This Will Explain a Lot About Where the LCWR Gang Is Today

Recently I was reading Fr. Mitch Pacwa's book Catholics and the New Age. (Highly recommend!) In the chapter on New Age guru Matthew Fox (then a Dominican priest*) I read something interesting that explains a lot about the Leadership Council of Women Religious, why the Visitation is definitely needed to clean up the mess & why the LCWR gang are so opposed to it.

What I am about to share is a symptom, not the root cause of the problem. Ungodly Rage by Donna Steichen gives an excellent look at the roots of the problem. (Note: the book is recommended as well by Fr. Pacwa in his book on the New Age.) The 2 events I am about to look at occurred at the 1991 National Assembly of the LCWR. These were reported to Fr. Pacwa by a religious in attendance.

1st of all there was their opening ceremony. It began with the superiors being led to their "kiva" to the beat of drums. As they did so they chanted "Come into the darkness." A kiva is taken from the Pueblo kachina belief system. This sytem fits in well with New Age beliefs & is impossible to square with Catholic faith.

But what is really interesting is what they chanted, "Come into the darkness". Nowhere in Christian theology are we called to go into darkness. In fact, Scripture makes it clear we are to come out of the darkness & into Christ's light. While there are many quotes from the Bible I could use I will simply share 1 I read from Proverbs 2 during my prayer time Monday. "from those who leave the paths of honesty to walk the roads of darkness". (vs 13) the section is talking about seeking God's wisdom not man's. & it warns that to go into darkness is to take the path to wrongdoing.

The Easter Vigil Liturgy gives us the best example of this call to the light & away from the darkness. In the Vigil we start in darkness to symbolize our being in sin & the darkness that is a result. The new fire is light, the Easter Candle blessed & our candles light from it to show how we were called out of darkness into the light of new life in Christ. We hear the phrase "Light of Christ" to which we respond "Thanks be to God" repeated 3 times. At the end all the lights in Church are lit to show how Christ dispels the darkness. We also read in Matthew where Jesus himself warned us that the darkness what a punishment for those who reject his light. In other words, darkness = hell. So they were basicly saying they prefered darkness, evil & hell over Jesus, the light of the world & the truth He proclaimed.

Another ceremony later confirmed this rejection of the truth. To the beat of drums Michelle Belto read passages from Scripture that radical feminism have problems with. After reading the passage, Belto chanted "No, this is not the Word of our God!" The approximately 900 religious superiors & assistants echoed back "No, this is not the Word of our God!' I will give them credit for honesty, because what they were rejecting was not the word of their god, a goddess whom they made in their image & likeness. However what they were rejecting was the authentic Word of God found in Scripture. In rejecting it they were also rejecting Jesus, the true Word of God as well as God the Father who sent Him.

As I said, these acts are symptoms, not root causes. The root cause is their rejection of the truth of Jesus Christ that the Catholic Church has taught for nearly 2000 years. This is why these orders are dying. & this is why the Visitation is not the bad thing they make it out to be. Rather it is the loving action of Mother Church to bring back its errant children to the fold.

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*Because of his denial of original sin, he was forbidden to teach theology by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Papa Benedetto), then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in 1988. In 1992 or 93 he was dismissed/expelled from the Dominican order. He was received into the Episcopal Church in 1994 by Bishop William Swing of the Episcopal Diocese of California. His version is known as Creation Spirituality. Fr. Pacwa's book does an excellent job of looking at what is wrong with it.