What’s (Who’s) gotten into Notre Dame?
by Carder
Ever wondered how the darling of Catholic higher education arrived at Sunday’s disgrace?
Notre Dame alum Paul Schlicta writes in the American Thinker‘s blog, providing a quasi-timeline of how things spiraled out of control. The sad part: this has been brewing for a very long time:
The process started a century ago, when the Catholic Church was attacked by a group of internal heresies that Pope Pius X collectively defined as “modernism”. This vague and polymorphous movement, which one might call “Catholicism Lite”, was a rationalistic reduction of the Bible to mythology and of Catholic doctrine to tentative opinions that could be changed to suit the mood of the times.
Pius X attacked modernism within the Church so vigorously that for over half a century, Catholic clergy and schoolteachers had to take an anti-modernist oath. But there was always an underground movement of modernistic liberal theologians, waiting for an opportunity to “bring the Church up to date.”
Failure to cut the Catholic Church down to size with Vatican II and throughout Pope John Paul II‘s conservative reign forced these dissidents to enter through the back door…
This underground liberalization movement was apparently successful at Notre Dame. A salient example was the enthusiasm with which radically liberal Jesuit theologian Michael J. Himes (he doesn’t like to be called “father”) was received when he gave a series of lectures and workshops while a member of Notre Dame’s Department of Theology in 1987.
These lectures were eventually published as a book called Doing the Truth in Love, which included an enthusiastic back-cover endorsement by ND’s president emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh. Consider the following excerpts, which I assure you were not insidiously taken out of context:“Our Father in Heaven doesn’t especially care whether you are good or wicked or whether you are just or unjust.” [p. 11] “And astonishingly, not once does Jesus tell his disciples to love God.” [p. 18] “…no religious motive is the basis for the last judgment. Not only are specific religious acts beside the point, so are specifically religious motives.” [p. 51] “God loves this book as much as he loves you or me; otherwise it would not exist.” [p. 102] “Indeed, treating these formulas as the operative elements of the sacraments would reduce sacraments to magic-as long as you say the right words, poof!” [p. 100] “That is not what Christianity is about at all. We do not claim that there is a being ‘out there'” [p. 18] “God is not another person out there.” [p. 55] “There is no all-wise, all-powerful person named God who has a plan for us…” [p. 55]
And that is just the appetizer.
Things that make you go hmmm….
[Image attribution: Infibeam.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
“There is no all-wise, all-powerful person named God who has a plan for us…”
“There is no all-wise, all-powerful person named God who has a plan for us…”
Posted by: Hal at May 20, 2009 5:13 PM
God is Spirit. Genesis 1 says the Spirit of God moved on the waters.
Hal: The heterodoxy of some Catholic writers and teachers does not replace tradition, revelation, scripture and dogma. The most accessible repository of Catholic teaching can be found the the catechism. There you will find, among many other things, what the Church really teaches about the love of the Father and His wisdom.
“God loves this book as much as he loves you or me; otherwise it would not exist.” [p. 102]………………………………………… LOL at that one!
What a hack!
Fr Hesburgh, isn’t he the one who transferred governance of ND from the Holy Cross fathers to a private board back in the ’60s?
Obama’s entire thrust at Notre Dame was to exacerbate the schismatic tendencies threatening to erupt between the liberal “US Catholic Church” and the centrist, i.e. “orthodox” Roman Catholic Church.
It almost happened once over Annullments. (almost all annulments granted are in the United States.) John Paul II forbade annullments and a delegation of liberal cardinals went over there and persuaded him to relax the restrictions. That could have caused the schism. It may yet happen. Looks like most Catholic Universities are Roman Catholic anymore…and most of the students in them too!
Congrats, Jill, for even airing this subject !
Jill, your 15 minutes of Notre Dame fame is over.
I remain amazed at the level of chutzpah and gall of those who have decided they should be the Pope, and that the Roman Catholic Church has to bow to their whims- especially the ones who are not even Catholic! Is there no end to your arrogance?
“There is no all-wise, all-powerful person named God who has a plan for us…” [p. 55]
————————————————- Proof please!
“Our Father in Heaven doesn’t especially care whether you are good or wicked or whether you are just or unjust.”———————————————————————————- Yeah, right!
Bystander, as long as Jill cares to comment and report these facts and there are those who care to hear about them and discuss them, no amount of your shushing or telling her “it’s over” is going to amount to anything… last time I checked it wasn’t your name at the top of this blog and I can assure you, you aren’t the one we are hoping to hear from when we choose to come back to this site.
Elisabeth, I skim him over. His comments are not important.
Elisabeth, Just one thing. Bystander talks about how crazy we are, yet he’s here every day to take part in our discussions. If I believed I was interacting with a TRUE group of nuts, I would just leave.
For those who don’t understand papal authority, you are witnessing the necessity of it. (“And I tell you: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church….”) If this ND scenario can happen with papal authority, can you imagine what would happen without it? In fact, in the ND situation, because apparently there is no Catholic authority over the ND Board of Trustees, this is what happens. What keeps the Catholic Church together (as a good shepherd) is papal authority. (That doesn’t mean everything the pope says is infallible, it means the pope ,together with the college of bishops, protects the teachings of the Church….which essentially means the teachings of Jesus, the Bible, etc.)
I am only mentioning it because I know this is something non-Catholics have a problem with, and this is a good example of what happens without it…..
eileen at May 20, 2009 8:35 PM, thank you for your comments!
Speaking of reporting events at ND, here’s an interesting article from an eyewitness of Sunday’s fiasco.
http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=33600
Made me respect people like Jill and the protesters who showed up at South Bend even more. Makes me respect people like Heather who are out there on the sidewalks even more.
I thank you for that, Fed Up. It’s that one “thank you” or save that makes it all worthwhile!
Back to the abortion clinic tomorrow. Possibly going to pick up a third. Just got word that another PP is performing chemical abortions.
Fed Up, great article, BTW! It is just that kind of a battle too. You will meet just about every satanic type there is outside an abortion mill. They start talking all this gibberish. It’s like conversing with a demon! I’m dead serious. The bright side is the kind people out there! The school bus driver that always honks. Cops wave. Mailman stops to chat.
I say this to all pro-lifers….If the Lord has called you, get active! There is always something that you can do to help. I used to say “No.” “Not me.” Then I started saying, “Why not me?”
Fed Up, thank you for the article.
OMG, I’ve gotta tell all about this. Can’t believe I forgot! Guess who came knocking on my door today? A Jehovah’s Witness. I asked him how he felt about abortion, and he responded “We don’t get involved with the law of the land.” Then I told him about what I do. He responded “Well, if we stop abortion, women will die.” I stopped him right there. I was like, Whaaa juz happen heaaaa? Right at my door.
Contemporary Issues
Abortion is wrong. Homosexuality is a serious sin. Gender roles are defined: Men are the head of the household and women are loving caretakers who assist the husband in teaching the children. Divorce is permitted under certain circumstances, but Jehovah hates remarriage unless the divorce occurred as a result of adultery. Service in the armed forces or any form of allegiance to government is prohibited; one must show allegiance only to the Kingdom of Christ. Blood transfusions, along with ingesting blood, are considered wrong, as God said the soul is in the blood. Bone marrow transplants are left to the individual conscience. (Note: all other forms of medical treatment are acceptable.)
Yet, despite what the man said, it seems they are anti-abortion. *shrugs*
“There is no all-wise, all-powerful person named God who has a plan for us…”
Posted by: Hal at May 20, 2009 5:13 PM
———————————
Hal:
Gloating is fattening.
“If this ND scenario can happen with papal authority, can you imagine what would happen without it?”
Drunken clergymen stumbling around campus after football games?
Elisabeth, Just one thing. Bystander talks about how crazy we are, yet he’s here every day to take part in our discussions. If I believed I was interacting with a TRUE group of nuts, I would just leave.
Posted by: heather at May 20, 2009 8:21 PM
Totally agree! Isn’t it amazing pro aborts have nothing better to do than call us “haters”, “nut jobs” and everything else.
I dont spend time online or offline with people I feel are like that.
Seems to me pro aborts are getting worried. There is no question the pro life activists are the ones with momentum.
Sorry anonymous at 11:26 was me.
Heather there are clinics still doing chemical abortions? As I understand that procedure, the baby is given poison and thrashes around in the mother’s womb for hours before he or she dies, then the mom delivers a dead baby.
And this is being done for a woman’s “health”? That absolutely boggles my mind.
Joanne, yes. They give you the pill at the clinic, and then you go home and “have a miscarriage.” That’s how the PP worker worded it to me. I had to call and get their hours, so I had to also pretend I was seeking an abortion.
What liars PP are. “Miscarriage” means a baby is lost through no fault of the woman. “abortion” is by choice.
I read a PP web site once explaining the abortion procedure. It talked about “emptying the contents of the uterus.”
Joanne, the chemical abortions are the RU-486 abortions, usually done in the first 9 weeks of pregnancy. The woman takes a pill (mifeprex) on the first day, which I think interferes with progesterone in such a way that the embryo dies and the uterus lining softens/starts to break down. The woman then takes a second round of pills (misoprostol) on the second or third day, which induces uterine contractions and makes the body expel the embryo.
We should also note that women have died from these types of abortions. Holly Patterson from California comes to mind. The woman on the phone at PP made it all sound so easy, breezy.
I’m actually getting ready to go to the clinic now. Wish me well all:}
I don’t think your JW friend was well-catechized, Heather. I have studied the JWs quite a bit, and they are very much against abortion. I guess he was a JWINO!
So I’m a nerd, but here is the statement from the JW official website. http://www.jw-media.org/beliefs/medical.htm
“Life begins at conception. Deliberately induced abortion is viewed as the willful taking of human life.—Exodus 21:22, 23.”
I don’t know EXACTLY where one would go for official JW doctrine, but I’d have to imagine that their official website must be pretty close.
There’s a book, it’s been out a while, called “Sedona Storm” by Barbara Scott. Great book detailing the way that Satan and his imps are fed on the blood of the innocent. Written very much in the style of “This Present Darkness”, so if you liked that one, you’ll enjoy this one.
Elisabeth,
I just finished reading Prophet. I will check out Sedona Storm. Thanks!
I know we pro-lifers want to go back to a different time, but to where exactly? From the readings I’ve done recently, there has never been a golden age, at least not one that lasted very long, in all of human history, where people embraced “life.” Back in the old days, before abortion was legal, from ancient times to very close up to our own modern era, including during the most hyper-Christian period in the world, the Middle Ages, desperate women, with or without their mate’s support, regularly “aborted” unwanted children through infanticide, anything from exposing the baby outdoors to “accidentally” rolling over on him or her in bed. They would resort to this as the “backup” method if their illegal induced abortions via chemicals or surgery didn’t work. Infanticide and abortion throughout history have not been an anomoly, but quite a depressingly widespread practice, at least as common, and in some societies even more so, than legal abortions are today. In modern-day Brazil, where abortion is illegal in all or nearly all circumstances, about a third of pregnancies end in illegal abortion, more than in the U.S., and far more than most of Europe. So, when you look at human history, simply making abortion illegal isn’t the answer. So what is?
Caroline, I have no desire to “go back” to anything. I desire to go forward to a time when all of our great advances are actually used to benefit all people from conception to natural death.
Caroline,
I agree with Elisabeth. Modern science allows us to view life in the womb in a way unprecedented in history.
What have you been reading recently? Finding books on the history of abortion is a challenge. I don’t believe it was as common throughout history as some pro-aborts would lead us to believe. It is not in our nature to kill our young.
“So, when you look at human history, simply making abortion illegal isn’t the answer. So what is?”
Good question. We need to re-educate society that abortion is a bad choice for women. Teach women that they are most empowered when they embrace their femininity instead of pushing it away. Women need to make goals for themselves and delay their sexual experiences until they can be a responsible parent if they do become pregnant. Abortion should never be an option in a woman’s mind and they should understand this from a practical point of view, not a religious one alone, because obvioiusly, not all women are religious. Women AND men need to be courageous enough to take a stand against abortion and discuss it with their family and friends, regardless of potential backlash. Easier said than done, but change doesn’t come easily.