Posted on 07/30/2004 12:31:48 PM PDT by Convert from ECUSA
PORTLAND, Ore. - As a lay liturgical minister and a cantor, Wilma Hens was a leader at her Roman Catholic church in Bend for years.
But then Bishop Robert F. Vasa of the Diocese of Baker, headquartered in Bend, issued a two-page "affirmation of faith" that he requires all lay ministers and cantors to agree to.
Hens said she couldn't accept the document, which repeatedly states "I affirm and believe" the church's teachings opposing abortion, contraception, homosexuality and other issues. So she quit. Publicly.
She stood at a microphone at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bend last month and told the congregation she was quitting her roles in the church because she could not accept the bishop's requirement.
"I could no longer pretend that I could ascend to some of those articles of faith any more than others can," she said Thursday.
The affirmation singled out issues that many American Catholics have struggled with, such as the sinfulness of contraception and "the church's teaching that any extramarital sexual relationships are gravely evil and that these include premarital relations, masturbation, fornication, the viewing of pornography and homosexual relations."
"I happen to believe that many of the teachings on human sexuality are just plain faulty," said Hens, one of at least six lay ministers to quit because of the affirmation. "I don't want to be held to those teachings. I cannot give my full assent. I don't want to pretend to do so in order to be a lay minister."
The Rev. James Logan, spokesman for Vasa, said the bishop was simply making his expectations for the lay ministers clear.
He said they would be expected to have read and agreed with the affirmations before resuming their jobs when it goes into effect next spring.
"What he's asked for is not a public proclamation but an internal checklist they would read through," Logan said.
The Baker Diocese is not the only one putting a new emphasis on making sure that lay ministers are following church teachings.
In Chicago, Cardinal Francis George sent a letter to Chicago-area pastors reminding them that a policy on fitness for lay ministry established in 1994 is still in effect, Catholic News Service reported this week.
James Dwyer, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, wasn't surprised by the Baker Diocese's new policy.
"I don't understand why the secular press is so surprised the leader of a church would expect a lay minister to support church teachings," he said.
But Tom Dolezal of Bend said it's not a matter of supporting church teachings, it's the blind adherence to dogma.
"If he (the bishop) is going to exclude any one who has any doubt about a church teaching, he's going to exclude 100 percent of the membership of the church, including himself. He has to be a human being, the same as me, and I have doubts about some of the church teachings," Dolezal said.
Dolezal, a communion minister and lector, has not resigned from his positions. He said he plans to confront the bishop and see if the bishop forces him out of his job.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, editor of the Jesuit magazine America, said it was normal to expect lay ministers to follow church teachings. But he said the affirmation was unusual.
"Typically what occurs is it's general policy that people involved in ministry to the church are to be loyal and faithful members of the church.
If they find someone who's communion minister who's leader of Planned Parenthood and running an abortion clinic, they tend to get fired. But this is unusual," Reese said.
The policy wasn't controversial for at least some priests in the Baker Diocese.
The Rev. Rogatian Urassa of Sacred Heart Church in Klamath Falls said it was too soon to tell how the policy would affect the people of his church because it doesn't go into effect until next spring.
"It's only in specified ministries. It will not be mandated to everyone who works in the church; people working in non-faith activities will not have to sign," Urassa said.
"But you cannot have a lay minister who is not vested in the faith and think that person will be able to direct the religious education programs. I think it's just an affirmation of what we're doing."
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
She stood at a microphone at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bend last month and told the congregation she was quitting her roles in the church because she could not accept the bishop's requirement.
This just goes to show how selfish the modernists are.
Why was the apostate even given a microphone in a Catholic church?
One wonders. Shoot, in this day and age it's a "victory" when even one termite admits they cannot affirm the Faith and resigns. Dragging them kicking and screaming while applying Lysol and a large mop! I guess there is still that thing of being "fair" and letting people "have their say."
"What he's (Bishop Robert F. Vasa) asked for is not a public proclamation but an internal checklist they would read through," Logan said.
Let her do her kicking and screaming out on the street, not in a Catholic sanctuary.
The Church is not a democracy nor is she a public institution to which the First Amendment applies -- she is a private association whose whole raison d'etre is what she considers to be divinely-revealed truth. As such, the Church has every right to expect those who participate in her activities to accept what the Church teaches. In a free society, the Church has every right to do this. No one is forced to be Catholic and if they don't support Catholic teaching, they are free to go elsewhere.
"these include ..., masturbation,"
Confessionals would be overflowing if everyone guilty of this "sin" stepped forward...
Would priests have to be first in line?
:-)
I do believe some are able to resist, and still more "abuse" themselves less frequently.
Still it is funny.
"Would priests have to be first in line?
:-) "
While I appreciate the humor, I personally see nothing wrong with a priest choosing this form of 'release' over the type of behavior that's brought so much negative attention to the Church lately. Face it - it's biologically unhealthy for a male to have no form of release whatsoever.
What's the Church's position on nocturnal emissions? Are those 'grave sins' too?
I am going to let you be unhappy all by yourself.
One of the nice things about the Catholic Church is that it's easy to find what they teach.
What do you think? Can an involuntary action be a sin? Look up what they have to say about sin if you aren't sure what to think.
2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 "The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
"I am going to let you be unhappy all by yourself."
Ummm...huh?
"which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation"
So...if my wife is post-menopause and thus unable to procreate, is sex no longer an option for us as a married couple?
Or if she is of child-birthing age, but unable to conceive (or vice versa for male fertility issues), are we not permitted to have sex, since we're just doing it for pure enjoyment?
IOW, there are likely very few acts of masturbation that can be considered mortal sins.
"I know I said I was going to leave you alone but I am having these urges."
Sorry, but I agree with the Church re:homosexuality.
You can, and should, make love to your wife.
"You can, and should, make love to your wife."
Thanks - I'll take that advice tonight!
Personally, I find it difficult to believe that a loving God would be too upset about the sexual activity of a loving, married couple, as long as it stays within the confines of their marriage (i.e. no 'swinging' or 'swapping'). I know that my belief does not equal moral truth, but this is my opinion and like every other faith-based opinion on Earth, there's no way to accurately disprove/prove it short of dying.
We'll all find out the Truth eventually and I bet we'll all be in for a surprise on many levels.
Me either.
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