Posted on 07/24/2008 6:12:23 PM PDT by markomalley
Caracas, Jul 24, 2008 / 06:13 pm (CNA).- In statements on Union Radio, the vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon, warned that the self-proclaimed “Reformed Catholic Church,” which is backed by the Hugo Chavez administration, is seeking to name military chaplains with government support.
Archbishop Lückert reiterated that the small religious sect led by former Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican clergy members, is “financed by the government in an effort to put an end to the Catholic Church, which it has not and will not be able to do.”
The “Reformed Catholic Church” announced this week that on July 29, it would “ordain” former Catholic priest Jon Jen Shu Garcia a “bishop.”
Archbishop Lückert noted that the “supposed bishop they are going to ordain left the Church because he was living scandalously with a woman and her children. At one time he was a military chaplain.”
He said he was concerned about the confusion that might spread in the military if the Ministry of Defense decides to place military chaplains from the sect in the armed forces.
The archbishop said the idea of the Chavez government is not a new one, as the dictatorship in 1945 “also founded the Venezuelan Apostolic Catholic Church, which was also a failure.” “What they are trying to do failed in the past, and I think that during this election year this is going to cost rather than gain them votes,” he stated.
Venezuela will hold local and regional elections in November.
The orthodox Catholic bishops of that country would not submit to him...so rather than heed their counsel, he forms a "church" in his own image.
History repeats itself again...and again...and again...
ping for your lists
**Archbishop Roberto Luckert Leon, warned that the self-proclaimed “Reformed Catholic Church,” which is backed by the Hugo Chavez administration, is seeking to name military chaplains with government support.**
In other words this Reformed Catholic Church would not be “Catholic” and neither would the chaplains be Catholic. They would all be dissenters for rallying to Chavez.
Elections? This priest quoted in the article really thinks Chavez is going to allow free and fair elections (as he has not yet) and will give up power when voted out?????
Venezuela is a strange place.
In America, anyone who wants to start a new denomination simply has to hang out a shingle and rally supporters (the hard part.)
Assuming they can get support, they can contact the US military and assign a chaplain endorsing agency. That endorser would work with the US military. Their job is to nominate candidates for the chaplaincy. The military, using a best qualified standard, will pick from that list of best qualified from all denominations and religions those nominees who best fit the current needs of the military.
The new denomination, assuming it has very few adherents nationwide, would not receive very many chaplain nominees who would actually be selected.
Denominations like Roman Catholic and Southern Baptist (or all Baptists in general), given their great numbers in our population, would receive considerably more opportunities to bring their nominees on board.
Catholic priests are in such short supply, that their “best” qualified might be decades older and in worse physical shape than the new denomination’s candidate, but the greater need for the Catholic chaplain would surely result in his appointment over that of the newer denomination.
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