Friday, January 13, 2012
Buddhist-Catholic or Catholic Buddhist
There was an interesting obituary in the Advance recently, which exemplifies the utter lack of strength and fidelity in our local Catholic church. An old woman died who, although a graduate of a Catholic high school and Catholic college, is described as "a member of Manhattan’s Jewel Heart Buddhist Center and the Gurdjieff Foundation, where she taught classes in meditation." She was not described as belonging to any parish, yet she was given a funeral Mass at St. Peters church, with burial at St. Peter's cemetery. It is possible that on her deathbed she could have disavowed her heathen and New Age beliefs, but if that were the case then why would those affiliations be trumpeted in her obituary? I guess the message that Monsignor Dorney is sending is that one can be a Buddhist and Catholic at the same time. Does our church stand for anything anymore? Why do these hollow men who lead us seem to be desperately attempting to remake our Church into a syncretic and universalist sect? Why are our priests so scared of being Catholic?
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5 comments:
A neighbor of mine had passed away & was a Buddist,her funeral was at a Catholic church as her husband is a devout Catholic. Since she was baptized & educated in Catholic schools,they thought it was appropriate! I think this type of confusion is where the term "Cafeteria Catholics" comes from. I pray the New Year will bring renewed strength to our leaders. It's getting pretty ugly out there Staten Island Catholic. Happy New Year to you & thanks for your writings. Julie
Can you entertain the possibility that this woman was a member of those orgs and taught meditation and NOT disavowed her Catholic religion/teachings ? What is next? Divorced Catholics being denied Catholic funeral rights. We ought not judge. Dorney ought not be blamed either.
Thanks for writing, Julie. These situations cause scandal and mass confusion among the faithful, but our priests are just too scared or outright disobedient to say "No- Catholic funeral Masses are for Catholics only!"
Anonymous- I don't see how this woman could be a member of Buddhist/New Age religious organizations and still remain a Catholic. In any case, I don't think it's possible for her to compartmentalize Eastern "meditation" and its religious component. The two come in one package. If she were really interested in peace of mind and soul, there are plenty of methods for that in our western Catholic tradition. People who get heavily into things like yoga, Hindu and Buddhist meditation, and New Age beliefs are consciously and deliberately rejecting Catholicism and Christ. And by the way, I think divorced and remarried Catholics_should_be denied Catholic funerals. They rejected the Catholic faith while they were alive so why should the church go through the charade of pretending that they are members in good standing? It is the clergy's job to judge things like this and Monsignor Dorney is completely to blame, just like he was to blame when he hosted the lavish funeral Mass for pro-abortion politician John Lavelle.
Bravo Staten Pilgrim, What a stand up man you are for the faith. Your words are eloquently written. Looking forward to reading your next topic.
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