Where do you stand?

I mean, do you regard visits to Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and so on, an acceptable part of Catholic school life or, even, of Catholic parish life?

Would you, if drawn into such a group, allow your forehead to be daubed with a red spot or adopt the kneeling position as used by the particular faith you are visiting or participate in any other way?

Do you believe that Catholic convents and other Catholic groups should participate in retreat or training programmes that involve elements of Buddhism, Taoism or any other pagan belief?

This is a yes or no moment - there is no "but only if" category; I'm just interested in obtaining the views of other Catholics rather than plodding on in my own little orthodox Catholic bubble.

Please look at the options in my sidebar and vote accordingly - xie xie!

Syncretism - is it a sin?

It appears as if, in modern Church parlance, syncretism is a word used to define a meeting with those of other faiths; Christian or Heathen or Pagan.

Raijin - Japanese god of thunder - not for  Year 3s

I would be open to the view that some good could be the fruit of such meetings but only on the proviso that they were conducted formally with leaders of the faith rather than the faithful and on neutral ground.

Of course, the objective (our objective) must be to spread the light of Christ among those upon whom it has never shone.
Presumably, we would do this in a polite manner, making certain points and teaching through discourse and example.

I think that, if indeed, that is syncretism, then it should be regarded as a good and wholesome thing that Our Lord would approve of.

But I am afraid that this word is being used too loosely and that it has become the 'in word' for ecumenical meetings and shindigs.

Taking class four to a synagogue could have some merit if the visit was enshrined within the RE syllabus. Possibly.

Shunting secondary school students to a mosque would be of dubious benefit; as would a visit to a Hindu Temple.
Why? Because there is a  danger of being drawn into pagan or heathen practices.

 Clapping hands before a Shinto shrine is a form of worship encouraged by one's hosts in Japan and it is hard to back out of that potentially volatile situation. I have visited the country often and have found that the best way to cope is to politely refuse and, instead, make a sign of the cross.
That act is respected by my Japanese hosts and it does not cause offence.
To do the same thing in a mosque would, in all probability, cause offence.

At a Hindu Temple it would be natural for visitors to receive the red spot on the forehead, bindi as it is called.

Bindi has a spiritual and social function, here is how its spiritual function is described:

".....I'll start with the Spiritual purpose as it is the most important one of them all. As per Hinduism the purpose of life is to find your true self, to realize the Infinite Reality. Every morning one takes a bath and sits in prayer, (not to say prayers like a parrot), to seek for the absolute truth through every ritual and prayer. However, one has to make a living and cannot sit in prayer the whole day. Thus, as one leaves the prayer room one is expected to put some mark on one's forehead (between the eyebrows - which is the seat of memory) to remind one during the day and through all activities of the 'purpose of life'. As we cannot see the mark on our own foreheads when we see it on another we recall the purpose of our life. The idea is to remember that all actions in the external world are dedicated towards the achievement of this supreme goal of self realization. The purpose is to recall the purpose, reflect and contemplate upon Reality in and through all activities throughout the day".

That's a definite "no go area" as far as we are concerned.

Now Patricius has informed me that I should have consulted Nostra Aetate from the Vatican Archives, on the subject of inter faith dialogue.
I have now done so and find nothing that contradicts anything that I have written so far.

Nostra Aetate is aimed at those wishing to have dialogue with non Christian religions; dialogue aimed at creating a level of understanding.
It says nothing of organising parish jamborees or school groups where the object of the exercise would seem to be extremely dubious at best.

And, I still maintain that to participate in non Christian ceremonies (and non Catholic ones) falls under the category of relativism and a few other isms as well.

It is a mortal sin to take part or appear to take part in prayer services or rituals that are not dedicated to the one true God.

Or, has someone moved the goal posts?

If you're Catholic, please state that Buddhism and all other 'isms' are bunkum

Tell that to your Bishops, please.

I have discovered (naively) that school visits (especially ones involving primary school children) to temples, shrines, mosques and synagogues are rampant.

What are our teachers thinking of?

At the risk of repeating myself; do we seek reciprocation in any form?

Do we ask Temple worshippers along to our Benedictions?

When did you last see a coven gathering around the sanctuary? (don't answer that, you know what I meant, let's leave the EMHCs out of this).

Seriously though, this appears to be endemic, no wonder we have much to worry about regarding Fatima.

And when please, if you are a headteacher or a school governor, tell me this; when did your school attend a Mass celebrated in the Extraordinary Form?

Let me answer it for you.......never!

You have never* taken your children to witness the greatest wonder of the Faith on earth, shame on you!

* I am excluding Cardinal Vaughan and The Oratory School from that statement.

And... you may like to know that I am writing this post from the heart of Portsmouth City...was that a knock on the door?

Pure coincidence that I find myself in Inman country. I fear now't from Bishop Philip but there may be a few of the old guard around who might be tempted to give me  Hampshire necktie, or worse.

Tomorrow on to Kingston sur Thames followed by Henfield and then, on Sunday, Mass at Taunton.
That's not on the LMS list, I wonder why, it is legit after all.

 

A reply from the Bishop...except that, it's not

It all started with a polite request from me to Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth.

I asked why one of his parishes was organising a visit to a Hindu Temple; it seemed a pretty pointless exercise to me and ecumaniacal initiatives such as this never seem to have a reciprocation aspect to them.
We tend to go forth and join rather than to go forth and teach.

Now this is where it gets boring (yawn) it's a bit anecdotal so please bear with me.
I received a nice reply from the Bishop suggesting that I take the matter up with my Parish Priest - alack!
 I am a pikey Catholic, I have no parish, no place to lay my head or kneel in prayer except several 'adopted' churches where the PP is a kind and forbearing person.

Mantra for customer satisfaction -
 "Delegation is good but it must be followed through"

In haste I responded with an apology for giving the impression that I was a parishioner of St James's Church, Reading.

And then.......the response comes back.....except that, whilst it purports to come from the Bishop it obviously comes from one of his priests charged with admin duties filed under "Nuisance enquiries from awkward b*****s" (that stands for bloggers, by the way).

You see, as any fule kno, as Molesworth would say, you never, ever, send an email that has been forwarded or cc'd.

Because the chances are that there will be one or two earlier emails on the tab that may carry info that you would not wish the final recipient to see.

Now, my reply carried nothing nasty as such but it had not, I believe, been sent by the Bishop because there was a forward note from the Bish's PA stating: "Father, for you"

And the reply itself was.....a bit (I'm trying to be charitable) -  pompous and twittish, and I am sure that the Bishop would never have made such remarks.

Here is the response, verbatim, you may judge for yourselves (my comments in red):

Dear Robert (Um, just plain Richard would do, it is my name after all)

The nature of interreligious dialogue and proclamation is of course a complex one. (Well, it certainly sounds it) You might do well to look at the article by Mgr. Billy Steele on the Diocese of Leeds website (It really gets up my nose when people say things like "You have to understand" or "You might do well" and, anyway, I would never read anything from a Catholic priest with the Christian name 'Billy').

Some Christians veer towards syncretism, others to fundamentalism (err....there is a whole world between those two words and just because I may object to syncretism it doesn't make me a fundamentalist) and the rejection of any possible ‘conversation.’ (But is a visit to a Hindu temple a 'conversation'? What is the actual purpose of such a visit?)

The Catholic position is directed by recent Church teaching (Such as?). 
In this particular case, I still think it would be best to discuss the precise nature of the proposed visit with the Parish Priest (but, as I have stated before, I am not a member of this bleeping parish!) before making your judgment.(Ah...judgements are wrong, that's the innuendo here).

With prayers and best wishes

In Corde Iesu

+ Philip

What an awful, ignorant letter. I am confident that Bishop Philip did not write it, what do you think?

If I was the Bishop I'd give whoever it was that wrote it, a week's course on customer service and relationships at Marks and Spencer.

A question for school lay chaplains......

......When they plan their visit to the local Mosque.

How do you set about filling in the statutory risk assessment form?

                       A thorny problem for Chaplins

A note to school chaplains*

"When was the last time you invited a group of Muslims, Hindus or Sikhs to attend Mass in your parish church?"

I ask in all seriousness because it seems to me that the ecumaniacal movement is a one way street, with the Catholics going one way - to the shrine or the mosque.

Some commentators on my previous post have accused me of being a bigot and a racist (at worst) and uncharitable (at best).

And quite a few generous souls have leapt to my defence including bloggers such as Mundabor,
A Catholic comes Home and Left Footer - I thank them and will remember them in my Rosaries this week especially.
And I shall also remember my critics - equality for all I say!

As to the criticisms.....let me just say that I have a Muslim son-in-law and that part of my formative years included having an indian student living as a member of the family, he became another older brother for me.
So, not too much bigotry or racial hatred there then.

My reasons for writing as I do, reflects on the fact that I had an absurdly normal childhood and adolescence. I did not rebel or shout at my parents or shock them by appearing with a ring through my nose and tattoos all over my body.
I was boringly boring.

So now that I am, how shall I put it? - a tad older, I think that all that suppression of emotions and repressive freedom has resulted in a rebirth of adolescence.

Another chance to shock and appal my fellow man.

That might have a touch of truth in it but I also cannot abide cant and stupidity and all this pathetic political correctness.

Sadly, many in my Faith have gone down this route and, in so doing, have damaged the Faith and worse, I suspect, offended Almighty God who cannot be too pleased at the fact that young minds are being exposed to false religions in a manner that may lead them to believe that 'we are all members of the same club'.

That comment was made to my wife recently by a leading Catholic laywoman.

All members of the same club?................a good job that's it's Sunday or I might have used the rude, round and plural word.

* I mean lay chaplains, of course.

If you must visit a mosque or temple, here's what you must do

                       Granny Linen's Ecumenical Pork Pies are always popular


This is a key list of essential items or acts that you should  take with you or do if you are unfortunate enough to attend a school that has a lay chaplain or be a member of a parish that has a nutjob as a parish leader who desires to lead you down the rose petal strewn pathway to Perdition.

If you are going to do this visit, at least do it well, here's your list:-

1. Rosary - to be worn openly around your neck

2. Bottle of holy water - 'sprinkling' is widely accepted as a sign of friendship

3. Selection of foods, pork pies and bacon sandwiches are especially popular

4. One or two bottles of Reverend James or some lesser brew - it's ecumenical to share

5. Carry a copy of Geoffrey Hindleys 'A brief history of the Crusades' under your arm

6. Remember to hug and kiss your hosts enthusiastically one both cheeks,
     ten times - the kiss of peace is internationally welcomed

7. Hand out copies of "The Catechism of the Catholic Church" to all you meet

8. Sing the 'Salve Regina' loudly as you leave

9. Finally, and most importantly, remember to carry your "I am a Catholic, please inform
    a Catholic priest in the event of an accident" card.

What's it to be - Latin Mass or Pooja?

First of all, following my recent post on the parish of St James in Reading, I received a response from Bishop Phillip Egan of Portsmouth.

It was a kind response but, unfortunately, he had assumed that I was a parishioner and, therefore, his advice was for me to go and consult my PP.

OK, I said that it was a kind response, I did not say that it was a good one.

One of the main things about being a good leader in my book is that you accept a certain level of responsibility. 

If something smells fishy you conduct a bit of a search until you find that, bingo! there is no smell source or.........there is. 

What you do not do is tell the person enquiring to go and ask elsewhere. Let's leave it there.

Kali is not one of the most ecumenically inspired Hindu gods

                                                      

Now, I hear that a Catholic School Chaplain (a young man) believes that it's a jolly good idea to go and mingle with those of heathen faiths. 

Here is what he has said:

"What an excellent opportunity for young catholics to gain an understanding of their Hindu neighbours. 

I myself am planning a trip to XXXXXX mosque with our Year 8s and 9s." 

So, why? - I keep asking myself this question. 

Why, oh why are the modernists so keen to lovey up to those of pagan faiths?

Let me put it another way, here are 4 questions for those in favour of taking parishioners or school pupils to visit temples, shrines and covens (covens? well why stop at temple and shrines?):-

1. Have you taken your parishioners or pupils to witness a Sung Latin 

    Tridentine Mass? If not, why not?

2. Have you taken your parishioners or pupils on pilgrimage to a Catholic shrine?

3. Have you arranged for an Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 

    or Benediction for your parishioners or pupils?

4. Have you taken your parishioners or pupils to visit the Mother Church 

   (the national Cathedral)?

The point of all this is, that I suspect that the pupils (certainly) and the parishioners (possibly) have not experienced any of the above and it just seems rather sensible to me that young minds should first be well grounded in their own Faith before enquiring about others.

And another point is, what steps should the organiser of such a visit take (if it has to take place) to ensure that the Catholic visitors do not get drawn into a worship alliance once they are there.

By that I mean having the red spot (bindi) placed upon their foreheads, bowing towards their gods and so on.

Not only would such involvement be very, very wrong and in breach of the First Commandment but, I strongly suspect that, should a reciprocal visit take place and Hindus be invited to a Catholic Church, no request would be made for them to bless themselves or for the men to remove headgear.

But then, that's how the modernist mind works isn't it?

And, just in case any school chaplains happen to be reading this blog and require a bit of spiritual recall, here it is:-

I am the LORD your God,  who brought you out  of the land of Egypt,  out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself a graven image,  or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,  or that is in the earth beneath,  or that is in the water under the earth;  you shall not bow down to them or serve them;  for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,  visiting the iniquity of the fathers  upon the children to the third and the fourth  generation of those who hate me,  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those  who love me and keep my commandments.