...business as usual in the Cape Fear Deanery...
Just what I needed to steal my 'Lenten Groove', my wife shows me an E-mail she recently received,from a mom concerned about an upcoming 'All Day Health Expo' event at St. Mary's Catholic School in Wilmington. Sounds innocent enough doesn't it? They offer info all sorts of great stuff to teach the kids about maintaining good health, from schools E-Letter:
"Looking ahead to the 24th of this month your children will have an all day Health Expo. The purpose is to teach students about good life-long habits. The expo will be set up in 30 minute interactive stations: Make Your Own Smoothies, Surfing, Dental Health, Dance, Computer, Fencing, Yoga, Exercise and Healthy Snacks and Healthy Hearts. The Students are to wear comfortable work-out clothes and gym shoes."
...ain't that sweet...I bet I could count on my hand how many kids in that school (or teachers for that matter) that can tell you what a well formed Catholic conscience is and here we are teaching them how to get their 'Chi' in line. But then again, this is the same deanery that has two schools with the philosophy of, 'well, the enrollment is up', whenever a concern is raised about anything deviating from true Catholic teaching. Yeah, 'enrollment is up'. I also heard the Temple was pretty crowded when Christ drove the money changers out.
There is a great buzz in this area on the prospects of a Catholic High School being built down here. I'd be jazzed about it myself, but after 8 years witnessing how the lower grade schools operate, I must admit, I question what type of atmosphere would be created to appease the luke-warmers and non-Catholic's who will no doubt want the dog and pony that their kids just participated in for the past 9 years to continue? Can a Catholic High School actually exist if the student body has to be drastically weened from their 'Harry Potter' and 'His Dark Material' Books, liturgical dance and yoga? Can their young minds accept the fact that their Savior was a Carpenter and not a Community Organizer?
Getting back to the Yoga, I know the old argument, "we are only using it for the exercise and stretching aspect...blah-blah-blah, yada-yada...". I'll just defer to Father John Hardon on this subject:
Yoga is incompatible with Catholicism because the best known practice of Hindu spirituality is Yoga. “Inner” Hinduism professes pantheism, which denies that there is only one infinite Being who created the world out of nothing. This pantheistic Hinduism says to the multitude of uncultured believers who follow the ways of the gods that they will receive the reward of the gods.
Link
So here we have a school right next to a Catholic Shrine and we are pushing these kids through portals towards Hindu practices and their gods? Did anyone there ever think of spending a little time in front of the Eucharist? Does wonders for my mental and spiritual health. Heavens to Betsy no, we are giving them Yoga for 'Spiritual Health' tips. Makes me wonder what they'll be feeding them in a local Catholic High School, I mean, you've got to make sure they are properly 'nuanced' for 'Catholic' college, right?
Pretty Scaaaary....
Saint Michael the Archangel...
Defend Us in Battle!!!
posted by Unknown at
10:39 AM
19 Comments:
You mean I don't worship the monkey god when I go to Mass?! Or was that thing just a flying Homer Simpson with a tail?
D'OH!
Y'know, wouldn't it be easier, more effective, and just a bit less heretical just to bring back recess? Y'know, the old kind where kids played kick ball, wrestled in dirt, and made fun of the fat kids, which, incidentally, might convince them to run their butts around more and get healthy? Why do our precious, unique little snowflakes need yoga when soldiers and athletes do just fine with PT, running, and weight rooms? Bah.
After praying to St. Michael, which is the first thing to do, I recommend that interested folks procure a copy of Fr. Seraphim Rose's ORTHODOXY AND THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE. The late Fr. Seraphim was an orthodox hiero-monk (a priest) of the ROCOR variety. Yes, I know he was Orthodox, but his book has much to say to Catholics about New Age-ism and the wholesale and uncritical incorporation of Hindu religion and mysticism into our every day lives, particularly the academic lives of our children.
The other comment I have regarding what you are facing is that this is IMHO the logical result of Pope John XXIII's aggiornamento.
Jim C.
. . . who has read nearly everything the late Fr. John Hardon has written--great stuff!--and who hopes that someday Fr. Hardon will be glorified at the altar.
Um, guys, how is doing Hindu push-ups, squats and a back arch idolatry? I do those and yoga as part of my exercise regimen (which also includes okinawan karate, the Charles Atlas course -a faithful Catholic btw- and Body weight exercises from Matt Furey and Farmer Burns) I'm a massage therapist myself, use acupuncture when I'm sick and I've NEVER been tempted to worship idols or even thought of doing it.
They're called "Hindu squats" and "Hindu push-ups" because they originated from India. They have nothing to do with religion any more that bench presses reflect Christianity. I mean try doing them correctly and tell me how easy they are. Look them up on youtube.
Yoga is just exercise. We have it at St. Mary's Odox Cathedral center in NE Minneapolis. We'd never do it if we thought it was a pagan religion. Sorry guys but Fr. Hardon is mistaken, and statements like those only reinforce old stereotypes about catholics.
Frankly all weight training like body-builders does is give you bulky muscles that are easily prone to injury due to over stress on the tendons and have little functional strength and endurance. Look at Matt Furey's "Combat Conditioning" (all of which you can find for free on youtube) or "Lumber Jack yoga".
Couple of points guys. First, I am not into any form of bullying kids, fat or ugly or different. If a young kid is fat, it has more to do with how his parents are raising him than it does the poor kid. So please tell me why having ten kids around some poor child is good in any way? It does not result in anything good happening in any way.
Second, you assume that yoga and Hindu's are more effective than say Catholics are with spreading the faith. 99% of yoga has nothing to do with religion in our society. In fact, the vast majority of people would not even make that connection in any way. Yoga is a different form of excercise which can be helpful in balance and helping one to silence themselves. What if the yoga class is tied together with Catholic Chants to help one reach an inner silence where the soft sound of God is heard in our busy life. Doubt if you took 10,000 Catholic kids who are exposed to yoga, there will be one convert to Hindu. Can't go along with the post or the comments on kids. Usually only the bully grown up thinks anything beneficial can come from a group of kids or bigger kid picking on another child.
St. Francis School in Bakersfield, Ca,diocese of Fresno implimented yoga into their PE classes a fdew years ago. The Pastor was recently elevated to Mondignori.......so goes the diocese of Fresno....straight to hell
"Please Tell Me They Meant "YOGURT"!!!"
Now why would Mel Brooks be showing up at Wilmington unless he is doing a stage production of SpaceBalls & this is 1 of the out of town tryouts.
(Sorry couldn't resist!)
I've done yoga for many years, but as I went back to the church via the TLM, I realized that some elements of yoga classes are inconsistent with my faith. Chanting Om Shanti and other chants at the end of the class aren't something I can really participate in.
That said, I think yoga is a solid form of exercise in and of itself. A mid to advanced level yoga class is very challenging and mentally engaging. Developing and working within the mind-body connection is a helpful meditation (take for example, doing Chaturanga correctly).
I'd be all for a few Gregorian chants at the start and end of a class :)
OH MY! I see the cavedwellers have pissed off a lot of "yoga" practitioners.
I am sorry that many of you have taken to practicing this entry way to another religion you should not.
VSO you might just be a little stronger in your faith but this being introduced to people who have little other formation is a real danger. So I might add is martial arts when it is heavily taught with all the mysticism of the Eastern religions.
These ARE dangerous to the malformed conscience looking for a shred of stability to hold on too.
And this is why, when we lived in Fayetteville, we worshiped in the Maronite Rite at Archangel Michaels maronite Rite Catholic church on Arsenal Ave in Fayetteville: Good theology, Good Liturgy, and a congregation that valued it's Catholicism.
Seriously guys, I'm not ticked off, I'm just befuddled that you think this form of exercise is religion. I can see where some folks may take it and martial arts to extremes where they think it's religion, but so do nerds: Case in point Star trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica (Kate Sackoff actually got a death threat for playing Starbuck in the new series).
Christianity is supposed to be mystical, after all we believe in something called the Holy Spirit, believe a man rose from the dead and that bread and wine can be turned into his body and blood. Show kids how Christians from the Middle East pray: Copts, Ethiopians, Antiochians etc.
You know, I'll continue this over at American Rumpo when I'm feeling better. I'm still not after a week of using Emergen C, Nyquil, herbs and essential oils. I'm going for western drugs now.
Pfft I guess I wasn't specific in my post... I don't go to the classes since going back via the TLM.
Like the Seinfeld episode of the Charity Walk: "what? you won't wear the ribbon???" I don't want to deal with "what? you won't OM???"
OK, I will say this... St Mary's "Catholic" school and parish are both hot beds of heterodoxy.
If you imagine the worst on ANY topic, not just yoga, you're probably right.
First off, yoga, as an exercise and means of increasing flexibility isn't significantly better than a well thought out active isolated stretching plan. I don't mean fifteen seconds of touching your toes, I mean real stretching.
Also, traditional yoga does have a spirituality associated with it. If you get rid of the spirituality and the dangerous postures, you really just have an active stretching program, so why call it yoga? If you do include the spirituality, then you're treading on questionable spiritual waters, and you're adding stuff that's superfluous to the fitness aspect of it.
As far as just weight lifting for fitness, I never advocated just that. I know full well that stretching is important for fitness, but yoga isn't somehow a privileged end-all-be-all for flexibility. Moreover, some of the postures, particularly when poorly taught and poorly practiced, can be downright dangerous. And, studies consistently show that adding a weight lifting regimen to *any* sport, along with cardio and flexibility training, improves performance.
Finally, as far as fat kids on the field go, I was a regular old tubby-pud back in elementary school. I got picked last for teams and made fun of. And, then football rolled around and I decided I'd work out and get good at something 'cause I was tired of being made fun of (and running headlong into one of my more obnoxious classmates was kinda fun, too). And, gosh darn it, if that fat little snowflake didn't trim down, tone up, get healthier, and feel a whole heck of a lot better about himself. Huh. So, yes, I do feel, in fact, I know that a little bit of cold hard reality can make a tubby kid improve himself.
Am I suggesting that we give kids soap in a pillow case and let them go Platoon on Private Pile? No. But, precious snowflake has to learn somewhere that putting too many Twinkies in the tummy makes him a pretty poor playmate on the kickball field. I don't buy this entire "any form of non-positive-behavior-on-a-playground" thing is evil bullying.
Okay, first off, isn't the main focus of Yoga, SELF? Anything I read, for or against, makes it clear that it is about SELF enlightenment and fulfilment. Perhaps pursuing the physical benefits of Yoga IS harmless to a knowledgable Catholic, although I know I won't be taking any chances with it.
I would like to know how this could be anything BUT dangerous, when introduced in a lukewarm (at BEST) Catholic school environment? Let's say 'Little Johnny' finishes up his 8 years of 'formation' at St. Mary's, goes the route of the typical Catholic and drifts from the Church for a number of years. He suddenly realizes he has a spiritual void in his life and starts looking deeper into the spiritual aspects of Yoga. Hey, any tiny piece of Catholic conscience he has left, might be looking back to that fun Health Expo back in 6th grade and lead him to believe that all aspects of yoga are just Hunky Dory.
Portals people, it's all about portals. This Church has far to long let things off this world have influence inside of Her.
Euboxic,
Good posts!
I echo everything said about the potential spiritual evils of yoga. I knew a devout Catholic woman who lived and worked in India for several years. She got involved in yoga and what she had to go thru to rid herself of the spiritual infestation was something just short of an exorcism.
As for bullying, the belief that might makes right is always wrong, including juvenile bullying, but anyone who thinks they;re going to eliminate it by "outlawing" it or passing out suspensions lives in liberal utopia. It will still happen, just off campus. And, bullying does have some positive side effects. the targets tlearn that which doesn't kill them makes them stronger. Other kids learn they can ignore it and rise above it. Other kids dioscover there is strength and numbers and how to unite for a common goal, i.e. join together to thump the bully or simply announce tell the bully about their mutual protection society. Finally, it teaches kids that bulls exist and they learn to recognize them later in life in other endeavors and occupations.
Darn it, why couldn't you guys bring this up when I healthy? But mark this down as the first topic the Cavemen (and women) have argued.
Fellas, if one's faith is so weak, then they're going to leave the church any way whether it be Renaissance fairs, sci-fi nerd conventions, sports (the most common one btw) or neo-paganism. As i told some Orthodox fanatics (who wont even talk to you guys) kids look at other things and question their faith because they were only taught one thing, and want to compare notes as we've seen from the atheist factory known as Novus Ordo. What was that about the mustard seed?
Self improvement is not heresy it's Orthodoxy. "Be perfect for I am perfect." It's called the concept of theosis, which was lost to the west ever since they decided to define God in rigid legalistic terms complete with definite punishments and point systems. You're just confusing self-improvement with self-worship.
Does this mean that we can't study ballet, karate or eat at Indian or Chinese restaurants or Jewish delis? Need I point all those traditions of pagan origins that the Roman Church assimilated?
Yes injury can occur from improper yoga, but it can from any exercise. As for Active Isolate stretching, I own the book and find it somewhat useful, I find Proproceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation stretches alot better. I've never had any "ooooom bali bali" chant in my yoga dvd's. Start with Yoga for dummies.
I'm agaisnt so called isolated strengthening because you never use just one muscle. I've never been in a bench press position in my daily life. How about you?
FAB I can't speak for the lady you know, but perhaps it wasn't just yoga, it was living among idolators for years?
Religion, politics and exercise are subjects to avoid in mixed company.
We just kept our son home the day of the expo, due to religious beliefs. Most of the parents at St. Mary are Obama-mamas. They vote the liberal lifestyle, theylive the liberal lifestyle, the profess conviction in the merits of the liberal lifestyle and yet they put their children in a catholic school instead of the public school system that is the ultimate creation of liberal consciousness. They hide behind the people of faith, traditional values and the ten commandments yet profess publicly a very different belief. hmmm.
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