Issue
Date
The Goddess Cult . . .
Church In
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
To the uninitiated, the ceremony launching Synod 2003 in
To
the sound of a flute and a didgeridoo — a long, wooden tube-like instrument
pagan aborigines dubbed the "dream pipe" and used to induce trances —
some 500 representatives of the archdiocese’s parishes, schools, ministries,
and hospitals processed into the church behind four colorful banners
representing each of the four elements of air, fire, earth, and water.
Four
enormous clay pots located in the sanctuary were the centerpiece of the
ceremony, and each represented one of the synod’s four goals: to understand and
value the spiritual treasures the Church has to offer, to respond to the
spiritual hunger of the people, to respond to and engage the energies of young
people, and to nurture the ministries of priests, religious, and laity.
Synod
2003 was called for by Archbishop John Bathersby to renew the faith of the
archdiocese’s 800,000 Catholics, approximately 10% of whom attend Sunday Mass.
When
the ceremony was over, each of the 500 participants received a clay pot to take
back to their parish, school, hospital, or Church ministry.
Each
of the elements in this elaborately planned ritual, to the initiated, signified
the growing transformation of the Church in
The
flute, the instrument of the goat-footed Greek shepherd-god Pan who challenged
the god of the sun, evokes the image of the goddess re-emerging from the woods
to lead people back to their ancient roots of goddess-worship and matriarchy.
The
didgeridoo, as explained by one of
The
clay pot is the supreme "mythic vessel," in which the four elements
of earth, water, fire, and air come together. According to folklorist J.C.
Cooper in The Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, the clay pot
represents "the womb of the Great Mother."
Each
of the prayers used during the ritual were centered on the four elements of
earth, air, fire, and water, represented by banners signifying their colors,
respectively, green, yellow, red, and blue. According to Wiccan
understanding, air is the element of the mind, intellect, understanding, and
imagination. Air, a masculine element, is a vital technique in "magick." Fire represents change and passion, sexuality
and healing. Water is the element of emotion and subconscious, and is
considered a "feminine element" that governs spells. Earth represents
stability and the body, is considered a "feminine element," and
governs stone and knot magick.
Each
of the components of the Synod 2003 opening ritual — the four colors
representing the elements, the pot, the musical instruments, and the prayers —
were all carefully explained to the Catholics of Brisbane in numerous
promotional brochures, pamphlets, newspaper articles in both the secular and
Catholic press, and parish bulletins.
For
example, in a four-color brochure produced by the Office of the Synod of the
Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane to explain how Catholics are to pray around
their clay pot at their Sunday liturgies, and other occasions, one can read in
the yellow box:
"Symbol:
"Place a yellow ribbon/cloth around the pot.
"Ritual Instruction:
"Place some stones or sand in the bottom of the
pot. Before the prayer begins place hot charcoal on the stones. Have some
incense grains in a container with a spoon.
"Music suggestions:
"Earthen vessels, J. Foley
"(Glory & Praise Vol. 1 N. 13)
"O Lord Hear My Prayer, J. Berthier
"(As One Voice 17 or Gather
"O Breathe on Me Breath of God, E. Hatch
"(Gather
As Catholics gather around their pot, the leader intones:
"Air is elusive. We spend much of our time not being aware of it. We
become aware of this precious gift only when something changes — a storm breaks
around us; the gentle breeze cools us; we experience being ‘short of air’ and
fear for our lives."
After participants listen to a reading of 2 Cor. 4: 5-7, the leader continues: "Can you
remember a time when you were thankful for the precious gift of air?" and
then each person drops a grain of incense on the coals, and the ritual ends
with the prayer:
"Blessed are you, God of all creation. In your goodness
you have breathed your breath within and among us. May we never forget the
treasure we hold in clay pots — the treasure of Jesus."
The archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Leader,
featured the production of the clay pots in a front-page feature story on the
potter, Peter Woods, that appeared just days before the Pentecost ritual
opening Synod 2003, in terms of 2 Cor. 4:7,
"We have this treasure in clay pots."
In another Leader report,
But the pots, ribbons, and musical instruments employed at
the Synod 2003 opening ritual were not the only Wiccan
or pagan symbols used to represent Synod 2003.
A special medal stamped for Synod participants featured
calligraphic dancing figures, often used on Wiccan
web sites to represent joy. Another common Wiccan
symbol which appears in the Synod 2003 posters, advertisements, and brochures
is the wave, and shaman Caitlin Matthews’ poem is featured on Mercy Sr. Anne McLay’s Mercy/Shaman web site.
Nine waves before you,
Nine winds above you,
Nine paths beneath you,
Nine fires transform you
Sr. McLay
is the chairman of Womenspace,
the logo of which blends the "w" and "s" artfully to
pictorially represent the "womb" and the "serpent" —
symbols that appear often in Wiccan and pagan
illustrations — in the form of a female profile.
"Ninth wave," Matthews explains, "is a
year-long journey of spiritual opening and centering. Ninth Wave is not a
spiritual or religious tradition — it is an eclectic, Goddess-focused approach
that allows each Seeker to explore herself and her own relationship with
Spirit."
Additionally, advertisements designed by the Archdiocese of
Brisbane’s education office feature a cluster of Wiccan
symbols, including the "cross within a circle," the symbol of
"cosmic union"; the five-pointed pentagram, which represents the four
elements united by the "spirit"; the crescent moon and star, the
symbol of white witchcraft and satanism; and the logo
for the archdiocesan education department itself is the "joyous
spirit" dancing figure common on witchcraft web sites.
Indeed, the dancing figures common on Synod 2003 posters and
promotional literature bear an uncanny resemblance to the dancing figures
featured on the home page of the Spiral Goddess Grove (www.spiralgoddess.com)
above which appear the crescent moon and star and the caption:
The Great Goddess shines as the brightest Moon
Goddesses dance beneath Her, both night and
Sacred magic of the Goddess is happening all over the Earth
Enter this Sacred Grove and share in Goddess Wisdom, joy and mirth.
The influence of
goddess-promoting religious women in
For example, on the Spiral Goddess Grove’s web page for
pagan children, Pagan Kids Grove, there is a poem:
Kids are magic
Kids are neat
Kids know the Earth
Under their feet. . . .
Kids are magic
And kids are wise
They see special things
When they open their eyes.
This theme is repeated on the plaque
of the Sisters of Mercy’s Mater Children’s Hospital, which features 5,000
handcrafted clay tiles depicting the theme "Life in
Outside, at the entry way of the hospital, a mosaic of
spirals and snakes welcomes the visitor.
In the bare chapel, where a tabernacle is hidden in a
wood-paneled wall, with a small tabernacle light also enclosed in the wall
above it, the chapel’s other main wall is all patterned glass — all spirals.
The chapel also has two large murals, in what might be
described as "primitive American" style. One mural, Jesus at the
well, features a bare-torsoed Jesus in skin-tight
pants, under a sky with pentagrams and a crescent moon and star. Another mural,
titled "Jacob’s Well," features naked children, with five-petal
daisies — one of the most common symbols of the goddess in contemporary artwork
— in their hair as they dance on a field covered in spirals.
Ironically, on
But the Mercy Sisters are a powerhouse in Australia, the
lead agents for the institutionalization of goddess worship in the country
through the influence of their Womenspace, run by Sr.
Anne McLay; through their control over seminary
formation under academic Sr. Elaine Wainwright, one of the most influential
radical feminist theologians in Australia; and through their control of
religious education and liturgy offices.
In November 2001, Womenspace
became the subject of a national controversy when Brisbane’s Courier-Mail
published an expose on some of the radical feminist/lesbian/goddess-worshiping
seminars it sponsored, most important, a "Spirit of the Goddess"
"Maiden Moontime Circle" program for young
teen girls which was allegedly designed to introduce them to lesbianism and
witchcraft.
The controversial Womenspace will
be the subject of future reports.
But after the November 2001
publicity, Archbishop John Bathersby was forced to "investigate" the
center and appointed Sister of Charity Patricia Scully — the vicar for
religious in the archdiocese and a member of the preparatory commission for
Synod 2003 — to look into charges Womenspace was
promoting witchcraft.
According to a
"Archbishop Bathersby," continued Smith,
"said that he had not considered the possibility that the nuns involved in
the feminist organization might have lost the focus of their faith."
On
Those who participate in this form of support authorize the
"Archdiocesan Development Fund" to make withdrawals from their
accounts.
Among those on the staff of Womenspace
is Goddess theologian Patricia Rose, who will be one of the main speakers at
the March 2004 Goddess conference, Ariadne’s Thread,
in
Rose is described on the brochure: "Patricia Rose’s
journey in the service of the Goddess has taken a circuitous route, from
traditional theology and medieval literature, through feminist theory and a
Doctorate in Goddess spirituality, to her current focus on the emergence of the
Goddess in
The "emergence of the
Goddess" in Australia, particularly in the Archdiocese of Brisbane, is no
longer a theoretical subject, the fancy of deluded feminists, but a reality
that is increasingly visible in churches, schools, hospitals, and retreat
centers once visibly Catholic. Now — after the iconoclasm that accompanied the
post-Vatican II liturgical renewal — the symbols, prayers, and spirituality of
neo-paganism are filling the void. In some future issues, based on
comprehensive documentation provided by Australian Catholic
Issue
Date
The Goddess Cult In
The Mercy Nuns And
The New Religion
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
"You shall not plant a sacred pole or any kind of wood
beside the altar of the Lord, your God, which you will
build. . . . Nor shall you erect a sacred pillar, such as the
Lord, your God detests" (Lev.
+ + +
For
the Jubilee Year 2000, representatives from each Catholic parish in the
Archdiocese of Brisbane were invited by Archbishop John Bathersby to gather at
St. Stephen’s Cathedral on the First Sunday of Advent to receive an official
"Pilgrim Staff."
Each
of these staffs — presented as plain wooden poles, and later decorated, often
with carvings of snakes and spirals and festooned with the colors of the
rainbow or wrapped in leather cords, or decorated with shells, feathers,
greenery — ended in a two-pronged fork.
In
St. Stephen’s Cathedral, rows of these decorated "Pilgrim Staffs"
were placed in the sanctuary, others in front of statues of the Virgin Mary. In
most churches, the staff was placed in the sanctuary, often beside the
tabernacle. In at least one parish, Guardian Angels in Wynnum,
the lay homilist Tony Robertson (more on him below) reportedly carried the
staff, decorated like a rainbow serpent, into the church and held it while he
delivered his homily.
For
the uninitiated, these decorated sticks, generally a little less than the
height of a normal person, were likely viewed as harmless gimmicks. But for the
initiated, these two-prong forked sticks can hold a deep meaning.
A
well-known witch, Marian Green, explained in her book Natural Witchcraft: The Timeless Arts and Crafts of the Country Witch that
the double-pronged forked stick, or stang, "may
be used as an altar."
In
Celtic mythology, a stang "represents the horned
god. . . . The stang is used as the
visual marking of the entrance to a circle. . . . The use of the
stang confirms to the gods and goddesses, the
elemental spirits, that you mean business and that you are aware of the
Craft" (from the Internet web site, CelticAncestralPages).
In
the Tools of Witchcraft (witchvox.com), one learns that a stang "may be used in much the same manner as the
wand." On the pagan web site, ladyslair.net, one reads, "the wood
that your Stang is made of, should you choose to use
one, should be appropriate to the type of Magic you generally perform. Its
decoration should also be a reflection of that consideration."
And
as the
Not
surprisingly, the spiral goddess symbol is becoming a major symbol in Catholic
publications, art, and iconography in
One
of the most celebrated uses of the stang in a public
demonstration occurred when well-known Catholic homosexual activist Tony
Robertson marched in the June 2000 Gay Pride Parade procession with the Jubilee
Pilgrim Staff from
A
web site also reports that he carried the staff in the archdiocese’s main
.com/jubilee2000au/index.html.
(Interestingly,
Robertson’s web site, www.geocities.com/robertsontony/ritual.html, where he
advertises his same-sex blessing ceremonies, links to Religious
Tolerance.org, a web site that promotes neopagan and
pagan religious traditions, including druidism, goddess worship, wicca, and witchcraft.)
Robertson
is also the web-site designer for the newsletter of the Catholic Justice and
Peace Commission in
That
an archbishop of the Catholic Church should promote the introduction and use of
what appears to be an oversize magic wand by his priests and people, and
process in public with one himself — including carrying the staff to the Holy
Land and Rome for a Jubilee 2000 pilgrimage with young Australian Catholics —
testifies to the influence of a remarkable group of religious women. This group
is made up of predominantly members of the Sisters of Mercy, who play an
essential role in the transformation of the Church in
The Powers
That Be
Among
the most influential of the Mercy Nuns, who maintain the
•
Sr. Elaine Wainwright, RSM, founding professor of theology and chair of the new
Her
specialty is biblical interpretation "informed by feminist, ecological,
and postcolonial hermeneutics," and Sr. Wainwright not only played a major
role in the education of
According
to Australian laywoman
"She
is deconstructing Scripture, training priests, promoting goddess worship on
multiple Internet web sites, was a major writer of the Lent 2003 adult
education program studied in all parishes in
•
Sr. Anne McLay, RSM, a reputed follower of the
above-mentioned Marian Green, is the chairman of
Womenspace, located within a ten minutes’ drive of St.
Stephen’s Cathedral and also of Archbishop John Bathersby’s
own residence, Wynberg, on
"There
is nothing to stop anyone from seeing what is going on in the center,"
said Howes. "The Catholic grandmothers of
•
Sr. Mary Lowcock, RSM, and Sr. Cath
Fitzgerald, led a "task force" for the Diocese of Townsville which
produced the diocese’s "blueprint" for progress, titled, Never
Ending Story.
The
Townsville Diocese, reported the Australian Catholic
monthly AD 2000 in August 1998, after the plan was released, has the
lowest Sunday Mass attendance in
Bishop
Raymond Benjamin, now retired, reportedly viewed the increasingly priestless diocese as "an opportunity for
growth," and hailed the blueprint’s call for a change from the
geographical parish to small faith communities, "sometimes led by a
layperson."
•
Sr. Margie Abbott, RSM, is author of Sparks of the Cosmos: Rituals for
Seasonal Use, a book which contains 80 rituals to celebrate earth, air,
fire, and water. Abbott is also coauthor of Sparks of Life: Rituals for
Children, which is designed to teach young people to pray in an
"earth-centered" way.
Sr.
Abbott, according to her biography in the Australian Catholic Leaders of
Religious Institutes, "is an adult educator, teacher, group worker,
and writer. Margie works part time as a Gender Equity Consultant with the
Catholic Education Office Adelaide. In her other work, Margie tutors in
counseling, facilitates retreats, staff development days, and works in drama
with homeless young people who visit schools and the community presenting plays
about teenage pregnancy, violence, and bullying. Margie edits Join the
Circle for MediaCom."
MediaCom is an ecumenical religious communications agency
founded in 1980 which produces religious materials for 20,000 churches and
individuals, including parish bulletin front covers for Catholic churches.
Sr.
Anne McLay wrote the foreword for Sparks of the
Cosmos.
But
the Sisters of Mercy are by no means alone in their task. The Presentation
Sisters, Sisters of St. Joseph, the Capuchins, and the Christian Brothers are
also leaders in what appears to be a new religion that is based on worship of
the elements and pagan spirits and deities.
A Look At Womenspace
Despite
the scandal at Womenspace in the fall of 2001, when
Brisbane’s Courier-Mail exposed its role in promoting Dark Goddess
celebrations, goddess chants, and, particularly, the radical feminist theology
of Australia’s leading feminist scholar, Sr. Wainwright, Womenspace
continues its mission of promoting "women’s spirituality."
Its
library includes such titles as: CC Brondwin’s Clan
of the Goddess: Celtic Wisdom & Ritual; Carol Christ’s Rebirth of
the Goddess; Elaine Lindsey’s Rewriting God; Sr. Joan Chittister’s In Search of Belief; Marion Woodman’s Dancing
in the Flame; Patricia Monaghan’s The New Birth of Goddesses; and Starhawk’s Spiral Dance.
This
listing of titles is just a small fraction of the "latest additions"
to the library, published in the Womenspace
newsletter one year after Archbishop Bathersby ordered the religious women to
end their "damaging" activities.
Among
the programs Womenspace offers are:
•
"sacred hour" prayer groups "appropriate to any spiritual
tradition";
•
"Celtic Guidance with [Sr.] Anne McLay," in
which Sr. McLay provides spiritual counseling (at
$40.00 per hour) by consulting a Celtic oracle, and reads cards based on the symbolism
of Ogham, the ancient Tree Alphabet (www.mercy.org.au/orgs/celtic/).
•
Summer solstice rituals.
•
A variety of New Age programs involving "journaling," meditating on
the birth process, meditating on the eight chakras, creation spirituality, making
dream catchers, circle dancing, enneagram, conscious
dreaming, massage, yoga, astrodrama playshop, and circle dancing.
The Goddess
Has Arrived
In the July 2000
issue of New Directions, a magazine published by and for
tradition-minded evangelicals and Catholics, Philip G. Davis, professor of
religious studies at the
"The
Goddess movement," he wrote, "is essentially a blend of Wicca, modern
witchcraft as formulated by the English occultist Gerald Gardner (1884-1964),
with American-style 1970s radical feminism. The claims made by radical
feminists on behalf of the Goddess go much further than this recent history,
however. The Goddess now stands for a complete and distinctly neopagan view of human nature and history.
"Goddess
spirituality purports to be nothing less than the original and true religion of
the human race. The earliest people, we are told, were attentive to the
life-force which seemed to animate the natural world upon which they depended
for survival. Awed by the mysteries of menstruation and childbirth, and unaware
of the fact of paternity, they would have imagined this life-force in female
terms. The first human cultures, therefore, must have worshiped a Great Mother
Goddess; it supposedly follows that they must also have had woman-centered and
matriarchal communities which fostered feminine values of nurture and harmony
amongst individuals and groups, and with the environment. . . .
"Today’s
Goddess worshipers insist that the victims of the European witch-hunts were
themselves followers of the Goddess; they inflate the number of those victims
as high as nine million, characterizing this period as the Church’s ‘war
against women.’
"Now
patriarchy’s supposed desecrations are plain to see in the wars and
environmental degradations of the 20th century. The Goddess, they say, is
poised to return and inaugurate a New Age which will recapture the virtues and
glories of the ancient utopian matriarchies.
"What
is a Christian to make of this tale? It is of course a myth in the full sense
of the word, an explanatory narrative within which its believers find
inspiration, solace, and guidance. At almost every point, however, it is at
odds with the Christian story. God the Father has been recast as a symbol of
oppression, the crucified and risen Christ as an irrelevance, and the Church as
one of the prime villains in history. . . .
"Who
is the Goddess? She is, in short, the imaginary deity and symbol of a new
religion which sees itself in opposition to all that Christianity has
represented over the past 18 centuries in which it has been a dominant presence
in Western civilization. What then is she doing in the
Church. . . .
"She
is not simply there as ‘God in a skirt,’ a device for describing the biblical
God in more gender-balanced terms. On the contrary, the Goddess is being used
as a vehicle for changing the nature of the Christian religion from within.
With her Wiccan, neopagan,
and ultimately occult ancestry, the Goddess stands for an entire alternative
body of beliefs and practices.
"According
to her own devotees, the Goddess is an immanent, pantheistic deity;
transcendence itself is derided as a stereotypically male notion which denies
the value of the self and the world. Being immanent, she is to be known through
neither revelation nor reason, but through subjective intuitive experiences.
Such experiences are to be sought in many ways, ranging from neopagan magical ceremonies to the active exploration of
multiform sexuality as a sort of spiritual exercise. Moral norms are also
subjective and intuitive, guided only by the so-called Wiccan
Rede, ‘An ye harm none, do
what ye will’."
That
the Australian Church today has been seriously compromised by Goddess
worshipers can be seen on a number of fronts: For example, many churches, as a
matter of custom, contain "pagan blessing trees" — dead tree limbs
festooned with red, large yellow, green, and blue ribbons. Also, prayers — even
official prayers such as that used for the success of the Brisbane
Archdiocese’s Synod 2003 — omit any reference to "God" or the
traditional formulary "through Jesus Christ our Lord," but rather
refer to the "Holy Spirit of Fire . . .
[to] help us recognize wisdom even from unlikely sources."
How
the notion of the Goddess is insinuated into Catholics minds through Church
art, architecture, prayer, and catechesis will be explored in future articles.
Issue
Date
The
Goddess Cult . . .
Reflections On The
Work Of
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
In June 2002, Notre Dame’s Center for Pastoral Liturgy gave its
highest honor, the Spirit and Truth Award, to four individuals. One of these
was Fr. Tom Elich, director of the Liturgical
Commission of the Archdiocese of Brisbane, as well as executive secretary of
the National Liturgical Commission in Australia, which serves the Australian
bishops in much the same way the Committee on the Liturgy serves the U.S.
bishops; a professor of liturgy at the Brisbane College of Theology; a past
president of the Australian Academy of Liturgy; a widely published author and
editor of Liturgy News, a publication of the Archdiocese of Brisbane;
and a member of the Advisory Committee of the International Commission on
English in the Liturgy (ICEL).
Fr.
Tom is also
Upon
receiving the award, Fr. Tom said he was "humbled and honored,"
adding: "I see it as recognition and appreciation of the work I have been
involved with over the last decade. It is a tribute to all those who do
diocesan work in pastoral liturgy and liturgical education."
Fr.
Tom is also a self-styled art expert. For example, when the sacrilegious portrait
of the Blessed Virgin Mary went on display in 1999 at the Brooklyn Museum of
Art, Fr. Tom, in
"A
work like that sharpens our critical faculties," he added, "and we’re
able to ask where do I stand? What do I believe? Do I agree with this or not,
[and] why not? I think that is one of the functions of art."
And
when a Swedish publisher announced in June 2001 that it would produce a special
version of the Bible, using the King James version and
illustrating it with the photos of supermodels, featuring a naked top model as
Eve, Fr. Tom welcomed the idea.
"I
think it’s a good idea, although I’m a little bit unhappy with the King James
text. I think there are better versions. I don’t think nudity is going to be a
problem. The Sistine Chapel is full of it," he told The Brisbane Sunday
Mail.
The
real key to understanding Fr. Tom’s views on art, particularly liturgical art,
can be found in a series of four articles he wrote for his quarterly
publication Liturgy News in 2000 on the work of Australian artist
Sebastian Di Mauro, who, wrote Fr. Tom, "poses
abstract questions of existence and being, causality and origin, reality,
imagination and perception. This is what makes his works of art so susceptible
to religious interpretation."
Di Mauro’s medium of choice for his sculptures is brown
carpet underlay, which he cuts and stacks to make different objects. One
particular object, titled Conduit, is made up of about 60 rectangular
shapes with the center cut out, so it appears as a doorless
vault.
In
describing the power of this object, Fr. Tom waxes enthusiastic: "Of
course, the warm, comforting texture of the felt brings with it other
associations. What cosmic oedipal desires [emphasis added] are
evoked. . . ."
Fr.
Tom, who earned his doctorate in liturgy at the Institute Catholique
de Paris, believes that Di Mauro’s work "opens
new possibilities for liturgical art," and suggests those who work in
liturgical ministry "who contemplate his work will approach their
liturgical services armed with a new approach to their ministries and inspired
by a broader horizon."
The Meaning Of Words
Before
looking deeper into Fr. Tom’s views on Church art and architecture, his view
that the Holy See’s Liturgiam
Authenticam represents a "betrayal" of
Vatican II, his contempt for Gregorian chant (he once wrote that
"affirming the privileged place of Gregorian chant [in Sacrosanctum
Concilium] introduces a dissonant note into
excellent paragraphs on the importance of music"), and his battles with
the Vatican over liturgical translations, what does his reference to
"cosmic oedipal desires" indicate?
Type the three words in a Google search on the Internet,
and about 490 references will appear. The first web page Google lists is www.transparencynow.com
and has this heading: "Life & Death versus Death-In-Life"
with this summary: ". . . instead of giving in to fears and
desires and treating from the truth...finds its ultimate personification in the
Devil, the cosmic oedipal rebel, whose state of
death-in-life. . . ."
Another heading is "Tradition and Tyranny,"
"Women and the Catholic Church Yesterday and Today [by] Kim E.
Power."
Power is a major Australian feminist theologian and a
leader in
In one passage in her address, Power said:
". . . To resist the system collapsing, the Pope explicitly
taught women that without a man, they could not become fully woman. He does not
insist on man’s dependence on woman, though it is implicit in his assertion
that women’s role is to humanize men within their homes — what I once called a
reversion to ‘pillow politics’ at best and I would now add, a seduction to
manipulation at worst.
"That few men spoke out against this depiction of
masculinity suggests that a slightly ‘brutish’ personality is not altogether
inconsistent with macho concepts of masculinity, where sexual aggression or
predation, the capacity for physical violence and the will to power have a positive
value. This acceptance of an inherent capacity for brutal assertion of
authority is the price men have paid for status and it may mask a deeper fear.
A fear made more conscious in contemporary society by the rise of assisted
reproduction technologies, especially when accessible to lesbian
women. . . . Fatherhood is one of the last bastions of
masculinity, when women can be financially and emotionally self-sufficient
without a man.
"So the comments of Robert McElvaine,
an American history professor, on clerical attitudes to women’s ordination are
pertinent here. McElvaine has suggested that men’s
definition of female Otherness masks a deep insecurity about the sources of
masculine power and roles. . . . Exactly.
Women can do all the important things that men can, but there are some
essential things that women can do that men cannot: bear and give birth to
children and nourish them from their bodies. Because of this relative
incapacity, many men suffer, largely subconsciously, from insecurities that might
be termed ‘womb envy,’ ‘breast envy,’ or what I call ‘Non-Menstrual Syndrome.’
This is why insecure men exclude women from places they want to reserve for
themselves. To compensate for the things that they cannot do, men tell women
that they may not do other things."
Power’s full address is online at http://www.ocw.webcentral.com.au/Kim%20Power.htm
Another of Fr. Tom’s oft-used phrases in his writings is
"feminine and masculine energy." Perform a similar Google search for
that phrase, and one comes up with Jungian, Wiccan, or theosophical references.
And his favorite artist, Sebastian Di
Mauro, is known in
More Mythical Symbols
In
the September 2000 Liturgy News, Fr. Tom praised another of Di Mauro’s works, Imbalance, a work
"constructed of 21 logs, representing 21 centuries. Some are charred, signifying . . . destruction, transformation,
purification, and regeneration. The cross-cuts through the logs expose the
rings which show the trees’ life and growth but ultimately speak of its
destruction. . . .
"On each log is a broken egg shell. The symbol of
the egg evokes new life, the cycle of life, the creation and transmission of
life; the broken shell presumes that birth has taken place. The embryo has
become a living creature.
"On the log for the 21st century is a ‘virtual
egg’; a whole unbroken egg shown on a TV monitor, illuminated by suspended,
battery-powered torch."
Eggs, and broken eggs, are rich mythical symbols, and
many ancient mythologies attribute the creation of the world to the hatching of
a cosmic snake with a horned head.
Issue
Date
The Goddess Cult . . .
Australian
Liturgist Uses Art To
Create New
Church
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
Under the direction of Fr. Tom Elich,
Not
only has he altered basic structures in traditional churches to make
"theaters in the round," and encouraged the removal of traditional
art and its replacement by questionable signs and symbols, but he has also been
a major enthusiast for lay-run liturgies.
His
own writings in his art reviews, according to Christine Howes, a lay person in
the Brisbane Archdiocese, "appear to promote pagan ideas among liturgists
through the pages of Liturgy News, which carries the imprimatur of
Archbishop John Bathersby. The terminology is unmistakably pagan, and
essentially all of his words come from a pot of pagan code phrases easily
recognizable by his peers, but foggy and unclear to those not initiated in New
Age rituals and beliefs."
Fr.
Tom and his associates, particularly Ursuline nun Sr.
Kari Hatherell — now studying in Rome after serving
as pastoral associate at St. Stephen’s Cathedral during the entire Synod 2003
process — wield an influence second to none.
His
editorial board at Liturgy News includes Mercy Sr. Maria Sullivan, who
served for five years, from 1998-2003, on the Mercy Sisters’ leadership team,
along with Sr. Elaine Wainwright,
She
lectures extensively throughout the archdiocese, telling priests her version of
"proper" liturgical practices.
In
her most recent Liturgy Lines column, in the Catholic Leader
(February 15), she stated that one of the outcomes of the
Harrington
admitted in her column that priests interpreted this as "yet another
clergy-bashing exercise," and priests were "defensive."
"For
the process to be effective," Harrington wrote, "it is essential for
the group to have a set of criteria on which their evaluation is based. These
criteria would cover both the content of the homily as well as the style of delivery.
Style refers to the way the preacher communicates the message and includes
things like facial expression, voice quality, body language, and eye
contact."
Harrington’s
critics argue that subjecting priests to weekly criticism sessions would eventually
coerce the priest into abandoning the homily in favor of lay preachers.
Under
Harrington’s influence, parishes are being pressured to replace traditional
Communion host wafers with home-baked bread. This reinforces arguments made by
Fr. Elich in Liturgy News, September and
December 2000, in his deconstructive interpretation of the new General
Instruction of the Roman Missal. He told his readers GIRM was
confusing, ambiguous, contradictory, and in violation of the liturgical renewal
called for by Vatican II.
Elich wrote in his editorial of September 2000, "The
more detailed the prescriptions, the more exceptions there will have to be, in
particular circumstances. The ‘typical’ Mass as described in the document may
not address the situation of the average Australian parish. For example, with
the reverent breaking of the bread for a large assembly, it may be difficult to
reconcile the restriction of the rite to the priest and deacon with the
requirement that it not be prolonged or overemphasized."
In
her
Harrington
wrote: "I kid you not! This is like someone claiming they had not really
eaten because dinner had been a three-course meal at the dining table instead
of take-aways from a tray in front of the TV."
Harrington
recently announced that all of her Liturgy Lines columns are on the
Internet, and can be found at www.litcom.net.au.
Artist At Work
As stated in part three of this series (the February 19 installment),
the real key to understanding Fr. Tom’s views on art, particularly liturgical
art, can be found in a series of four articles he wrote for his quarterly
publication Liturgy News in 2000 on the work of Australian artist
Sebastian Di Mauro. Di Mauro, wrote Fr. Tom, "poses abstract questions of
existence and being, causality and origin, reality, imagination, and perception.
This is what makes his works of art so susceptible to religious
interpretation."
While
such symbolism as cut, scarred logs, and eggs and broken eggs have little or no
meaning for Catholics grounded in their own rich tradition of art, they
arguably have meaning for those involved in Wicca and other occult movements.
One
expert, Marija Gimbutus, author of The Goddesses
and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images, explains the importance of
egg symbolism, and another of her books, called The Language of the Goddess,
can be found on the Sisters of Mercy Earthlink ecospirituality
center reading list. See www.mercy.org.au/orgs/earthlink/resource.html.
Another
expert, Carl Teichrib explained in his A Short
Guide to Occult Symbols: From Crescents to Crosses, "I find it
disturbing that while the historical and contemporary ‘marks’ of occultism can
be found throughout our modern culture, we no longer recognize their spiritual
significance. However, just because the average person no longer knows the meaning
of occult symbols, it in no way negates their significance. The fact remains
that these symbols have never lost their meaning, and occultists today still
recognize their power and influence."
Fr.
Elich’s June 2000 Liturgy News featured, on
the front cover, Di Mauro’s "Synthesis,"
and, on the back, "Sublimate," which Elich
described as "a metaphor for change, dying, and regeneration."
"One
critic described the exhibition as an arena of magic, ritual, and mystery. The
eerie and claustrophobic cellar seemed to be a site for tribal ceremonies or
alchemic experiments. The space included rings of small lights, ochre
paintings, panels of gold leaf, a suspended
clay-covered vessel dripping olive oil over a dead tree which thrust up through
a ladder, a stone trough of water, and vessels of sulphur,
salt, and mercury. . . . The objects function rather like
sacraments where simple physical things (bread, wine, water, oil) are imbued
with transcendent meaning."
The
article continues, in a certain self-revealing way, considering Elich’s preference for the design of new churches and the
renovation of old ones in the form of circles:
"The
circle is a universal symbol. In the ‘dot’ paintings of aborigines from central
"Adopting
a Christian perspective will lead a viewer to a particular interpretation of an
art work but, if the approach is perceptive, it will nonetheless be faithful to
the work itself and to the artist."
"Why,"
wonders Christine
Howes, "are Catholics being told about the ‘circular mandala’
and ritual dance moving in circles, especially when there are some 700 Buddhist
deities represented in some mandalas? In the voodoo
and witchcraft ritual dances, the devotees believe the power resides within
their bodies which they can release in various ways, the simplest being dancing
round in a circle, singing, or shouting to induce a frenzy.
"I
fail to see how any discussion of the above practices has any place in a
Catholic liturgical magazine article written by a priest."
Howes
offered her views on how these art theories translate into parish life, as she
described the art in her parish church in Lent 2003.
"Our
sanctuary," she said, "featured a tree branch in a sandpit filled
with pine cones, rocks, and even passion fruit for Passion Sunday. The tree’s
appearance changed weekly from the original dead branch, then a few leaves
stuck to it, and we sank to an all-time low when it was covered with ribbons.
The neighboring parish had the same sand pit with dead branch, placed in the
sanctuary directly in front of the altar."
Another
Elich-inspired sanctuary featured sheets of burlap
draped over different objects directly in front of and around the altar, the
centerpiece was an old television set, with a paper taped to the front on which
"CHANGE" was written, while large sheets of crumpled newspapers were
thrown all around. One of the burlap-draped columns was topped off by one of
the Synod 2003 ritual clay pots containing a yellow candle.
(Church
rubrics require that candles be white. But the yellow candle is required for
Wicca ceremonies. The altar was covered with a yellow cloth, also prohibited by
Church rubrics. Wiccan rubrics recommend a yellow altar cloth.)
This
Lent, the same theme of a dead tree branch has been repeated at St. Stephen’s
Cathedral in
The
same June issue of Liturgy News contains a long editorial by Fr. Tom,
wearing his ICEL hat, complaining that the Holy See is a major obstacle to
ecumenism because it is denying permission for Catholics to use Protestant
prayers, pointing out "doctrinal difficulties" in the prayers the
Australian bishops are sending to Rome for approval, and ordering ICEL to draw
up a new constitution.
In
an inside feature under "What’s New," Elich
expressed his utter disbelief that Pope John Paul II designated the Second
Sunday after Easter as "Mercy Sunday," and said this
"astonishing development" violates both Vatican II and the Holy See’s General Norms for the Liturgical Year.
Using Art
An
example of the art for churches Elich is promoting in
Liturgy News, even while he is on a campaign to rid older churches of
their traditional art, is "The Flood Figures," by Jenny Close.
Close
is currently writing her doctoral thesis, which is entitled, "A Feminist
Understanding of Art." On the Internet web site www.liturgyhelp.com, she
is described as being involved in many different artistic projects, including
creating "environments for large-scale religious conferences," and
"creating installations and banners for the parish worship
environment."
"The
Flood Figures" is a large floor painting in a parish church, silhouetted
figures on a rainbow background spilling out of a corrugated iron tub, perched
in a corner of an atrium gathering space. As explained in Liturgy News:
"Taking up the image of the flood and the rainbow, Jenny used an
Australian tank of corrugated iron which had previously been the parish font
for baptism by immersion. ‘A relationship between the flood and baptism,
between the primal and the saving waters, was suggested,’ she said. ‘Here was
also a play on seemingly opposite elements: negative/positive, dark/light,
chaos/order, male/female.’ Jenny has degrees in fine
art and theology and works with liturgical art in the parish of Coorparoo in
This
example of Close’s art is used to illustrate an article, "Preaching
Lent," by Fr. Ormond Rush, a priest of the Diocese of Townsville and a
theology professor in the Brisbane College of Theology.
Pushing The
In
his role as
For
example, the March 2000 issue of Liturgy News featured an article by Fr.
Guy Hartcher, CM, who studied medieval history and
liturgy in the
In
"Catholic Sunday Worship Without a Priest,"
he notes that many Catholics will drive a long distance for a Sunday Mass, when
they could have the experience of having a "Liturgy of the Word with
Communion" service.
"Traveling
to the nearest Mass is a good decision," he writes. "Assembling with
one’s own community is also a good decision, and, in fact, may often be a
better decision."
In
the September 2000 Liturgy News, there is a two-page review of Liturgy
for the New Millennium, published by The Liturgical Press in Collegeville,
Minn. Catherine White, director of liturgy for the Toowoomba
Diocese, observes that much of the work of modern liturgists is focused on
restoring the importance of the liturgical assembly and overcoming the
unfortunate legacy of the Middle Ages, when people focused on the act of
transubstantiation and adored the Host.
And
in addition to carping about
Battle-Weary Catholics
The effect of Elich’s work has left
Catholics in
"His
tactics are calculated to divide parish communities. Catholics who take the
time to research the true Church directives relating to Church architecture and
worship from documents readily available, often find themselves shunned or
openly abused by their fellow parishioners. We are the ones who are portrayed
as disloyal and uncharitable for daring to question Fr.
Elich’s false theology. His team of fellow
dissenters, including Elizabeth Harrington, Julie Moran, and Sr. Kari Hatherell now seem to be particularly focusing on
misdirecting the youth and quickly promoting them into positions of influence
in their parish communities.
"Again,
this leaves the older parishioners feeling their devotional ideas must be old
hat and that they are selfish if they do not stand aside and allow others,
particularly the young, to practice their new liturgical
rites. . . .
"And
since a dissenter is described as one who withdraws from an established Church,
we cannot understand why Fr. Elich has so much power
when he has an international reputation for dissenting from Church teaching.
"He
is even listed on the web site for the Brisbane-based
Issue
Date
Australian Bishops . . .
Head To
By PAUL LIKOUDIS
As Australia’s bishops prepared for their ad limina
conversations with curial officials and Pope John Paul II, which begin this
week, Catholic laity in Australia were also briefing curial officials on the
continuing deterioration of the Church and the ongoing deconstruction of the
faith by bishops, priests, women religious, and empowered Church bureaucrats.
Emblematic
of the deep division between the hierarchy and its apparatchiks and the
orthodox faithful is a recent letter written to a Brisbane Catholic by her
ordinary, Archbishop John Bathersby.
Nola
Mackenzie, who had gone to Rome on pilgrimage in October 2003, delivered a file
to Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, containing her personal witness
accounts of witchcraft activities at Brisbane’s Womenspace center, owned by the
Presentation nuns and staffed by at least two members of the Sisters of Mercy;
the gay and lesbian Pride Choir concerts at St. Mary’s Church in Brisbane;
copies of lecture materials used by Sr. Elaine Wainwright, one of the country’s
leading Catholic feminist theologians promoting Christ-Sophia and author of the
Brisbane Archdiocese’s 2003 lenten program, which
promoted "Sophia/Christ" spirituality; and much more.
She
then sent the same file, with a cover letter to Archbishop Bathersby, and on
Dear Nola,
Thank
you for your letter and a copy of the material you have sent to Cardinal Ratzinger. I am pleased that
Sincerely in
Christ,
John Bathersby
Bathersby’s comment that Fr. Randazzo
would present a "different point of view" is "deeply disturbing
to the Catholics of Brisbane," Christine Howes told The Wanderer,
"because of the high positions he held here. Until the end of 2003, in
addition to being vocations director, he was also associate judicial vicar and
judge, Brisbane Regional Tribunal, and a judge for the National Appeal Tribunal
of Catholic Church of Australia and
Fr.
Randazzo was also part of the editorial team of the Liturgy
News magazine, edited by Fr. Tom Elich and
Elizabeth Harrington, for at least the entire year of 1996, a time when Mercy
Nun Sr. Maria Sullivan joined the team in December 1996.
On
the archdiocese’s vocations web site, Randazzo
praises Bathersby for "very good episcopal
leadership over the years."
According
to Irish journalist Desmond O’Grady, writing in Melbourne’s The Age,
March 8, the bishops’ discussions with curial officials "are likely to
cover clerical sexual abuse; the treatment of refugees; justice for Aborigines;
ecumenism, especially relations with Anglicans in view of recent changes in
their church; dialogue with Muslims; translation of liturgical texts; defense
of life and Catholic health services; priestly vocations; and seminary
formation.
"The
35 bishops will also receive
"The
"He
said the teaching authority of the parish priest should not be limited by ‘the
will of a majority or a vocal minority’ and that the difference between the
laity and the ordained ministry should not be blurred.
"Melbourne
Auxiliary Bishop Christopher Prowse said . . .
if there was any controversial criticism from the Pope and his officials, the
Australian bishops would be happy to hear it.
" ‘We would be delighted to hear any perspectives
the Pope might want to offer us because he is the leader of our faith. If the
comments seem like a challenge to some, so be it. To others it will be seen as
a good pathway to the future’."
On
February 2, The Catholic Leader published a full-page article about
various activities in the Rockhampton Diocese, which
Howes described as "pre-ad limina
propaganda" because it featured an article with giant dark black letters,
"PAPAL MEETING."
It
begins with the quotation, "Bishop Brian Heenan
will tell Pope John Paul II of the pastoral work happening in Rockhampton Diocese when he meets in
"Bishop
Heenan said the primary purpose of the visit was to
reinforce links between the
The
Diocese of Rockhampton — Australia’s version of
Albany, N.Y. — is considered one of the most "progressive" dioceses
in the land down under, with a rapidly shrinking priesthood and laity. The
Australian lay Catholic magazine, AD 2000, reported in August 2000:
"The
retiring age for priests is set at 70, instead of the usual 75 elsewhere,
numbers have resigned from the active priesthood in recent years, suggestions
that priests from overseas be invited into the diocese to make up the shortfall
are rejected, and priestly vocations for the diocese remain almost nonexistent.
"All
the while, Rockhampton’s small army of Church
professionals remains tireless in setting up conferences, meetings, discussion
groups, and workshops on the future of the local Church.
"In
a document released in May 2000 titled Diocesan Future Staffing and Shaping,
Bishop Brian Heenan reminded Rockhampton’s
Catholics of the ongoing followup to an earlier
document, Building Our Future Together, with its strategies for, among
other things, coping with reduced priestly numbers. A ‘Diocesan Future Staffing
and Shaping Task Force’ had been conducting numerous meetings and discussions
throughout the diocese and was ‘working through the feedback collected via
Regional Gatherings.’
"Some
of this feedback included affirmations that ‘faith is not priest-centered,’
changes should be accepted. . . .
"The
diocese’s spiritual flavor was evident to some extent during the Rockhampton Diocesan Conference held between
July 10-13. Capturing something of the Olympic spirit, it was titled:
‘Carrying the Flame: Healing, Grieving, New Beginnings.’ According to its
all-female team of Adult Faith Coordinators, the conference was ‘a result of
the successful Burning Bush Conference 1999’ whose ‘sparks’ had ‘inspired our
bishop to invite Diocesan Adult Faith Education and Formation’ to plan another
conference."
The
entire educational conference was devoted to "Bush/Creation
spirituality," "Aboriginal spirituality," planting "sacred
gardens," experiencing God through massage, Celtic spirituality,
self-esteem, four-direction, fire-earth-air-water-worship rituals, and
inventing new personal relations that are not "power-based."
Like
many American bishops, Bishop Heenan has been stung
by the clerical pedophilia scandal. In the case involving Fr. Michael McArdle, now serving a six-year prison sentence for abusing
14 boys and two girls over a 22-year period, Heenan
was alleged to have been aware of McArdle’s
activities and yet continued to reassign him to different parishes.
Deep
Malaise
The
deep malaise in the Catholic Church in Australia, where Mass attendance is 10%
in some dioceses, and falling, doesn’t appear to have dawned on many of its
leaders, who continue to profess satisfaction with how the Church is
functioning.
Although
there are exceptions — there are orthodox bishops in the Dioceses of Sydney,
Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth, and several important provincial dioceses,
according to layman Maxwell Lynch, editor of the lay Catholic newsletter Lepanto, and positive signs of change, such as Msgr.
Peter Elliott’s new catechetical series, To Know, Worship, and Love —
"a modernist elite continues to dominate the Church here."
In
July 2001, nearly three years after John Paul II "threw down the gauntlet"
to
In
a
Jesuit
Fr. Bill Uren, an ethicist at
(As
an interesting aside, Fr. Uren, former superior of the Australian Jesuits,
tried to block a lecture tour by a fellow Jesuit, Fr. Joseph Fessio, who had been invited to Australia by an
organization of Catholic priests. Uren claimed that Fessio
not only needed his superior’s permission, he needed his [Uren’s] permission as
well, prompting the intervention of then-Archbishop Pell.)
Little
Progress
According
to Catholics such as Christine Howes and Maxwell Lynch, there has been little
change in the Australian episcopacy since the special synod at the Vatican in
1998, where the bishops were told to end liturgical and sacramental abuses such
as general absolution and to ensure that all Catholic teaching is "in
union with the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the
Church. . . . The People of God who are entrusted to their care
have a right to receive authentic and clear Catholic teaching from those who
represent the Church in its various institutions."
Bishops,
the final synodal document stated, have as
"their grave responsibility, clearly and unambiguously, to proclaim the
Church’s teaching and to do all that they can to preserve the faithful from
error. . . . The bishop may not tolerate error in matters of
doctrine and morals or Church discipline, and true unity must never be at the
expense of truth."
The
document said that in his office of sanctifying, a bishop should "exercise
vigilance over the celebration and administration of the sacraments in his
diocese," ensuring "the sacraments are administered according to the
proper liturgical norms. . . . If he discovers that these norms
are not being followed properly, with integrity and reverence, he acts quickly
to correct the error or abuse."
In
their role in governing the Church, the final statement declares that bishops,
in "choosing their collaborators in the diocesan administration, seminary,
and in parishes, . . . need to make these
appointments with a careful eye and with great attention, always giving
emphasis to sanctity of life, orthodoxy, and pastoral competence. Continual
vigilance is imperative in order to safeguard the integrity of the faith and to
ensure that it is clearly taught and explained at all levels of diocesan
life."
The
synodal document also warned:
•
"No pastoral solution can be so-called that is not flowing from God’s
Revelation as this is interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church. Thus a
practice in pastoral life, which is contrary to the teachings of Christ and His
Church, is not an act of compassion, but rather one that radically disorders
pastoral charity and has long-term negative consequences for the
faithful."
The
reality: The
•
"[T]he matter of catechesis cannot be left solely in the hands of others,
no matter how skilled they be. The transmission of the faith is to be actively
attended to by priests as this is an essential part of their ministry [in the
course of which they should refer to the new Catechism]."
The
reality: In the Archdiocese of Brisbane, goddess advocate Sr. Elaine
Wainwright produced the 2003 lenten
study program, which promoted "Sophia/Christ" spirituality and
ecology worship.
•
On religious life: The document identified the problem of defective formation
"because the selection of formators or of
centers of ongoing formation was not made in view of full communion with the
Magisterium of the Church. . . . Consecrated persons are called
to be mindful of the ancient dictum: sentire
cum ecclesia, to live and think and love with the Church. In this regard, Vita
Consecrata is very explicit. A distinctive aspect
of ecclesial communion is allegiance of mind and heart to the Magisterium of
the bishops, an allegiance which must be lived honestly and clearly testified
to before the People of God by all consecrated persons, especially those
involved in theological research, teaching, publishing, catechesis, and the use
of the means of social communication."
The
reality: Instead of being mindful of the "ancient dictum," too
many religious, as reported in the past four installments of this series, are
becoming mindful of ancient goddess spiritualities, and promoting the goddess
in all the forms of mass communication they control, particularly the archdiocesan
newspapers and liturgy magazines.
•
On liturgical abuses, the document states: "In today’s rapidly changing
world it is all the more necessary to return constantly to the authentic
teaching of the Church on the liturgy, as found in the liturgical texts
themselves. . . . Practices foreign to the Roman rite are not to
be introduced on the private initiative of priests, who are ministers and
servants, rather than masters of the sacred rites. . . . The
bishops of
• The
reality: In
•
On seminaries, the statement said: "It is essential for the seminary to
achieve its task, that the education imparted there be characterized by a clear
and authentic idea of the ministerial priesthood, its specificity and its
relationship to the priesthood of all the baptized." Clerical formation
"should be based on a sound Christology and ecclesiology, as transmitted
by the Church" with these understandings "clear in the minds of both
the teachers and the students."
• The
reality: Many of the key dissenters in the Brisbane Archdiocese can be
found on the teaching staff of
There
is a question on the minds of
As
Pope John Paul II told the Australian bishops in 1998, "In a cultural
climate dominated by subjective thought and moral relativism, the transmission of
the faith and the presentation of the Church’s
teaching and discipline has to be a matter of grave concern to these successors
of the Apostles."