Liturgical Dance: The Revolution's Latest Phase
Kathy Willett Redle, M.F.A.
There are some
who feel insulated from the liturgical conciliar Church Revolution.1
They may say "Not at my parish! We have an Indult Latin Mass parish
or a reverent Novus Ordo parish which has avoided liturgical dance, Eucharistic
ministers, communion in the hand, and altar girls (this is a rarity).
Is anyone really safe when the Church is in the throes of liturgical,
doctrinal, and moral revolutions?
LITURGICAL DANCING?????????
The world is not a safe place and is getting less so because God is ignored or reviled. Even those people who attend traditional chapels may be affected in some way as the revolution in the wake of the storm tries to bear down and swallow up even traditionalists. These spiritual storms drown souls, plunging them into deep, murky waters where sharks lurk. That is why those on the storm-tossed ship must be ever vigilant and willing to man the masts and petition the Master to save us and calm the waves. Our Blessed Mother's rosary is our weapon. Until our Lord and Master wakes up (Mark 4:38), it is up to us to keep the ship afloat, steer her, patch up the sails, and bail out the water that seeps in at a million different cracks in the old barque of St. Peter's fishing boat. St. John Bosco had an interesting dream about this. While we man the ship, others who have floundered need life preservers and ropes thrown at them.
One could use this metaphor in a hundred different ways. For instance, we may even have to throw out a line to St. Peter himself, embroiled as he is in interreligious dialogue. He has begun to doubt and has started to sink because he took his eyes off Christ and His only ark of salvation, the Catholic Church. Can any Catholic deny this, given Assisi I, Assisi II, and just recently, the interreligious Fatima Shrine scandal?2 Catholics are shocked at the level of religious indifference, all in the name of world peace. Said Fr. John Echert, "I condemn such a project (to turn Fatima into an interreligious center where all the religions of the world gather to pay homage to their various gods) as contrary to sacred scripture, sacred tradition, and the whole spiritual message of Our Lady of Fatima, who called instead for the conversion of sinners and the consecration of Russia, not the honor of false gods and the promotion of false religions."3 Some priests, such as Fr. Nicholas Gruner, who call for the proper consecration of Russia, are persecuted by Church authorities. World peace is a worthy goal to be sure, but it is of far lower importance than the primary goal of the Catholic Church to save souls from the fires of hell. It seems that too few prelates these days think that any people are going to that fiery pit and are far more concerned with earthly peace and the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Didn't Mary say that unless mankind repented, whole nations would be annihilated? Their actions bespeak of a placation of geopolitical tensions through the use of syncretistic religious prayer services. "My god is OK, your god is OK, so don't terrorize me or destroy my people." Only Christ can bring true peace on earth. His social Kingship must be restored; otherwise, wars and rumors of wars will continue.
Unfortunately, many apostles on the boat, instead of praying the greatest sacrificial prayer of the Church, the immemorial Latin Mass of our fathers, decided to create a storm of worldly aggiornamento inside the ark itself through the pastoral council of Vatican II which delivered none of the usual anathemas to errors. They changed the Mass to fit their new modernist religion of diversity, pluralism, and New Age humanism, creating a disaster unparalleled in Church history. This historical disaster is even worse than Arianism. As St. Pius X said, modernism is the synthesis of all heresies. The apostasy is even more appalling because it seems to have reached even the seat of Peter, the Vatican itself, as Pope St. Leo XIII predicted in the unedited version of his St. Michael the Archangel exorcist prayer.4
This conciliar religion represents a new age humanistic mentality, whose prophets include Teilhard de Chardin and Hans Kung. Its rituals and rites are sensual gnostic songs, interreligious prayer services, and neo-pagan dancing. These pagan novelties have been successfully introduced by the revolutionaries into the Novus Ordo Mass, filling the vacuum created by the removal of Christ as the central focus of the liturgy. Notice how in the new liturgy Jesus in the tabernacle has been removed from the sanctuary. Notice the spread of Eucharistic services due to the orchestrated priest shortage. Michael Rose's book Goodbye, Good Men exposes how this priest shortage was created by morally corrupt liberal seminary directors who banished morally upright and orthodox candidates disgusted by the rampant homosexuality among their fellow students.
We see that the universal salvation message of ICEL's gnostic protestantized New Mass translation is a sinking ship experiment which substitutes a feel-good self worship of the community for the unbloody sacrifice of Our Savior Jesus Christ. The Novus Ordo parishes and schools are emptying out because people know something is wrong. They know that something is wrong but they just can't articulate it.
The revolutionaries threw out everything sacred and the people left in droves. In the hope of drawing people back, they replaced the holy with everything profane: rock Masses, polka Masses, folk Masses, clown Masses, beach Masses, and children's Masses. Everything is allowed except the ancient canonized Mass of Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Pius V. Today, a special indult allows what was already canonized at the dogmatic council of Trent and promulgated in perpetuity by the papal bull Quo Primum. The conciliar Church displays similarities to a secret sect prophesied by Anne Catherine Emmerick. This secret sect seeks to tear down the Church, building a structure like the tower of Babel rather than the Roman Catholic Church. We only want our hierarchy to be Catholic. Dietrich von Hildebrand cried over what he called the abomination of desolation when the New Mass, the creation of the freemason Annibale Bugnini and six Protestant ministers who acted as advisors, was imposed and the old Latin Mass was unjustly suppressed.
What
else can the liturgical demolition team do to complete their revolution?
Why, they must bring on the dancing girls, creating show boat entertainment.
The old barque of Peter needed to be updated, so they replaced it with
a river boat gamble. Modernist theologians, bishops, and liturgists gambled
that if they retained enough of the old religion to please the faithful
and instituted enough of the new pluralistic, humanistic religion to please
all cultures and political institutions, like Herod did in his day, then
they could merge the two together, creating a humanistic, gnostic one
world church. In 1910, St. Pius X prophesied in his encyclical Our Apostolic
Mandate that "...the limpid and impetuous stream, has been harnessed
in its course by the modern enemies of the Church and is now more than
a miserable affluent of the great movement of apostasy being organized
in every country for the establishment of a One-World Church which shall
have neither dogmas nor hierarchy: neither discipline for the mind, nor
curb for the passions: and which, under the pretext of freedom and human
dignity, would bring back to the world the reign of legalized cunning
and force, and the oppression of the weak and of those who toil and suffer."
When a Catholic Youth Movement youngster during the recent "Future
of God" conference in Fatima quoted to Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon
Jose de Cruz Policarpo from Sr. Lucy's book Calls from the Message of
Fatima (where she admirably explains God's First Commandment), the Cardinal
responded: "Sister Lucy is no longer a point of reference today since
we have such a good one in the Second Vatican Council."5
So there you have it. The Ten Commandments and Our Blessed Mother's appearance
at Fatima is replaced by a pastoral council. How pastoral was a council
that has created such a storm? Many prelates probably do not know that they have lost the faith to gain the world. They are, as Sr. Lucy said, under a diabolical disorientation. If this phrase was true in the 1950's when the Church seemed like a bulwark, then it applies even more so today when she is being assailed from within and without. Perhaps we deserve what we get because we have not done as Mary requested. We have not repented and bettered ourselves. How many Catholics think and act like abortion, contraception, cohabitation, and divorce and remarriage is OK? Satan's smoke is getting thicker and it is getting harder to breath.
Liturgical dance locks in tightly with an occult agenda. If one goes to an Internet search engine and types in "liturgical dance" and any of the following: Satanism, Wicca, Sophia, Rosicrucianism, or Catholic youth, literally hundreds of results come up. We see an explosion of neo-pagan religious dancing. Furthermore, it is a big moneymaker with little regulation. Who is going to decide what costumes to wear during these liturgical dance performances?
The average Catholic in the pew does not understand what is occurring. They have been taught to obey authority, not knowing that St. Thomas Aquinas or St. Paul commanded that we must obey God before men if men are in error. When those at the top are in error they are acting as private theologians, as did Pope John XXII when he denied the particular judgement during his pontificate (he recanted of this error on his deathbed). St. Paul refuted St. Peter to his face. Now the only thing these new and improved liturgical Herods needed was to bring in Salome and give up over half of their kingdoms for her profane dances at Mass. Here is where the liberals and feminists who push for liturgical dance come in. Liturgical dancer Sr. Ann McNeil is displayed on the NCCB website, along with painter Sr. Blance Gallagher who paints with the "cosmic vision" of Teilhard de Chardin.6 Why do the bishops' conferences court the feminists?
Liturgical dance is being promoted by Fr. J. Glen Murray, S.J. This Jesuit has been seen by this author accompanied by scantily clad liturgical dancers in black skimpy costumes dancing with smoking bowls of incense during a children's grade school Mass in the Cleveland diocese. Lay people are also promoting liturgical dance. Michael Mansfield is a kinesthetic dancer who is billed as a "GLBTQ" (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered Queer) and AIDS activist. He works for Matthew Fox, an ex-Catholic priest and now Episcopalian new age creation spirituality guru of the University of Creation Spirituality in Naropa University in Oakland, California.7 According to Michael Inman's website, Mr. Mansfield gives liturgical dance workshops mixed with liberal theology all over the world.8 He teaches catechetical and faith initiation programs at Pascal Baylon to children of ages 3-18.9 The new religion goes hand in hand with a new liberal unofficial morality (which indulgent Rome does not discipline) and the promulgation of neo- modernist catechesis in Catholic (?) elementary, secondary and college educational institutions. This is why diocesan chanceries around the world throw away money to support gay outreach groups such as Dignity and NADGLAM and for sex-ed programs for young people. Anything goes in the sensual, community celebrating, new age church: contraception, abortion, homosexual relationships, and divorce with remarriage. The people must not feel guilty, so there is no need for the sacrament of penance. Therefore, the conciliar church must coordinate a new sensualized ritual, liturgical dance, thus stressing a narcissism of movement and feeling. Herod must have Salome in order for his continued "feel good/god" experience.
Liturgical dance needed an intellectual justification. Kathryn Mihelick, a liturgical dancer, presented her paper, "On the Appropriateness of Sacred Dance for Liturgical Use," to the Ad Hoc Committee of the NCCB (National Conference of Catholic Bishops) in the summer of 2003. The committee's conclusion was that they would not act to legalize liturgical dance until another more scholarly "exegetical, anthropological, theological" paper is done. Another pro-liturgical dance paper will probably be presented in the next few months. Ms. Mihelick uses mostly post-conciliar sources to support her conclusions. Her bibliography includes Environment and Art in Catholic Worship, many post-Vatican II works, and only one book written before 1960. Ms. Mihelick uses two misrepresented quotes of St. Ambrose and St. Gregory on the general topic of dancing. Liturgical dance should be called religious dance, as Rome's document Notitiae II Dance in the Liturgy: Religious Dance, An Expression of Spiritual Joy (1975) stated, because it cannot be done during the liturgy.10 This rule, like most in today's conciliar church, is not enforced. Ms. Mihelick's thesis is that it is not fair for the Church to use every other art form except dance at Mass. Ms. Mihelick is a dance professor at Kent State University and has been dancing illegally at Holy Family Parish in Stow, Ohio for over 15 years, as this author has witnessed. However, all of her pastors have given her permission to dance. The ploy of liberal priests and laity is to abuse and push Rome until she caves in. Like a permissive parent, Rome makes legal an illegal activity which finally after years of being an abuse now becomes a cultural custom. Liberals use the Vatican II documents Sacrosanctum Concilium and Gaudium et Spes to legalize what is in accordance with "mankind's autonomy" and the Church's "inculturation policy." Liberals never want to upset the sensibilities of cultural existentialists. Everyone should just do what they want.
Ms. Mihelick had an "Assisi moment," to use a phrase invented by John Vennari, when she and her leaven dance troop tried to organize an interreligious pagan dance extravaganza of various religions in the sanctuary of Holy Family Church in Stow, Ohio on March 20, 1999. Entitled "Beyond Belief," a nice gnostic title, it really was beyond belief. Fortunately, many parishioners such as Eleanor Willett and this author (core members of the St. Catherine of Sienna Society) and scores of others wrote and called the chancery. Notwithstanding this development, the pastor, Fr. Zsabo, and his assistant, Fr. Joseph Leiberth, were still going to have it in the church, so people faxed the Vatican in protest. Fr. Leiberth and four other priests at Holy Family Church were allegedly sexual molesters of minor male teens over the years and have been suspended, but that is another story in itself.
Cardinal Medina, getting faxes and calls from the laity, then told Bishop Anthony Pilla (Cleveland) that it seemed that the feelings of the parishioners were being hurt and it would be better to move the event to the school hall. This was a victory, given that Pope John Paul II allowed in Assisi in 1986 and 2002 something very similar to what Ms. Mihelick proposed, liturgical pagan dancers and interreligious prayers for peace.
Ms. Mihelick wants Rome to clarify itself because although the Notitiae II document is clear in some passages that dance must be done outside of strictly liturgical areas, other passages imply that liturgical dance is a positive aspect to some religious traditions and might be allowed under certain conditions in the East. Dance in any culture is universally used for courting rites and sensual entertainment, so why would the African's use of dance be any more appropriate than that of the Europeans or Americans? This opens up a pandoras box for Catholics of every geographic area to sensualize the liturgy. This goes on in many Novus Ordo parishes throughout the world. The Aarons of our day, like the Israelites of old, are clamoring to bring on the golden calf dancers.
The Notitiae document says that rhythmic movements express religious sentiments for primitive peoples. Later the document states, "Theoretically, it could be deduced from that passage that certain forms of dancing and certain dance patterns could be introduced into Catholic worship." After the fall of Adam and Eve, aren't all human hearts somewhat primitive? It's called concupiscence. The above tactic is a clever liberal ploy. There is a use of Hegelian dialectics in the Notitiae document. For instance, you have some traditional phrases and then some liberal concluding statements, demonstrating the author's attempts to try to synthesize the two opposing views. The clincher in this fuzzy Notitiae liturgical dance saga is the last two contradictory footnotes, using Gaudium et Spes as a reference. One statement favors the insertion of artistic dancing into the liturgy, while the other recognizes that the Council Fathers had no intention to introduce dance. In the revolutionary climate of Vatican II and its aftermath, the unsuspecting Council Fathers' intentions, particularly in regards to not abolishing Latin in the Mass and creating a new rite, were quickly abandoned. This document is a classic textbook case of what Pius X called the "covenant and compromise between these two forces of conservation and progress, that is to say between authority and individual consciences, that changes and advances take place...acting on the collective conscience, which brings pressure to bear on the depositories of authority..." 11
Dr. James Hitchcock recently wrote about these problems in an article entitled "The End of Gaudium et Spes?" Dr. Hitchcock is critical both of the Council and how the Pope has handled apostasy in the Church.12 Two good books illustrating these two criticisms are The Rhine Flows into the Tiber, by Fr. Ralph Wiltgen, and The Murky Waters of Vatican II, by Atila Sinke Guimaraes. Indeed, the only bishop who saw through the murky ambiguities in Vatican II passages was Castro Mayer of Campos who did not sign any of the Council documents. His diocese flourished after Vatican II. Now, revolutionaries such as Hans Kung want a Vatican III as they say that Vatican II didn't go far enough. Former Jesuit Fr. Paul Trinchard suggests what Catholics really need is a Trent II.
Moreover, the Notitiae II document notes that the inculturation article of Sacrosanctum Concilium can be used to mandate the overly indulgent "Norms for Adapting the Liturgy to the Temperament and Traditions of Peoples." These Vatican II statements are in stark contrast to the wise and solid condemnation in the following passage by Pius X in On Modernism, "The chief stimulus of the evolution of worship consists in the need of accommodation to the manners and customs of peoples, as well as the need of availing itself of the value which certain acts have acquired by usage. Finally, evolution in the Church itself is fed by the need of adapting itself to historical conditions and harmonizing itself with existing forms of society." Cardinal Newman told conservative and liberal Catholics that "a developed doctrine which reverses the course of development which has preceded it is no true development but a corruption." The inculturation and pan-religious ceremonies going on in the conciliar Church today are syncretistic and a stark dismissal of the above statements. These ceremonies were prohibited by Pius XI's On Fostering True Religious Unity in the following statement, "...this Apostolic See has never allowed its subjects to take part in the assemblies of non-Catholics." No Pope in the history of the Catholic Church presided over pan-religious services until Vatican II. Therefore, an argument cannot be made that the spirit of Assisi is an organic development consistent with scripture and tradition when both prohibit it. 13
Bishop Pilla and Ms. Mihelick are ready to light the fuse to get this
dancing blaze legalized in the new rite by that liberal body, the NCCB.
Will Rome cave in to these fire crackers of disruption like she did with
communion in the hand and altar girls? Pope Pius X condemned "this
pernicious doctrine which would make the laity (and their individual consciences)
the factor of progress in the Church." If Rome and the bishops' conferences
legalize liturgical dance, then the feminists and Wiccan witches will
be dancing and laughing during their neo-pagan summer and winter solstice
ceremonies. Can you imagine Pope Pius X allowing an indult for dancing
at Mass?
Ms. Mihelick wrote in her paper a typical liberal statement, "Is any opportunity for another avenue of connection with our Father/Creator to be denied? It has not been denied to other art forms in the liturgy. Why then is it abrogated only in dance and movement?" She ignores the fact that in 2,000 years of Christian history neither the East nor the West has used dancing at Mass other than during wedding ceremonies in the East when the wedding couple and priest circle around the lectern. This is the exception, not the rule in the eastern rites. The Orthodox churches do not allow women in the sanctuary, let alone lay lectors or female dancers. Ms. Mihelick and her supporters, such as Robert Ver Eecke, S.J., use the argument that David danced around the ark, but that was outside the tabernacle and Holy of Holies. Any dancing that was done in religious ceremonies was always done by pagans, not Jews or Christians, and often degenerated into sexual orgies, as in the mithraic cults. Were there dancers at the foot of the cross at Calvary? Why put these naturalistic dancers in the Mass?
Let's not ignore the liturgical dance issue or other problems that plague the Church. Let's be that voice crying out in the wilderness to the conciliar authorities. Prayer is a must but call or write your diocese and the Vatican and tell them you don't want pagan and gnostic practices to enter Holy Mass. Tell them that you don't like what they are doing to Fatima. Msgr Luciano Guerra's e-mail address in Portugal is reitoria@santuario-fatima.pt. Talk to your friends. Those who attend the traditional Latin Mass need to be concerned about what goes on in Novus Ordo parishes. Whatever affects the faithful in one branch or rite of the Church is bound to affect the traditional rite too. It makes it harder for traditional Catholics to have peace, sanity, and good theology when souls are damaged in Novus Ordo parishes. We must implore the authorities to stop this "Mass Madness," as Fr. Trinchard calls it, and to stop suppressing the traditional Latin Mass. While you are at it, write to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger or fax him at 011-390-6988-3499 and Francis Cardinal Arinze, president of the Congregation for Divine Worship, at 011-390-66988-3499. The fax numbers for Frances Cardinal George and Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the NCCB, are 312-751-5307 and 618-277-0387 respectively. We must respectfully say to our shepherds, "NO to the liturgical and doctrinal revolution. Our Lord Jesus is the only way to the Father and the Catholic Church is the only means of salvation. Our Protestant friends will not respect us until order is restored in the Catholic Church in place of this pluralist, inculturation mayhem.
We the laity must respectfully request of our superiors that the golden calf dance shenanigans be stopped along with the river boat gamble of the Novus Ordo Mass experiment. We must tell the Vatican that we will not attend these Masses and if the problems in the liturgy are not corrected we will find a valid Catholic Latin or Byzantine Mass where we can save our souls. We have seen since Vatican II a gross exhibition of clergy sex scandals, bad catechesis, modernism, and, in general, the diabolical disorientation spoken of by Sr. Lucia. We have seen the New Mass and many other novelties designed to please the world. We have seen friendly alliances with entities such as the UN, URI, UNESCO, freemasonry, and communist governments which are the enemies of the Church. Many of these demonic entities promote population control and abortion, while opposing parental rights and private property.
Everything old has been suppressed and replaced with a supposedly new and improved religion to please our enemies but who now are considered friends. When will the stupefied sheep in the pew realize that inside the sanctuary are false prophets and wolves dressed in sheep's clothing, pulling the wool over their eyes? Good trees bear good fruit, not bad (Matt 7:15-17). Catholics need to open their eyes, ending the situation described by Jesus of the blind leading the blind. It is true charity to warn the flock.
Ms. Mihelick wrote in her paper a typical liberal statement, "Is any opportunity for another avenue of connection with our Father/Creator to be denied? It has not been denied to other art forms in the liturgy. Why then is it abrogated only in dance and movement?" She ignores the fact that in 2,000 years of Christian history neither the East nor the West has used dancing at Mass other than during wedding ceremonies in the East when the wedding couple and priest circle around the lectern. This is the exception, not the rule in the eastern rites. The Orthodox churches do not allow women in the sanctuary, let alone lay lectors or female dancers. Ms. Mihelick and her supporters, such as Robert Ver Eecke, S.J., use the argument that David danced around the ark, but that was outside the tabernacle and Holy of Holies. Any dancing that was done in religious ceremonies was always done by pagans, not Jews or Christians, and often degenerated into sexual orgies, as in the mithraic cults. Were there dancers at the foot of the cross at Calvary? Why put these naturalistic dancers in the Mass?
Let's not ignore the liturgical dance issue or other problems that plague the Church. Let's be that voice crying out in the wilderness to the conciliar authorities. Prayer is a must but call or write your diocese and the Vatican and tell them you don't want pagan and gnostic practices to enter Holy Mass. Tell them that you don't like what they are doing to Fatima. Msgr Luciano Guerra's e-mail address in Portugal is reitoria@santuario-fatima.pt. Talk to your friends. Those who attend the traditional Latin Mass need to be concerned about what goes on in Novus Ordo parishes. Whatever affects the faithful in one branch or rite of the Church is bound to affect the traditional rite too. It makes it harder for traditional Catholics to have peace, sanity, and good theology when souls are damaged in Novus Ordo parishes. We must implore the authorities to stop this "Mass Madness," as Fr. Trinchard calls it, and to stop suppressing the traditional Latin Mass. While you are at it, write to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger or fax him at 011-390-6988-3499 and Francis Cardinal Arinze, president of the Congregation for Divine Worship, at 011-390-66988-3499. The fax numbers for Frances Cardinal George and Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the NCCB, are 312-751-5307 and 618-277-0387 respectively. We must respectfully say to our shepherds, "NO to the liturgical and doctrinal revolution. Our Lord Jesus is the only way to the Father and the Catholic Church is the only means of salvation. Our Protestant friends will not respect us until order is restored in the Catholic Church in place of this pluralist, inculturation mayhem.
We the laity must respectfully request of our superiors that the golden calf dance shenanigans be stopped along with the river boat gamble of the Novus Ordo Mass experiment. We must tell the Vatican that we will not attend these Masses and if the problems in the liturgy are not corrected we will find a valid Catholic Latin or Byzantine Mass where we can save our souls. We have seen since Vatican II a gross exhibition of clergy sex scandals, bad catechesis, modernism, and, in general, the diabolical disorientation spoken of by Sr. Lucia. We have seen the New Mass and many other novelties designed to please the world. We have seen friendly alliances with entities such as the UN, URI, UNESCO, freemasonry, and communist governments which are the enemies of the Church. Many of these demonic entities promote population control and abortion, while opposing parental rights and private property.
Everything old has been suppressed and replaced with a supposedly new and improved religion to please our enemies but who now are considered friends. When will the stupefied sheep in the pew realize that inside the sanctuary are false prophets and wolves dressed in sheep's clothing, pulling the wool over their eyes? Good trees bear good fruit, not bad (Matt 7:15-17). Catholics need to open their eyes, ending the situation described by Jesus of the blind leading the blind. It is true charity to warn the flock.
LITURGICAL DANCE DURING A NOVUS ORDO MASS
.END NOTES:
1. For evidence that the post-Vatican II fathers call themselves "conciliar" and that they recognize that there is a crisis in the Church: Fr. Henri De Lubac, S.J., stated at the Institute of Renewal in the Church in Toronto in 1967, "It is clear that the Church is facing a grave crisis. Under the name of 'the new Church,' 'the post-conciliar Church,' a different church from that of Jesus Christ is now trying to establish itself; an anthropocentric society threatened with immanentist apostasy which is allowing itself to be swept along in a movement of general abdication under the pretext of renewal, ecumenism or adaptation," This is rather odd given that he was himself a chief proponent of the false new theology and its prophet Teilhard de Chardin. He had been censured by Pius XII.
2. Cardinal Silvio Oddi said to Tommasco Ricci, in 30 Days, Nov. 1990, p. 64, about Assisi, "On that day ...I walked through Assisi.....And I saw real profanations in some places of prayer. I saw Buddhists dancing around the altar upon which they placed Buddha in the place of Christ and then incensed it and showed it reverence. A Benedictine protested and the police took him away...There was obvious confusion in the faces of the Catholics who were assisting at the ceremony." In an Inside the Vatican, May 2003 article entitled, "A Loyal Son Protests," Fr. Brian Harrison asks, "Can a loyal Catholic ever criticize the Pope?.....These agonizing questions have been presenting themselves increasingly in recent years ...to people who like myself do not consider themselves in any way dissenters...I am dismayed at the January 24 interreligious peace gathering in Assisi. It is well-known that before the first such gathering in 1986, which played no small part in provoking the rupture between Archbishop Lefebvre and the Holy See in 1988, a number of cardinals privately warned John Paul II of the imprudence of such an innovation, utterly unheard of in 2,000 years of Church history. Their concern was shared by thousands of faithful priests, religious, and Catholic laity. Perhaps if we had publicly voiced that concern, instead of remaining silent out of fear and human respect, His Holiness might have felt the need for greater restraint in the next millennium. Despite certain precautionary nuances against sycretism.....the practical effect in the minds of millions of observers worldwide can only have been to create or reinforce the impression that the Roman Catholic Church now endorses what Pope Pius XI described as 'the view that all religions are more or less good and praiseworthy....'" Then Fr. Harrison goes on to say that the "pontiff invites Jewish, Islamic, pantheistic and polytheistic religious leaders to come and practice their respective form of worship inside Catholic churches religious houses," that Catholics see nothing wrong with that view, and "lapsing gradually into naturalism and atheism." (as Pope Pius XI warned). For the article about the Fatima Shrine story entitled, "Traditional Catholics Attack Fatima Interfaith Congress," by the Portugal Daily News, English edition: see http://the-news.net/ www.novusordowatch.org also has the information.
3. http://ewtn.com/vexperts/showresult.asp?RecNum=382756&Forums=0&Day
4. http://www.call2holiness.org/StMichaelPrayer/StMichaelPrayer.htm This author does not promote any of the charismatic links or statements on this site and believes only in Church-approved apparitions.
5. http://catholiccitizens.org/press/ When another young person quoted the prophet Isaiah fulminating against the mute dogs (Is. 56:10) and asked the Patriarch to comment, he responded, "The prophet Isaiah took responsibility for it." and to dodge another question , he answered, "As for me, I prefer to use the language of MEN". We can see the man-centered approach instead of the God-centered approach of Joshua, " As for me and my household we will serve the Lord."
6. See www.usccb.org/consecratedlife/az.htm p. 1 for the cosmic Sr. Gallagher and pg. 2 for the fancy dancing Sr. McNeil.
7. See University of Creation Spirituality web site at www.creationspirituality.com/s1020.html. For more of Mr. Mansfield's biography, see www.beamish.org/BioHist.htm
8. See www.vci.net/~inmanj/catholic/dre01.htm p.1-3
9. See www.rpinet.com/lcconvsked.shtml on p. 9 of 11.
10. See http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDWDANCE.HTM to find Notitiae II 1975.
11. See Pius X encyclical On Modernism, sec 27.
12. See http://www.montfor.org.br/eng/veritas/end_gaudium_spes.html page 4 for statements about Pope John Paul II in this six page document by Dr. Hitchcock.
13. Pagan worship is demonic: see 1 Cor. 10:20, Rom 1:19-29. Religious syncretism is condemned: see 1 Kings 1-14. The sorcerers and idol worshipers go into the burning pool of sulphur: see Rev 21:8.
