The Timing of Publishing My Latest Letter in the TH Seems a Little Fishy

On Tuesday, 11 December 2012, I put up a post about Bishop Morlino of Madison banning 2 Sinsinawa Dominicans who are big promoters of New Age heresies from speaking in the diocese. The next day I wrote a letter to the editor of the Telegraph Herald via their website. That same day, I received a call from a TH employee to confirm it. But since I wasn't at home at the time she called I had to wait until Thursday (13 Dec) to reply.

Normally, when a letter is written it appears within a few days (3-4) after they confirm you wrote it. So when the letter didn't appear by the 17th December, I figured they weren't going to publish it.

Meanwhile, on 19 December, lo & behold, an article on the Bishop's ban appeared in the TH. Unlike the original article in the Madison paper, said almost nothing about why they were banned. The TH article also fails to mention that the ban was promulgated 27 November 2012 & that it was made public more than a week before the TH reported the story.

I am not saying that this is any more than the usual poor reporting done by the paper to make it looks like they are providing good coverage. But then something else happenned to make me suspicious that the TH was trying to cover-up their lack of timeliness on the coverage of the story, that the TH article was mostly a rewrite of the Madison story & the fact that I scooped them by a whole week.

The event I am refering to is that my letter was finally published in the paper yesterday (28 December 2012). You can read the text below.

Now why did they sit on this letter for over 2 weeks? I suspect that part of the reason was to make it look like my letter was in response to their article. If they had published before their story appeared, I would have made them look bad as I said. Also, it would have given my view of the events the chance to be heard 1st. The TH article clearly tries to build up the sisters as just being good Catholics.

Another reason for not publishing it before or soon after the story would be that my letter makes it clear that there was a careful investigation. The TH article makes it seem like this ban was more arbitrary than anything. It could have reported specifics about the Bishop's concerns since both the Vicar General's letter to the pastors & the synopis of concerns document explaining the exact concerns were available. This is in addition to a statement issued after the story broke. The article shows that they were aware of those documents. Yet they chose to ignore the whole story of the Diocese's reasons & actions. My letter goes into greater detail, in the 250 word limit, as to why they were banned. The TH mentions only 2 programs, one on centering prayer, that both sound like they are well within orthodox Catholicism. they totally fail to mention any of the other programs/talks that the Diocese points out are New Age. Or the fact that there are concerns about the teachings the Centering Prayer  program is based on promotes the New Age idea of transforming consciousness.

Besides that, my letter applauds Bishop Morlino for doing what he is required to do as a good Bishop. Clearly the TH didn't want the fact that they weren't making it look that way to have attention drawn to it. As an aside, I am sure that this wasn't too welcome is some parts of the DBQ Archdiocesan chancery as well, since it points out the Archbishop's silence on many New Age activities in this area.

Interestingly, this isn't the 1st time I have seen a long delay from the time I wrote a letter, was contacted & it was finally published. Also of interest is the fact that it also involved the Sinsinawa Dominicans & Sr. Donna, their infamous abortion mill escort. That letter was published 9 days after I sent it & 8 days after they contacted me to see if I sent it. At that time, I had made the TH & the Sinsinawa Dominicans look bad. 1st of all by showing how the TH had totally ignored the story. Additionally I had forced the Sinsinawa Domincans to respond locally, something it is clear they had hoped to avoid. (Whole post about that here)

As another aside, I have to laugh at 1 of the comments made accusing me of being dramatic in calling any failure to correct these sisters by their order as scandalous. Clearly this person doesn't understand the Catholic Church's teaching about scandal as a sin against the 5th Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill!

Also, I plan on putting a link to this post on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Facebook page challenging them to reject the New Age doctrines. I suspect it will be taken down in short order.

 

Letter: Bishop right to crack down on Sinsinawa Dominicans

Posted: Friday, December 28, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 5:02 am, Fri Dec 28, 2012.           

FROM ALLEN TROUPE 2003 KEY WAY, APT. 2Telegraph Herald | 5 comments

Bravo to Bishop Robert Morlino, of the Madison Diocese, for forbidding those involved with Wisdom's Well Interfaith Spirituality Center to be "allowed to preach, catechize, lead spiritual or prayer instructions or exercises, or to provide spiritual direction or guidance at churches, oratories, or chapels within the Diocese of Madison, whether as individuals or as official representatives of Wisdom's Well.Why? Concerns about what they taught, "certain views flowing from New Ageism, panentheism and indifferentism, and may not share an authentic view of the Catholic Church's approach to interreligious dialogue. These views are often associated with a spirit of relativism that can be an extreme result emanating from the 'hermeneutic of rupture' as a misinterpretation of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council."

As the diocesan spokesman made clear, this came about after careful investigation. So, there is solid basis for Bishop Morlino's actions. He was doing what a good bishop should do, protecting his flock from wolves attempting to harm the sheep he is spiritually in charge of.

Two of those involved are members of the Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sisters Maureen McDonnell (co-founder) and Lynn Lisbeth.

It seems the Sinsinawa Dominicans endorse their teachings. They issued a statement, saying they "wholeheartedly support our sisters" who are "preaching and teaching Gospel values."

Those so-called gospel values are a false gospel St. Paul warned about that would bring God's curse on them (Galatians 1:8).

Sinsinawa should take their lead from Bishop Morlino, correcting them for their errors in Christian charity.

To not do so is scandalous!