OF_SIENA_VIRTUAL_COLLEGE.doc

Virginia Saldanha is on the board of the Union of Catholic Asian News [UCAN] and Astrid Lobo Gajiwala is on important Bombay archdiocesan executive bodies such as its weekly magazine The Examiner, etc.

On January 24, 2013, I had published a report

WOMEN PRIESTS-THE NCR-UCAN-EWA NEXUS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/WOMEN_PRIESTS-THE_NCR-UCAN-EWA_NEXUS.doc

on the “nexus” between UCAN and the like-minded in the West — e.g. the editor of and contributors to the National Catholic Reporter [NCR] — and in India who clamour for ordaining women as priests. An honest, prophetic and bold U.S. Bishop, Robert Finn, recently declared that the NCR cannot licitly be called Catholic.

On February 13, 2013, in its inimitable style, UCAN reproduced a report, published only a few hours earlier by the liberal-left, New Age-promoting U.S. news web site and blog, The Huffington Post, with the headline, “One way to solve the priest shortage: do away with them“!

This was reported by me the same day in

UCAN WANTS TO DO AWAY WITH THE PRIESTHOOD

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/UCAN_WANTS_TO_DO_AWAY_WITH_THE_PRIESTHOOD.doc

In concluding the last referred report above, I posed two questions:

1. What is UCAN doing reproducing trash by a dissenting “Catholic” from a New Age blog?

2. When is an Indian bishop or the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India or the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences going to unequivocally condemn this anti-Catholic news agency that calls itself “Catholic”?

I had also asked rhetorically

What does [all] this, in conjunction with all of the other evidence compiled and presented by me, reveal about the true nature of UCAN?

Well, hardly a day later, UCAN was at it again, thus answering our question.

They make it plainly obvious that they have a dual agenda, eliminate the cultic priesthood/ordain women.

Here, UCAN becomes the conduit for a Hindu call to, among other things, ordain women!

New pope should encourage interfaith dialogue: Hindu group

http://www.ucanindia.in/news/new-pope-should-encourage-interfaith-dialogue:-hindu-group/20299/daily

UCAN copied the story from a secular news site within a few hours of its release!!!!!

Read the details in my report UCAN CONFIRMS IT FAVOURS WOMEN PRIESTS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/UCAN_CONFIRMS_IT_FAVOURS_WOMEN_PRIESTS.doc

On the preceding page, the reader came across the acronym EWA in the title of one of my reports. EWA stands for Ecclesia of Women in Asia, the “Forum of Asian Catholic Women Theologians“, a group of women “theologians” whose primary agenda — as I have documented in my first two articles in the women priests series — is the ordination of women.

Radical feminist nuns [lists of their names are given in my above-referred reports] and lay “theologians” like Virginia Saldanha and Astrid Lobo Gajiwala are leaders and members of the
Indian Women Theologians’ Forum [IWTF].

Another organisation with a similar agenda is EATWOT, the
Ecumenical Association for Third World Theologians.

The cover for EWA and EATWOT and all their deliberations, seminars, conferences and writings is either “gender studies” or concerns about gender violence, exploitation of women, empowerment of women, discrimination against women, “space for Catholic women to have their voices heard, thoughts and reflections articulated” [a favourite refrain], the use of gender-sensitive or inclusive language [in Scripture and the liturgy], the “‘searching’ and ‘finding’ of women’s identity“, and so on. They also rail against the “patriarchy” or male-domination in the hierarchy and worldview of the Catholic Church.

But all of that is a smoke screen for their only true agenda: they want women to be ordained as priests.

Sophia Lizares-Bodegon, a Filipina,
is a prominent EATWOT member who has a page at EWA,
http://ecclesiaofwomen.ning.com/profile/SophieLizaresBodegon.

Lizares-Bodegon‘s theological positions are shown to be tainted by Protestantism, liberalism and New Age.

But Lizares-Bodegon also writes regularly for UCAN. I reproduced THREE of her recent UCAN contributions in just THREE weeks in my February 16, 2013 report UCAN CONFIRMS IT FAVOURS WOMEN PRIESTS-02

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/UCAN_CONFIRMS_IT_FAVOURS_WOMEN_PRIESTS-02.doc.

Three months later, there was this story from UCAN. Here the coterie of feminists use Pope Francis’ name to make their latest complaint on the perceived “exclusion of women from leadership in the church“. UCAN chips in:

Women theologians call to end patriarchal power structures

http://www.ucanindia.in/news/women-theologians-call-to-end-patriarchal-power-structures/21017/daily

May 20, 2013

The abuse of power is reflected in issues of governance, they said

Bangalore: A forum of women theologians in India says women experience violence and injustice all across but patriarchal power structures fail to ensure equality and safety.
The abuse of power is reflected in issues of governance, law and order, which are assuming crucial and critical significance in our times, they said.
The increased violence against women is intensifying in degree and extent of brutality. “This violence against women is occurring in new categories and dimensions across all ages,” they noted.
The current patriarchal power structures, systems of justice and law “are failing to address the situation” and society should look critically “at the roots of violence against women,” they said.
The Indian Women Theologians’ Forum (IWTF) said this in a statement issued after their May 2-4 meeting in Bangalore, which discussed the theme “Women and Leadership”.

The scriptural injunction, “he will rule over you” (Gen 3:16) seems to be the religious sanction legitimizing male control over women within the spheres of family, church and society at large, they said.

The women expressed hope and satisfaction at the amending constitution helping to creating women’s political leadership at village level, which helped to address “the core needs of their community like water, education and health.”
However, they also expressed concern about the leadership being projected in the coming elections, which they said “threatens the secular fabric of our nation and would further marginalize large masses of the poor.”

We observe the Church at the centre preaches the message and the Church at the periphery lives it, despite the fact that the Church of the periphery has an important message to share with the centre, which it fails to receive.
While welcoming Pope Francis’ call for the poor, the women theologians said that they are “troubled by the uncritically sustained link between jurisdiction and ordination and the consequent exclusion of women from leadership in the church, especially when they have much to contribute to a Church of the Poor”.
They said the figures of women in leadership in the Bible inspire them to reclaim their rightful space as modeled by women in the early Church.
They committed to work toward “evolving women’s leadership that is rooted in the gospels and is life giving to all.” END

The “rightful space as modeled by women in the early Church” is deacon-hood and priesthood, if one goes by their writings in books authored by them, and in various Catholic journals and on their own Internet sites.

Since I intend to publish an extensive compilation of Catholic information on this issue of the clamour by a miniscule section of dissenting Catholic clergy and laity for a priesthood of women and the Church’s clear and final position on it, I reproduce below a single recently published piece from the dissenting National Catholic Reporter which itself is in the forefront of the women priests’ movement:

Redemptorist priest: Vatican threatened excommunication for advocating discussion

http://ncronline.org/news/global/redemptorist-priest-vatican-threatened-excommunication-my-teachings

By John Cooney, January 23, 2013

Dublin
Update: The head of the Redemptorist fathers in Rome said he deeply regrets that Flannery broke the silence he had been asked to observe, Catholic New Service reported Wednesday. Redemptorist Fr. Michael Brehl, the order’s superior general, also confirmed that Flannery is under Vatican investigation for alleged ambiguities “regarding fundamental areas of Catholic doctrine, including the priesthood, the nature of the church and the Eucharist.”

Brehl said he wanted to “earnestly invite” Flannery “to renew the efforts to find an agreed solution to the concerns raised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” He also asked Irish Redemptorists to “join with me in praying and working together in the spirit of St. Alphonsus to maintain and strengthen our communion with the universal church.”

PREVIOUS STORY

Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery broke a year of silence Sunday to reveal that the Vatican had threatened him with excommunication and removal from his religious congregation because he advocates for open discussions about church teachings on ordaining women, clerical celibacy, contraceptives and homosexuality.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith removed Flannery, 66, from public ministry last February, pending the outcome of its inquiries into views he expressed in Reality, a Redemptorist-run magazine.

Flannery also said he has had no direct contact in person or writing from the congregation. All communication has come through the Redemptorist superior general in Rome, Fr. Michael Brehl.

Flannery described the actions against him as “frightening, disproportionate and reminiscent of the Inquisition.”

He said he initially tried to find a compromise with the Vatican congregation, but by September, it became clear this would not happen.

“I gradually became aware that the CDF continually raised the bar until it got to the point where I could no longer negotiate,” Flannery said. “I was faced with a choice. Either I sign a statement, for publication, stating that I accepted teachings that I could not accept, or I would remain permanently banned from priestly ministry, and maybe face more serious sanctions.

“It is important to state clearly that these issues were not matters of fundamental teaching, but rather of church governance,” he said.

Flannery, a popular retreat master and writer, said the congregation also had ordered him “not to have any involvement, public or private” with the Association of Catholic Priests. Flannery co-founded the association in 2010 as a forum for discussion among Irish clergy on issues affecting the Irish church and society.

“I have served the church, the Redemptorists and the people of God for two-thirds of my life. Throughout that time, I have in good conscience raised issues I believed important for the future of the Church in books and essays largely read by practicing Catholics, rather than raising them in mainstream media,” Flannery said in a statement released at a news conference. “I’m hardly a major and subversive figure within the Church deserving excommunication and expulsion from the religious community within which I have lived since my teens.”

The choice facing him, he said, was between deciding between Rome and his conscience.

“Submitting to these threats would be a betrayal of my ministry, my fellow priests and the Catholic people who want change,” he said.

The Redemptorists in Ireland issued a strong defense of Flannery on Sunday.

“We do understand and support his efforts to listen carefully to and at times to articulate the views of people he encounters in the course of his ministry,” the provincial leadership team of the Irish Redemptorists said in a statement.

They said they regretted immensely that “some structures or processes of dialogue have not yet been found in the Church which have a greater capacity to engage with challenging voices from among God’s people, while respecting the key responsibility and central role of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

The Association of Catholic Priests also affirmed “in the strongest possible terms” its support for Flannery. The association said Flannery was being targeted as “part of a worldwide effort to negate the influence of independent priests’ associations in Austria, USA, Germany, France, Switzerland and other places.”

Also at the news conference was Fr. Helmut Schüller of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative. He criticized the “lack of basic rights and respect for personal conscience” in the church.

Former Irish President Mary McAleese spoke in support of Flannery and other dissident Irish clerics Oct. 20 at the launch of her book Quo Vadis?: Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law at the Jesuit headquarters in Dublin. There she spoke privately to Flannery, who was making a rare public appearance.

The reform group We are Church Ireland announced a peaceful vigil outside the Vatican’s Apostolic Nunciature in Dublin, planned for Jan. 27, to offer unconditional support for Flannery’s right “not to be forced by an abuse of his vow of obedience to submit to the secretive demands” of the doctrinal congregation.

Flannery said, “The threats are a means, not just of terrifying me into submission, but of sending a message to any other priest expressing views at variance with those of the Roman Curia.”

From the West of Ireland, Flannery was born in Attymon, County Galway, and spent time as a Redemptorist preacher in Limerick. He has a large following both as preacher and retreat master. He is a popularizer, rather than a heavyweight scholar. He holds audience attention through dialogue, especially with parents who find that the clerical abuse scandals have alienated their children from religion.

Once noted for hellfire sermons, the Redemptorists have been at the forefront of the drive for necessary church change. Flannery’s 1999 book, From the Inside: A Priest’s View of the Catholic Church, is part autobiographical and part appraisal of Irish Catholicism. It consists of short, readable pieces, highlighting inadequate sexual and spiritual training of priests. It examines fault lines that emerged in the aftermath of Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, upholding the church’s ban on artificial forms of contraception.

In this book, too, Flannery criticized the institution’s mishandling of clerical celibacy.

His Fragments of Reality, published in 2008 by Columba Press of Dublin, contains his collected writings since 1998, when he was a member of the Redemptorist Mission Team which comprised laypeople and clergy.

He saw firsthand the steady decline throughout Ireland of church attendance and of candidates for the priesthood.

He also witnessed the continued denial of any meaningful role for women in ministry. “How much longer can this policy be sustained?” he wrote. “We must be the last institution in the Western world that continues to hold such blatant discrimination against women. I don’t have any doubt that there is no theological or scriptural basis for this position, but that it is purely a social and institutional construct hiding a fairly barefaced and primitive desire for male domination.”

In the essay “The Ordination of Women” in Fragments of Reality, he revealed that he knows a few of the women who were ordained in the Roman Catholic women priests movement on a riverboat in Pittsburgh in 2006. He personally knows Irish-born Bridget Mary Meehan, who is a bishop in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

John Cooney is a Dublin-based journalist and historian.

SELECTED 3 OUT OF 45 COMMENTS

I am a retired, married priest, properly “dispensed” for whatever that means, and a teacher in Catholic schools for 25 years in Canada. Currently in retirement I continue as a marriage minister through an association of ordained ministers and thus can serve those who find the doors of the formal church shut to their needs. Like Fr. Flannery, perhaps being a slow learner, I just grew up and began to realize that the restrictions imposed by the Vatican and the CDF had nothing to do with the gospel or the faith, but were the mechanisms used by any cult that finds blind obedience the only way to hold onto its members. Ireland is long overdue in responding to the call of the universal church through Vatican II to wake up, grow up and become “church”, rather than just attending and listening to an elite self-appointed clique who for centuries have appropriated the “good” of the church for themselves. In doing so they have twisted theology and misinterpreted the scriptures. The CDF attack on Flannery must be understood as the desperate attempt of an old cult establishment to hold on to power and the exclusivity that has characterized their leadership. Flannery does not propose anything spectacularly new or extraordinary more than 50 years after Vatican II began to open the windows to let in fresh air and “light”. But there is no doubt that the CDF and its former chief inquisitor view Flannery and clerics like him are a threat. As they suppress one voice of reform, two or more sprout up like artesian wells of bubbling sweet water. So while the heat is on Flannery, the desperation of the CDF must be understood as the final gasps of a dying and irrelevant institution of governance that no longer speaks the truth. The matter is not the obedience of Flannery to his priestly ministry, but rather the obedience of the Vatican cadre to the Catholic faith and the call to leadership. On this we find they have little credibility or authority. Phil Little

Coming from one who rejected Christ and abandoned their vocation…suddenly they are able to be absolutely correct in their assessment of the Churches supposed problems? Is not their lack of faith perhaps THE problem?? I think what St Catherine said is a little bit more accurate… “When the Church speaks,” wrote St. Catherine of Siena, it is Jesus himself whom we hear.” As much as rebellious priests seek justification in their desertion of all morality, perhaps, again, faithfulness to Christ and His Church is exactly what is needed in this period where instead we experience wholesale abandonment of the faith, all in the name of a misunderstanding of Vat II no less. M P Lane

Phil Little, This is not a matter of blind obedience. Professing to GOD during your ordination requires a priest to subordinate himself to GOD and his earthly Bishops to maintain civility within the Catholic Church. Each of us has responsibilities in his/her life whether it be marriage or any other call from GOD. So easy to blame the Vatican but you knew when you spoke your vows to GOD that you also subjected yourself to your Bishop and now you are trying to gain sympathy for your position which goes against obedience. Explain to me as a former priest how you interpret Luke 6. When Jesus spent an entire night in discourse with HIS FATHER and upon coming down from the mountain HE appointed twelve men from all the disciples (male and female), how anyone on earth including the Pope can change what GOD decided? Are you saying that GOD did not know what HE was doing? Such PRIDE! As to Celibacy: Say a priest was permitted to marry. This same priest has responsibility for one thousand or more parishioners and he and his wife have eight children as my parents did. How does this priest use his time? Does he tend to his wife and children full time or to his parishioners full time? Bear in mind he cannot do both and both require his full attention. Why is it that we humans always want the easy way out? You say that the Vatican imposed restrictions. Are they restrictions that the Vatican imposed or did you simply realize that you could no longer serve GOD and your selfish needs? All humans have the same temptations as Satan is nearby. GOD is closer to us and we can resist temptation if we ask HIM. Of course the Church instituted by Jesus Christ no longer speaks the truth, only Phil Little speaks the truth. Such ARROGANCE! Tom Warren

We see that despite the dissenters and those who assist their rebellious voices to reach Catholics at large, there are many in the Church who are faithful to Her teachings on this issue.

Notice also that
the ex-priest doesn’t stop with advocating the ordaining of women. He is also for the abolition of clerical celibacy, the ban on the use of contraceptives by Catholics, and is a supporter of gay rights. This is more the rule than the exception in the feminist lobby and underlines the seriousness of the consequences of even the slightest accommodation of their demands.

When Pope Francis washed the feet of two women during the recent Holy Thursday service, he scandalised the conservatives in the Church and further alienated the Traditionalists by contravening the rubrics and tradition which only allow for the feet of men ['viri'] to be washed. But for the feminist lobby, it became, in their words, “a Moment of Hope for Women Priests in the Church“. Washing of their feet went to their heads!

Here are four more related files on the subject:

QUO VADIS PAPA FRANCISCO 01-WASHING THE FEET OF WOMEN ON MAUNDY THURSDAY

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/QUO_VADIS_PAPA_FRANCISCO_01-WASHING_THE_FEET_OF_WOMEN_ON_MAUNDY_THURSDAY.doc

WASHING THE FEET OF WOMEN ON HOLY THURSDAY

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/WASHING_THE_FEET_OF_WOMEN_ON_HOLY_THURSDAY.doc

ARCHBISHOP OF DELHI SUPPORTS WOMEN’S ORDINATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/ARCHBISHOP_OF_DELHI_SUPPORTS_WOMENS_ORDINATION.doc

UCAN’S SLANTED QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE CATHOLIC’S CHOICE FOR POPE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/UCANS_SLANTED_QUESTIONNAIRE_ON_THE_CATHOLICS_CHOICE_FOR_POPE.doc

JUNE 26, 2013

Hindu religious mark on the forehead

Even the Mother of God is given one!

Mother Mary statue in tribal attire stirs row in Jharkhand

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mother-Mary-statue-in-tribal-attire-stirs-row-in-Jharkhand/articleshow/20655458.cms

By Kelly Kislaya, TNN, June 19, 2013

The Mother Mary statue that sparked controversy in Jharkhand

RANCHI: The statue of Mother Mary wearing a red border sari and holding Jesus Christ in a way tribal women of Jharkhand hold their babies, by tying them to a white cloth, has been creating controversies in the city for the past few days. A procession was taken out by the Sarna society against this statue on Monday.

The statue was unveiled by Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo in a church at Singpur village in Dhurwa recently.
Dharmguru (priest) of Sarna society Bandhan Tigga said, “Anybody can wear a white sari with red border but making Mother Marry wear it seems to be a tactic to convert the Sarna tribals into Christianity. Mother Mary was a foreigner and showing her as a tribal woman is definitely not correct.”
The Sarnas worship Mother Nature or Maa Sarna. Tigga said the Christians are trying to establish Mother Mary as Maa Sarna to confuse the people of Sarna society. “Red border means a lot in Sarna dharm. Our women wear white sari with red border during auspicious times. If the idol of Mother Mary is shown in the getup of a tribal woman then 100 years from now people will think that Mother Mary was a tribal from Jharkhand,” he said.

Sarna society is demanding the removal of that particular statue. Tigga said, “We do not want any kind of conflict between the two communities. All we want is that either the statue should be removed or the attire should be changed so that Mother Mary doesn’t look like a tribal woman. If it is not done then we will intensify the protest.”
While talking to a section of media a week ago, Cardinal Telesphore P Toppo, (who is now in Rome) said the controversy is a result of politics.
“It is a policy of divide and rule. Elections are coming up and there are some people who are acting to get advantage. They want a conflict between Christians and non Christians,” he said.
The Cardinal also said they (tribal Christians) have equal rights on the sari with red border like the Sarna community.
He said, “Who are we to convert anybody to Christianity? L K Advani studied from a Christian missionary school but did he convert? Even Jairam Ramesh studied at St Xavier’s School Doranda but he did not convert.”
He added, “We are tribals by birth but we chose to convert. There is no difference between us and the Sarnas.”

MY COMMENTS

The statue of the Virgin Mary commissioned by Cardinal Telesphore Toppo does not sport the Hindu “bindi“. Why was it omitted? Lay women theologians, nuns, priests, bishops, cardinals, the apostolic nuncio, and even the visiting Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have worn the Hindu mark on their foreheads [see the list following the picture below]. The picture below is from page 2263 of the Hinduised New Community Bible [NCB]. The woman wears the Hindu mark, the bindi. Again, on pages 1557 and 1645 of the NCB, the biblical women are depicted with the bindi on their foreheads. In the case of page 1645, the woman is the Virgin Mary, fleeing to Egypt with St. Joseph [see the image on the following page]. Page 2263 portrays a bindi-sporting woman performing the Hindu arati which has been permitted in the Indian Rite of Mass, that permission having been fraudulently extracted from Rome by a coterie of Indian bishops.

There are three frontal illustrations of young women in the NCB, and each time the woman is given the ‘dot’.

I opine that the omission of the bindi on the Jharkhand statue was the result of a conscious and careful decision by the authorities of the Catholic Church. The tribal and dalit communities, unlike others, recognize the difference between Hinduisation [which to them is Brahminisation and so a return to social oppression] and Indianisation or genuine inculturation. The omission of the bindi thus ensured that the Jharkhand tribals would not protest against the icon of the Virgin. However the Catholic authorities unexpectedly encountered agitation against from the local Hindus for depicting Mary as a tribal in a sari.

BINDI OR TILAK MARK ON THE FOREHEAD-INDIAN OR HINDU?

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/BINDI_OR_TILAK_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD-INDIAN_OR_HINDU.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 01-PRIEST WEARS
FR DOMINIC D’ABREO

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_01-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 02-PRIEST WEARS
FR ROY MATHEW THOTTAM

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_02-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 03-PRIEST WEARS
FR CLEOPHAS DOMINIC FERNANDES

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_03-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 04-PRIEST WEARS
FR ANTONY KALLIATH

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_04-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 05-PRIEST WEARS
FR THOMAS D’SA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_05-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 06-PRIEST WEARS
FR VALERIAN MENDONCA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_06-PRIEST_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 07-NUN WEARS
SR HERMAN JOSEPH

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_07-NUN_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 08-BISHOP WEARS
BISHOP AGNELO GRACIAS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_08-BISHOP_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 09-BISHOP WEARS
BISHOP HENRY D’SOUZA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_09-BISHOP_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 10-BISHOP WEARS
BISHOP ALOYSIUS PAUL D’SOUZA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_10-BISHOP_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 11-CARDINAL WEARS
CARDINAL IVAN DIAS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_11-CARDINAL_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 12-THE APOSTOLIC NUNCIO WEARS
ARCHBISHOP QUINTANA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_12-THE_APOSTOLIC_NUNCIO_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 13-THE POPE WEARS
JOHN PAUL II

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_13-THE_POPE_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 14-WOMAN THEOLOGIAN WEARS
ASTRID LOBO GAJIWALA

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_14-WOMAN_THEOLOGIAN_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 15-WOMEN THEOLOGIANS WEAR

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_15-WOMEN_THEOLOGIANS_WEAR.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 16-CARDINAL OSWALD GRACIAS
WEARS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_16-CARDINAL_OSWALD_GRACIAS_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 17-PREFECT OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
WEARS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_17-PREFECT_OF_THE_CONGREGATION_FOR_THE_DOCTRINE_OF_THE_FAITH_WEARS.doc

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 18-BHARATANATYAM-DANCING PRIESTS WEAR

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_18-BHARATANATYAM-DANCING_PRIESTS_WEAR.doc

On page 1645 of the NCB, the woman wearing a sari and a bindi on her forehead is the Virgin Mary [the bindi is not visible in this poor reproduction]

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 01-A CRITIQUE JULY 14, 2008

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_01-A_CRITIQUE.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 02-THE PAPAL SEMINARY, PUNE, INDIAN THEOLOGIANS, AND THE CATHOLIC ASHRAMS SEPTEMBER 2008/SEPTEMBER 2009/APRIL 2012

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_02-THE_PAPAL_SEMINARY_PUNE_INDIAN_THEOLOGIANS_AND_THE_CATHOLIC_ASHRAMS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 03-A FRENCH THEOLOGIAN DENOUNCES ERRORS IN THE COMMENTARIES FEBRUARY 24, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_03-A_FRENCH_THEOLOGIAN_DENOUNCES_ERRORS_IN_THE_COMMENTARIES.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 04-THE ONGOING ROBBERY OF FAITH FEBRUARY 24, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_04-THE_ONGOING_ROBBERY_OF_FAITH.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 05-THE ANGEL GABRIEL DID NOT APPEAR TO THE VIRGIN MARY MARCH 15, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_05-THE_ANGEL_GABRIEL_DID_NOT_APPEAR_TO_THE_VIRGIN_MARY.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 06-PRESS REPORTS AND READERS’ CRITICISMS MARCH 22, 2009/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_06-PRESS_REPORTS_AND_READERS_CRITICISMS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 07-UNPUBLISHED LETTERS AGAINST ITS ERRONEOUS COMMENTARIES-THE EXAMINER MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_07-UNPUBLISHED_LETTERS_AGAINST_ITS_ERRONEOUS_COMMENTARIES-THE_EXAMINER.doc     

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 08-LETTERS CALLING FOR ITS WITHDRAWAL DECEMBER 2008/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_08-LETTERS_CALLING_FOR_ITS_WITHDRAWAL.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 09-LETTER TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH APRIL-MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_09-LETTER_TO_THE_CONGREGATION_FOR_THE_DOCTRINE_OF_THE_FAITH.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 10-CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SECULAR MEDIA, AND WITH PRIEST-CRITICS OF OUR CRUSADE AGAINST ITS ERRORS MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_10-CORRESPONDENCE_WITH_THE_SECULAR_MEDIA_AND_WITH_PRIEST-CRITICS_OF_OUR_CRUSADE_AGAINST_ITS_ERRORS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 11-VATICAN HELD RESPONSIBLE, BRAHMIN LEADERS DEMAND ITS WITHDRAWAL JUNE 25, 2009/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_11-VATICAN_HELD_RESPONSIBLE_BRAHMIN_LEADERS_DEMAND_ITS_WITHDRAWAL.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 12-LETTERS TO ROME JUNE 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_12-LETTERS_TO_ROME.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 13-RESPONSES FROM THE BISHOPS AND THEIR EXECUTIVE COMMISSIONS AUGUST 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_13-RESPONSES_FROM_THE_BISHOPS_AND_THEIR_EXECUTIVE_COMMISSIONS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 14-UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX GREEK CATHOLIC BISHOPS CALL IT A NEW AGE BIBLE, “EXCOMMUNICATE” INDIAN BISHOPS
MARCH 2010/APRIL 2012

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_14-UKRAINIAN_ORTHODOX_GREEK_CATHOLIC_BISHOPS_CALL_IT_A_NEW_AGE_BIBLE_EXCOMMUNICATE_INDIAN_BISHOPS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 15-DEMAND FOR ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS-FR SUBHASH ANAND AND OTHERS
APRIL 2010/JULY 2010/APRIL 2012/17 MARCH/10 APRIL 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_15-DEMAND_FOR_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS-FR_SUBHASH_ANAND_AND_OTHERS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 16-REVISED EDITION COMING, ST PAULS DETERMINED
JULY 2010/DECEMBER 2011

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_16-REVISED_EDITION_COMING_ST_PAULS_DETERMINED.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 17-DERRICK D’COSTA’S CRITIQUE ON ORKUT
JULY 2010

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_17-DERRICK_DCOSTAS_CRITIQUE_ON_ORKUT.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 18-CONTROVERSIES
JULY 2010

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_18-CONTROVERSIES.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 19-INDIAN CHURCH’S SYNCRETIZED BIBLE EXPORTED
7 MARCH/6/9/24/30 MAY/5 JUNE, 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_19-INDIAN_CHURCHS_SYNCRETIZED_BIBLE_EXPORTED.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 20-EXTOLLED BY CAMALDOLI BENEDICTINE OBLATE
1/5/10 MAY 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_20-EXTOLLED_BY_CAMALDOLI_BENEDICTINE_OBLATE.doc

St Michael’s church in communion row

Posted on June 26, 2013
by The Voice Of Bombay’s Catholic Laity

St Michael’s church in communion row

By Manoj Nair
manoj.nair@hindustantimes.com
June 26, 2013 Hindustan Times (Mumbai) Page 8

Do you take your communion – a Christian religious rite in which consecrated bread and wine are given to believers by a priest as memorials of Jesus’ death – while kneeling down or standing?

This is the question being asked by members of St Michael’s Church, Mahim, where a priest is reported to have refused communion on Saturday to a worshipper because he had knelt down to receive the wafer and wine offered to him.

Church members who are protesting, say both positions are allowed in their religious rules but priests said people who knelt down were wasting time and holding up the long queue of people waiting for communion.

Dominique Fernandes, a member of the church, was in the queue when the priest declined to give communion to the man who was ahead of him. “He was not from our church and had knelt down out of respect. I complained to the priest that it was wrong to deny him communion but I was asked to leave by the ushers.”

At St Michael’s Church (right), Mahim, on Saturday, a priest allegedly refused communion to a worshipper because he had knelt down to receive the wafer and wine.

Church members who are protesting, say both positions are allowed under rule,” said Fernandes.

Community groups have criticised the priest’s behaviour. Gordon Jacobs of the Association of Concerned Catholics which has complained to the Archbishop of Bombay about Saturday’s event, said, “The old way of receiving communion was to kneel down and receive it on the tongue. Now, the practice is to stand and take it in your hand. Both ways are acceptable.”

“You cannot refuse communion just because a person is kneeling down,” said Arcanjo Sodder, another member.

Father Simon Borges, parish priest of St Michael’s church, said, “People may kneel down out of a sense of reverence, but they hold up the line. There is always a long queue of people waiting for communion, so they are asked to remain standing,” said Borges.

Recent events have added to this confusion. A few years ago, an archbishop in Scotland said people taking communion should stand as it was a mark of respect. But a year before this announcement, Pope Benedict XVI was seen giving communion to people who were kneeling down.

JUNE 28, 2013

The New Community Bible

Cardinal Oswald Gracias fools Indian Catholics with half-truths assisted by ignorant laity

One Prakash Lasrado writes a cockeyed improperly-researched letter to the Cardinal; the Cardinal replies something completely else, fooling Lasrado [who is 'greatly relieved']
and over one hundred people including the Pro Nuncio and Bishops and priests in the Cc of Lasrado‘s mailing list, and everyone complacently accepts the Cardinal’s reply as the truth. But his reply is only half-truth, and half the truth is … a lie!

From:
prakash.lasrado@gmail.com
To:
Cardinal Oswald Gracious; Catholic Bishops Conference of India;

Cc:
Prabhu [and over 100 others] Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2013 9:53 AM

Subject: Criticism of New Community Bible which is historically distorted.

Rev. Cardinal Gracias,

The New Community Bible reminds me of Hitler rewriting the Bible as in web link below. Hitler’s Nazi Bible project was a failure.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-399470/Jewish-references-erased-newly-Nazi-Bible.html

One cannot distort history by portraying Joseph wearing a turban, Mary wearing a sari and a red dot and the Holy Family being simple Indian villagers in the New Community Bible.

Inculturation is good but the New Community Bible distorts Christian history which is unacceptable.

Every Bible whether it is Chinese, Arabic, Japanese etc. portrays Jesus as a Jew born in a Jewish society without any distortion of facts. The Bible is merely translated in many languages but there is no historical distortion.

Kindly rebut me with cc to all. I am keeping an open mind to rebuttals.

From:
Prakash Lasrado
To:
Cardinal Oswald Gracious; Catholic Bishops conference of India;

Cc:
Prabhu; [and over 100 others] Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2013 10:01 AM

Subject: Re: Criticism of New Community Bible which is historically distorted.

Rev. Cardinal Gracias,

If I were in your position, I would have released a book “Similarities between Hinduism and Christianity” which reflects on the similarities in teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, Bhagavad Gita etc.

I would not have rewritten the Bible as it is a theologically unsound practice to rewrite the Word of God and distort its original meaning.

From:
Prakash Lasrado
To:
Prabhu
Cc:
Emmanuel Thankachan ; Catholic Bishops Conference of India; [and over 100 others] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2013 2:46 PM Subject: Fwd: Cardinal’s reply

Dear Michael Prabhu,

Cardinal Gracias has confirmed via his secretary Fr. Emmanuel that New Community Bible text has not been changed. 

Please refer word attachment. This comes a big relief for me. […]

Regards, Prakash

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Emmanuel Thankachan <ktemmanuel@gmail.com> Date: Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 12:18 AM
Subject: Cardinal’s reply To: prakash.lasrado@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Prakash,
Attached please find His Eminence reply to your email dated 3 June 2013.
With kind regards & best wishes.
Fr. K. T. Emmanuel
Secretary to the Archbishop

A01-001.03                                 June 3, 2013

Dear Mr. Lasrado,

I refer to your emails of June 2, 2013.  I appreciate your concern about preserving the integrity of our Faith.

The new Community Bible has not changed the text of the Bible.  An approved translation has been used.  Biblical scholars from India have prepared the footnotes. 

I am passing on your comments to the publishers.

With kind regards and best wishes,

Yours sincerely in Christ,


Oswald Cardinal Gracias

Archbishop of Bombay & President – CBCI

Prakash Lasrado writes to the Cardinal that the New Community Bible is “historically distorted”.

That historical distortion, according to Lasrado, is the NCB‘s depiction of the Virgin Mary and her spouse St. Joseph as “simple Indian villagers“. What he is referring to are some of the twenty-four illustrations in the NCB.

“One cannot distort history” in this way, he says, adding, “Every Bible whether it is Chinese, Arabic, Japanese etc. portrays Jesus as a Jew born in a Jewish society without any distortion of facts. The Bible is merely translated in many languages but there is no historical distortion.” From apparently referring to the illustrations, he suddenly switches to talking about the fidelity to history in translations of the Bible into different languages, which makes no sense. He also suggests that the Indian Church has “rewritten the Bible“.

That Lasrado has done absolutely no research is clear when he expresses “a big relief” at the Cardinal‘s response which conveniently refers only to the text of the NCB for which he says, rightly, an “ approved translation ” has been used. The Cardinal was only too happy [he replied to Lasrado within 24 hours] to grab the opportunity to give a cleverly-fashioned response to a poorly-informed lay man and create a false public image of pastoral appreciation [Lasrado marks copies of his unsolicited emails to over a hundred Catholics] for laity who are concerned about “preserving the integrity of our Faith“, and Lasrado was equally happy to bask, unquestioningly, in the adulation that he received from the Cardinal.

Cardinal Oswald Gracias writes, “The new Community Bible has not changed the text of the Bible.  An approved translation has been used.  Biblical scholars from India have prepared the footnotes.“

What the Cardinal is conveying is that there is nothing at all wrong with the contents of the NCB.

Using Lasrado‘s letter as a publicity-op, the Cardinal has replied not only to Lasrado but to longtime critics [since 2008] of the NCB.

There are three relevant sentences in the Cardinal‘s response to Lasrado.

They are:

1. “The new Community Bible has not changed the text of the Bible.” That is true.

2. “An approved translation has been used.” It is also true.

3. “Biblical scholars from India have prepared the footnotes.” This too is absolutely true.

So where’re the half-truths and the lie which fooled Lasrado and possibly many others?

There has never been any claim to the contrary that the NCB has “changed the text of the Bible” or used an unapproved translation. So the Cardinal is responding to a non-existent charge.

There three different facets of the contents of this so-called Bible, the NCB:

1. Its text and its translation from earlier recognised non-controversial versions

2. Its twenty-four “Indianised” illustrations, and

3. Its commentaries, “prepared” by “Biblical scholars from India” – which the Cardinal refers to as “footnotes“.

Ordinary lay Catholics, leaders in ministry, priests and priest-theologians from Indian and from all over the world — and even representatives of the majority religion, Hinduism — have objected to some of the illustrations as well as to many of those Indian theologians’ “footnotes” which I call “commentaries”.

The problems with the illustrations and the ‘footnotes’ are not simply “historical distortion” as the uninformed Lasrado puts it, but range from inculturational to syncretistic to even doctrinal! Twenty-one reports — see the list below — [and counting] at this ministry’s web site, hundreds of protest letters, dozens of critical articles and scores of scathing comments lament the NCB as being heretical, Hinduised, New Age and more.

Despite having received the nihil obstat and imprimatur from the Indian bishops, the crusade launched by this ministry — and supported by hundreds of angry Catholics — commencing July 2008 eventually led to the withdrawal of the NCB. St Pauls did not give up. I had been in touch with St Pauls insiders and knew that they were most desperate to recover their investment; sadly, it remains for them just a financial enterprise.

After a cosmetic touch-up which anyway goes to show that the Indian bishops simply cannot be trusted for doctrinal integrity, the NCB came out almost surreptitiously in a “Revised” edition with most of the original errors and controversies still in it, once again with the Bishops’ seals of approval!!! It is now being exported.

Sold at ridiculously low prices, it is replacing excellent Catholic Bibles overseas. The Indian poison spreads…

I possess photographs of the New Community Bible lying on his desk in Cardinal Oswald Gracias‘ office as well as in his car. It is his Bible of choice. Why wouldn’t he defend it?

See

HINDU RELIGIOUS MARK ON THE FOREHEAD 19-THE VIRGIN MARY WEARS
26 JUNE 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/HINDU_RELIGIOUS_MARK_ON_THE_FOREHEAD_19-THE_VIRGIN_MARY_WEARS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 01-A CRITIQUE JULY 14, 2008

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_01-A_CRITIQUE.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 02-THE PAPAL SEMINARY, PUNE, INDIAN THEOLOGIANS, AND THE CATHOLIC ASHRAMS SEPTEMBER 2008/SEPTEMBER 2009/APRIL 2012

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_02-THE_PAPAL_SEMINARY_PUNE_INDIAN_THEOLOGIANS_AND_THE_CATHOLIC_ASHRAMS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 03-A FRENCH THEOLOGIAN DENOUNCES ERRORS IN THE COMMENTARIES FEBRUARY 24, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_03-A_FRENCH_THEOLOGIAN_DENOUNCES_ERRORS_IN_THE_COMMENTARIES.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 04-THE ONGOING ROBBERY OF FAITH FEBRUARY 24, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_04-THE_ONGOING_ROBBERY_OF_FAITH.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 05-THE ANGEL GABRIEL DID NOT APPEAR TO THE VIRGIN MARY MARCH 15, 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_05-THE_ANGEL_GABRIEL_DID_NOT_APPEAR_TO_THE_VIRGIN_MARY.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 06-PRESS REPORTS AND READERS’ CRITICISMS MARCH 22, 2009/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_06-PRESS_REPORTS_AND_READERS_CRITICISMS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 07-UNPUBLISHED LETTERS AGAINST ITS ERRONEOUS COMMENTARIES-THE EXAMINER MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_07-UNPUBLISHED_LETTERS_AGAINST_ITS_ERRONEOUS_COMMENTARIES-THE_EXAMINER.doc     

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 08-LETTERS CALLING FOR ITS WITHDRAWAL DECEMBER 2008/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_08-LETTERS_CALLING_FOR_ITS_WITHDRAWAL.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 09-LETTER TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH APRIL-MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_09-LETTER_TO_THE_CONGREGATION_FOR_THE_DOCTRINE_OF_THE_FAITH.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 10-CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SECULAR MEDIA, AND WITH PRIEST-CRITICS OF OUR CRUSADE AGAINST ITS ERRORS MAY 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_10-CORRESPONDENCE_WITH_THE_SECULAR_MEDIA_AND_WITH_PRIEST-CRITICS_OF_OUR_CRUSADE_AGAINST_ITS_ERRORS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 11-VATICAN HELD RESPONSIBLE, BRAHMIN LEADERS DEMAND ITS WITHDRAWAL JUNE 25, 2009/DECEMBER 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_11-VATICAN_HELD_RESPONSIBLE_BRAHMIN_LEADERS_DEMAND_ITS_WITHDRAWAL.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 12-LETTERS TO ROME JUNE 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_12-LETTERS_TO_ROME.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 13-RESPONSES FROM THE BISHOPS AND THEIR EXECUTIVE COMMISSIONS AUGUST 2009

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_13-RESPONSES_FROM_THE_BISHOPS_AND_THEIR_EXECUTIVE_COMMISSIONS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 14-UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX GREEK CATHOLIC BISHOPS CALL IT A NEW AGE BIBLE, “EXCOMMUNICATE” INDIAN BISHOPS
MARCH 2010/APRIL 2012

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_14-UKRAINIAN_ORTHODOX_GREEK_CATHOLIC_BISHOPS_CALL_IT_A_NEW_AGE_BIBLE_EXCOMMUNICATE_INDIAN_BISHOPS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 15-DEMAND FOR ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS-FR SUBHASH ANAND AND OTHERS
APRIL 2010/JULY 2010/APRIL 2012/17 MARCH/10 APRIL 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_15-DEMAND_FOR_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS-FR_SUBHASH_ANAND_AND_OTHERS.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 16-REVISED EDITION COMING, ST PAULS DETERMINED
JULY 2010/DECEMBER 2011

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_16-REVISED_EDITION_COMING_ST_PAULS_DETERMINED.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 17-DERRICK D’COSTA’S CRITIQUE ON ORKUT
JULY 2010

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_17-DERRICK_DCOSTAS_CRITIQUE_ON_ORKUT.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 18-CONTROVERSIES
JULY 2010

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_18-CONTROVERSIES.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 19-INDIAN CHURCH’S SYNCRETIZED BIBLE EXPORTED
7 MARCH/6/9/24/30 MAY/5 JUNE, 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_19-INDIAN_CHURCHS_SYNCRETIZED_BIBLE_EXPORTED.doc

NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 20-EXTOLLED BY CAMALDOLI BENEDICTINE OBLATE
1/5/10 MAY 2013

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_20-EXTOLLED_BY_CAMALDOLI_BENEDICTINE_OBLATE.doc

“What are apparitions? Since many people are attracted by them, especially as this century and millennium are drawing to an end, not only in this country but also in other countries: Apparition, apparition, apparition; seer, seer, seer.
“Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints can appear to anyone as Divine Providence may decide. And God can send visions or thoughts or locutions to anyone He wishes. If such apparitions or locutions are genuine, they are called ‘private revelations’. If they are genuine.
“Public Revelation was concluded with the death of the last of the Apostles, Saint John. That means it’s already almost two thousand years minus one hundred when Public Revelation was concluded. If a private revelation is genuine, it will always be a confirmation of what is already in Public Revelation.
“Only Public Revelation becomes an object of Divine Catholic Faith. That is what we must believe with Divine Catholic Faith — dogma. Only such does the Church demand that we all believe.
“The Church never imposes belief in a private revelation, even when a private revelation is approved by the Church as coming from Heaven. Like Lourdes and Fatima. These are said to come from Heaven, but even than, the Church does not impose them as objects of Catholic Faith.
“It is very difficult to know in practice if that an apparition is really from God or if it is the fruit of somebody’s overfertile imagination, somebody’s pious ideas, somebody who does not distinguish between reality and dream, or somebody who has a type of journey. It is very difficult to know when they are a result of deceit of the devil.

“And even in a genuine private revelation, the seer can make mistakes in recounting or interpreting some of the details. This has happened even to saints canonized. They made a few mistakes in details, they were confused.
“‘In practice’. It means that we should test a reported apparition by such questions as the following:
“Does it agree entirely with the revealed and Divine Catholic Faith?
“Does it lead us to the center of our Faith, which is where Holy Scriptures is, and Sacred Tradition, and where the Pope and the Bishops are?
“Does it lead us to obey the Pope and the Bishops?
“If you said, ‘The private revelation told us not to mind the Pope and the Bishops’, we’d tell you, ‘It’s not from Heaven.‘
“It is therefore a mistake if a Christian now makes a reported apparition a central event in the Christian life or a test of those who are fervent Christians. If now you test people, ‘If you don’t believe in the apparition, you are not a good Catholic,’ you have the whole thing wrong.
“It is a negative sign when some Christians follow seers or visionaries, they follow them, they read daily their writings and utterances – but they won’t read the Gospels, they won’t read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, they won’t read the documents of the Pope – and they read the documents of the Seer/Visionary XYZ.
“It is a very negative sign when some people disobey or ignore the Pope and the Bishops in union with him all in the name of a vision or an apparition. Christ told His Apostles, ‘Anyone who listens to you, listens to Me. Anyone who rejects you, rejects Me. And those who reject Me reject the One who sent Me.’
“Somebody asked me, ‘There is one apparition that is reported, are you going on pilgrimage there?’ I said, ‘Oh yes, I go on pilgrimage, but do you know where I go on pilgrimage? The Chapel. Where we have the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle. Where we are not guessing, where we are sure! That’s my pilgrimage.’
“Please understand me. I do not say ‘Do not go to Lourdes, do not go to Fatima’. Those are certain. Jerusalem is where our Faith began.
“But there are some other places where we don’t know whether Our Lady was there or not. I don’t go there. They can do good to people, it doesn’t prove yet. We don’t know. Might be, might not be.
“It takes a lot of challenge – Years and Years – to know when they are genuine. Sometimes it takes fifty years, one hundred years.
“We don’t base our Faith on such because we have solid foundation for our Faith already. You want pilgrimage? Jerusalem! Of course.”

JUNE 29, 2013

Catalina Rivas – Jesus’ ‘little cockroach’

Stigmatist or plagiarist?

From:
Fr Justo Lofeudo
To:
Prabhu
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 10:58 PM

Subject: Re: A FRIEND OF JAVIER LOPES TORRES: FROM INDIA, INTRODUCING MYSELF

Dear Michael,

In a few minutes from now, I will celebrate Mass and you and your family will be present. This is the time, time of great confusion created by Satan, that the Church needs apologists like you. And not only prophets who proclaim the Gospel but who denounce the error and evil that surrounds us. I often see that when touched issues like false seers such as Catalina Rivas or Vassula
Ryden, I’m attacked. Same with yoga, which in the West, as you very well know, is being considered as a gym (!) Or homeopathy. We are in spiritual battle and we need to speak up and also to pray and pray. I pray for you, you pray for me and my Perpetual Adoration’s mission. I bless you and your family.

P. Justo Antonio Lofeudo MSE, Rome

Well, that’s one good priest who holds that Catalina Rivas is not a genuine mystic even though her messages are mainly about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Who is Catalina Rivas? There is a lot of information about her on the Internet. Since I am more interested in criticism of her, and there is very little of that to be found, I will reproduce a little of the former and all that I retrieved of the latter so that the reader may decided for himself/herself as to what the truth is.

For an inspiring video on the stigmatist
Catalina Katya Rivas – CLICK HERE

http://www.youshallbelieve.com/?page_id=70

Click here to view a list of approved Marian apparition claims

http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/index.html
EXTRACT

1994 – Cochabamba (Bolivia) April 2, 1998 – Imprimatur to messages from the Archbishop Rene Fernandez of Cochabamba; recognition of supernaturality of bleeding statue

The Holy Mass Explained to Catalina by Jesus and Mary

http://www.michaeljournal.org/holymass.htm
EXTRACT

Catalina Rivas of Cochabamba, Bolivia, who now dwells in Mérida, Yucatán, México. She is said to receive Messages from Jesus, Mary, and the angels. She has the approval of her Bishop, René Fernández Apaza, who has given his imprimatur to her Messages. The following text is the reproduction of booklet, “The Holy Mass,” in which Our Lord and Our Lady explain to Catalina what is really going on during the Mass in the spiritual realm, and how we should be more concentrated on the great mysteries that are taking place.

Bo. Daniel Gagnon, OMI, of the Commission for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Archdiocese of Mexico, wrote about this book: “I do not find anything against the faith or the customs of the Church. It is not my function to confirm its supernatural character; nevertheless, I recommend it for its spiritual inspiration.”

The testimony of Catalina on the Holy Mass […]

Catalina’s Testimony on the Holy Mass

http://www.loamagazine.org/nr/catholic_church/catalinas_testimony_on_the.html
EXTRACT

The following is taken from the writings of the Bolivian mystic Catalina Rivas. The visions described below are the product of divinely inspired mystical experiences. Through these moving images, God seeks to underscore the importance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and tell the whole truth about what transpires during every Holy Mass.

The church authorities of Cochabamba, headed by Archbishop René Fernandez Apaz, have endorsed Catalina’s mystical experiences and given their permission for these writings to be published. […]

1.

Private Revelation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_revelation
EXTRACT

Not all reports of private revelation are valid, even if they sound truly pious. For instance, the messages reported from God by Catalina Rivas were later found to correspond to exact pages of books written by others, and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians.

Apparitions not approved by church authorities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_apparition
EXTRACT

Not all reports of visions and apparitions are taken seriously by church authorities. For instance, the messages reported by Catalina Rivas were later found to correspond to exact pages of books written by others, and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians.

Visions of Jesus and Mary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visions_of_Jesus_and_Mary
EXTRACT

Controversies: Another example is messages from Jesus reported by Catalina Rivas, which have been exposed in a number of cases as less than truthful.^[10] A number of messages which Rivas reported as having been received from God were later found to correspond to exact pages of books previously written by other authors (e.g. José Prado Flores), and published instructional literature for Catholic seminarians.^[11]

Catalina Rivas – Any ideas on her?

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=139027

March 15, 2007

Q: I just received a magazine called “Love One Another” from the Society of Christ. One of the articles talked about a lady named Catalina Rivas, who is to be a stigmatist and a visionary. Does anyone know anything about her? Is she accepted by the Church as a “true” stigmatist?

A1: Katya Rivas has received an official imprimatur from the Catholic Church for several books.. In May 1999, Archbishop Fernandez, in sympathy with the sentiments of Pope John Paul II, formally approved the formation of the Apostolate of the New Evangelization.
I have a video of a Fox documentary, Signs from God: Science tests Faith, where Rivas is interviewed by journalist Mike Willessee. He went into it expecting to expose a fraud and, instead, it contributed to his return to the Church after 30 years.
You can read about it here http://www.loveandmercy.org/loveandm…deo/index.html

A2: There are only two people accepted by the Church as “true” stigmatics, St. Paul and St. Francis. The stigmata in and of themselves mean nothing. There’s no way presently to distinguish between truly spiritually given stigmata and those that are merely psycho-somatic. So other things are looked for. St. Pio, for example, was NOT canonized for bearing the stigmata (which disappeared shortly before he died), but for his signal spiritual gifts.

Katya Rivas – Stigmata?

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=191931

October 18, 2007

Q: I have no clue how I found this, but here we go. Apparently there was some special on Fox that looked at stigmata and weeping statues or something. Look at these sites and tell me what you guys think.
http://www.apleatohumanity.com/
http://www.loveandmercy.org/loveandm…deo/index.html

A1: I think that this is something to be very careful about. This is one of those spirits that must be carefully tested. Some “stigmatists” have been found to have a psychological condition rather than holiness. I mean, even in the times of St. Teresa of Avila that was happening. I also think you need to look at the fruits of the phenomenon. Is the focus on God or on Katya?

A2: The Church has only ever approved one stigmata and that was of St Francis of Assisi.

A3: I would guess that St. Paul had stigmata, since I’m pretty sure the word stigmata originated from Galatians 6:17 where “stigmata” was translated to “marks”.

Vulgate: De cetero nemo mihi molestus sit; ego enim stigmata Iesu in super corpore meo porto.

Douay-Rheims: “From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me: for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body.”

A4: There are a lot of saints who experienced the Stigmata and other mystical wounding that are approved by the Church. St Catherine of Siena, St Teresa of Avila, St Veronica Guiliani, St Gemma, St Rita etc. None of them, including St Francis were canonized because of the wounds. They were canonized because of their holiness.

Catalina Rivas – Any ideas on her?

http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=763450

March 12, 2013

Q: Would like some comments on her stigmata. Was continuous film coverage ever done showing such appearing so as to rule out fraud?

A: I am fascinated by this stigmata case. I watched this video on YouTube that you might find interesting as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0XH7vPGDBI&list=PLnqnOqOR2B2eLX LL0_2OjZjdqsWmrBwX5

Catalina Rivas

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/126656-catalina-rivas/

January 24, 2013

Q: Has the church proved her testimony about what happens during mass. I have read two different versions.

A: When it comes to these kinds of private revelations or visions of Our Lady, the Church does not make official pronouncements so long as they are continuing. The Church waits until they have stopped, or the person has died. Until that time, you will have to view them with caution.

Rivas, Catalina (Katya or Catia)

http://www.skepdic.com/rivas.html

Last updated July 28, 2012

Catalina Rivas is almost certainly a pious fraud. The thrice-married woman hails from Cochabamba, Bolivia, though she now dwells in Mexico (Merida, Yucatan). Her piety is expressed by her alleged stigmata and her alleged “messages” from Jesus, Mary and angels who, for some unexplained reason, dictate their messages to Rivas not only in Spanish, but in Greek, Latin and Polish. (For some unknown reason, Jesus and Mary don’t dictate to Rivas in English, so her “messages” have to be translated into that language. Many are posted on the Internet.) She does not sign her name to her “messages,” preferring to refer to herself as “la sierva de Dios” (the servant of God [sic]) or “la secretaria de Dios” (the secretary of God [sic]). She doesn’t claim to be the author of her books; rather they are said to be channeled (“dictada a la sierva de Dios”). Nor does she have a publishing house. Her books are sold as photocopies.

Because of her alleged stigmata and “messages,” Rivas is considered the spiritual mother of international religious movements known as the Apostolate of the New Evangelization (ANE) (in Spanish, Apostolado de la Nueva Evangelización and  The Great Crusade of Love and Mercy (in Spanish, La Gran Cruzada del Amor y Misericordia) and has followers all over the world.

If asked how it is possible for her to have the stigmata and be a pious fraud, the answer is that she does not truly suffer inexplicable wounds. They are most likely self-inflicted wounds, as evidenced by her performance on the Fox Network special “Signs from God [sic]: Science Tests Faith.”

If asked how it is possible for her to write books in languages she does not understand, the answer is simple: she copies them. She has already been caught plagiarizing the work of José Prado Flores and Salvador Gómez of Guadalajara, Mexico. Her messages from God [sic] published in 1996 as “Renovacion Evangelica” (Evangelical Revival) bear a remarkable resemblance to Formacion de Predicadores (Training Preachers) published several years before she got them from “god.” The work of Prado Flores and Gómez was actually written many years before Rivas claimed to have gotten remarkably similar and often identical messages from god. According to Prado Flores, he and Gómez prepared the first version of their work in 1980, gave it as a workshop in 1982 and published it in 1988 [ISBN 83-7224-026-4]. Their work has been translated into Portuguese (1990), Italian (1992) and Polish (1999). Formacion de Predicadores has been published in later editions with different ISBNs: 03-2001-0612 and 10-4933-00-01. I have the 1992 edition published by Kerygma.

José Prado Flores is a respected Mexican author of Catholic books. He has numerous publications to his credit. Salvador Gómez is the author of Para Un Matrimonio Feliz (For a Happy Marriage). Prado Flores has written to me that Rivas has even kept his Mexican examples in her work, which, he says, would only be understood by Mexican readers. Also, in one of her books Rivas claims that Jesus warns us against listening to the authors of books!

Rivas has not always been such a holy person. She was a “fallen-away Catholic” in 1993 when she saw and heard Nancy Fowler in Bolivia. She even went to Conyers, Georgia, in the U.S. to see Nancy Fowler, a woman who claims the Virgin Mary appeared to her on the 13^th of each month (à la Fatima) for several years. (For some reason, the visions have stopped and for various reasons Fowler has dissociated herself from the Conyers people.) It was in Conyers that Rivas claims to have had her first stigmatic experience. For a while Rivas was a Fowler follower, but she broke away and, as mentioned above, is now considered the spiritual mother of another religious movement. (Fowler has distanced herself from Rivas and a group who tried to publish some of Rivas’s “messages”, noting that Rivas claims to have been in Conyers when she received one of her messages but she could not have been there because of an airline strike.)*

Rivas has credibility in part because she has the approval of her bishop, René Fernández Apaza, who has given his imprimatur to her “messages”. He has also given his blessing to a bleeding, weeping statue, claiming it is worthy of veneration. He has even asked the Vatican to declare it a Signum Dei, a Sign of God [sic]. The Bishop is joined in his support of Rivas by Miguel Manzanera, a Jesuit theologian and member of the commission of Faith and Doctrine in Bolivia.

Some Catholics even think that the approval of Michael Willasee, who produced the Fox program mentioned above, is significant evidence in her favor. Willasee, however, has proved himself to be highly untrustworthy. He is either a dupe or a dope or both. He is not without his fans, however. Mr. Alastair Thompson thinks Willasee and Fox walk on water. The able Mr. Thompson is joined in support of Fox with Mr. Michael Cain of Catholic PewPoint who writes

…this time FOX truly has lept [sic] over the wall of division and immorality by bringing us programming that produced excellence in depth and devotion.

Whatever the opposite of skeptic is, Willasee, Thompson and Cain are the reigning triumvirate.

Rivas also has the support of Dr. Ricardo Castañón Gómez of La Paz, Bolivia, who is known as a former atheist and one with a keen eye for pious frauds. He also has been involved with the establishment of the Apostolate of the New Evangelization (ANE), which has centers in Bolivia and Mexico, among other places.

3.

He is the author of Father of All Mankind. Chapter 13 of this book is published on the Internet. He quotes Rivas and says of her, “Catalina is a stigmatist from Cochabamba, Bolivia whom Dr. Castañón has studied extensively. The Archbishop of Cochabamba has given his Imprimatur to eight books of Catalina’s writing which she attributes to receiving from Jesus and the Blessed Mother.” Both she and Dr. Castañón might also attribute some of these “messages” to José Prado Flores and Salvador Gómez, for the English words of Ch. 13 translate beautifully into the Spanish of Formacion de Predicadores. [See Document 1]* *See page 15

Rivas’ spiritual advisor is Fr. Renzo Sessolo Chies, S.D.B., of Bolivia, founder and president of ANE* and an active supporter of the La Gran Cruzada. Prado Flores claims that Sessolo was kicked out of his religious order.

Not everyone has been taken in by Catalina Rivas. Besides those she has plagiarized, she has apparently lost favor with Juan Cardenal Sandoval Iñiguez, the Bishop of Guadalajara, who cancelled a scheduled appearance in Guadalajara by Rivas last summer (2001) after Prado Flores showed the bishop copies of his book and her “messages”. Prado Flores wrote to me:

Catia was scheduled to appear in Guadalajara, Mexico where I now live. You can understand my total amazement when I put 2 and 2 together and figured out the famous “visionary and stigmatist” was the same lady that had “stolen” my book. A friend showed me a set of books which were to be sold during the convention. We then went to the bishop of Guadalajara, Juan Cardenal Sandoval Iñiguez, who after seeing our study on her material immediately cancelled her participation. This of course made her write a letter accusing me of “stealing” her visions to write my book.

According to Prado Flores, Rivas sent a letter to Fr. Argulo, who had invited her to Guadalajara, in which she made the accusation that they “stole her visions.” How this was possible, since her visions and “messages” occurred many years after their book, is left to the reader to discern.

Reader comments, September 3, 2009

http://www.skepdic.com/comments/rivascom.html

Dear Skeptic,

I cannot believe that you can actually say that Catalina Rivas is a fraud. I watched the documentary in which a skeptic was with her before the stigmata appeared and stayed with her until the stigmata was gone (the next day by the way). The doctor there said that the wounds she had were impossible by medical terms [?] to disappear in one day. Also, the man who conducted the test (who by the way started out as a skeptic) found that there was no fraud there. You speak of her three marriages, as if she were doomed for it. Well, Jesus forgave a criminal while on the cross. And the man he gave the keys of the church to was a murderer and criminal before he followed Jesus. Be careful with your accusations because the bible says that with the tape you measure shall you be measured. God Bless You.

Your sister in Christ, Maria Lourdes Mikula

Reply

St. Peter was a murderer? I don’t remember being taught that in parochial school. I like the idea of forgiveness, however, and wish more people would engage in that emotion.

Anyway, I don’t say she’s a fraud; I say she’s a pious fraud. The so-called skeptic you refer to, Michael Willesee, may have been introduced by Giselle Fernandez as “an internationally respected journalist,” but Willesee is actually recognized as an internationally ridiculed buffoon. I am constantly being reminded by viewers like you of the power of television to deceive. Fernandez and Willesee have a story to tell, but it is not the complete story. It is selective and deceptive in its presentation. Without knowing a little bit more about these folks, it is difficult to see how they try to manipulate the viewer.

The program you refer to was shown by the Fox Network and is called “Signs from God: Science tests Faith.” In reality, it should have been called “Dollar Signs: Fox Tests Gullibility.”

Fernandez and Willesee take viewers on an uncritical tour through exotic places like Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Monterrey, Mexico, to “scientifically” examine an uneducated woman who writes books in Greek and Latin dictated to her by Jesus, and who is filmed while apparently undergoing a stigmata; weeping and bleeding statues; and rose petals with “miraculous” images of Jesus and Mary. You might ask why Jesus would speak to Catia in Greek and Latin. It’s not because those were languages he excelled in but because those were languages that other writers had already published and she could easily copy them.

The program was mostly a rehash of “For All Humanity,” a film produced several years ago by Ron Tesoriero, an Australian lawyer, about Catalina “Catia” Rivas, the bleeding statue of Cochabamba, and Nancy Fowler, a nurse who started having visions in 1985 and began causing traffic jams near Conyers Hill in Georgia when word got out that the Virgin Mary was appearing there on the 13th of the month. (The 13th is special for Mary visionaries since she allegedly appeared to three children in Fatima, Portugal, on the 13th of May, 1917)

Fernandez does not pretend to be anything more than the host, even if a gushing and fulsome one. The program’s credibility depends primarily on the reputation of Willesee. Who is he?

Willesee is introduced by Fernandez as an “internationally respected journalist” and declares that it is “an honor to work alongside” him. She proclaims that he is renowned for his “skepticism and investigative abilities.”

The truth is that Willesee is not much of a skeptic, even though his reporting on such topics as psychic ability, dowsing, and acupuncture earned him the 1987 Responsibility in Journalism Award from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (now known as CSI, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry)*. *See page 7

The program demonstrates that he is not much of an investigator, however. His honesty might be questioned as well, based on the fact that he does not mention Tesoriero or his work by name, even though Willesee’s program is largely a rip-off of the lawyer’s documentary on “scientifically inexplicable happenings.”

4.

Willesee only says that “a lawyer” got him interested in the subject and states that his own film was “seven years in the making.” The bulk of “Signs from God,” however, revisits Tesoriero’s work on Catia (identified as “Katya” by Fox), including interviews with the same “experts” that Tesoriero used, such as Dr. Ricardo Castoñan, a Bolivian psychologist who claims he’s investigated many miraculous claims and found that most of them were authentic. The credits for the program list Tesoriero as one of the “segment producers.” That is the only recognition he is given.

Willesee was an Australian television broadcaster who did a Current Affairs program for some thirty years before quitting. He found God and returned to the Catholicism of his youth (though he’s been divorced twice) due to his belief that God intervened and saved him from dying in a plane crash in 1998. In 1997, he was listed as one of the top 200 richest men in Australia by Business Review Weekly. Things got even better in 1998. After making a few dollars in radio and real estate investments, he turned to filmmaking. His first film was on “primitive tribes.”

Willesee’s critical skills were revealed early in the Fox program with his comment on the main proof that Jesus dictates books on theology in Greek to “Katya” Rivas: she has the “imprimatur” of the local bishop. Maybe he doesn’t know what an imprimatur is. It is not a seal of approval that a miraculous claim has been authenticated. The imprimatur indicates only that the material is doctrinally sound, not heresy, according to an official censor. Later, he asserts that he believes that blood from a “bleeding” statue of Jesus, which was determined by a scientific lab test to be the blood of a human female, was that of the Virgin Mary! Even Fernandez balked at that speculation. (He also had a CAT scan done of the “bleeding weeping” statue, but for what reason one can only guess.) When two scientists reproduced holy images on rose petals by pressing holy medals into the petals, Willesee commented that they didn’t “completely answer” the question of whether the Monterrey, Mexico, petals were authentic. He also claims that since the Mexican rose petals were not for sale, there was no possible motive for deceit. Hence, he believes God is involved in their production. This I notion that if money is not a motive, the probability that the “miracle” is authentic increases, was stated at the top of the program by Willesee. (He also is impressed if the claimant does not have a “cult” following and is humble.) He seems completely oblivious to the possibility of pious fraud or mental disorders that might motivate a person to deceive for Jesus.)

Finally, Willesee’s objectivity, skepticism, and critical skills should be questioned if only because the film is so one-sidedly Catholic. Not only do his alleged miracles that science can’t explain involve only Catholics, his experts are Catholics, including the one expert he brings in as a skeptic, Fr. Peter Stravinskas, editor of “The Catholic Answer.”

Nevertheless, even a pious though uncritical investigator who thinks he is doing God’s work might stumble upon a true miracle. Does Willesee’s film demonstrate anything of interest to those looking for a miracle? To me, the only miracle is that anyone takes his work seriously.

The program made it clear at both the beginning and the end that there is some connection between natural disasters and claims of apparitions of Jesus and Mary. I can understand the dramatic effect of trying to connect apparent apparitions with doomsday prophecies and the spate of bad weather we’ve had on this planet during the last decade, but I can’t say that this was a particularly unique decade weather-wise. It is easy to get people to think of weather and natural disasters in terms of human time, rather than geologic time. Comparisons of one decade with another or even one century with another are, however, misleading. Which assumption do you prefer: an All-Good God created the world in such a way that floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves, etc., would be a regular feature of life on earth; or, an All-Good God created the world as a benign place but intentionally destroys us on a regular basis to remind us to stop sinning? I think both views are absurd. Even more absurd, however, is the belief that God reveals trivial messages to us, such as “repent” or “Remember: I came to save you.”

The film itself does not provide anything of interest except as a lesson in how not to do a scientific investigation of such matters. For example, the main proof that the voices Katya hears (giving her theology lessons in Spanish, Greek and Latin) and the images she sees are not delusions or hallucinations or lies is that when she was given an EEG she produced measurable delta waves while awake. (Delta waves usually occur only during sleep.) If this segment was authentic, all it proves is that Katya has an abnormal brain. Where is the Rosetta stone that declares that God speaks in delta waves? (Note: the film was edited to make it appear that Katya and the doctor performing the EEG [who, for some reason, was in another room behind a soundproof glassed enclosure] were communicating telepathically. We have Mr. Willesee’s word that there was telepathic communication regarding whether Katya has epilepsy.)

The segment of the film likely to persuade uncritical viewers that they have witnessed a miracle is the stigmata segment. Some effort went into priming the viewer by stating that the Catholic Church had authenticated some twelve cases of stigmata, including St. Francis of Assisi and Padre Pio. Without belaboring the point, Katya dictated the conditions for the event (telling everyone that Jesus was dictating when and where it would happen). The film showed her before, during, and after the event. At the start, she has scars, but no bleeding wounds on her hands and feet. During the film she starts to show scratches on her face and hands, then bleeding from slashes, not punctures, from her hands and feet. A blood sample is taken and proves to be almost certainly her own blood. Willesee indicates that he expected the blood to be the blood of Jesus! He asserts “there’s no way” [the wounds] were self-inflicted.”

How thorough was this investigation? First, the film clearly shows that Katya has a rosary with a holy medal wrapped around her left hand and a white cloth clutched in her right hand. On each hand, she is wearing a ring with a protruding setting. Her first wounds are some scratches on her right temple. These are declared by an observer priest to be “consistent” with the crown of thorns wounds of Jesus. Her largest facial wound, however, was on her left cheek. Is this a new wound that Jesus had, that no one knew about until now? Could she have cut herself with her rings, fingernails, toenails, rosary, something concealed in the white cloth? Of course.

5.

Did the investigators make sure she had no sharp objects available to her? No. Did they use several cameras, focusing on her hands and feet at all times, to detect any self-mutilation? No. The cameras focused almost exclusively on her agonizing face and the agonized faces of those watching her suffer. Did they try to duplicate her wounds by using only rings, finger and toe nails, and a rosary? No. Did they even try to duplicate a single scratch using such primitive implements? No. Did they identify any medications Rivas takes and whether she took her meds that day? (Does she take blood thinners, diuretics, etc.?) What kind of investigation was this? If this was the “thorough expert analysis” promised us by Fernandez at the top of the show, then new meaning has been given to that expression. The only thing Willesee did that was remotely scientific was to have the blood tested. The results of that test? Well, they are consistent with self-mutilation. Where I come from self-mutilation is a symptom of a mental disorder. That does not mean that Rivas does not suffer real agony. Her suffering is most likely authentic, unlike the investigation of Michael Willesee.

Two Australian readers have informed me that Willesee left his current affairs program under less than honorable circumstances. They say he appeared on TV appearing to be drunk; Willesee claims he was on medication and was tired and emotional. Matt Crowe described the scene this way:

[Willesee] appeared one day looking very dazed. In between stories he was slurring, mumbling and giggling. Then it all became too much and he burst into uncontrollable laughter for several minutes. He kept trying to compose himself but it was no good. At one stage he had almost fallen off his chair.

Andrew Dare put it this way:

[Willesee] claimed to have taken some medicine, but the fact that he was on air, slurry, giggling and almost falling over ruined his credibility. That show was going downhill anyway into the “We put a suit in to be dry-cleaned with $50 in the pocket and 9/10 drycleaners took the money” and “New diet pills – do they really work – our scientific tests (i.e. they hire a guy in a lab coat with a clipboard) prove it” sort of stories.

Mr. Willesee is probably still giggling and falling off his chair at how gullible Americans are and at how ready the Fox Network is to take advantage of that fact.

One reader, Ermanno D’Annunzio of Adelaide, South Australia, wanted to know how I could explain the “colored crystals” that appeared on a floor painting. I don’t know why I should try to explain it, since Willesee didn’t offer any explanation himself. We were told that the glitter miraculously appeared on a print of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Nevertheless, anybody can put glitter on a print. Nothing miraculous about that. Mr. D’Annunzio wants to know how pictures can cry and how a tear got on a print of the Virgin Mary that was under glass. There are many ways to make statues or prints appear to cry, none of them miraculous. For example, you can surreptitiously dab, squirt, or spray water, salt, or oil on the object. We’ll never know what method was used in this case because Willesee didn’t follow anything resembling a scientific method to investigate the matter. We are asked to take it on faith, on the word of a person who says it’s true. Finally, Mr. D’Annunzio is puzzled by how quickly the alleged stigmatic’s wounds healed. Since we only have the word of Willesee that the after pictures were taken the day after the wounds appeared, we don’t have a very reliable source for this claim. But even if he isn’t lying, there is nothing miraculous about wounds healing quickly, especially if they are superficial wounds (mere scratches). Wounds can appear to be worse than they are in some people because they are taking medications or herbs that thin the blood. A tiny cut can emit a quantity of blood that indicates a larger wound. Also, makeup can do wonders to hide scratches, marks, blemishes, and other signs of our humanity.

Another believer in Katya has written:

Re: your attempt to disprove the story of Katya Rivas aired on Fox.

Just wondering if you have actually looked at or read the writings of this woman? What do you make of a woman with a high school education writing things like this? In these languages etc? Her writings are located at www.greatcrusade.org (archived here). What is your explanation for this? So far, we really haven’t seen hard core proof from you that any of this didn’t occur. The public is not stupid. We all realize that there are elaborate hoaxes out there but the point of faith is believing in what we can see right?

Reply

I took at look at the writing posted at the site you mention and found nothing unusual about them coming from a woman with a high school education. Anyone raised Catholic who has heard priestly devotees of Mary preach would be familiar with the messages of her “writings”.

You are right. The public is not stupid, but the public’s faith can be easily manipulated by a pious fraud with accomplices like Giselle Fernandez and Michael Willesee.

Finally, Rivas has been accused of plagiarizing her “messages” from God, taking them from José H. Prado Flores book Formacion de pedicadores (Training preachers), published six years before Catia’s “messages.” This aspect of her life is discussed in detail in the entry on Catalina Rivas.

p.s. You sign off as my sister in “Christ,” so I think I should say that I’ve met many people who are followers and worshippers of Jesus, but none of them seem to be referring to the same person. I’ve concluded that Jesus is what a person imagines him to be. Some imagine a savior, some a preacher of love, some a fire and brimstone angry god, some a kind teacher or moral guide, some a miracle worker, some a healer, some a kind being who listens to their troubles and intervenes on their behalf, and so on. As for harping on the multiple marriages and divorces: it’s a Catholic thing, Catia’s a Catholic, and I’ll just say the Catholic Church doesn’t remember Henry VIII very fondly.

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Books and articles

Carroll, Robert (2004) “Pranks, Frauds, and Hoaxes from Around the World,” Skeptical Inquirer, volume 28, No 4 July/August, pp. 41-46

Nickell, Joe. Looking For a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions and Healing Cures (Prometheus Books: Buffalo, N.Y., 1993)

Websites

Typical example of the similarity of “Renovacion Evangelica” and “Formacion de Predicadores”

Mass Media Bunk 9

CSICOP Response to Fox’s Signs from God [sic]: Science Tests Faith

Farce-of-the-Week via Fox-TV – Commentary, James Randi

Katya Rivas: Your Will Be Done Not Mine Tuesday, 8 July 2003

Pranks, Frauds, and Hoaxes from Around the World

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/pranks_frauds_and_hoaxes_from_around_the_world/

By Robert Carroll, Volume 28.4, July/August 2004

It’s pretty easy to hoax people. We all want to be deceived, but only up to a point. Some hoaxes are fun and pleasant, others malicious and unpleasant. We’d like a way to tell the difference.

We want to be deceived –Blaise Pascal

I think Pascal is right. We want to be deceived. Deception is an essential tool for the survival of our species. We might well be hardwired for deceiving others and taking delight in being deceived. On the other hand, there are many times when we don’t appreciate deceiving or being deceived. And most of us feel uncomfortable when we’re not sure whether we’re being hoaxed. Is there any way to reconcile our love of a good prank or magic trick with our hatred of being defrauded or made to look foolish? Is there any surefire way to avoid being hoaxed?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Most of us have been victims of pranks, hoaxes, or frauds. We may even have mistaken one for the other. For example, in April 2002, in Loomis, California, two teenagers got inspired by the MTV reality show Jackass. One of them videotaped his buddy as he ran along a rural road wearing handcuffs and an orange jail jumpsuit that he’d bought at a flea market. Unfortunately, some local citizens and law enforcement officers didn’t know it was a prank, and they pursued the “escapee” with tracking dogs, patrol cars, and a helicopter. Folsom Prison ordered a full-scale lockdown and did a head count. They also did head counts at the jails in Placer and Sacramento counties, at some expense to the taxpayer.

It’s sometimes hard to know whether something is a prank or a hoax or whether we’re being defrauded. The jackass could well have been an escapee. If you saw someone in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs running down the road and you didn’t see the cameraman, your first thought probably would not be: “Ah, another Jackass prank.”

Most of us have heard of the 1938 Halloween Eve radio broadcast by Orson Welles of an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds that many took to be an announcement that Earth had been invaded by Martians. Announcements that the story was fiction were made four times during the broadcast. Welles ended the show by announcing that the broadcast was a “holiday offering”: “the Mercury Theater’s own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and shouting boo.” The disclaimers did little to prevent many people from believing we’d been invaded by Martians. It’s been called the hoax of the century, but it wasn’t even a hoax. It wasn’t a prank, either. It wasn’t intended to fool people but to entertain them. Yet it fooled many people for several reasons.

1. It was presented realistically and authoritatively.

2. The story itself was credible at the time. There were flying machines, and the possibility of interplanetary travel was easily conceivable. It was not farfetched that some other race of beings might be more technologically advanced than we were.

3. Radio would have been the medium used to announce such an invasion.

Fooling the Experts

We can excuse ourselves, I think, for being taken in by some hoaxes because they’re so believable. But others are so unbelievable, we have to wonder how anybody could fall for them. For example, how could Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, have fallen for the Cottingley Fairy hoax? Two children, Frances and Elsie, photographed cutouts of fairies that shouldn’t have fooled anybody. And how could the King’s surgeon and the most famous obstetrician in eighteenth century England be duped into believing that the servant girl Mary Toft had given birth to rabbits?

How did the children and the servant fool such eminent men? It was easy: (1) The hoaxers put on a good game face. The kids didn’t let on that they were making it all up—and we all know that children don’t lie. Frances maintained until her death in 1986 that at least one of the photos was genuine. It wasn’t until Elsie was a grandmother that she gave broad hints that the stunt was a hoax. And Mary Toft must have been a pretty fair actress as well. (2) The hoax fit with the beliefs of the eminent men. Doyle was a believer in the occult and paranormal, so the idea of fairies appearing to children and allowing themselves to be photographed did not strike him as obviously preposterous. He corresponded with Elsie and even wrote a book about the fairies (The Coming of the Fairies). The event was within the realm of the possible for him. And once Doyle gave his nod to the belief, others would follow.

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The belief that a human could give birth to rabbits is a bit more complicated, yet the same principle applies. The medical establishment seemed to be willing to believe in this absurdity because of another false belief that was consistent with the rabbit-birth hypothesis: the theory of maternal impressions.

Maternal impressions is the notion, widely believed in eighteenth-century England, that a pregnant woman’s experiences could be directly imprinted on her unborn child. The theory was used to explain birth defects. A child being born deaf was due to the mother having been shocked by a loud sound during pregnancy. If a pregnant woman looked at a blind person her baby might be born blind. Toft, who had been pregnant but miscarried, claimed to have had an intense craving for roast rabbit. She said she admired rabbits, dreamed about them, and spent time trying to catch them. Thus, her claim of giving birth to rabbits fit with the notion of maternal impressions and didn’t seem absurd to the local doctor, the King’s surgeon, or a famous obstetrician, and with their support for the claim Mary’s hoax took root.

Now, I may not have fallen for any whoppers lately—to use Marvin Minsky’s description for unbelievable beliefs—like the Cottingley Fairy or the Rabbit Birth hoaxes, but I’ve been hoaxed more times than I care to remember (actually given the state of my memory, more times than I can hope to remember).

For example, I was once hoaxed by my online editor John Renish, who sent me a link to a Web site with the cryptic note “I do like the part about how women are different from men.” I looked at the Web site and it claims to be a report on the Fellowship Baptist Creation Science Fair 2001. I went right to the part about how women are different from men and found an essay that supposedly won second place in the Middle School Division called “Women Were Designed for Homemaking” by Jonathan Goode (grade 7):

—physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets;

—biology shows that women were designed to carry unborn babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing;

—social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay;

—and, exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a coworker.

Given other things I believe about fundamentalist creationists, it was not outside the bounds of credibility for me that some poor kid might actually believe this stuff and be encouraged to believe it by his elders.

The caption under the first-prize winner’s picture reads, “Patricia Lewis displays her jar of non-living material, still non-living after three weeks.”

Even the notion that such an experiment would be thought relevant to the belief that life doesn’t come from non-life isn’t that farfetched when you consider some of the other things some creationists teach their children.

But if you dig around a bit on the Web site, there are some giveaways that this site is an elaborate hoax, such as the advice to dress up like John the Baptist on Halloween and scare kids when they come trick-or-treating before sending them off with no candy and a Bible tract. Somebody (actually a man named Chris Harper) had gone to an awful lot of trouble to make fundamentalist Christians look very silly.

Being hoaxed by my editor reminded me that it is people you trust who can most easily mislead you, because you let your guard down and aren’t critical enough. If you’re trying to avoid being hoaxed, here’s lesson number one: Don’t trust people you trust!

Whoppers

I think it goes without saying that anybody can be hoaxed. Nobody is exempt. Even famous newscasters can be duped. Tom Brokaw and many others were hoaxed by David Rorvik in 1978 when Rorvik claimed he had proof of human cloning. Twenty-five years later we saw the same hoax perpetrated by the Raelian Bishop Brigitte Boisselier, who claimed a group she headed called Clonaid had cloned five humans and that proof would be forthcoming. (That’s proof, not truth, that would be forthcoming.) The leader of the group, Rael, was a race-car driver and sports journalist who was known as Claud Vorilhon until he was picked up by aliens near a volcano in France, taken to a planet in the Pleiades, and sent back to start a UFO cult. He says the cloning hoax was worth millions in publicity. Who could doubt him?

The idea of a human cloning is not as farfetched today as it was twenty-five years ago. Human cloning doesn’t deserve to be categorized in the whopper class of beliefs. The whoppers are ones we should recognize immediately as 99.99 percent likely to be hoaxes. The hoaxes I’m going to go over with you now I think are of the whopper variety.

For example, there’s the Indian Rope Trick. How could any rational person believe such a story, which, on its face, is as absurd as that of a woman giving birth to rabbits? This alleged trick involves an Indian fakir who throws a rope to the sky, but the rope does not fall back to the ground. Instead it mysteriously rises until the top of it disappears into thin air. A young boy climbs the unsupported rope, which miraculously supports him until he also disappears into thin air. The fakir then pulls out a knife and climbs the rope until he, too, disappears. Body parts fall from the sky into a basket next to the base of the rope. The fakir then slides down the rope, empties the basket, throws a cloth over the scattered body parts, and the boy miraculously reappears with all his parts in the right places. Thousands of people claim to have witnessed this trick that never happened.

Actually, the only thing needed for this trick is human gullibility. According to Peter Lamont, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh and a former president of the Magic Circle in Edinburgh, the Indian Rope Trick was a hoax played by the Chicago Tribune in 1890.

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Lamont claims the newspaper was trying to increase circulation by publishing this ridiculous story as if there were eyewitnesses to the event. The Tribune admitted the hoax some four months later, expressing some astonishment that so many people believed it was a true story. After all, they reasoned, the byline was “Fred S. Ellmore.” They hadn’t reckoned that their audience, many of whom believe in magicians with miraculous powers, wouldn’t find this story that hard to accept.

Our next hoax is about an event that really did happen in India. Ramar Pillai astounded the world when he announced that he could change water into diesel fuel. He claimed he had some magic herbs that, when added to boiling water, could produce a virtually pollution-free diesel fuel or kerosene for about twenty-three cents a gallon—not quite as impressive as Pons and Fleishmann’s cold-fusion claim, but impressive nonetheless. Pillai was promoted on the Internet as the new Isaac Newton. To produce his fuel, Pillai cooked leaves and bark from a special plant for about ten minutes in hot water. He stirred the mixture and let it cool down. The liquid fuel would float to the top and be separated by filtering. The entire process took less than thirty minutes.

His fuel was allegedly tested at the Indian Institute of Technology and was shown to be a pure hydrocarbon similar to kerosene and diesel fuel. Engineers conducted tests and concluded that the herbal fuel offered better fuel economy than gasoline. One scientist tried to explain the magic by offering the theory that atmospheric carbon dioxide might be sucked in during the reaction. The carbon dioxide combines with hydrogen liberated from water and forms the hydrocarbon fuel.

A better explanation seems to be that Pillai’s stirring stick is filled with fuel and when his mixture is heated up, a wax plug at the end of the stick melts, liberating the fuel. Pillai, it seems, was part of gang who hoped to trick people into buying fuel they’d stolen from Indian oil companies. Pillai was very convincing in his role as a peasant-genius. I remember reading one news account in which he described how he’d been kidnapped and tortured by a gang trying to wrest from him his secret recipe. He described how he’d been hung from a ceiling fan and burned with cigarettes. Poor fellow.

Cabrera’s Stones

Next, we go to Peru and Dr. Javier Cabrera’s stones. Dr. Cabrera gave up his medical practice in 1996 to open a museum for some stones he bought from a local farmer that depict stylized men who look like ancient Incas or Aztecs. What is unique about these stones is that they depict activities such as astronomy and surgery, indicating a very advanced civilization. Furthermore, there are also stones that are said to show extinct fish and humans riding dinosaurs. The stones are said to provide evidence that the ancient locals not only had an advanced civilization, but they lived at the time of the dinosaurs. The stones call into question just about everything science has taught us about the origin of our planet, ourselves, and other species. The farmer who sold Dr. Cabrera the stones at first claimed that he had found them in a cave, but later admitted that he made them himself to sell to tourists.

Even though this hoax was created for a tourist trade, there are three groups in particular who have endeavored to support the authenticity of the stones: (1) the followers of Erich von Däniken (author of Chariots of the Gods?) and those who believe that extraterrestrials are an intimate part of Earth’s “real” history and were the ones who brought advanced civilization to the ancient Indians; (2) fundamentalist creationists who drool at the thought of any possible error made by anthropologists, archaeologists, or evolutionary biologists, and who relish the thought of evidence that humans, dinosaurs, and extinct fish lived together a few thousand years ago; and (3) the mytho-historians, followers of Immanuel Velikovsky or Zecharia Sitchin who claim that ancient myths are accurate historical records to be understood literally.

Any rational person examining all the evidence should conclude that the probability is about zero that these stones are evidence of extraterrestrials or the validity of ancient myths or proof that men lived with dinosaurs. But if you already believe that extraterrestrials have been among us for millennia, and then you may well find the extraterrestrial account plausible or even probable. Likewise, if you believe that Earth is only a few thousand years old and are well-versed in Flintstone science, then the idea that these stones depict actual events may well be believable to you.

The Visions of Catalina Rivas

Catalina Rivas of Cochabamba, Bolivia, was a “fallen-away Catholic” until 1993, when she went to see a woman named Nancy Fowler. Fowler is from Conyers, Georgia, and for several years claimed that the Virgin Mary appeared to her on the thirteenth of each month (à la Fatima). Rivas claims she went to Conyers and had her first stigmatic experience there. You may have seen Rivas in the July 1999 Fox television special “Signs from God: Science Tests Faith.” A more apt title would have been: “Dollar Signs: Fox Tests Gullibility.” In that program, reporters Giselle Fernandez and Michael Willesee took viewers on an uncritical tour to “scientifically” examine weeping and bleeding statues, rose petals with “miraculous” images of Jesus and Mary, and the stigmata of Katya Rivas, among other things.

Rivas is hailed by her thousands of admirers as the spiritual mother of not one but two international religious movements, The Great Crusade of Love and Mercy and the Apostolate of the New Evangelization. In 1996, she claimed she was getting messages from God, not only in Spanish but also in Greek, Latin, and Polish. These allegedly divine messages were photocopied and sold at religious rallies. Her bishop, René Fernández Apaza, authenticated both her stigmata and her messages from God.

On June 22, 2001, I received an e-mail from a man named José H. Prado Flores, who told me that he was “a writer of books oriented to forming leaders in the Catholic Church.” Several years ago, he wrote, he had co-authored a book with Salvador Gómez called Formación de Pedicadores (“Training Preachers”) and that Katya Rivas had rewritten their book as “messages from Jesus ‘dictada a la sierva de Dios’ (‘dictated to God’s servant’).”

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He told me that when Rivas, “the famous ‘visionary and stigmatic’” was scheduled to appear at a religious rally in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Prado Flores lives, a friend showed him a set of books that were to be sold during the convention. “You can understand my total amazement,” he wrote, “when I put two and two together and figured out she was the same lady that had ‘stolen’ my book. We then went to the bishop of Guadalajara, Juan Cardenal Sandoval Iñiguez, who, after seeing our study on her material, immediately cancelled her participation.”

Why, you might wonder, would a Catholic author contact an atheist who is skeptical of all things miraculous about this matter? José had read my rather unflattering review of the Fox special, and said he wanted any information I might have that would help prove that Rivas “is a compulsive and professional liar.”

For over a year and a half, I exchanged e-mails with José and his wife Susan about Catalina Rivas. I obtained copies of his book and copies of her messages. I established that he and Salvador Gómez had written hundreds of pages that are nearly identical to the material being published by Rivas, and that the pair of Mexican authors had written some of the material at least sixteen years before Katya’s “messages.” My edition of Formación de Predicadores is dated 1992, four years before her messages, which have page after page of nearly verbatim plagiarizing.

To her followers who ask me how it is possible for a peasant woman with no formal education to write books in Spanish, Polish, Greek, and Latin, I say it is simple: she copies them. It seems obvious that she did it for her Spanish messages from Jesus, and I suspect that if the Bishop who authenticated her stigmata would have put a little more energy into authenticating her messages, he would find the same is true for her works in other languages as well.

Channeling Dr. Fritz

Another whopper began with Zé Arigó (1918—1971), a Brazilian faith healer who, in the early 1950s, claimed to channel the spirit and healing power of Dr. Adolf Fritz, a German doctor who allegedly died during World War I. Arigo developed quite a reputation as a faith healer and psychic surgeon, but his ploy seemed to have been aimed at directing business toward his brother, a pharmacist. He would write out illegible prescriptions for people that only his brother could read. People came from far and wide to be cured by Arigo. His reputation soared after it was alleged that he did a bit of psychic surgery and removed a cancerous tumor from the lung of a well-known Brazilian senator. For twenty years, Arigó’s fame spread as he “cured” and “operated” on thousands of people, including the daughter of Brazil’s president. Despite his fame, he was twice convicted of practicing medicine illegally.

Arigo performed his psychic surgery with a pocketknife and a heavy German accent, perhaps to misdirect people so they wouldn’t notice his lack of concern for medical hygiene.

Arigo died in a car crash in 1971, but Dr. Fritz didn’t go with him. He took over the body of another Brazilian healer who went by the name of Oscar Wilde. (I’m not making this up.) Wilde didn’t last too long before he, too, died a violent death. After that, a gynecologist from Recife, Dr. Edson Queiroz, claimed Dr. Fritz was his. The doctor, however, was stabbed to death in 1991.

The current channeler of Dr. Fritz is engineer Rubens Farias Jr., who heals the astral body with energy healing and does some psychic surgery with unconventional instruments such as scissors. Farias is also unique in that he claimed Dr. Fritz came to him in 1986, while Dr. Queiroz was still alive. I had to consult Thomas Aquinas to see whether it is possible for the same spirit to appear in two bodies simultaneously; it turns out spirits don’t occupy space so they can be everywhere at once. Anyway, despite the dual channeling and the fact that he has also been accused of practicing medicine without a license, Farias has endless lines of people with faith in miraculous cures waiting for a bit of his magic.

Exposing the Hoaxes

Some skeptics suggest that the best way to undermine such faith and enlighten people is to demonstrate how easy it is to fake the paranormal and the supernatural. I’m not so sure. I think we could expose dozens of fake healers, but it would not make it any easier to expose the next one who comes along because we wouldn’t be destroying the underlying belief system that is needed to make the faith healer plausible. I believe this partly due to what happened with a fake psychic and a fake channeler who were sent to Australia to enlighten the people.

In 1986, Mark Plummer, former president of the Australian Skeptics and former Executive Director of CSICOP, and Dick Smith, a patron of the Australian Skeptics, invited magician and mentalist Bob Steiner to come to Australia to perform as a psychic. Steiner often pretends he is an astrologer, tarot card reader, palm reader, or a psychic. After his performances he reveals that he is not psychic but uses trickery and deceit to fake paranormal powers.

For two weeks, Steiner hoaxed Australia as Steve Terbot. He appeared on television programs, gave performances at cultural centers, and in a very short time became a hit. He appeared on Tonight with Bert Newton (similar to The Tonight Show) three times and in his last appearance revealed the hoax, explaining that he used cold-reading techniques and other tricks to deceive people into thinking he was psychic. The purpose of the hoax was to “warn the people of Australia to beware of people claiming to be psychics.” Plummer and Smith had brought Steiner to Australia because of a fairly large influx of foreign psychics who were being welcomed and accepted with incredible credulity by the natives. They hoped that once the people saw how easy it is to fake being psychic, they would see the error of their ways.

Did it work? According to Steiner, it worked extremely well and effectively put an end to the influx of foreign psychics. Mark Plummer agreed. Here’s what he told me in a recent e-mail message when I asked him whether he thought the hoax did any good:

Yes. Before then Australia was regularly visited by “internationally known” psychics. Since then we have only had a couple. Also the organisers are terrified that if they promote someone that person will turn out to be a skeptic.

To put it in a wider international context: Before, there were skeptics groups in most countries [but] individuals had no easy way of checking up on the claims of “international psychics.” Once CSICOP could act as a central library and clearing house and the national skeptics groups started talking to each other it became much harder for such charlatans to operate internationally. Then, with the invention of the fax and the Internet, the exchange of skeptical information has become much easier.

Steiner also exposed a man named John Fitzsimons as a fraud, paving the way for a $64,000 judgment on behalf of one of Fitzsimons’ clients. Seventeen years later, however, I found Fitzsimons on the Internet. He runs a New Age group called Aspects in a small town outside of Melbourne. He leads discussions on topics such as past lives, karma, out-of-body experiences, spirit guides, prayer, healing, White Eagle (a channeled being), multiple personality disorder, mediumship, cults, night terrors, spiritualism, psychic readings, exorcism, Ouija, channeling, Seth, aliens, Atlantis, UFOs, and chronic fatigue syndrome. In short, Steiner was about as successful in putting away Mr. Fitzsimons as he and Randi were in putting away Peter Popoff, the faith healer they exposed as a fraud in 1986.

Speaking of the Amazing Randi, a tour of world hoaxes would not be complete without a discussion of the “Carlos” hoax. According to Randi, in 1988, channeling was the rage in Australia, and an Australian television program contacted him about finding someone who might go down under and pretend to be a channeler. The plan was similar to the Steve Terbot hoax. This time, José Alvarez would channel an ancient spirit he called Carlos. Alvarez would tour Australia, appear on TV, and appear in various venues, including the Sydney Opera House. At the end of a few weeks, the hoax would be revealed. Again, the purpose was to enlighten Australians by demonstrating how easy it is to fake channeling. Like Steiner, Alvarez was very convincing and he had a large following in a very short time. And, in the end, everything was revealed.

Did the hoax work? Was anybody enlightened? I was able to discuss this question at length with both Alvarez and Randi while at the JREF Amazing Meeting in February 2003. Both think the hoax accomplished its mission. In fact, Alvarez continues to take Carlos on the road in an effort to enlighten people with what he calls “performance art.”

What was most revealing about both the Steve Terbot and Carlos hoaxes was how the media didn’t bother to check their credentials or their claims about themselves. The media took it for granted they were who they said they were and did what they said they did. Looking to the media for protection against being hoaxed is probably an exercise in futility. So, here is valuable lesson number two: Don’t expect help from the mass media.

Nevertheless, I sought the opinion of someone in the Australian media and asked him if he thought there were any benefits or long-term effects of either the Steve Terbot or the Carlos hoaxes. I tried to contact Phillip Adams, a well known Australian journalist, writer, and media personality. Adams wasn’t directly involved with either hoax. In fact, he was writing scathing articles condemning the phony psychics plaguing the land during the time Bob Steiner was gathering his flock as psychic Steve Terbot. Adams was out in the bush or someplace where they don’t have e-mail when I tried to contact him, but his assistant, Amanda Bilson, got in touch with him and relayed this message:

. . . He asked me to pass on a couple of comments to you. First of all he wasn’t involved with the Randi/Terbot hoax[es] and is not convinced [they were] entirely successful. Perhaps the media learned to be a little more sceptical—but they soon returned to their old standards of gullibility. And many people blame the messenger for the message, turning their anger on the Sceptics rather than the charlatans. He thought [they were] great fun but, given the attention span of public and media alike, of little long term significance.

Recently, Michael Shermer, of the Skeptic Society, discovered the same thing: It’s easy to hoax people and its great fun, but rather than enlighten people, it seems that you just anger some of them. Shermer used the cold-reading techniques described by Ian Rowland in his book The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading and pretended to be a tarot card reader, a palmist, an astrologer, a psychic, and a medium who could get messages from the dead. He did this on camera with five strangers who did not know who he was or what he was doing. He seems to have been pretty successful in convincing his clients of his paranormal powers. However, when he revealed to them that the whole thing was a hoax, two were so upset that they refused to sign a release to use the material in the show he was filming. Three of his subjects were college students who seemed less concerned about being duped than in finding out when they would be on TV. If any of them thanked Shermer for helping them see the truth about the paranormal, he didn’t mention it.

So what can we learn from all this? Well, it’s pretty easy to hoax people. Pascal is right: We want to be deceived, and that makes it easy to hoax us. Also, many of us already have beliefs that make us vulnerable to being hoaxed about certain kinds of things. Furthermore, most of us enjoy being deceived by a good magician or by someone pulling off a non-malicious prank or hoax.

But we don’t always want to be deceived. We don’t want to be made to look like idiots or be led into believing something foolish. Nor do we ever wish to be defrauded. And most of us don’t like that uncomfortable feeling that rises in us when we’re not sure whether we’re being hoaxed. We know some hoaxes are benevolent and pleasant, while others are malicious and unpleasant. Ideally, we’d like a surefire way to tell the difference so we’d never be hoaxed against our will.

That’s why I wrote the book Don’t Get Hoaxed, in which I explain such things as the hoax-prone personality: the person who is trusting and honest; attracted to attractive people; believes the believable and the unbelievable; and lacks a good understanding of confirmation bias and cold-reading techniques.

I also reveal that if you map out the locations of the world’s greatest hoaxes, you will find that they lay along ley lines that, when connected by a line to the north star at the vernal equinox, form a pyramid with the exact proportions as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Trust me, I teach ethics.

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References

—Carroll, Robert Todd. 2003. The Skeptic’s Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Also online at http://www.skepdic.com

—Levine, Robert. 2003. The Power of Persuasion: How we’re Bought and Sold. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

—Pickover, Clifford A. 2000. The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: A True Medical Mystery. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books.

—Polidoro, Massimo. 2002. Ica stones: Yabba-dabba do! Skeptical Inquirer 26(5): September/October.

—Randi, James. 1989. The Faith Healers. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books.

————. 1982. Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books.

—Rowland, Ian. 2002. The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading. 3rd ed. London: Ian Rowland Limited.

—Shermer, Michael. 2003. Psychic for a day, or how I learned tarot cards, palm reading, astrology, and mediumship in 24 hours. Skeptic 10(1): 48—55.

—Stein, Gordon. 1995. Hoaxes!: Dupes, Dodges & Other Dastardly Deceptions. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press.

—Steiner, Robert A. 1989. Don’t Get Taken!—Bunco and Bunkum Exposed: How to Protect Yourself. El Cerito, California: Wide-Awake Books.

—http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/041102/biz_UE0007-0.shtml (“Woman gives birth to rabbits! Or so they said…” by Michael Woods, The Augusta Chronicle, April 11, 2002).

—http://home.vicnet.net.au/~johnf/biogjfit.htm (John Fitzsimons).

Robert Carroll is co-chairman of the Philosophy Department at Sacramento City College in California and creator of the skeptical Web site www.skepdic.com and author of the book The Skeptic’s Dictionary. This article is based on his talk at the CSICOP conference on “Hoaxes, Myths, and Manias,” Albuquerque, New Mexico, Oct. 23—26, 2003.

Claims of Private Revelation: True or False?
An Evaluation of the messages of Catalina Rivas

http://www.catholicplanet.com/apparitions/false54.htm

By Ronald L. Conte Jr., February 8, 2008

In my humble and pious opinion as a faithful Roman Catholic theologian, the messages and claimed private revelation to Catalina Rivas, a.k.a. Katya or Catia, (http://www.greatcrusade.org) are false and are not from Heaven. A list of reasons and examples follows.

1. Association with other false prophets
The messages portray Jesus as implying that Nancy Fowler and Vassula Ryden* are true prophets.

“However, I give some of My children, owing to the nature of the responsibility that I give them, another type of life. I want to talk to you about this. My Love has let you meet Nancy Fowler and Fr. Stefano Gobbi and allowed you to receive many videos and books from other people who were chosen in this era of the salvation of a planet that is sinking into the abyss of sin, of the rejection of God.” http://www.pdtsigns.com/katyaongobbi.html

The implication is the Nancy Fowler is chosen by God and that her messages are true. But there are many reasons to believe that the claimed private revelation to Nancy Fowler is false. See my article on the subject:
http://www.catholicplanet.com/apparitions/false53.htm

After seeing a videotape of Vassula Ryden*, Catalina received the following message, supposedly from Jesus:

“She is the messenger of My Peace, you are the messenger of My Love.” 9-Jan-96

However, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has repeatedly condemned Vassula Ryden‘s* messages. See number 13 on this page: http://www.catholicplanet.com/apparitions/index.htm

*At this ministry’s web site, there are over 60 reports and articles exposing Vassula Ryden as a false mystic –Michael

2. Worldly language and ideas
Jesus is repeatedly portrayed as speaking in a worldly manner, not in a heavenly manner, and not at all like the manner of speaking so clearly presented, in many passages, in all four Gospels of the New Testament.
For example, ‘Jesus’ refers to Catalina as “my cucarachita,” which means “my little cockroach.” Jesus uses worldly expressions, such as: “Do not cry over spilt milk.”
The messages repeatedly claim that Jesus is asking for prayers for the former USSR, which no longer exists:

“My daughter, much beloved, today I want your prayers for the conversion of the former USSR… Yes, you heard correctly, for the former USSR.”

Again, a worldly expression is used: ‘you heard correctly.’ In the following quote, Jesus is portrayed as complaining in a worldly manner, as pressuring people to join Catalina’s group, and as if he is frustrated and powerless himself.

“It is each one’s decision to belong to this group or to ruminate over the frustration of having failed Me in the things that are truly important to Me… It is very sad to see every instant on earth that indeed the commandment of love of neighbor is destroyed by selfishness, envy, hatred, division and, in this way, the dignity of God’s creatures is crushed by the anvil of interior slavery, which makes them victims of disorderly passions” (from Catalina’s book called ‘Divine Providence,’ chap. 2)

The emphasis in the quote above is love being destroyed by evil and on God’s creatures being crushed by interior slavery and disorderly passions. These are the words of fallen angels, not the words of Jesus who is Love. Jesus does not give messages describing love and God’s creatures being destroyed and crushed by what is evil.

“The responsibility that I place in the hands of My chosen ones implies an enormous quota of persecutions, suffering and bitterness.”
“In the majority of cases, I and My Word have been the nucleus…. In some cases the group has grown and therefore, strengthened its work; widened its radius of action. They have won over more and more souls for Me until they have joined together with another group of chosen ones….”

Language such as ‘the nucleus’ and ‘the radius of action’ and ‘an enormous quota’ are worldly terms, which are fine for us here on earth, but which are not befitting of the Savior of the world in Heaven.

3. A different message from the true Gospel
Notice that the messages quoted above speak as if Jesus were distinct from the Word of God, saying “I and My Word,” as if Jesus were not the Word of God. They also speak as if the various claimed visionaries, such as Vassula and Catalina and Fowler, were “chosen ones,” who will reform the world apart from the Church.
More generally, these messages present the future as if the only salvation were from these visionaries, not from the Pope and the body of the Bishops, with the priests and religious and the whole laity. This gospel of Catalina is offering salvation from claimed private revelation, rather than from the Church established by Christ. This is a common characteristic of false private revelations; the idea is presented that truth and salvation are not found in Tradition, Scripture, Magisterium, but in the messages of various visionaries. Such an idea is fundamentally contrary to the Catholic Faith itself. The Faith teaches that there is no salvation outside of the universal Church. But these messages say otherwise:

“The mission of certain angelic spirits is to plant the seed of wisdom in the new nations, according to the divine plans. And once men assimilate them and their intelligence is opened to all teaching and research, they are left at the mercy of their own strength without them noticing the absence of such spirits.”

The above message even goes so far as to claim that angels have been sent to give some new wisdom to the world (some type of truth not found in Tradition and Scripture and in the teachings of the Magisterium). This claim to present a Divine Revelation outside of Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture is contrary to the teaching of the Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “…no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the ages, there have been so-called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation…. [The] Christian faith cannot accept ‘revelations’ that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment…” (CCC, n. 66-67).

4. The false claim that the Antichrist is in the world today

“He [The Antichrist] lives hidden; it is as if everything were only eyes that look at the world; mouth that speaks words that confuse and seduce the minds of man, causing them to rush to their perdition.”
“In his pride, his heart full of hatred, he will carry through the most monstrous action, throwing himself towards where the Pope is, trying to raise himself.” 11-Jan-96

This claim, that the Antichrist is in the world today, is found only among the many false private revelations. None of the true private revelations have taught such an idea. Furthermore, Sacred Scripture and the writings of the Saints make it clear that now is not the time of the Antichrist. See my article, ‘The Antichrist is NOT in the World Today’:
http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/antichrist-timeline.htm

5. The false claim that Jesus will return for this generation

“I am about to return to you who love Me and I will return, no longer hidden, but obvious and glorious.” 18-Jan-96
“Wait attentively for My Return.” 23-Jan-96

Again, this is common claim among the false private revelations, many of which also teach abject heresy. But the same claim is not found among any of the true private revelations. Also, the same article cited above also gives good reasons, based on Sacred Scripture and the writings of the Saints, why Christ will not return until several more generations have passed by. http://www.catholicplanet.com/future/antichrist-timeline.htm

6. False teaching about angels

“I shall tell you where these angels come from. When the battle in Heaven broke out, there was a certain number of undecided angels who at the last moment united and fought against Lucifer. Those separated angels were judged by God and are in a special place so that, in carrying out the mission for which they were created, may again possess Heaven at the end of time. However, when their help is needed, they hear the divine mandate and go forth to the place to which they are sent and they fulfill their mission. They do not lead to evil. They have been judged and their state is similar to those souls that are purifying themselves in Purgatory, in order to be able to go to God and enjoy Him.” 10-Jan-96

This teaching is false for a number of reasons. A holy angel cannot be undecided in a battle between good and evil. Angels are not like human beings; they cannot have both sin and virtue in the same person. Angels are simple beings and are either entirely sinless holy angels, or fallen angels who are evil and are without any grace at all. There is no Purgatory for angels, nor anything similar. Once an angel falls from grace, thereby becoming a devil, he cannot repent. Due to the simplicity of nature of angels, they are either entirely good or entirely evil. Those who are evil are obstinate in evil, as St. Thomas taught in the Summa Theologica, I, Q. 64, 2. Therefore, it cannot be true that some holy angels were undecided about whether or not to fight against evil angels, nor that some holy angels sinned, but were given a kind of penance to regain heaven, nor that fallen angels can repent at all, nor that there is some state like that of Purgatory for repentant angels.

7. False teaching about Mary’s role as intercessor

“Before her entry into Heaven, your mediator, the most valid intercessor after Me, was missing but, since then, you have to your advantage, the most powerful and most affectionate Mother.” 11-Jan-96

This teaching is false because Heaven is beyond Time. Mary in Heaven is able to be an intercessor throughout all of Creation and throughout all of Time, because she dwells now with God who is Eternal. Therefore, the claim in this alleged message from Jesus cannot be true. Mary was never missing as an intercessor, not in the time prior to her entrance into Heaven, not even in the time prior to her Immaculate Conception. For the Queen of Heaven is now beyond time and place.

Conclusion
The claimed private revelations to Catalina Rivas resemble the other false private revelations, contain serious doctrinal errors, contain the false claim that the Antichrist is in the world today and that Jesus will return for this generation, and are therefore not in harmony with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus it is my conclusion that these messages are not from Jesus or Mary, are not from God or Heaven at all, and are an example of false private revelation.

http://heresy-hunter.blogspot.in/2009/09/blessed-virgin-mary-underreported.html
EXTRACT

Medjugorje, Garabandal, Bayside, Vassula, Maria Simma and Catalina Rivas are all false apparitions that support each other. For example, Vassula’s [false] Jesus will mention that Mary just appeared in Garabandal. Catalina’s [false] Jesus will mention that Vassula is a true prophet. Maria Simma will mention in her book that both Medjugorje and Garabandal are true apparitions. Now what do all of these in common? EVERY SINGLE one of them believe that communion in the hand is a mortal sin! What else do all of these have in common? EVERY SINGLE one is disobedient to the Church!

Immutable deception: Handlers develop rift with Virgin visionary

http://onlineathens.com/stories/090599/new_0905990011.shtml

By James Pilcher, Associated Press, September 5, 1999

CONYERS — The tour bus brakes squeal to a stop, the door hisses open and the sightseers from as far as Louisiana, Mexico and Canada tumble out, hoping for a dose of the mysticism that supposedly surrounds this tranquil farm in Rockdale County. But recently, pilgrims hoping to visit the woman who claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary have been told Nancy Fowler is not taking visitors and has fenced off her house adjacent to ”Holy Hill.”

Fowler denies this. She says it’s just another falsehood from her one-time partners, a couple she is now feuding with. Bob and Bernice Hughes originally created a non-profit organization to support Fowler’s messages and handle the yearly invasion of the farm during each of Fowler’s visions.

And the rift has gone beyond the barbed wire around the house. A suit by Fowler’s chronicler George Collins against Our Loving Mother’s Children Inc. and the Hughes over publishing control of Fowler’s messages has reached federal court. Fowler is planning to file a suit of her own against the Hughes, whose retirement fund owns the land surrounding Fowler’s house and leases it back to OLMC.

”They are trying to turn what I’ve been blessed with into a commercial enterprise,” says Fowler, a 51-year-old former nurse who says she’s been having the visions since the mid-80s. ”And they are trying to put God on the table as a commodity subject to the rules of supply and demand, and take my ministry in a direction that is not pure.”

Fowler wants to recoup the nearly $3 million in donations and book proceeds OLMC has collected since its inception in 1991 — with a possibility of returning the donations to the donors. Some donations were as large as $100,000.

”Our objection is that they are taking assets from a trust and going in a direction that Ms. Fowler does not agree with,” says James Carter, a Madison-based lawyer representing both Fowler and Collins. ”Not only do they not have a legal right to do this, but they don’t have a moral right.”

Fowler says that soon after what she says was her final vision of Mary last October — an event that drew more than 300,000 to her farmhouse — the Hughes began working with Catalina Rivas, a Bolivian woman who claims to have visions of Jesus Christ. She also claims to have experienced stigmata, or spontaneous bleeding from the palms, while visiting the ”Holy Hill” in Conyers, about 35 miles east of Atlanta. Fowler says she has never believed Rivas was genuine, and has doubts about why the Hughes’ have started following her.

”It just makes me think they want to keep the commercialization going even more,” Fowler says.

The Hughes referred all questions to their Atlanta lawyer Michael Powell, who says that Fowler supported Rivas’ claims until recently.

”They didn’t just dream up this ‘new direction,”’ says Powell. ”There are substantial connections between these two until Ms. Fowler and Mr. Collins decided they didn’t like Bolivia anymore.”

Hughes, a businessman from North Carolina, says in an affidavit that he and his wife have only had the best interests of Fowler at heart, and that the purchase of the land around Fowler’s farm was only done to accommodate the increasing number of visitors.

He also says he has personally donated nearly $1 million in cash and property to OLMC since he helped create it. He and his wife have been directors of the organization since its inception.

But Fowler objects to the solicitation of donations all over the farm and on the organization’s Web site, saying that shouldn’t be the goal of a place of prayer. She says she’s removed five collection boxes from her property.

14.

“The pilgrims who come are told they have to stay on the Hughes’ property, almost held captive,” says Fowler. “Maybe it’s because they have a bookstore there for things to buy and a lot more collection boxes.” A divorced mother of a 14-year-old son, Fowler claims not to have taken any money from the donations, surviving only on what she calls “the generosity of friends.”

She says she still has a mission and a ministry, and still receives visions. The Roman Catholic Church has not ruled on the authenticity of either Fowler’s or Rivas’ visions.

“I have been chosen to bear witness to the living son of God, and I don’t see that changing at all,” Fowler says. “But with everything that’s been going on, it’s been hard to continue, and that’s the truly sad thing.”

Document 1 – The Plagiarism of Catalina Rivas

http://www.skepdic.com/rivasdocuments.html

Document 2 – The Plagiarism of Catalina Rivas

http://skepdic.com/rivasdocuments2.html

Comparison of two typical pages from Renovacion Evangelica (Evangelical Revival) allegedly dictated to the alleged stigmatic Catalina Rivas by Jesus Himself in 1996 to Formacion de Predicadores (Training Preachers) by José Prado Flores and Salvador Gómez of Guadalajara, Mexico, taken from the 1992 edition.

Nearly every page of Renovacion Evangelica can be found to correspond to nearly identical pages of Formacion de Predicadores.

15.

See

NORMS REGARDING THE MANNER OF PROCEEDING IN THE DISCERNMENT OF PRESUMED APPARITIONS OR REVELATIONS
PAUL VI/CDF FEBRUARY 25, 1978 & DECEMBER 14, 2011

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NORMS_REGARDING_THE_MANNER_OF_PROCEEDING_IN_THE_DISCERNMENT_OF_PRESUMED_APPARITIONS_OR_REVELATIONS.doc

NORMS REGARDING THE MANNER OF PROCEEDING IN THE DISCERNMENT OF PRESUMED APPARITIONS OR REVELATIONS 02
CDF MAY 29, 2012

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NORMS_REGARDING_THE_MANNER_OF_PROCEEDING_IN_THE_DISCERNMENT_OF_PRESUMED_APPARITIONS_OR_REVELATIONS_02.doc

19.

MARIAN APPARITIONS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MARIAN_APPARITIONS.doc

PRIVATE REVELATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/PRIVATE_REVELATION.doc

PRIVATE_REVELATION-CRITERIA_FOR_DISCERNMENT-RICHARD_SALBATO

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/PRIVATE_REVELATION-CRITERIA_FOR_DISCERNMENT-RICHARD_SALBATO.doc

PRIVATE REVELATION-RULES FOR DISCERNMENT OF PHENOMENA-FR FELIX BOURDIER

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/PRIVATE_REVELATION-RULES_FOR_DISCERNMENT_OF_PHENOMENA-FR_FELIX_BOURDIER.doc

CARDINAL IVAN DIAS PROMOTES CONTROVERSIAL MARIAN APPARITIONS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/CARDINAL_IVAN_DIAS_PROMOTES_CONTROVERSIAL_MARIAN_APPARITIONS.doc

AKITA, JAPAN-ARE THE SUPERNATURAL EVENTS GENUINE?

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/AKITA-JAPAN-ARE_THE_SUPERNATURAL_EVENTS_GENUINE.doc

CHRISTINA GALLAGHER-THE HOUSE OF PRAYER

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/CHRISTINA_GALLAGHER-THE_HOUSE_OF_PRAYER.doc

FALSE PRIVATE REVELATION OF MICHAEL DIBITETTO – RON SMITH

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FALSE_PRIVATE_REVELATION_OF_MICHAEL_DIBITETTO-RON_SMITH.doc

FR STEFANO GOBBI-MARIAN MOVEMENT OF PRIESTS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FR_STEFANO_GOBBI-MARIAN_MOVEMENT_OF_PRIESTS.doc

GARABANDAL

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/GARABANDAL.doc

JULIA KIM-MARYS ARK OF SALVATION

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/JULIA KIM-MARYS ARK OF SALVATION.doc

MARIA DIVINE MERCY-THE WARNING SECOND COMING AND THE BOOK OF TRUTH

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MARIA_DIVINE_MERCY- THE_WARNING_SECOND_COMING_AND_THE_BOOK_OF_TRUTH.doc

MARIA SIMMA-GET US OUT OF HERE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MARIA_SIMMA-GET_US_OUT_OF_HERE.doc

MARIA VALTORTA-POEM OF THE MAN-GOD

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MARIA_VALTORTA-POEM_OF_THE_MAN-GOD.doc

MAUREEN SWEENEY-HOLY LOVE MINISTRIES

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MAUREEN_SWEENEY-HOLY_LOVE_MINISTRIES.doc

MEDJUGORJE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MEDJUGORJE.doc

MEDJUGORJE-CAREY WINTERS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MEDJUGORJE-CAREY_WINTERS.doc

MEDJUGORJE-JOHN LOUGHMAN

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/MEDJUGORJE-JOHN_LOUGHMAN.doc

PATRICIA DE MENEZES-THE COMMUNITY OF DIVINE INNOCENCE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/PATRICIA_DE_MENEZES-THE_COMMUNITY_OF_DIVINE_INNOCENCE.doc

QUO VADIS PAPA FRANCISCO 02-MEDJUGORJE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/QUO_VADIS_PAPA_FRANCISCO_02-MEDJUGORJE.doc

VERONICA LUEKEN-OUR LADY OF THE ROSES

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VERONICA_LUEKEN-OUR_LADY_OF_THE_ROSES.doc

20.

JUNE 30, 2013

Yoga is a compulsory subject for students of a Catholic college in the Archdiocese of Bombay; Brahmakumaris are their gurus

Over the years, I have received a number of letters from priests, Indian as well as non-Indian, who condemn the Hindu/New Age spiritual discipline of yoga which is endemic in the Indian Church, promoted openly and aggressively by Catholic media, Catholic institutions, priests, bishops and even Cardinals in open defiance of the Catechism [Youth Catechism, YouCat] as well as two Vatican documents published fourteen years apart.

These letters from priests as well as scores of articles written by eminent Catholics have been published in a number of reports and articles at the ministry’s web site [a list is provided at the bottom of this report].

Another compilation of hundreds of more-recent articles exposing the spiritual dangers of any form of yoga is being prepared for release.

What then was the need for me to prepare this intermediate report? There were three reasons.

I. I learnt that a Catholic college in Bombay archdiocese has made yoga compulsory for its students, giving no provision for conscientious and faithful Catholic objectors to opt for an alternative activity and thus avoid exposure to the Hindu spiritual discipline. They are also subject to indoctrination by the Brahmakumaris.

II. I received a letter from a priest forwarding a recent article written by prominent anti-New Age crusader Susan Brinkmann citing a senior Orthodox Church cleric who, in an official Encyclical, declares unequivocally that yoga as an exercise cannot be separated from its Hindu “religious content and background“.

III. One Prakash Lasrado wrote several letters to around 100 people including the Bombay Cardinal and the bishops of Bombay, the Pro Nuncio and me almost two months ago denouncing my Church-supported stand that yoga may not be practised by Catholics and instead insisting that “yoga minus Hindu philosophy/theology” [as if there is such a thing] is wholly acceptable and beneficial.

In the following pages, I reproduce the relevant information against the above three sections, along with my comments.

I. St Francis Institute of Management and Research (SFIMAR), Affiliated to the University of Mumbai

http://www.indiancolleges.com/colleges/overview/Mumbai/St-Francis-Institute-of-Management-and-Research/5767:

St Francis Institute of Management & Research (SFIMAR) was established in 2002 by the Society of the Congregation of Franciscan Brothers. [The Institute is AICTE-approved –Michael]

http://www.sfimar.org/ex%20cocurricular.php:

Stress Management & Physical Fitness

SFIMAR ensures that its students are fit enough to fight the challenges they face. Students are provided enough opportunities to build on their physical fitness and embark on the healthier path. Aerobics, Yoga & Meditation are also dedicatedly followed in campus. Also Stress Management sessions by the Brahmakumaris* are conducted regularly at SFIMAR. *See page 14

Some of the staff are compromised, experience in yoga being boasted of among their “qualifications”:

http://www.sfitengg.org/fe_activities_in.php
EXTRACT

Ms. S. Michael Ammal

One day Workshop on “Yoga and stress management” on 4th July 2005 at St. Francis Institute of Technology (Engineering College)

Practice sessions in “Yoga for Teachers” from September 2002 to November 2002

Ms. Rekha Ajikumar

One day seminar on Stress Management and Yoga Meditation on 3rd July 2005 conducted by Dr. Weiling

Ms. Beatrice Lobo

One day workshop on “Stress Management & Yoga”, June 2005, by Dr. Welling at St. Francis Institute of Technology

Ms. Rohini Malhotra

A Short Term (2 months) Yoga Course conducted by Vidya Niketan from June 2003 to August 2003 at St Xavier’s Institute of Education.

1.

http://www.sfimar.org/Copy%20of%20COMPLIANCE%202009-10/Annex%20E2-%20III-%20GOVERNANCE.doc:

Non academic activities: Such as yoga, meditation, outdoor training camps, competition, inter-collegiate activities, industry-institute interaction Seminar, co-curricular activities for Total Personality Development.

An extract from the book of Rules and Regulations of St Francis Institute of Management and Research:

Student activities

As it is the objective of the Institute to focus on the total development of students […] participation in yoga and meditation classes is essential for excellence in holistic health* – physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual integrity, character etc. Yoga and meditation classes will be scheduled as regular classes. Attendance and punctuality in these classes is compulsory. A student absenting from yoga/meditation class on any day will be marked and treated as absent for the whole day from college as well as liable to pay a specified fine for each day of absence from yoga/ meditation. Besides, students whose attendance at these classes is below 75% will be liable for discontinuation from the Master of Management Studies program. […] In case of persistent absence, students will not be permitted to write the exams. *See further below

MY COMMENTS

Yoga, a Hindu spiritual discipline has been thrust compulsorily on the students of a Catholic college. Muslims and Catholics who want to pursue their Masters degrees in management are compelled to participate in yoga and meditation under threat of being disallowed to write their examinations or of being evicted from the academic programme. In case a Catholic student does not wish to compromise the integrity of his Catholic Faith and his eternal salvation, the Institute offers no safe alternative to Hindu yoga and meditation.

I know of a Catholic college in Chennai where attendance has been taken and the students given marks for attending on-campus Reiki healing sessions as an extra-curricular activity. Several years ago, I had successfully campaigned for the termination of the monthly full-moon night pranic healing occult sessions at the same college, Stella Maris College run by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Most Catholic educational institutions in Chennai now have one or the other form of New Age activity — from yoga to martial arts to a holistic healing centre. It is tragic that our children’s custodians are the very ones who are delivering them to the wolves, aided and abetted by our abysmal ignorance of the spiritual dangers involved in these dark arts, and by our silence.

Based on my findings about the St Francis Institute of Management and Research, I have now begun to wonder what the position is at other Catholic colleges and schools in the archdiocese of Bombay.

Does the responsibility not rest squarely with Cardinal Oswald Gracias, the archbishop of Bombay, and President of both the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India [CBCI] and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India [CCBI], for permitting our educational institutions to infuse and re-program our children with the occult, the New Age and the philosophies of pre-Christian religions?

*To illustrate that the problem of the St Francis Institute of Management and Research‘s concern “for excellence in holistic health” is NEW AGE, let me cite the February 3, 2003, Vatican document titled
Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life. A Christian Reflection on the ‘New Age’:

The real danger is the
holistic
paradigm.
New Age is based on totalitarian
unity and that is why it is a danger … Holistic health, as it is known, concentrates on the important role that the mind plays in physical healing. The connection between the spiritual and the physical aspects of the person is said to be in the immune system or the Indian chakra system** … There is a remarkable variety of approaches for promoting holistic health, some derived from ancient cultural traditions … Advertising connected with New Age covers a wide range of practices as … meditation [#2.2.3]

One of the central concerns of the New Age movement is the search for “wholeness” … Holism pervades the New Age movement, from its concern with holistic health… [#2.2.4] **The yoga system is all about chakras -Michael

Yoga, Zen, transcendental meditation and tantric exercises lead to an experience of self-fulfilment or enlightenment. [#2.3.4.1]

[I]t is important to discover and recognise the fundamental characteristics of New Age ideas. What is offered is often described as simply “spiritual”, rather than belonging to any religion, but there are much closer links to particular Eastern religions than many “consumers” realise … it is also a real question for management in a growing number of companies, whose employees are required to practise meditation and adopt mind-expanding techniques as part of their life at work.
[#2.5]

If one examines the red-highlighted words in the Vatican Document, and compares them with the extracts from the St Francis Institute of Management and Research‘s web site and brochure, one cannot fail to see that the Document classifies the Institute’s “focus on the total development of students, participation in yoga and meditation classes” as NEW AGE. My articles on yoga reveal that yoga is not a set of physical exercises but a Hindu
spiritual meditation system. The same Vatican Document suggests the genuine alternative to yoga:

Perhaps the simplest, the most obvious and the most urgent measure to be taken, which might also be the most effective, would be to make the most of the riches of the Christian spiritual heritage. The great religious orders have strong traditions of meditation and spirituality, which could be made more available through courses or periods in which their houses might welcome genuine seekers.
[#6.2]

2.

IIa. A letter from a priest in Rome:

From:
Fr Justo Lofeudo
To:
Prabhu
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 10:58 PM

Dear Michael,

In a few minutes from now, I will celebrate Mass and you and your family will be present. This is the time, time of great confusion created by Satan, that the Church needs apologists like you. And not only prophets who proclaim the Gospel but who denounce the error and evil that surrounds us. I often see that when touched issues like false seers such as Catalina Rivas or Vassula
Ryden, I’m attacked. Same with yoga, which in the West, as you very well know, is being considered as a gym (!) Or homeopathy. We are in spiritual battle and we need to speak up and also to pray and pray. I pray for you, you pray for me and my Perpetual Adoration’s mission. I bless you and your family.

P. Justo Antonio Lofeudo MSE, Rome

IIb. A letter from an Indian priest

From:
Fr Name Withheld Sent: Friday, June 28, 2013, 11:38 AM Subject: Orthodox Church Issues Warning on Yoga
Dear Friends,

I have been trying to tell you the dangers of Yoga and now the Orthodox Church is saying it in very plain words.

Not that the Roman Catholic Church is ignorant about the same. She has made the concern known, but many priests quote all possible documents they can find and think it quite fashionable to be “Eastern or Authentically Indian” without counting the cost of what they are getting into. Just by doing Yoga doesn’t make one an Indian – one ought to know this much at least. Do read it carefully and let your near and dear ones know about the same too.

In case you still have doubts just email me your thoughts – with prayers and a dialogue let’s resolve the same.  But please say NO to Yoga.

Fr Name Withheld, Religious Order, India

Orthodox Church Issues Warning on Yoga

http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=22376

By Susan Brinkmann, June 24, 2013

Editorial Note: The Metropolis of Chios, Psara and Oinouses, is within the jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople which is headed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Archbishop of Constantinople, not Pope Francis.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos, http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/06/a-statement-on-christians-who-practice.html

An encyclical was issued on June 4, 2013 by Metropolitan Markos of Chios on Christians who practice Yoga and whether or not it is merely a physical exercise. In this encyclical he explains that the Hindu religious practice of yoga was established for the sole purpose of entering into a spiritual state, and never had anything to do with exercise until a few decades ago when Hindu yogis explained it this way when they were trying to win converts in the West.

Because he makes some very interesting points, I am publishing the full text of the encyclical on this blog:

Encyclical 14: Is Yoga Exercise?

To the Sacred Clergy and Pious People of our Sacred Metropolis,

My brethren,

A key feature of our time is the confusion observed in various aspects of human life. A characteristic example of this spiritual and existential confusion is the fact that yoga is fundamentally a religious technique of Hinduism, advertised in our country, in Europe and in the United States as an exercise-fitness solution which is offered to release us from the numerous problems stemming from a stressful lifestyle.

But what is yoga? The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj which means to “unite”, meaning the union of the individual soul with the impersonal Absolute One of Hinduism (see P. Schreiner, Yoga: Wörterbuch des Christen-tums, 1995, p. 1376). This union is considered a liberation and redemption of mankind from karma, that is, from the consequences that result from our choices and actions in supposedly previous lives.

Moreover, concerning the term yoga, we must stress that it is used as a qualifying term of one of the six classical orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy (see H. Baer, “Yoga”, in the Lexikon der Sekten, Sohdergruppen und Weltanschauungen, 7^th Ed, 2001, pp. 1166-1174).

But is yoga exercise? Can one isolate the practical exercise from its religious content and background? Can one ignore the purpose for which it is used? Unquestionably no.

3.

And what about the claim of various centers, institutes, schools, groups, journals and gyms, that present it as lacking a religious nature, alleging it to be a “scientific” psychosomatic practice, or a practice for a simple existence and spiritual self-knowledge? Without doubt these assertions are inaccurate. They oftentimes misinform and confuse using an extremely attractive vocabulary (see R. Hauth, (Hrsg), Kompaktlexikon Religionen, 1998, p. 366).

On the contrary, yoga is a religious systematic theory, technique and method that evolves in stages and practices, one of which is meditation, which leads those who use it, with the guidance of a teacher (guru), to a singular life joined to the impersonal Absolute of Hinduism. In this way a person is redeemed and atones for the errors and mistakes made during the source of all supposedly previous incarnations.

From the above, therefore, we observe that the view of yoga simply as an exercise is incorrect. And this 1) because it is a fundamental feature of the Hindu system, 2) it cannot be stripped of its religious character according to the conditions of the content and purpose of exercise, 3) it is intrinsically linked to the anti-Christian concept of reincarnation, and 4) because it constitutes a humanistic effort towards redemption through techniques and exercises.

Why are the various techniques of yoga dangerous? The answer is given to us in an article on yoga from an authoritative encyclopedia Δο¬μή. It says there: “It is known that the practice of yoga creates for the individual not entirely physiological properties – and parapsychological – because it reverses certain physical and mental functioning” (Δο¬μή, vol. 4, p. 199).

To conclude this brief offering of ours on whether or not yoga is exercise, we must again remind all of the obvious. The value of our identity as Orthodox Christians is incompatible with the use of Hindu religious practices in any aspect of our lives.

The salvation of man which is freely housed within the Church is the work and offering of the love and grace of our Christ. For us does Paul say with all gravity: “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:26-27), and: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14-15).  

With warm fatherly prayers,  

The Metropolitan of Chios, Psara and Oinouses, Markos

MY COMMENTS

The publishing of the above Encyclical by the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church is in stark contrast to the October/November 2012 CBCI-published
message of Cardinal Oswald Gracias:
“Through the prescribed postures and exercises [of yoga] one improves one’s all round sense of well being and is able to enter into oneself so as to commune better with god.“

It is not surprising that the lower case ‘g’ is used for ‘god’.

In my February 25, 2013 letter to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, I had written, “In case you know of some aspects of yogic meditation — it is NOT a system of physical exercises – which are beneficial to Catholics, please let me know so that I can publish it on my web site in a forthcoming report for the benefit of Catholics worldwide.“

Cardinal Oswald Gracias replied five weeks later, on April 5. His letter, evasive as usual, did not address my question and, most significantly, did not even use the word “yoga”. The subject line of my letter was “YOUR ENDORSEMENT OF YOGA” while the Cardinal’s was “Reply“. See

CARDINAL OSWALD GRACIAS ENDORSES YOGA FOR CATHOLICS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/CARDINAL_OSWALD_GRACIAS_ENDORSES_YOGA_FOR_CATHOLICS.doc

In preparation for section III and my comments debunking Prakash Lasrado‘s claims and attacks on this ministry’s stand — and the Catholic Church’s position — on yoga, I reproduce two more articles from John Sanidopoulos’ blog:

The Georgian Church and the Growing Interest in Yoga

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/09/the-georgian-church-and-growing.html
EXTRACT

September 3, 2012

By Molly Corso, August 31, 2012, Eurasianet

A growing number of Georgians are turning to yoga to shake off the stress of daily life. But their quest for inner calm and smaller waists is generating hostility from the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church.

Over the past two years, yoga has gone from a largely unknown Eastern tradition to a popular fitness routine in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Georgian National Yoga Federation President Giorgi Berdzenishvili, a passionate practitioner for the past 15 years, called the trend a “dynamic” process that started under former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost’ policies in the late 1980s.

During the Soviet era, when religious beliefs were discouraged, yoga tended to be viewed as a fringe health-oriented practice, devoid of spirituality, Berdzenishvili noted. But slowly, over the past several years, amid increased Internet usage and travel abroad, yoga has moved into the mainstream in Georgian society.

Today, yoga’s popularity is at an all-time high, instructors say. Classes are full, leading to the opening of several new studios in Tbilisi over the past year. This phenomenon has some Georgian Orthodox priests worried, due to yoga’s spiritual roots in Hinduism, and its perceived association with Buddhism.

While the Patriarchy, the body that governs the Georgian Orthodox Church, did not respond to requests from EurasiaNet.org for the Church’s official position on yoga, dozens of websites devoted to the faith have published articles and blogs that are critical of the practice.

Orthodoxy.ge, a website run by priests at Sioni Cathedral, the former headquarters of the Georgian Orthodox Church, warns the faithful that yoga is full of false “charms” that lure people away from God.

4.

In a long entry entitled “Eastern Culture,” the priests caution that even people who perform “simple yoga exercises … gradually develop some spiritual thoughts” (a broad reference to meditation) that are not compatible with Christianity.

The Church is widely viewed as the most trusted institution in Georgia, and, by extension, Georgian Orthodox priests often wield considerable influence, providing guidance on everything from family planning to purchasing a car.

Local yoga instructors told EurasiaNet.org that priests’ concerns about yoga have stopped some Georgians from taking up the discipline, and have prompted others to abandon it. Mariam Ubilava, a certified yoga teacher at Sun Yoga Tbilisi, said that newcomers often ask before class if meditation is part of the program. “Georgians don’t like meditation so much,” Ubilava said. “Georgians are very strong in their religion and they think if they start meditation, this is related to Buddha and India, and they avoid [it].”

Three years ago, when 38-year-old Nino Kokosadze decided to take up yoga, she noticed that some of the women attending her early morning yoga classes bowed out of the group after their priests “forbade” them from attending.

From the Goddess of Death to the Emperor of Life

http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/04/from-goddess-of-death-to-emperor-of.html and http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/04/from-goddess-of-death-to-emperor-of_03.html

By Danion Vasile, April 2 and 3, 2012

I am giving this talk because I feel compelled to give witness to the way in which Christ calls to Him those who have been deluded by different religions or by unorthodox spiritual practices. The topic, From the Goddess of Death to the Emperor of Life, relates past and present – since before turning to Christ, the Son of God, and to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, I was a worshipper of Kali, the Goddess of Death.
I would like to start by saying that the things I am going to speak about will seem incredible to some of you. I understand scepticism and I am not trying to convince the sceptics of the validity of what I am going to say; I know that my story will sound like a work of fiction to them, like Orthodox science fiction, in fact, but I also know that there are people out there who will see with their souls and will believe that what I am about to say has actually happened to me. Now, almost fifteen years after I had converted to Orthodoxy, I feel as if I had been born and raised in the Orthodox Church. It is more and more difficult to me to remember the yoga practice I was so keen on and the paranormal forces I used to possess, or the tantric sexual debauchery I used to live in…
Many years have passed since I started writing and speaking against yoga practices, against occultism and the other ramifications of the New Age Movement. Why have I been doing it? Because I know that millions of souls have fallen prey to this delusion, because I know that these souls need Christ’s truth, and because I know how difficult it is to walk along a spiritual path at whose end it is the devil that awaits for you, not God.
It is a lack of humility to speak about one’s life, I know. Yet I shall not speak to you about the good deeds I have done, but about my evil deeds and about the way in which Christ came into my life and gently led me to the light of the truth…

I was born on August 15, 1974, on the day of the Dormition of the Theotokos. As a child I was not close to the church. Although I was baptized when I was a baby, just like most Romanian babies, during the communist regime very few people attended church regularly – and although some of them believed in God they did not provide a religious education to their children.
I remember entering a Catholic Church when I was little; there, on the inside walls I saw scenes from the Passion of Christ. That night I dreamed that Christ was taken to Golgotha and He fell under the weight of the cross. I wanted to pick up His cross… Although the dream moved me, I cannot honestly say that it was the beginning of a commitment to the Christian faith for me. However, I was particularly attracted by a crucifix in our home, which I was told had been brought from Greece, that is, from Mount Athos, by my great-grandparents. I used to look at it and I remember being impressed by Christ’s suffering, but I still did not think about leading a Christian life.
Shortly after I turned thirteen I started my sexual life. My father insisted on it; he kept saying that I was not worthy of being his son if I did not – so I did… To this day, I remember that I used to spend hours on end trying to talk a girl into going to bed with me. Twenty years ago kids led a much purer life than they do nowadays and it was much more difficult to persuade someone to sin.
Right before I turned fourteen my mother committed suicide by throwing herself out the window. She fell approximately six feet away from the spot where my sister happened to be standing; my sister, who was eleven at the time, suffered a terrible shock. My mother’s death made me look for an answer to the question, “What happens to us after death?” I had occasionally tried yoga exercises before that tragic incident, but after it, I took to yoga with more dedication. My father brought home yoga books and books of Oriental philosophy for me to read. I tried to control my heartbeat to the point of stopping it altogether, but I could not do it. I also tried astral voyages and levitation exercises, but I was not good at it. I had even come up with a new spiritualistic technique in my attempts to contact my dead mother, without realizing that instead of talking to her or to other spirits I was talking to demons. It became obvious that I could not do things like that by myself: I needed a guru.
It was when I paid a visit to a young woman who was older than me and who had paranormal forces that I decided to give my undivided attention to spiritual quests. For a long time that young woman had been telling fortune from cards with extraordinary precision. She had been doing it until she started having dreams about dilapidated churches and about a voice, which was asking her, “God or the devil?” Nevertheless, she still did not go to church even though she did quit telling fortune from cards.

5.

While I was talking to her, I told an innocent lie. At that moment, I felt a physical force coming out of her and pushing me away… I felt like jumping out the window to get rid of that unseen pressure. The young woman went to another room and I calmed down. When she came back, I told her that I had been lying to her about something and she said that was the reason why panic had seized me. I said I wanted to have such powers too and she suggested I take up yoga. She recommended the yoga courses taught by Gregorian Bivolaru, the most renowned and controversial Romanian guru of our day…
In 2004, the Romanian authorities took legal action against Bivolaru, accusing him of “white slave trade and law transgressions associated to organized crime” and in 2005 he left the country illegally and sought political asylum in Sweden; the Supreme Court in Stockholm considered that he was persecuted for his religious beliefs and that the charges brought against him had to do with religious persecution and refused to extradite him. Now, after I had known him and the way in which he used to subjugate our souls, I would compare him to Jim Jones, who talked hundreds of disciples into committing suicide in Guyana, in 1978. Bivolaru did not determine anyone to commit suicide – not yet, anyway, but I would have done it if he, who was my guru, had asked me to; I would have committed suicide without thinking twice because I would have been convinced that if my guru was asking me to do it, it meant that suicide would benefit me spiritually.
In 1990, at the time that I joined Bivolaru’s group and started yoga classes with him, less than a year had passed since Ceausescu’s dictatorial regime had been abolished and we were finally enjoying religious freedom in Romania. Ceausescu had persecuted the Church and all spiritual groups for years on end. That was why those who had been imprisoned during those harsh times became very popular after 1989 – and Gregorian Bivolaru was one of them. He had been arrested and put in jail on the charge of spreading pornographic materials, but his disciples declared that those accusations were only a pretext and that the true reason for his incarceration was his yoga teachings. It was a plausible defense, taking into consideration the fact that many priests had been jailed for life by the communist regime on the accusation that they had been affiliated to a political group of Nazi orientation…
I had just started school when I turned to yoga; I was in the tenth grade and I believed that everything I was told was the Truth; I certainly believed that Bivolaru was a great spirit, maybe even the new Messiah. We were told that just as Christ had been the master of the spiritual Age of Pisces, even so the Age of Aquarius or the New Age had a Messiah who was about to come in order to take the world to the heights of holiness.
In those days there circulated some prophecies in our country spread by different Christian denominations claiming that Bucharest would be the New Jerusalem and Romania would become the spiritual centre of the planet. I strongly believed that was so – since I was convinced of the great importance of the meditation techniques taught by Bivolaru. I was convinced that he was familiar with the shortest path to spiritual liberation and to the cessation of the reincarnation cycle. Just like all New Age masters, Bivolaru was preaching belief in reincarnation and held that tantra yoga was the most efficient path to perfection. What is tantra yoga? It is sexual yoga. By mental concentration, yogis claim that they transmute sexual energies into spiritual energies. They engage in sexual acts, but not for the mere pleasure of it – because in tantra yoga orgasm is seen as a waste of energy, whereas a sexual act without orgasm is considered a means of spiritual progress.
Being a high school student, I was glad that many college students and intellectuals were attending yoga courses. For me, it was solid proof that I was on the right path. Nowadays, looking back on it after so many years, I realize that some of them were coming just for the sake of sex… It is easier to take up yoga and have as many sexual partners as you wish than to spend your money paying for it in a brothel. At that time, however, I did not see things that way…
Bivolaru was considered the Great Master… For instance, he taught us how to float in the air: it was a technique that had to be practised for four months and then we would just float… Although we were not interested in acquiring paranormal forces, some of us did acquire them and it was no wonder that we did. A young man managed to fly from the ground, where he was sitting in a meditating position, high up, close to the ceiling, placing objects on top of the cupboard. Other people acquired paranormal forces called “sidhis”… Following many yoga exercises, I, for one, felt that I had become as large as the room I was in and that the four walls of that room were pressing on my energy field. Little did I know that it was all a sensation induced by the devil…
At any rate, I did not really perceive the presence of the evil one except on very rare occasions… During our meditation sessions, they would play a very nice, soft ambient music, but once they played a horrible music that seemed to come from hell… a music that would put rock-and-roll to shame… I was shocked to hear it but I thought I was not sufficiently evolved spiritually to know how to integrate it… Some other time I meditated in front of the mirror by candlelight, trying to catch sight of my aura… I was rehearsing for a meditation that I was going to take up in the Jewish cemetery next to the place where I was living at that time, but I did not have to take the trouble to reach the cemetery… While meditating, I suddenly felt a demonic presence next to me. I did not actually see it, mind you, I just sensed it so vividly that I was very scared.
Still, my most intense contact with the devil came as a result of my initiation into tantra yoga. Although at the time it occurred I thought it was a revelation, a moment of contact with the Absolute, after becoming a Christian I understood that my revelation had been of a demonic origin. Here is how it happened…
I was at the beach with a girl, and there were yogis all around us. We were sitting on the sand in a meditating position, facing each other and touching our palms and our kneecaps… Suddenly I simply forgot that I was human. I perceived the Universe like a being with seven energy centres** and I felt that my seven energy centres were connected to the energy of the universe. I do not know how long that ecstatic state lasted but when I came around I thought, “What is the point in taking up fasting when by practicing tantra yoga I can progress much more easily?” Therefore, I made up my mind to practice tantra yoga… **these are the chakras that we came across on page 2 –Michael

Although I had taken up yoga in order to get rid of the spiritual misery that the sexual sins had left in my soul, I started having sex again – only that this time I was firmly convinced that I was doing the right thing. Each night I said Our Father three times, asking God to forgive all my trespasses and to give me the strength to do only good. The thought that I was sinning by having sex did not even cross my mind; I thought that if I had given up having orgasm, everything was clean… My conviction that tantra yoga was a good thing was so strong that I wished that the master had sex even with my sister, who was a virgin and was around fifteen years old. At a time, the master had sex with my girlfriend each week and she told me that other girls were queuing in front of his room, waiting for their turn; they were all eager to have a tantra yoga training session with the master…
I would not want you to think that yoga had become a pastime for me… I was fasting and I even thought of giving up food altogether – that is, I was thinking about living without eating anything at all…
I started by not eating at all for a day, two days and then even three days in a row… Then, I managed to fast for an entire week; I just drank water and that was it. I was not even eighteen at the time, which means that I was still growing up – so that it was very hard for me when I decided to fast for another week, but with no water this time. I fed on air and on energy from the evil one… It was during Passion Week in 1992. I remember asking myself at the beginning of the Great Lent of that year, “Whom shall I ask for help: Bivolaru or Christ?” I chose to ask Christ to help me first and then if He did not help me, I said to myself, I would subsequently appeal to my guru.
I had great confidence in the forces of my guru. We had been informed of a special form of yoga, called Guru Yoga, which was conditioned by a complete obedience to one’s master. There was a story too, which everybody believed was true, of a man who had thrown himself into a precipice because his master did not accept him as his disciple; he broke his arms and legs and his master put them back in place and then resurrected him… Such stories made me trust my master even more. I even had a vision about him, which I realize now was a demonic vision: the universe was full of millions of cells and my master was sitting in a lotus position in each one of them. I was breathing in those cells – inhaling them as it were – and then when I exhaled the cells came out, but my master remained inside me…
A friend of mine that I had invited to attend a conference delivered by Bivolaru told me that she saw rays of light coming out of him…
Since I had such a great confidence in the guru’s powers, I think that God put in my mind the thought of fasting and asking for Christ’s help just to offer me a way out of the trap I had fallen into.
During that week of fasting, I read excerpts from the Philokalia for the first time. I did not realize that my meditations on Shiva or on Milarepa had nothing in common with the spiritual teachings contained in the Philokalia… I had my moment of weakness when I thought I was going out of my mind because of the fast, but I asked for Christ’s help and I succeeded in overcoming it; true, I was a yogi, but I had not given up Christ. Moreover, each week the master asked us to meditate with Christ’s conscience… So, standing in front of the crucifix, I was praying like this: “God, I received baptism by water in childhood and it did not help me at all. Baptize me with fire now…” I really thought that Christ would help me progress along the path of yoga…
On Good Friday, I admired the sunrise in a park, meditating in front of a big stone crucifix… Although I did not go to church on Easter, preferring to meditate at home, my relationship with Christ became much more powerful after that period of fasting.
Nevertheless, my relationship to Christ did not disengage me from my commitment to the Hindu deities. I liked to meditate with Kali, one of the cosmic powers, the national goddess of Tibet, pictured with a chain of skulls around her neck, holding a knife in one hand and a skull in the other one, and with her tongue full of blood. It is said that she is frightening for all those who do not know her, but very close to those who worship her. Here was how I prayed to her: “Oh, Kali, make me yours! Make love to me. Come inside me and let me come inside you. I want to be one with you. Give me the strength to defeat death, give me the strength to master time. Make me yours.” I perceived Kali as a huge woman, with overwhelming powers. I felt bound to her, but I also felt bound to Christ.
That was why I was surprised when I asked Bivolaru after a yoga class about the connection between Christ and the cosmic powers (we were writing our questions down and sending the slips of paper to the master), I heard his answer: “What connection? There is no connection…” If he had answered, “Christ is a great conscience that looks after our planet, while Kali is one of the beings that keep the universe in existence, and although Christ is not as important as Kali, they are familiar with each other” – I would have believed him. But he said that there was no connection between Christ and the cosmic powers, as if there were two parallel truths, totally unrelated to each other, and I could not accept that. It was for the first time that I seriously doubted my master’s wisdom. Then I asked him, aloud this time, which yoga path was higher, the path of asceticism taken to extremes, or the path of tantra yoga, which involved a very sexual active life. His answer was that each individual should choose the path that suited him the most, but before he gave me that answer, most people in the audience burst into peals of laughter; the very idea of sexual asceticism was received with such heavy irony… Those peals of laughter, as well as the master’s answer, made me wish to find the truth elsewhere…
Not long before that, I had listened to Swami Shivamurti, an initiated Indian master, Swami Satyananda’s disciple. In the late 1970′s she had been sent to Kalamata to impart yoga teachings to the Greeks. In 1984 she had set up “the ashram”, a yoga monastery at Paiania, close to Athens. I met Swami Shivamurti in a private house where she had decided to see a limited number of yogis. I asked her if I could live an ascetic life in her ashram and she answered with much kindness that I certainly could. Although I wished she were a man looking like a traditional master – old, with a long white beard, and with a peaceful countenance – I decided to be her disciple and followed her to Bulgaria where she had been invited to give several conferences.

At some point, she assigned a yogic name to me, some sort of baptismal Indian name. Although I expected a famous name, like Mahashiva or Milarepa, I was given an apparently commonplace name: “Bhaktimurti”, meaning “the form of devotion”, “the form of piety”. In other words, for me the shortest path to illumination was worshipping someone – a deity or a cosmic power… So, I chose to worship Christ. I think that God had put the name of “Bhaktimurti” into Swami Shivamurti’s mind; even if she was not serving Him but the powers of darkness, God spoke through her just as He had spoken through Balaam’s donkey. Yet, I doubt it that she knew she had benefited me greatly by choosing that name for me.
I had made up my mind to join her ashram and she told me that she would definitely have me in it, but since I had not come of age I needed my father’s written consent. In Bulgaria, something of a great consequence for my future occurred… A yogi woman took me to some well-known churches in Sophia, one of which being a Russian church in whose basement there were the holy relics of Bishop Seraphim Sobolev, a wonder-worker. By his coffin there were small pieces of paper on which people were writing their wishes and prayers to the deceased pious hierarch. I stood by the coffin and entreated him with all my heart to help me. I said to him, “Help me that not my will be done but that God’s will be done with me!” In those moments, I felt that something did change, something that I cannot even put into words. At the time that I was practising yoga, I felt sick whenever I walked into a church; it seemed to me there was no air at all and I could not breathe; besides, I could not stand the liturgical services except with very great difficulty… However, there in that Russian church which housed the bishop’s relics, it was as if a fog was lifting from me. Although he has not been canonized, people worship him as if he were a saint.
I came back to Romania terribly excited about my oncoming trip to Greece. My father gave me permission to go to Greece because he knew I had no intention to graduate from high school anyway. The class mistress begged me to come to school so that the teachers would see me and give me a pass lest I would fail to get me removed, but all I was interested in was how to make progress as a yogi. In fact, even when I used to go to school yoga was my only concern. School studies seemed such a waste! Although I was attending the Computer Science High School, which was the best in Bucharest at that time, and although I was very proud to have passed the entrance test – after all, I had been captivated by computer science all my life – yoga was my great big passion. It had subjugated me so completely that I could not concentrate on anything except for asana and meditation techniques. In all honesty, I had been brainwashed into thinking that I could only read and study yoga materials – nothing else but that.
The departure date was getting near. I had made up my mind that before reaching the ashram, which was near Athens, I would visit Mount Athos where, I had heard, the holy fathers were practising the Jesus Prayer. I wanted to be initiated into the practice of the Jesus Prayer too… My father suggested we should call on Father Constantin Galeriu, a well-known priest in Bucharest, who had suffered for Christ in communist prisons.
Father Galeriu sent me to Father Ilie Cleopa of the Sihastria Monastery in Moldavia, which suited me perfectly since I was already thinking about visiting some monasteries to see how monastic obedience was practiced – as a sort of preparatory stage before the ashram. However, Father Cleopa was so adamantly opposed to the yoga practices and my relationships with the monks at Sihastria were so tense because of their disapproval of my being a yogi that I left the monastery after a very short stay.
After I had returned to Bucharest I joined another New Age spiritual group, called “The Alliance for Spiritual Integration in the Absolute”, which combined Orthodox teachings with spiritualistic teachings and taught people to see auras, angels and whatever else had to do with the so-called spiritual world. In fact, all they did was make people fall prey to demonic deceit, for the devil can sometimes appear as a good angel too… In this new group, the devil could work much more efficiently than in the yoga group, or, to put it differently, he was much more visible. While practicing yoga, one can visualize the spiritual world only after many years, in this group, one could see it on the spot… Although I, for one, did not actually see many paranormal things, I had the power to make others see them; all I had to do was put my hands on top of their heads, say a prayer, and they began to see things right away…
At school, I even initiated a class in acquiring paranormal powers… We would get together in the festivity hall and do our paranormal studies there. Going camping at one time, I taught most of the children that I met there to see the spiritual world… I had no way of knowing that what they saw was coming from self-suggestion or demonic influences. At camp, I wanted to see if I could hypnotize anyone. I tried and… I did succeed. It was easy, much easier than I expected…
One of the instances that made me think about what I was doing was my meeting with a hieromonk. The people in the New Age group had convinced me that there was no point in my going to Greece to be a disciple of Swami Shivamurti Saraswati; in a female monastic community of our country, there was a priest, a saintly man who was a reincarnation of Saint John the Evangelist. I wished to see “Saint John” with my own eyes, so I went to the monastery together with my girlfriend and tantra yoga companion, who was twenty-four. I was almost eighteen. As we approached the monastery fence, we saw the reverend father standing next to the fence, as if he had been waiting for us. He asked us, “You are yogis, aren’t you? Go away, you, lost souls! Here is a monastery and this ground is sacred… What are you doing here? Who has heard of such a thing – boys and girls coming together to a monastery…? You, sinners, aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? How dare you come here, of all places? You, followers of Steiner, theosophists and God only knows what else…” he muttered, entering the building that housed the monastic cells. My girlfriend had indeed read many of Rudolf Steiner’s writings and other theosophical works. The reverend father could see right through us… Only later did I understand why he had scolded us for having come together to the monastery – he was referring to the fact that we were lovers, but at the time I had no idea that what we were doing was fornication and that it was a sin.

8.

My girlfriend and I stepped inside the church, thinking that he would not chase us out of there. When he entered the church, he pointed his finger at us and asked us, “You believe in reincarnation, don’t you?” – “Yes,” I answered, being convinced that I had to stand up for the truth in front of Christians who were not familiar with the truth. Then, he added, “And you think that I am John the Evangelist, don’t you?” – “Yes,” I answered with conviction. “Get out, you lost souls! Here is the House of the Lord, and if you do not renounce your madness it means that you do not belong here!” I did not expect him to drive us out of the church. I knew that both the Christian tradition and the Oriental tradition demanded that the patience of the disciple should be put to the test in the most unexpected ways, so I was not going to give in. My girlfriend, who was older, felt bad at hearing the priest’s rebuke and burst into tears…
It would have been natural that I should be converted to the Orthodox faith right then and there… My friends from the “New Alliance” group had repeatedly told me that before accepting me as his secret disciple, the priest would put me to a very difficult test indeed and I thought it was all a trial. Having been manipulated and indoctrinated through and through, I did not realize that the reverend father really meant what he said. We returned to Bucharest, but my wish to see that priest again was getting stronger by the minute. I went back to the monastery and he asked me to choose between the Church teachings and the New Age teachings I had formerly believed in. I refused to let go of my erroneous spiritual commitments and I decided to take off on a pilgrimage to the Moldavian monasteries. A strange thing happened to me at the Sihla Skete. While I was standing in front of a monastic cell with the Bible in my hand, a priest came up to me and asked me to read a certain passage to him; his hair and beard were white and he had a gentle face; in the passage, it said that heretics would be punished for their erroneous ways. Then the priest walked away and I thought, “Yes, heretics would be punished, that’s for sure, but why did he ask me, of all people, to read that passage? Does that mean I am a heretic?”
Close to the Sihla Skete there is a cave where Saint Teodora lived the harsh, ascetic life of a hermit; ravens were providing for her, carrying food to her in their beaks. I wanted to spend a night in that cave, pray there, and ask God to help me choose the right path. The monastery abbot gave me his blessing, so one night I started making for the cave. On the way through the forest, I heard all sorts of strange noises. Someone had told me that three years before a man was eating raspberries from a bush and on the other side of the bush there was a big bear… I could not wait to reach the cave where I thought it would be nice and peaceful; during the day, I had gone there several times to pray and it had been so quiet…
Yet this time it was not so at all… That night was going to be the most awful night of my life… I thought I would stay up all night and say the Jesus Prayer, but the temptations came very fast. First, there were the bats – many bats flying so close to me, flapping their wings, that I felt the cold draught of air made by those dreadful wings blow right into my face. I was scared stiff and I felt sick. I was afraid one of those bats would try to cling to my hair. Although I had had my head shaved a year before in order to look like a true yogi, my hair had grown in the meantime, so I covered my head with my leather coat to keep the bats off. At some point, I thought that maybe God wanted to punish me for my sins and I uncovered my head, but the bats did not touch it… After a while, there was another temptation: mice started climbing my boots. It was a terrible feeling… Some of the people who had been in that cave before told me that there were no bats and no mice in it, but I saw them… On the other hand, perhaps what I saw was a demonic sight… It was so difficult to tell…
I was getting more and more scared. I felt that the nervous tension was reaching breaking point; I actually thought I would go out of my mind. I also thought that if I fell asleep the devil would get hold of me. It is so difficult to explain but it was what I felt and what I thought… I kept dropping candle wax into my palms, on different spots, so that the burns would keep me awake. I prayed and prayed, “God, by the grace of the hegumen’s blessing, have mercy on me! God, by the power of obedience, have mercy on me!” I could not say the Jesus Prayer at all; all I did all night long was to read prayers from a prayer book from beginning to end; as soon as I finished it, I started reading the same prayers all over again…
Then, there was another temptation that really topped the previous ones. All of a sudden, I saw this huge animal walking into the cave through its very narrow entrance; he stepped in and took three big steps. The first step made me lift my head, the second step made me quite apprehensive, and the third one was the pits. It was a big animal alright and it could only have been a bear. I thought, “I do not have room to get out of the cave, not even if I tried to slide by him. If I try to fight him, I do not stand a chance of defeating him. Best thing is to die in prayer.” I was positive that I would die right then and there – so I just prayed without turning to look at the bear… Realizing that there was no longer any noise behind me, I turned to the cave entrance, but there was no animal anywhere in sight… It had been a demonic temptation that had frightened the daylights out of me… Maybe there were bats and mice in that cave but there certainly was no bear, because a bear could not get out of that cave without making the same kind of noise it had made when stepping inside it – since the entrance was so very narrow… Those who are familiar with the cave know what I am talking about and will definitely agree with me… God did see that I had not entered the cave to brag about my ascetic efforts afterwards, but that I was desperate and I wanted to pray to Him and entreat Him to show me the right path. I was afraid that the Orthodox faith was not the true path either and that I would have to look for another spiritual group. I had rather die than exchange an erroneous path for another one. I prayed to Him, “God, let me die rather than live far from You and teach others to take the wrong path”… The night after the terrifying night spent inside the cave, I had a dream that changed my life. I dreamed I was looking in a canonical book on the expiation of sins, searching for a canon that would be suited for my sins. In the dream, I heard a clear and powerful voice, which woke me up. It said, “Here is your canon: you shall teach the others about the philosophy of the Church Fathers.” I awoke at once, trying to understand why the canon I had been assigned, which I had perceived as a divine message, did not refer to my teaching other people about the theology of the Church Fathers, not about their philosophy. An experienced father confessor explained to me what that meant: God did not want me to think that the dream had been induced by self-suggestion, so that was why I heard the word “philosophy” instead of “theology”. To be sure, at that time I did not know that the philosophy of the Church Fathers was in fact their theology, i.e. speaking with God and about God…

The divine voice that came to me in that dream marked a turning point in my life. I went back to the reverend father that had chased me away twice and told him I wanted to embrace the Orthodox faith and become a churchgoer. I prepared myself for confession – I wrote out my sins on paper (there were seven pages overall) and then I went to confession. I felt that my soul was cleansed from sin and that my life changed completely… Although I was still unworthy of it, I received the Holy Eucharist, following the reverend father’s advice and with his blessing.
Since then I gave up my belief in reincarnation, the yoga practices, and sexual debauchery. There were some hard times, some very hard ones, but I always felt Christ was near me… Saying these words to you and thinking about my past feels as if I were telling someone else’s story. It is difficult for me to remember that I was a yogi; it seems it had not been me… In truth, repentance purifies the mind and cleanses the soul.
After a few years, I got married and I had the feeling that I was a virgin; I really had the feeling that I had not known any other woman before and that my wife was the first woman in my life… In fact, a life of sin does not resemble a family life – not in the very least. Although on the surface they may seem similar, they are two altogether different things.
What happened after my first confession of sins? I started attending church services, I went to college and studied theology, graduating from the Department of Orthodox Theology and then taking a master’s degree in Denominational Studies and Ecumenism (focusing on the aberrations of the New Age Movement). When I was in high school, I met a priest who lived like a saint; at present, a book is being written about his life and about the miracles that he performed. He told me that I would write very many books, which would meet spiritual needs… After having written my first books – by now their number has exceeded twenty – a fellow Christian I met when visiting a monastery told me, “You know, ever since you were in high school Father X (and he named the saint-like priest) said that you would write many books. I see that his words turned out to be quite prophetic…”
I started writing in order to convince those who are far from the Orthodox Church that they are far from the Truth, from beauty, and from inner fulfillment. My first books were against aberrations and spiritual delusions, against astrology and horoscopes, against belief in reincarnation, against the Gnostic Gospels. A Journal of My Conversion – From the Goddess of Death to the Emperor of Life – describes my conversion to Orthodoxy, while one of the latest books I have written, The Gospel according to Judas, attacks not only the Gnostic Gospel attributed to Judas, but also Judas’s way of thinking as it is reflected in the contemporary theology, iconography and literature. I have realized that writing for those who have been deluded by the New Age Movement is not enough: those who are “lukewarm” [Revelation 3:15] and lead a mediocre Christian life need help too. I have written books for young people, as for instance, The Wedding Book – How to Start a Family and Young People and Sexuality, pointing out the way in which debauchery perverts the minds of young men and women in our day and age… I have also written books for mature people, dealing with ways in which one should face troubles and disease, and commentaries on the Paterikon…
I am fully aware of the risk I am taking… In Orthodoxy, it is not the young people who should speak up, but the elderly who have a solid spiritual experience… I write because I owe obedience to my spiritual father who said that he regretted that I did not have four hands so I could write more… He also said that I had to write because my redemption depended on it. When I came to Greece for my Ph.D., the first thing I asked a reverend father here was, “Is it all right that I should write so many books, taking into account the fact that I am so young and inexperienced, just because I owe obedience to my spiritual father and because I am under his spiritual authority?” His answer was, “If your spiritual father prays for you and he sustains you by his prayers everything will be fine. Show obedience to him and everything will be all right.”
I had my doubts about obeying: should I or should I not follow the path of obedience? I was even tempted to leave my spiritual father because it seemed to me that he was not the best guide and advisor I could have. One night I had a dream. I dreamed I was inside a church in which there were the holy relics of Saint Nektarios. My spiritual father was praying on one side of the coffin and I was standing on the other side. The saint started moving in the coffin… and I asked him to give me his blessing. He had a big metal cross in his hand and started making the sign of the cross on top of my head. He did it several times, saying, “Bless you, bless you…” On awaking and recalling the dream, I was afraid it might have been sent by the devil, so that I called my spiritual father on his cell phone. I said to him “Father, you know that I do not take dreams seriously, but here is…” – and I related my dream to him. Then I asked him, “Do you think it came from the devil, from my subconscious or from God?” He answered, “How could it have come from the devil when this very morning I was praying for you over the relics of Saint Nektarios? I am in Greece, don’t you know that?” No, I had no idea he was in Greece. I thought he was in Romania, but he had activated his roaming and had answered his cell phone from Greece… I also told my dream to an elder leading a saintly life in a monastery in Greece and he said to me, “Your spiritual father could not have come out and say outright to you that your dream had come from God, lest he fell into the sin of pride – particularly as you saw him next to the saint’s coffin. It was indeed a dream from God. Saint Nektarios wants to encourage you to walk right on along the path of being a witness to Christ…”
That dream was the encouragement I needed in order to go ahead. The road is bumpy, the temptations are great, but I nurture the hope that Christ will help me take another step and then another one…
My life in Christ has been extraordinarily beautiful… The greatest thing for me has been that I came to know the Truth and to know that the Truth is love… In the Orthodox Church, I have learned to love. Christian love is warm – it is not like yogic love, which is cold and superficial… I have discovered the beauty of family life, which is indeed a treasure. Next to my wife and to our three children I have the distinct feeling that I am in the middle of a beautiful dream… It seems to me that people speak and write too little about Christian families. Getting married was almost like a bet in a way: I was hoping that it would be a beautiful life, but I was not sure. My family life has been much more difficult than I had anticipated but also much more beautiful…

I give witness to the beauty of the Orthodox faith because some of those who have practised yoga have serious communication problems and are socially maladjusted although they have formally converted to the Orthodox faith; they have received the Christian teaching but they still have a yogic behaviour.
I confess that I am overjoyed at being an Orthodox believer… In the past, I was afraid that I would get bored with it and I kept asking myself, “Will Christian life become commonplace for me?” Moreover, I have discovered that a life lived in communion with God, with the Theotokos, with the saints and martyrs of the Church can be anything but boring.
On the contrary, I believe that the life of a Christian is extremely captivating. In addition, one should be a real hero in order to live like a Christian in this world, which is so full of sin and so fond of heresy.
My purpose has been to convince you to reach out to those who are far from the Church. Usually after a conference, people collect funds for the poor or for Christian missionaries in African countries or for various and sundry social activities.
I shall not ask you to put money in a box but to put a part of your soul in it and to realize that right next to you there may be so many people who have been deluded by different religions and denominations. You could make a difference. You could help them through living a truly Christian life.
These people have had enough of empty words and unconvincing Christian sermons. They need shining examples of a Christian way of living. They want to see in you a living icon of Christ.
Do not force anyone to come to Christ, but win them over with your Christian love. No one can resist love. Today’s world looks for love in the wrong places and all that people find is fake love.
Offer them true love, sacrificial love, and you will change them. Even those who have decided never to change will start out on the path of conversion – slowly, but surely.
Look, I am just sending out to you this unseen box, inside which I am not asking you to put money but I repeat, something far more precious – a part of your soul. Are you up for such a donation?
You would make so very happy! May God assist you in all your good works and bestow His grace on you. Amen.

Source:
http://www.danionvasile.ro/blog/from-the-goddess-of-death-to-the-emperor-of-life/ September 25, 2007

MY COMMENTS

In this précis, I have cited the Catholic Church, though far from exhaustively [because there is also criticism of yoga in the Youth Catechism (YouCat) as well as in an October 1989 Vatican Document on Christian Meditation that was addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church], and three Orthodox churches. But the Catholic Church in India resolutely promotes yoga in its institutions and through its media.

III. Prakash Lasrado‘s letters defending yoga, and my response

On May 5, 2013, I received this forwarded letter which referred to an email from one Prakash Lasrado:

From:
bob.monteiro@gmail.com
To: Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 20:55:58 +0530
Subject: IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA IN A CONFUSED STATE […]

The very same day, I wrote to Monteiro

From: Michael Prabhu michaelprabhu@vsnl.net
To:
bob.monteiro@gmail.com
Cc:
prakash_lasrado@yahoo.com

Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2013, 11:33 PM Subject: Re: IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA IN A CONFUSED STATE saying, “I am marking a copy of this email to Prakash [Lasrado] as I would like to have a copy of Prakash’s email, the one that you referred to in yours, to read his views on the matter.“

This is the reply that I received:

From:
Prakash Lasrado
To:
Michael Prabhu
Cc:
[to about 100 others]
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2013 10:02 AM

Subject: Re: IS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN INDIA IN A CONFUSED STATE

Dear Michael, 

I have certain differences of opinion with you.

I feel that … Yoga minus Hindu philosophy/theology is a good body exercise.

Over the next 36 hours, I received copies of a relentless barrage of unrelated and confusing letters which were again, like his first letter, marked to about one hundred others including Cardinals and archbishops.

I then wrote this letter [what follows is an extract] to Prakash Lasrado:

From:
Michael Prabhu
To:
prakash_lasrado@yahoo.com
Cc:
One individual
Bcc: Three individuals

Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 7:34 PM Subject:
YOUR NUMEROUS EMAILS TO ME IN RESPONSE TO MY EMAIL

My dear brother Prakash,

I write this to you with absolutely no offense, so please don’t take it amiss and be offended.

I take every email that I receive very seriously, and as you can see below, I have given the exact same consideration to all of yours, and taken out the relevant information copied below after spending nearly three precious hours of my ministry time on them hoping to gain something, which I really didn’t in the end.

So may I please request you to remove my name from your mailing list after reading this response from me?

In return, I can assure you that you will not hear from me again [even if you do respond], which I request you to not do].

I had written to Robert Monteiro in response to an email forwarded to me by someone, hoping to benefit from something that you wrote and which he referred to and that’s why I had copied you. Monteiro did not reply to me [since this is my second attempt, I find it suspicious if not strange]. You did, but you did not give what I asked for, which was the purpose of my writing that email.