tnoonan@towntv.org
Why
names and affiliations are important.....
Response
to Letter from VOTF President SEP.
9, 2002
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opportunistic
Redefinitions of Dogma begins with questionable scandals on faith and
morals ..
James
E. McGregor is a professor at Salem State College , Salem ,MA.
The history of dissidence,
disaffection, dis-information, proto-apostasy, heresy, mini-heresy,
creeping anti--clericism, etc. has moved to the internet where education,
prosyletising , virtuous behavior, and pop dogmatism move at the "speed of
thought." But, at, for, and by whose thought is the speed
directed?
In the past change and misinformation could
be blamed on either accident or error. They could even be aimed at
plagues, famines, and war. The current situation could be traced to
clerical indolence and dogmatic corruption. But, educational policy
errors and public policy contradictions have created a wedge wherein the
educational investments of the past have been squandered by an inability
to define and to utilize the current technology and its forums.
On the positive side, there is a
corpus of catechetical experience and focus within the last two
hundred years which is capable of being used within this area.
A functional vision of the Church in doctrine and in substance that
informed Chesterton, Gilson, Maritain, Bellock, etc. still
functions. It was used by John Henry Cardinal Newman, John Paul
II, and most seminaries until the mid-70's.
Appearing as a "corporate
correction", it has quickly become an exercise in explorations in
alternative doctrine and the beginning of a redefinition of "Faith and
Morals". This quote shows the appropriation of an institutional and
official identity as well as an approach to clerical and
pastoral functions:
> The National Catholic Community
Foundation, which is managing the fund, has assured us that they will take
steps to ensure that every donation is ultimately used to support Catholic
programs and ministries.<
But so very quickly it becomes whose
"Catholic Charities" and whose other Catholic entities? How far
behind is the stick that goes with the carrot?
>
Although Cardinal Law has said he will not accept the gift,
we believe the heartfelt offerings of
hundreds of Catholics will persuade him to reconsider. If not, these funds will
be distributed to Catholic Charities or to other Catholic entities, such as
schools and women religious.<
The Catholic Church is already a
"corporation" as a matter of legal necessity. Does it have
to submit to a "corporate takeover" de facto or
de jure
to adjust a momentary PR problem in understanding the origin and history of the
circumstances leading up to the "media crisis"? The facts
and the issues are still not defined in the instances of the "pedophile/ ephebophile" scandals
which may be the last gasp of the 60's sexual revolution.
The research and conclusions of Dr.
Judith Reismann into the bizarre and abusive perversions of science,
psychology, and psychiatry in the work of Alfred Kinsey are of equal or greater
magnitude to the current "crisis" in the clergy. Ironically,
and emphatically, that this amount of scandal and outrage was not displayed to
the American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association
over Kinsey's, Money's and the Institute's aberrations is important. Were
the "ephebophile-clergy"
issue genuine within the public awareness, then this scandal would hold
equal emphasis.
A society that eroticizes its youth,
prostitutes its leaders, redefines deviancy, rationalizes
truth, politicizes duty and bowdlerizes integrity loses much of
its indignation and credibility when it attempts to utilize
"catholic charity" for purposes other than helping those in
need.
Those in need would seem to be not
the "charity" but those seeking a redefinition of the term
"Catholic", as it is currently defined. The meaning, extension
and application of the word "Catholic" in Doctrine, Faith and
Morals is the real result of VOTF.
Moreover, this would be even more
true if the leaders and supporters do not realize, recognize,
and assent to this! But, for the rest of us it is
important that we look at the OTHER affiliations, agendas and causes espoused
by the supporters of the agenda and leadership of VOTF.
Whose
voice and whose faithful are involved within the organization?
Salem
State College
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