Dissidents Advance Usual Agenda
While some bishops took a preemptive strike against the Call to Action clone Voice of the Faithful setting up chapters in their dioceses and parishes, Bishop Joseph Charron of Des Moines invited Dr. Robert A. Ludwig, a regular on the Call to Action and Dignity circuits, to offer three days of "faith formation," October 18, 19, and 20, to all Catholic school teachers, catechists, youth ministers, pastors, Catholic parents, pastoral staffs, and grandparents.
Dr. Ludwig, director of university ministry and professor of Catholic studies at De Paul University in Chicago, author of Reconstructing Catholicism for a New Generation, is an expert at "deconstructing Catholicism" — as his signature in support on the Voice of the Faithful petition indicates. It appears there with some of the most notorious Catholic dissenters in the United States, including Sr. Margaret Farley, R.S.M., of Yale, a radical feminist.
Ludwig's appearance in Des Moines, along with the recent appearances of high-profile dissidents in other dioceses — such as Australian ex-priest Michael Morwood in Los Angeles, New Age proselytizer St. Jose Hobday in Altoona-Johnstown, Pa., Sr. Fran Ferder and Fr. John Heagle in Boise, Idaho — not only demonstrates the commitment of a significant number of bishops to the ongoing destruction of the Church in America, but most importantly signals the determination of the hijackers of Vatican II to take advantage of the sex abuse scandals to maintain control and continue Amchurch's triumphal march.
The growing controversy generated by the sudden rise of Voice of the Faithful, and declarations from bishops in five states that VOTF will not be allowed in their dioceses, also highlights the vast chasm that already exists among bishops and priests which so many Church leaders try to ignore or pretend does not exist.
Ludwig's book, Reconstructing Catholicism, wrote Geraldine Stafford in Homiletic & Pastoral Review (November 2000) in part two of "Why Johnny Doesn't Believe," takes its place among those of other professional religious educators who are attempting to reach "Generation X" by subverting The Catechism of the Catholic Church and insinuating that the Church's doctrines are irrelevant.
After citing an essay Ludwig wrote for The Catechist, Stafford observed:
"Ludwig's harsh attitude regarding the Church's hierarchy and his misrepresentation of its teachings should come as no surprise to those familiar with his book, Reconstructing Catholicism. Regarding this book, reviewer Mary Schneider wrote: "The reconstructed Catholicism which Professor Ludwig has formulated has little in common with the Catholic faith. It is a veritable Hydra of heresies' (Homiletic & Pastoral Review, July 1996).
"What should alarm bishops, pastors, and all Catholics who love the Church," wrote Stafford, "is that Ludwig, a board member of Call to Action, promotes his hostile, anti-Catholic views on the pages of The Catechist, a magazine which shapes the faith of thousands of American catechists. His article typifies the disdain and disrespect many catechetical leaders have shown for the Church and its teachings during the last 30 years."
A key element of his deconstructive work, Stafford pointed out at the time, is attacking the historicity of the Gospels and debunking the teachings of Christ.
"Ludwig tells catechists that 'it is not always easy to determine what materials date from Jesus' own historical context and those which date from later periods, which materials are historical fact, and which are included for the sake of interpretation to bring out the meaning of the facts' . . .
"According to Ludwig, his unnamed historians tell us that Jesus 'no doubt' was a disciple of John the Baptist. 'After John's arrest, Jesus began to move in a different way, softer and more mystical than the hard asceticism of John.' Ludwig's historians would have us believe Jesus taught that 'one must live here and now as though divine rule were the only rule, shattering the legitimacy of conventional authorities'."
From the other side of the gaping chasm that separates faithful Catholics from the Call to Action retreads of VOTF is a July 1997 U.S. Catholic interview with Ludwig. It appeared under the heading, "Can Catholicism Seem Cool to Your Kids?"
After explaining to the editors why "Catholicism needs to be reconstructed in light of Vatican II . . . from the bottom up," he pleaded:
"If we would begin to make a few changes, it would be so much easier to be publicly Catholic. It would be very different if the Church would say that we're going to ordain women and married people, because it would provide so much more credibility, vitality, and hope for Catholics.
"The present strong authoritarian papacy that goes after theologians like Hans Kung, Charles Curran, and Leonardo Boff, that reiterates the stand against birth control, and that takes a limited view on women's roles in the Church makes things difficult for Catholics. If, as Catholics, we don't believe those things, we're a little bit ashamed that our Church keeps promoting them. That's why claiming to be Catholic can be so hard — because it appears that we must support all these ideas."
The announcement of Ludwig's selection to lead a "faith-formation" workshop in Des Moines caught many of the lay faithful by surprise, especially since in the age of the Internet, there is no shortage of reliable information about him. Search his name on the World Wide Web, and one of the first references to appear is a brief review of an address he gave to the homosexual activist group Dignity.
What happens when Catholics do organize, research, and protest the invitation of a dissenter into their diocese to brainwash religion teachers and catechists is illustrated by the recent controversy in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, Pa. There, Bishop Joseph Adamec excoriated Catholics who protested the appearance of Sr. Jose Hobday.
The local Catholic Family Association of America and other concerned Catholics objected to Hobday's appearance at a diocesan "Catholic Life Conference," sponsored by the diocesan education office, held September 28 at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pa.
For decades, these Catholics pointed out in newspaper articles, letters to the editor, through the Internet, especially through the local Diocese Report web site, Hobday has advanced an agenda "diametrically opposed to Roman Catholicism."
Accessing information available to just about anyone in the world, these lay faithful showed that Hobday is an associate of Starhawk, a self-proclaimed witch, that she was a colleague of the creator of "creation spirituality," the ex-Dominican, ex-Catholic Matthew Fox, that she is a regular on the Call to Action circuit, which openly advocates a change in Church teaching on contraception and abortion, promotes women's ordination, sanctions the right of married couples to divorce and remarry.
She also, the CFAA informed Bishop Adamec, "attended [and] participated in conferences that worship 'Sophia,' celebrating her as the biblical goddess of creation, as well as conferences where lesbian women 'celebrate the miracle of being lesbian, out, and Christian'."
Hobday has also stated publicly that Catholic teachers "should forget about any Church doctrine prior to 20 years ago. Cut the umbilical cord to the Church and start in a new direction."
When these concerns regarding Hobday were presented to Bishop Adamec by both laity as well as his diocesan priests, Adamec wrote in his regular column in the diocesan newspaper:
"It's Getting Wearisome: The continual badgering of this Diocesan Church by a handful of individuals and one of our secular newspapers does get tedious. The latest salvo has to do with Sr. Jose Hobday. However, she is a Franciscan Sister in good standing. Since I am responsible for the teaching that is done in our Diocesan Church, my office took the step of checking with the Bishop's Office of Sr. Hobday's diocese. They recommend her without reservation. I regret that she has been publicly maligned by some of our Diocesan Church."
Adamec further stated:
"I regret the negative reaction that is being generated by some of our Faithful. The Roman Catholic Church is a hierarchical church. What that means, among other things, is that we ought to depend on the judgment of appropriate church leaders and superiors in confirming the legitimacy of someone's ministry. This applies whether or not we personally agree with the individual's message. It would seem to me that this judgment of legitimate leaders in the Church supersedes that of other individuals or groups."
The bishop's spokesman, Sr. Mary Parks, also defended Hobday in a letter to a Catholic who criticized the diocese for inviting her, explaining:
"The list of theologians, priests, sisters, bishops, and other good Catholic faithful who have over its 30-year history participated in one or more conferences sponsored by 'Call to Action' is extremely long!
"I do not subscribe to all of its official agenda, but I did attend a conference in Chicago during the mid 1990s! I met two bishops there.
"I think you need to go easy here. We Catholics come from many different ideologies and yet we believe in the same Jesus. We pray the creed. We uphold the church. We share the faith, but perhaps some of us feel more drawn to the church's pro-life stance, others feel drawn to our liturgy. Some think we are moving too fast. Others say we are moving too slow. But we are all Catholic. When we cease to be Catholic by our actions and words that is a different matter. Her bishop in Gallup, N.M. [Donald Pelotte, S.S.S.], has vouched for Sister. Her Franciscan community says she is in good standing. I do not think it appropriate to question her when we do not know her as her bishop and sisters know her!
"We cannot automatically drum everyone in Opus Dei or Call to Action out of the church!"
Drawing The Lines
As of October 15, bishops in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey have declared that VOTF is not eligible to meet on Church property.
Bernard Cardinal Law in Boston, where VOTF originated, said existing chapters of the organization could continue meeting in parishes, but no new chapters would be allowed to meet.
In the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., Archbishop John Myers banned the group from meeting on Church property, saying VOTF is "anti-Church and, ultimately, anti-Catholic." In Bridgeport, Conn., Bishop William Lori barred the group from meeting in parishes, saying VOTF threatened to tear the Church apart by promoting "private dissenting opinions."
VOTF has responded to these allegations by issuing a "Theologian Petition" asserting VOTF has the right to exist, prepared by Fr. William Clark, S.J., president of Holy Cross, Boston College's Dr. Thomas Beaudoin, and Dr. Anthony Massimini, a married former priest, of the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design. Most of the signatories of the statement were Jesuits from Jesuit institutions who placed "Dr." before their name rather than "Fr."
The brief statement, citing Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, declares the Catholic lay faithful have the right to form apostolic associations and, therefore, "we fully support the right and responsibility of Voice of the Faithful to meet in prayerful discernment of the signs of the times, and to present to the hierarchy for confirmation and implementation what their sense of faith requires them to voice."
Among the signers of the statement, however, aside from the gaggle of Jesuits, were some of the leading proponents of a "reconstructed" Church, such as Leonard Swidler of Temple University; major radical feminist theologians, such as Sr. Farley of Yale and Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza of Harvard; former Notre Dame theologian Dr. Mark Jordan; Ex Corde Ecclesiae critic Dr. Terrence Tilley of the University of Dayton; David Tracy of the University of Chicago, et al.
For those closely watching the rise of VOTF in parishes across the United States, and episcopal reaction, it is of more than passing interest that a number of VOTF's supportive theologians will be speaking at Roger Cardinal Mahony's annual Religious Education Congress, including Robert A. Ludwig and Dr. Thomas Beaudoin.
This item 4610 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
