What Catholic Priests Are Reading
You may (or may not) be shocked
Interesting story from the Duke University Divinity School’s "Pulpit & Pew Project". A few years old, but still relevant. They polled over 2,500 Catholic and Protestant ministers. Here are the Top Twelve authors that Catholic priests are reading. I've included a sentence or two on the not so famous authors listed.
1. Father Henri J. M. Nouwen - He preached Universal Salvation; "Every one will be saved" and "Anyone can find his own way to God". In his final book Sabbatical Journey : The Diary of His Final Year there is an ostensible endorsement of "gay" marriage. He was also a avid reader of Matthew Fox, the renegade Dominican. Why doesn't that suprise me?
2. Pope John Paul II - I think we all know who he is.
3. Father Raymond Brown - Brown received 24 honorary degrees, many from Protestant institutions. He openly argued against Jesus' physical Resurrection; the Transfiguration; the fact that Jesus founded the one, true Catholic Church and instituted the priesthood and the episcopacy. He has also called into question into the virginal conception of Jesus and the accounts of our Lord's birth and childhood. Cardinal Mahony hailed him as "the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to emerge in this country ever" and his death, the cardinal said, was "a great loss to the Church". 'Nuff said.
4. Father William J. Bausch - Leading proponent of Women's Ordination (Chicks with Pyx), optional celibacy for priests, and Sex Ed in Catholic schools all the way down to the Kindergarten level; "finally, the nation's Catholic schools have inaugurated sex abuse prevention lessons for children as early as age five..."
5. Father Walter J. Burghardt - A modern day Jesuit. Need I say more? Hell... why not. Here's Monsignor Philip J. Murnion, director of National Pastoral Life Center, glowing review of Burghardt's book "Long Have I Loved You"; "the memoir is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the theology lying behind Vatican II and carrying its vision forward". I guess that 2,000 years of Catholicism prior to V2 is just a figment of my imagination?
6. Scott Hahn - Darling of the Neo-Cons in the Church. Compared to the rest of these guys, Hahn looks like St. Augustine.
7. Father Anthony de Mello - Another Jesuit. Proponent of a melding of Catholicism, Zen Buddhism, modern psychology, and yoga. Big shock, huh?
8. Dr. William Barclay - A so-called "great Bible Teacher". For starters, he openly denied the Dogma of the Virgin Birth; "The Jews had a saying that in the birth of every child there are three partners--the father, the mother, and the Spirit of God. They believed that no child could ever be born without the Spirit. And it may well be that the New Testament stories of the birth of Jesus are lovely, poetical ways of saying that, even if He had a human father, the Holy Spirit of God was operative in His birth in a unique way. In this matter we may make our own decision".
9. Father Richard P. McBrien - Head Honcho at the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame. Openly challenges the Dogmas of Papal Infallibility, the Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, Confession, The Real Presence (he describes the Catholic belief in transubstantiation as "medieval").
10. Father Karl Rahner - Yet another Jesuit. As one writer put it, "Without Rahner... the Second Vatican Council's liberalization of dogma and ecclesiastical structure would have been almost unthinkable without him". Rahner is the veritable Big Daddy of the "Cosmic Jesus" heresy so prevalent in The Church. According to him, what is there in the afterlife? Precisely nothing—for there is no afterlife, just an "all-cosmic body" in death. Rahner himself made a similar point when claiming that Vatican II marked the emergence of a 'World Church'. Thanks to Rahner, Protestants were no longer simply benighted heretics, pagans no longer simply in error. Rather, if the Churches ever are reunited, the non-Catholic Christians will bring something positive; and even the institutional forms of paganism can be of salvific significance.
11. C. S. Lewis - Hope springs eternal. At least they're reading him.
12. Father Mark Link - *sigh* ANOTHER Jesuit. And silly me, I've been wondering so long why we have so many shitty priests in the Church. Anyhow, Father Feelgood here is the Joe Dirt of Catholicism (life's a garden, dig it). Father Link has such deep sayings as "The Church is like a net that fisherman cast into the sea. The Church can't discriminate either". Wow... the Summa Theological for the Vatican II Church if I ever saw it.
Sheesh, and we wonder why things are so screwed up. But look what didn't quite make the Top Twelve. And keep in mind, this stuff is being read by our priests...
Sister Joan Chittister - One of the featured writers at the Jesuit run America magazine. Need I say more?
Dianne Bergant - Penned such phallo-phobic page turners as But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation; An Ecological Vision of the World: Toward a Christian Ecological Theology for Our Age; The Earth Is the Lord's: The Bible, Ecology, and Worship; and The Strange Woman: Power and Sex in the Bible.
Joyce Rupp - Another Cosmic Jesus freak. From her book The Cosmic Dance An Invitation to Experience Our Oneness (I'm serious, that's what it's really called) "I am made up of stardust, that every part and parcel of who I am materially was once a piece of a star shining in the heavens". Ok.... and by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong. So what's your point, Joyce?
Rosemary Radford Ruether - A gyno-centric writer who spoke at the first meeting of the Women's Ordination Conference, and since 1985 has been a member of the board of directors of the pro-abortion feminist organization Catholics for A Free Choice. Ruether believes the Word of God is a lie-a collection of myths-and that "the Bible has to be demythologized"-that is, rewritten from the feminist perspective. Ruether was a founder of Women-Church and in 1983 helped unite many of the feminist groups into [a coalition called] Women-Church Convergence.
Whew! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm about ready to book passage on a cruise to the Isle of Lesbos.
You may (or may not) be shocked
Interesting story from the Duke University Divinity School’s "Pulpit & Pew Project". A few years old, but still relevant. They polled over 2,500 Catholic and Protestant ministers. Here are the Top Twelve authors that Catholic priests are reading. I've included a sentence or two on the not so famous authors listed.
1. Father Henri J. M. Nouwen - He preached Universal Salvation; "Every one will be saved" and "Anyone can find his own way to God". In his final book Sabbatical Journey : The Diary of His Final Year there is an ostensible endorsement of "gay" marriage. He was also a avid reader of Matthew Fox, the renegade Dominican. Why doesn't that suprise me?
2. Pope John Paul II - I think we all know who he is.
3. Father Raymond Brown - Brown received 24 honorary degrees, many from Protestant institutions. He openly argued against Jesus' physical Resurrection; the Transfiguration; the fact that Jesus founded the one, true Catholic Church and instituted the priesthood and the episcopacy. He has also called into question into the virginal conception of Jesus and the accounts of our Lord's birth and childhood. Cardinal Mahony hailed him as "the most distinguished and renowned Catholic biblical scholar to emerge in this country ever" and his death, the cardinal said, was "a great loss to the Church". 'Nuff said.
4. Father William J. Bausch - Leading proponent of Women's Ordination (Chicks with Pyx), optional celibacy for priests, and Sex Ed in Catholic schools all the way down to the Kindergarten level; "finally, the nation's Catholic schools have inaugurated sex abuse prevention lessons for children as early as age five..."
5. Father Walter J. Burghardt - A modern day Jesuit. Need I say more? Hell... why not. Here's Monsignor Philip J. Murnion, director of National Pastoral Life Center, glowing review of Burghardt's book "Long Have I Loved You"; "the memoir is required reading for anyone who wishes to understand the theology lying behind Vatican II and carrying its vision forward". I guess that 2,000 years of Catholicism prior to V2 is just a figment of my imagination?
6. Scott Hahn - Darling of the Neo-Cons in the Church. Compared to the rest of these guys, Hahn looks like St. Augustine.
7. Father Anthony de Mello - Another Jesuit. Proponent of a melding of Catholicism, Zen Buddhism, modern psychology, and yoga. Big shock, huh?
8. Dr. William Barclay - A so-called "great Bible Teacher". For starters, he openly denied the Dogma of the Virgin Birth; "The Jews had a saying that in the birth of every child there are three partners--the father, the mother, and the Spirit of God. They believed that no child could ever be born without the Spirit. And it may well be that the New Testament stories of the birth of Jesus are lovely, poetical ways of saying that, even if He had a human father, the Holy Spirit of God was operative in His birth in a unique way. In this matter we may make our own decision".
9. Father Richard P. McBrien - Head Honcho at the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame. Openly challenges the Dogmas of Papal Infallibility, the Blessed Mother's Immaculate Conception and the Assumption, Confession, The Real Presence (he describes the Catholic belief in transubstantiation as "medieval").
10. Father Karl Rahner - Yet another Jesuit. As one writer put it, "Without Rahner... the Second Vatican Council's liberalization of dogma and ecclesiastical structure would have been almost unthinkable without him". Rahner is the veritable Big Daddy of the "Cosmic Jesus" heresy so prevalent in The Church. According to him, what is there in the afterlife? Precisely nothing—for there is no afterlife, just an "all-cosmic body" in death. Rahner himself made a similar point when claiming that Vatican II marked the emergence of a 'World Church'. Thanks to Rahner, Protestants were no longer simply benighted heretics, pagans no longer simply in error. Rather, if the Churches ever are reunited, the non-Catholic Christians will bring something positive; and even the institutional forms of paganism can be of salvific significance.
11. C. S. Lewis - Hope springs eternal. At least they're reading him.
12. Father Mark Link - *sigh* ANOTHER Jesuit. And silly me, I've been wondering so long why we have so many shitty priests in the Church. Anyhow, Father Feelgood here is the Joe Dirt of Catholicism (life's a garden, dig it). Father Link has such deep sayings as "The Church is like a net that fisherman cast into the sea. The Church can't discriminate either". Wow... the Summa Theological for the Vatican II Church if I ever saw it.
Sheesh, and we wonder why things are so screwed up. But look what didn't quite make the Top Twelve. And keep in mind, this stuff is being read by our priests...
Sister Joan Chittister - One of the featured writers at the Jesuit run America magazine. Need I say more?
Dianne Bergant - Penned such phallo-phobic page turners as But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical Interpretation; An Ecological Vision of the World: Toward a Christian Ecological Theology for Our Age; The Earth Is the Lord's: The Bible, Ecology, and Worship; and The Strange Woman: Power and Sex in the Bible.
Joyce Rupp - Another Cosmic Jesus freak. From her book The Cosmic Dance An Invitation to Experience Our Oneness (I'm serious, that's what it's really called) "I am made up of stardust, that every part and parcel of who I am materially was once a piece of a star shining in the heavens". Ok.... and by the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong. So what's your point, Joyce?
Rosemary Radford Ruether - A gyno-centric writer who spoke at the first meeting of the Women's Ordination Conference, and since 1985 has been a member of the board of directors of the pro-abortion feminist organization Catholics for A Free Choice. Ruether believes the Word of God is a lie-a collection of myths-and that "the Bible has to be demythologized"-that is, rewritten from the feminist perspective. Ruether was a founder of Women-Church and in 1983 helped unite many of the feminist groups into [a coalition called] Women-Church Convergence.
Whew! I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm about ready to book passage on a cruise to the Isle of Lesbos.
posted by Kevin Whiteman at
2:50 PM
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