Thank you Oerlikon! Now we are getting somewhere!

Here is a good cult site on Opus Dei:

[www.odan.org]

Here is another cult article from within the Church, and if you scroll way down you will see Opus Dei show up:

[www.natcath.com]

Steubenville’s impact

Steubenville has 383 theology majors, making it by far the largest Catholic undergraduate theology program in the country, and over 700 alumni work across the country as directors of religious education, Catholic schoolteachers, leaders of programs for adults preparing to join the church, youth ministers and missionaries.

Those alumni tend to generate strong reactions. Some dioceses, such as Peoria, Ill., and Sioux Falls, S.D., have made a point of hiring them. Others have balked, refusing to recruit Steubenville alumni.

Both sides agree the graduates usually feel a genuine excitement for the faith. Critics, however, say that excitement too often becomes self-righteousness.

Fr. Thomas Maikowski, director of education in the Gallup, N.M., diocese, told NCR that Gallup has hired approximately 15 Steubenville graduates in the past seven years, and with one exception all created divisions in the parishes or schools to which they were assigned.

In one case, Maikowski said, a Steubenville graduate working as a schoolteacher told students they should receive Communion on the tongue rather than in the hand; in another, a graduate disrupted a workshop on scripture by insisting the presenter was reflecting a secular view of the gospels.

Maikowski said he has written to Steubenville saying he will not recruit their students and has advised Catholic school leaders in the diocese not to do so.

“I need a community, not a subgroup,” Maikowski said. “I need someone who will buy into our diocesan philosophy. What I don’t need is someone who believes Scott Hahn is the fourth person of the Trinity,” he said. Hahn is a well-known convert to Catholicism and a scripture scholar at Steubenville.

Scott Hahn is an extremely interesting person who, in my opinion, is a very dangerous cult leader. He converted to Catholicism in a highly suspect manner after having been a leader of anti-catholic presbyterian groups.

The article covers:

· The errors in the way that The Da Vinci Code portrayed Opus Dei
· The history of Opus Dei and its founder, Josemaria Escriva
· The rising power of Opus Dei in the Catholic Church
· The political influence of Opus Dei – including the Republican establishment in Washington
· The cultic practices of Opus Dei: underhanded recruitment, control of members, difficulties faced by those who leave the movement, secret documents, censorship, and (for the inner circle) flagellation
· The teachings of Escriva – and their opposition to the Christian Gospel

The article has abundant footnotes, so that anyone may follow through and check the sources.

The second part of the SCP story (spring 2006) is not on the Net; it exists only as a hard copy story published in the magazine.

Here is a link to an excerpt from that article, pertaining to Opus Dei’s role in the scandal of sex abuse by Catholic clergy:

[www.mgr.org]

Opus Dei claims to be "clean" with regard to the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. But it is not. One of its own bishops was an abuser, and the movement is a proponent of the secrecy-and-obedience mind set that keeps the abusers in power.

The second article covers:

· The pride, wrath, and love of luxury by Opus Dei’s founder, who was declared a saint in 2002
· The alignment of Opus Dei with fascism and the extreme right, from the Franco era onward
· The role of Opus Dei in the Catholic clergy abuse scandal (as excerpted in the link above)
· The case of Robert Hanssen, a devout Opus Dei member – and a Soviet spy who did severe damage to the US
· Opus Dei members’ role in financial scandals, arms deals, and political dirty tricks
· The broader context: the rise of other cultic “new eccelesial movements” within the Roman Catholic Church
· The Opus Dei vision of the future, for the US and for the Catholic Church

The SCP issue with this entire article may be ordered by calling the SCP office at 510-540-0300 (9am-5pm, Pacific time) or by visiting their web site, [www.scp-inc.org].

Cardinal Bernard Law, formerly the Archbishop of Boston, never faced any Church punishment for his role in the pederasty scandal coverup. Instead, he got a cushy retirement post in Rome, as Archpriest of one of the Church's most prestigious basilicas - and he still is a member of Church departments that are involved in selecting bishops and setting Vatican policy.

It turns out that there is an explanation for Cardinal Law's rise, and for his protection from punishment: he has been friendly to Opus Dei since the 1950s. See this article:

[www.mdep.org]

The book, False Dawn: The United Religions Initiative, Globalism, and the Quest for a One-World Religion, was published in 2005 by Sophia Perennis. It criticizes the interfaith movement, the New Age movement, and totalitarian forms of globalism. As part of its critique of the New Age movement and other anti-Christian movements, False Dawn debunks Wicca, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Theosophy, and the best-selling writings of Neale Donald Walsch (author of the Conversations With God books).

Excerpts from the book are here:

[www.falsedawn.us]

The final chapter of False Dawn, which warns against extreme-right utopianism (including the ideology of Opus Dei) is on-line here:

[www.mdep.org]

False Dawn is available in several ways:

Directly from the publisher:
[www.sophiaperennis.com]

Via Amazon.com:
[www.amazon.com]
(or go to Amazon.com, and search for the author “Lee Penn” and the title “False Dawn”)

Or from SCP, by calling them at 510-540-0300 or visiting
[www.scp-inc.org].

Other critiques of Opus Dei may be found at:

Opus Dei Awareness Network, which assists movement survivors and their families:
[www.odan.org]

and

the MGR Foundation, a Catholic site which opposes cultism, has an in-depth collection of articles about the movement here:
[www.mdep.org]

I am a former Catholic who left the church mainly because of the situations described above. Maybe there is a place in the Church for middle-of-the-road individuals like myself who were struggling with the practical aspects of living the faith, but if so, I never found it. Instead I found a Church divided by a bitter civil war between liberals and conservatives. Neither side will listen to each other, let alone those of us who do not have any desire to take sides.

I have seen first-hand how some of these Marian cults can tear apart a parish. And it isn't necessarily just the "unapproved" cults that are involved. I know of a very capable priest who was driven from his post because he had the temerity to say that he did not believe in the Fatima apparitions. As is his right. Just because an apparition or private revelation is "approved" does not mean that belief in it is mandatory. You can be a perfectly good Catholic and not believe in any of that stuff. It is the core doctrines that are the important ones.

I am surprised that there has been no mention of the Blue Army of Mary in this forum. It was very big in the parish I was in. Perhaps it does not meet the classic definition of a cult, but all I can say is that when you encounter it, run the other way! I consider some of its teachings to be very destructive to a young woman's developing sense of sexuality, especially its hyper-emphasis on female modesty and purity. The whole Fatima message creeps me out anyway. After the Virgin allegedly showed the three children a vision of Hell, the youngest, Jacinta, developed an obsession with "sins of the flesh." Today, any young child that started talking like that would raise questions of whether he or she had been sexually abused--and in light of the on-going revelations about pedophile priests, one wonders just exactly what was going on in Fatima in 1917.

In my opinion the Church needs to clean house if it is to regain its credibility. As long as the coverups and denials persist, as long as the Church remains wishy-washy on this issue, as long as it insists on protecting its own, then it has lost the authority to speak about sexual issues. What is happening is a slap in the face to any Catholic who has followed Church teaching on sex, especially those who have experienced ridicule and harassment because they stayed faithful to Church teaching. I did not leave the Church because of the priest scandal, but it is the reason I will not consider coming back.

OutofTransition, we are just beginning to scratch the surface on the question of cults in the Catholic church. Hopefully there will be more frank discussion in more threads and the same family healing process can begin for many Catholics that has been available to some survivors of other kinds of cults.

At least that is what I am trying to accomplish now that I have mostly "gotten over" my own cult damage outside the Church. It seems stupid to waste the experience when it has enabled me to look at my own Church with new eyes.

[biggovernment.com]

Oerlikon:

The link you have posted is off topic.

ACORN has been described by some as a type of cult operating within the Catholic church. The above article is about ACORN.

[www.discoverthenetworks.org]

Former ACORN members and other leftist critics often describe ACORN as a cult - a movement which exploits its own members while demanding of them a fanatical, quasi-religious devotion. "They're a curious cult, that's what ACORN is," comments Bob Bland, a self-described peace activist and solar architect who has worked with ACORN on specific projects. "ACORN carefully selects issues to build its name. It won't coalesce with other groups."

Curious; the link seems to not be working...begging your pardon, RR.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2010 11:19PM by Oerlikon.

1. Both links work fine, Oerlikon. Tip: use the buttons on your mouse to "click" on the links. That will help.

2. NOTHING in that article suggests that ACORN was a "cult within the Catholic Church". Did the Church send some money to ACORN? Apparently so. But that is nothing like a cult like Opus Dei or the Legionnaires who are high within the elite of the church.

thanks for wasting a few minutes of our lives, though, Oerlikon.

Oerlikon:

ACORN is not a "cult."

Please don't post links or comments that are off topic again.

CESNUR is not a cult, but TFP is and a very dangerous one at that. I do not know if it is a "Front", but it is very weird to see a TFP member like Introvigne professionally involved in defending groups that are as "anti-Christian" as they come. Not to mention the guy is a proponent of vampirism! Do a search on "Massimo Introvigne vampires". Not very "Catholic" behavior, no?

CESNUR is not what it appears. It is not "scholarly", but is a group paid to run interference for cults, the more dangerous and deadly the better.

And unlike Opus Dei and the Legionnaires, it has run candidates in Brazil, including a former "prince" who wanted to restore Brazil's monarchy and abolish democracy if he won. Luckily, he only got around 15-20% of the vote, as I recall.