Update: 9 June, 2010 - a group of Catholic Truth readers visited the Pauline Books and Media shop in Royal Exchange Square, with leaflets warning about the dangerous writings of Thomas Groome, whose books were featured in a prominent window display. Scroll down to read the editor’s comment on this lunchtime venture.
A reader emailed today to tell us that the Pauline Sisters in Glasgow have been busy arranging a window display in their bookshop to promote Professor Thomas Groome’s books. The Sisters know that the Archbishop (Mario Conti) will be perfectly happy with their latest initiative to – literally – “sell” heresy, and the Archbishop can rest easy knowing that nobody in the Vatican will bother their heads one little bit. The brass necks are now of giraffe proportions.
To refresh memories, click here to read the previous thread on Professor Groome, now closed to comments. I’ve copied and pasted below, the final comment from blogger Augustine (who happens to be the young man who wrote to all the priests in three dioceses: the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Motherwell and Paisley, in an attempt to prevent them from attending the planned Lecture of Professor Groome in St Aloysius College, Glasgow, a few weeks ago.) Thankfully, the volcanic ash saw to it that there were no planes available to the land the “ex”-priest, Groome on Scottish soil, so the Lecture didn’t take place after all.
But, fancy the Daughters of St Paul – as was, before their feminist switch to “Pauline” bookshop – advertising his books so blatantly in their shop window? Groome is a very public dissenter, most notably with reference to the ordination of women. Tell us what you make of this scandalous book display once you’ve read Augustine’s comment on his correspondence with Professor Groome, who argues that Catholic teaching on male-only priesthood is not set in stone. Click here to find out why he’s plain wrong…
It occurs to me that the two readers who recently asked me to post threads on two specific topics can have their dreams come true on this thread. One reader asked for a thread on practical responses to scandals whether they occur in parishes or other venues within a diocese – a lecture to be delivered in a Catholic school by a known heretic, springs to mind! The other reader asked for a thread on humility. St. Bernard defines humility: “A virtue by which a man knowing himself as he truly is, abases himself.” And St. Thomas: “The virtue of humility,” he says, “consists in keeping oneself within one’s own bounds, not reaching out to things above one, but submitting to one’s superior” (Summa Contra Gent., bk. IV, ch. lv, tr. Rickaby). Seems to me that none of the church-people involved in the Groome scandal are submitting to the teaching of the Church but, conversely, display an arrogance, a pride that is extremely dangerous to their spiritual welfare.
So, feel free to explore all the issues surrounding this latest development in the Saga of the Scandalous Professor, but let me know folks, if you still want separate threads on “Catholic Action” and “Humility” – Catholic Truth at your service! Feel free to let me know your preference, by your chosen method, at your convenience, she said, oozing humility…
Blogger, Augustine writes…
Professor Groome contacted me by post last month and strongly requested that I “restore [his] good name in Scotland”. Since then we have been emailing back and forth about the subject in question i.e. the reservation of priestly orders to men. It’s quite clear to me that he simply doesn’t accept the Church’s teaching on this point. In fact, in one of his emails to me he stated:
However, no theologian that I know – and I work with some 60 of them at Boston College – would say that this is indisputedly an infallible teaching. The Pope, acting as the successor of Peter, i.e. speaking ex cathedra and in the name of all the bishops of the world, has never declared this an infallible dogma of Catholic faith.
Mr. Keane incorrectly insists that the Catholic Church’s negative decision on the ordination of women is an infallible teaching. This indeed was the position of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) as stated “Responsum ad Dubium” of Oct 28, 1995 and signed by then Cardinal Ratzinger. But theologically the CDF cannot teach infallibly on its own authority and its claim that Pope John Paul II in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis was merely confirming a teaching already taught infallibly by the bishops of the world has been challenged by many respected and faithful Catholic theologians. I repeat, a teaching of the ordinary magisterium cannot be considered infallible unless the Pope explicitly states so; this was a key condition for infallibility laid down by the First Vatican Council (1870).
I think Professor Groome seems very fixed on the idea that only ex cathedra statements possess the note of infallibility. In fact, Lumen Gentium 25 talks about the infallibility of the ordinary and universal Magisterium under certain conditions. Which is exactly whence the late Holy Father drew the teaching that priestly orders are to be reserved to males.
In fact, as far as I see it – and someone please correct me if I am wrong – we can say that certain doctrines are to be ‘held definitively’ and, thus, are infallible even though they have not been elevated to the level of a formal dogma. This – it seems to me – was the import of the CDF’s Commentary that came out 4 years after Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. End
Tags: archdiocese of glasgow, catholic education, heresy, pauline bookshop, professor thomas groome
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This seems to be a real problem. I came across a site in Rochester NY where the parishioners are having a horrible problem with their Bishop pushing for woman ordination and homosexual Masses, etc. And to think that this was Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s Diocese.
http://www.ThereOughtToBeALaw.net/
God Bless
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N O T I C E . . .
In case you miss it, there are some posts on the “please pray for” thread about the premature birth of Grignion’s baby – you may want to offer your prayerful support and congratulations on that thread.
http://www.catholictruthscotland.com/blog/2009/08/please-pray-for/#comment-26898Insight, thanks for that link – I’ll take a look later, but, as you say, it is particularly sad being the Diocese of the late Bishop Fulton Sheen who must be turning in his grave.
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Reading the whole thing about Professor Groome leaves me totally speechless. What on earth is the archbishop thinking of allowing him to be promoted in the diocese?
This man must be known to the Roman authorities, so they should be doing something about him. They’re quick enough to persecute traditional priests like Fr Gruner, but they leave the likes of Groome free to spread poison.
Is there anything that can be done about him, apart from this kind of public written protest online?
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Since the Paulines will promote Thomas Groome,
Their apostasy is now in full bloom.
Have the “bishops” who call themselves Scots
Fully shown their heretical spots?
Of that, we can most faithfully assume. -
It really is amazing that these nuns could be so blatant. I laughed at your poem, Tomas de Torkay, but I don’t think the bishops have shown their full heretical spots just yet although they are getting more open about their position.
I visited the link Insight gave and that Bishop Clark is something else. Ours have a bit to go before they are as bad as him but I don’t doubt that they will get there one of these days.
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In fact, Rome is aware of Professor Groome. At any rate, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is aware of him. In his ad clerum the Archbishop commented that the Secretary of the CDF had written to him “expressing concern” about the impending study day and talk by Professor Groome.
In his emails to me Professor Groome bases his complaint against me on two points: the non-infallibility of the Church’s teaching on the reservation of priestly orders to men and the claim that he has, nevertheless, not spoken publicly in favour of women’s ordination since the release of Ordination Sacerdotalis in 1994.
With regard to the first points he says:
Of course, if the Pope ever declares infallibly that women are forever excluded from Holy Orders, then I will publicly declare myself as accepting that teaching. However, I don’t think he will ever do so. Among other things, we have always looked upon the diaconate as a share in Holy Orders. There is ample evidence in the Early Church that there were women deacons, beginning with 1 Timothy 3: 8-15.
There is now a strong movement in the Eastern Orthodox Churches to ordain women to the diaconate and a growing sentiment that Rome should consider likewise. The present Holy Father has declared himself open to the discussion. So, who knows what the Holy Spirit may have yet in store for us.
However, it is quite clear that the Church’s teaching on this matter does possess the note of infallibility. In The Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio Fide in 1998 we read:
Every believer is required to give firm and definitive assent to this category of truth, based on faith in the Holy Spirit’s assistance to the Church’s Magisterium, and on the Catholic doctrine of the infallibility of the Magisterium in these matters.
Further, referring to Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, the Doctrinal Commentary explained that:
The Supreme Pontiff, while not wishing to proceed to a dogmatic definition, intended to reaffirm that this doctrine is to be held definitively, since, founded on the written Word of God, constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal magisterium.
Regarding the claim that he has not publicly on the subject of women’s ordinattion since 1994, Professor Groome wrote to me:
However, I have respected this teaching as an aspect of the Church’s ordinary magisterium, and in this light, since the publication of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, I have not publicly – in writing or verbally in lectures – declared myself in favor of the ordination of women. I wrote in 1995 that many responsible Catholic theologians continue to hold a position in favor, but this was a report on what is the state of affairs; I did not declare myself among them.
So, I asked him about the following two quotes from him in 2002. The first from the April 28, 2002 edition of The Boston Globe:
[T]he presence of women as priests and bishops would be an extraordinary gift to the life of the Catholic Church. What a loss it is when ordained ministry is limited to men, excluding the consciousness and gifts of women; at best we benefit from only half our priestly resources. To ordain women would surely hasten the demise of clericalism — the antithesis to priesthood as servant leadership — and catalyze a renewed ministry of “holy order”.
The second quote is from his 2002 book What Makes Us Catholic:
It would appear that the Western church is insisting upon celibacy and maleness for priesthood at the expense of people’s access to Eucharist — so central to Catholic identity and spirituality…There can be problems in making an argument from nature to favor society or social arrangements. For example, there has been much gender and racial bias in how the dominant culture has interpreted ‘nature.’ As late as 1880, the Massachusetts Medical Society argued that women were unsuited ‘by nature’ to be physicians. This is not unlike the argument that the Catholic church still makes against women becoming priests (pp. 102-103 ).
I then asked Professor Groome whether I was misquoting him as I am in the process of sending all this off to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This was on the 25th of May – I have still to hear back from him…
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Just another point: notice that Professor Groome bases his argument on a (flawed) understanding of the teachings of the First Vatican Council and tacitly rejects the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the infallibility of the ordinary and universal Magisterium. Also, he rejects subsequent statements on the infallibility of this aspect of Magisterial teaching.
I think this should give traditionalist Catholics pause for thought: there is much in Vatican II (and, yes, I know that many of the documents are rather weak and ambiguous in their phrasing) that provides ammunition for Catholics defending traditional Catholic teaching against Modernists. We should be very wary of throwing the baby out of the bath water here. With Lumen Gentium 25 (and subsequent Magisterial statements) we have a very strong position to defend teachings that have been taught “always, everywhere, and by all”.
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Augustine,
It is optimistic to say there is “much” in Vatican II (to help traditionalists) because there is so much ambiguity in those documents that just about anyone can take from them, anything they wish. We have never denied – nor would we – that there IS reaffirmation of certain traditional teachings in the documents of Vatican II, but that is the least we can expect. Previous Councils were totally unambiguous and left no room for the kind of confusion that is a hallmark of Vatican II. Google the Council of Trent and compare any one of that Council’s statements with the documents of Vatican II. No comparison.
As for Professor Groome’s appeal to women deacons in the early Church – this is a favourite ploy of the women’s ordination bunch. We covered this in the newsletter not so long ago. There were, certainly, women deacons in the early church, but the diaconate then was completely separate from the liturgy. The diaconate became a step on the road to priestly ordination, but not at that time. Women deacons helped, for example, with brides, with women being baptised by immersion (for modesty reasons) and so on. They were more like Legionaries of Mary than deacons as we understand them today.
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Augustine
However, no theologian that I know – and I work with some 60 of them at Boston College – would say that this is indisputedly an infallible teaching. The Pope, acting as the successor of Peter, i.e. speaking ex cathedra and in the name of all the bishops of the world, has never declared this an infallible dogma of Catholic faith.
Your level-headed persistence is greatly to be admired. There is no “good name” for a liberal or a dissenter, but I can think of a few not-so-good names I’d like to apply to this clever fellow. Notice his narcissistic assumption that only theologians that he “knows” have opinions that are allowable in his case, as if his circle of acquaintances constitutes the entire universe of truth. This is the same old dishonest axiom of academics:
“I’m collegial, therefore I’m right.”
(Which, translated into pig Latin, reads “Collegio ergo correctamundo.”)
It is also very interesting that Groome fails to cite another of his colleagues, Dr. Peter Kreeft of the Boston U. Philosophy Department, who would most certainly set his errors straight.
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ita
On another thread you had asked a question about the attempted suppression of devotions after VII. I couldn’t find your question today, but I wanted to point you to the book “Priest, Where Is Thy Mass?” This will provide you with many details of the post-VII attempt to overthrow the Faith by the Church’s internal enemies – all testimonials by priests who remained faithful to Tradition.
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Tomas, it was on the Sacred Heart thread that I asked why priests don’t encourage these kinds of devotions any more.
I’ve just Googled the book you mention, Priest Where Is Thy Mass, and it is advertised by the Fatima Shoppe and by Amazon, so thanks for telling me about it. I’ll let you know when I’ve read it!
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I have been waiting for an answer to my question – is there anything that can be done about this scandal at the Pauline Media Bookshop? I remember in the newsletter it said that there was a leafleting demonstration planned for the lecture at St Aloysius, so what about this time? I have to admit that I’m not one to leaflet or anything, but I would pray for any efforts, that I will certainly do and I do think it would be good if some people could make some kind of public protest. Catholic Action, it’s called!
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Why not write to the Pauline bookshop and make your point of view known to them? Assume that they are in good faith until proved otherwise. They might surprise you by agreeing with you and take down the display. If not, then take it further.
Mme Editor,
I think that Lumen Gentium 25 will prove to be one of the better fruits of the Council. On the basis of that paragraph, for example, Fr Brian Harrison OS has brought the teachings of the ordinary and universal Magisterium to bear against the theory of evolution. There are many other such cases waiting for genuinely Catholic theologians to build upon this statement of the Council.
I think there is a particularly delicious irony in that Professor Groome rejects this part of the documents of Vatican II as he realises that it provides a bulwark against Modernist interpretations of the Council and of Catholic teaching in general.
Off topic: whatever happened to the contributor Athanasius? I hope everything is OK with him.
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Augustine
I agree. Before anyone decides to partake in Catholic Action they should, as a matter of justice, contact the Sisters and give them the opportunity to change. To go in with all guns blazing would be unjust.
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Take my word for it, those Sisters know perfectly well what Groome is about.
Try (as I have done) to get them to stock sound books and you will soon find out how very carefully they monitor what is sold in their shop.
Of course they need to be approached as politely as possible and asked to remove the offending texts, but the people going into the shop also need to be warned about what is on offer (remember, there’s a lot more heresy on offer in that bookshop, than Groome’s books) so, rather than write, I would go along, say with some leaflets, and if my conversation with the Sister in charge proved to be sterile, then I would spend some time making an effort to inform others.
Plans afoot …
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I look forward to Augustine’s posts, he is a modern day ‘Hammer of Heretics’. Regarding the Tom Groome business, he is typical of so many Irish Americans who have compromised Catholic teachings that do not sit comfortably with the secular sensibilities of mainstream American culture. Groome dare not go against the politically correct heterodox theological opinion that seems to inform the culture of Boston College’s theological department. Imagine, 60 theologians at this Jesuit College do not, according to Groome, accept the teaching of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis as irreversible. Pathetic!
Our Irish forbears shed their blood to pass the true faith on to us. Dissembling theologians at Boston College present a counterfeit faith. Some Catholic Bishops do not seem to appreciate the moral gravity of allowing dissidents to teach and lecture in their dioceses.What should a Catholic bishop say to parents confronted with a visit to their house by Mormon missionaries who want to discuss religious matters with their children? He should advise the parents to politely ask the Mormons to leave the house and to never again approach their children. This is what it means to protect children from error. In like manner, when so-called Catholic theologians who are known dissenters from the Church’s teaching are placed before Catholic teachers as models of how to transmit the Catholic faith, or when their books are sold at Catholic venues, then the bishop who, after being informed of the situation, nevertheless allows it to happen , he is thereby guilty of dereliction of duty and partly responsible for any scandal that ensues. Teachers exposed to such dissidents will possibly read their books and pass on their errors to Catholic children. Not to act decisively by banning the dissident from speaking engagements in their dioceses – especially when there are implications for how youth will be educated in the faith – is an abuse of the sacred trust placed in bishops to defend the little ones from spiritual and moral harm.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
(W.B. Yeats)Mursheen Durkin
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I received an email yesterday from an Irishman called Oistin, who asked me to post the following comment:
Comment from Irish reader…
Like my poor self, Tom Groome is an Irishman. What has happenened to the Faith of Our Fathers? Is the ancient faith too simple for wealthy and politically well connected Irish Bostonians such as Professor Groome?
If the Pope says a teaching is to be held ‘definitively’, that is it, case closed. It does’nt matter if, as Groome claims, 60 theologians at Boston College think otherwise. I doubt however that Groome’s assessment is correct. If it is, then may God have mercy on them all. They are simply wrong. Even if the whole world thinks the world is flat, this fact alone will not make it so.
It is sad that nuns would be promoting Tom’s books in Scotland. I visited that beautiful country a few years ago and prayed that the Catholic faith would again flourish there. This will not happen if there is defective catechesis of the young, and books hostile to Catholicism are sold in Catholic bookshops. Tom Groome has done well out of the catechetical business, big money to be made, if like Tom, an author can get in with the big publishers like Sadlier.
May I pose this question to Professor Groome: How much money have you made from selling your books through Catholic schools and bookshops? I bet it is a handsome amount. End.
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Mursheen Durkin,
Welcome to our blog and thanks for your very interesting post.
Yes, Augustine is to be congratulated for taking on Professor Groome, realising, as a new father-to-be, that he will have to answer to God if he does not do what he can to prevent these errors from poisoning the souls of children, including his own, in so called Catholic schools and pulpits.
If only more young parents had his zeal.
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Ran across this in Yahoo news:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100608/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_priests
God Bless
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Surfed it to this:
http://www.womensordination.org/content/view/19/94/
Check out the “Behind the Times” with Pope Benedict wearing a no contraception button.
God Bless
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Today, around lunchtime, a small group of us arrived at the Pauline Sisters bookshop in Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow.
We checked out the Groome window display, and went inside where two of us asked if we could speak to the Sister in charge.
To my relief, I discovered that the Sister in charge is not the same Sister who was in charge last time I made an approach (which was, of course, a calm and polite approach – we never make any other kind – offering some copies of Christian Order to distribute cost-free, since there were two articles about the Church in Scotland in that particular edition. For my trouble, I was threatened with the police if I didn’t leave the premises pronto.) So, I was really pleased that we were off to a good start, with a level playing field.
Indeed, the Sister in charge today was very kindly indeed. We explained that Thomas Groome is an ex-priest, and pointed out some of his errors in the book to hand – not least his false teaching about the role of the Pope.
She listened attentively and explained that she had been asked to stock the books by the Jesuits in St Aloysius. We told her that these Jesuits were not sound Catholics, that we understood her dilemma: she was asked to stock books by priests whom she would expect to be careful about such matters but, we pointed out, in this current crisis we can no longer take such elementary things for granted.
We reminded her that her Order’s Founder couldn’t sleep at night thinking about the souls being led astray through bad literature and she immediately,without a second’s hesitation, said “I know.”
Sister was very kind and spoke to us for quite some time, listening with attention to what we said and shrugging her shoulders to indicate her difficult position.
We pointed out that there were other texts on sale in the bookshop that are of huge concern, naming The Tablet and Open House. She reacted to Open House, puzzled that we thought it a problem, since “a lovely man” calls in to ask her to sell it. She had never read it herself. Nor had she read any of Professor Groome’s books. We urged her to make sure that she knew what was being sold in her bookshop, and quoted to her from both Groome and Open House.
Some time was spent in pointing out that “lovely” or not, this man is asking Sister to promote heresy and dissent. Most, if not all, of Dr Shipman’s patients thought he was a lovely man and a model doctor.
Both of us who spoke with Sister felt that she was genuinely puzzled and unsure about the whole situation. We gave her the leaflet on Groome which we had prepared for handing out, outside St Aloysius at the lecture which never took place, and explained that, in conscience, we would have to make some kind of token gesture to warn people about these books, so prominently displayed in the window, by handing out some of these leaflets today. She simply nodded but it later became clear that she hadn’t really understood what we meant.
I say this because, shortly afterwards, when our small group stood outside the shop, handing the leaflets to customers exiting and entering, an administration person came out to say we couldn’t do that outside the shop. We asked her where else we could hand them out, explaining our purpose.
This lady then entered into some conversation with us on the issues, and, lamentably, she exhibited the same attitude that many Catholics today reveal when this subject of dissenters being given a platform, arises. She said she would give a dissenter a hearing first, before condemning his views.
Now, this is essentially what the Archbishop said in his letter (countering Augustine’s letter) to priests, when he urged them to “receive” what Professor Groome says carefully, or some such phrase, as if that lets him off the hook.
Ignoring his episcopal duty to protect his people and priests from heresy, the Archbishop places the ball back in their court, and, effectively, encourages them to embrace a dangerous occasion of sin – because it is a grave sin to doubt what God has revealed, and Groome’s books are chock full of his personal views, dressed up as “theology,” challenging what God has revealed. Cleverly done, I admit, but, as I said to the lovely Sister in charge of the Pauline Bookshoop, if any teacher in any RE Department run by me had brought in one of Groome’s books, they’d have gone straight in the bin. The books not the teacher (!)
Contrary to the way he is portrayed by those with an interest in spreading dissent and doubt, Thomas Groome is no expert on religious education. Far from it. So, as I explained to the Sister in charge, it worries me that teachers might be fooled into buying these anti-Catholic books, by the comments on the dust-cover claiming that they are written by an expert in religious education and that Groome’s writings will bring young people back into the Church. No chance!
Anyway, after a little while of conversation with the administration lady, the Sister in charge came out, looking upset, to ask us not to continue to distribute the leaflets, promising that she would remove the display. We thanked her sincerely, and left. We will, of course, take a look in a few days’ time, but we have no reason to doubt her word. Thanks to the volunteers to turned up to help with this leafleting.
And Our Lady of Fatima, thank you!
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I arrived at the Pauline Sister bookshop in Royal Exchange Square several minutes before the editor. Strangely enough I met someone I’ve known for several years and who is a nurse. He was in buying several cards of congratulation for people who were being ordained as Deacons in August and September.
What surprised me was that he himself was being ordained as a Deacon (knowning that he was in fact a married man). Challenging him, he claimed that ordaining married men had in fact its basis in the early Church.
He said in September when he’s ordained, he will carry out anything that the Bishop asks him to do. Things like baptising, marrying, conducting funerals, oh and something about Benediction.
I cheekily or maybe it was sarcastically asked if he would be presiding at Masses – But he said no that.What are priests doing in the meantime?
Thankfully the Sisters have promised to remove the Thomas Groome books, it’s amazing what two or three minutes leafleting as people entered or left the shop, can do. On no occasion did we stop anyone entering.
We shall keep a firm lookout to see what happens in the near future.
Our Lady of Fatima pray for us.
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Bravo, that was a great achievement! The Sister sounds really nice, so we can only hope and pray that her word is her bond. Will someone check that the display really has been removed?
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In Ireland when someone does a good job we say: “Fair play to ye”. Well I want to say: “Fair Play to you Patricia and your stout-hearted co-workers.” Those who contacted the Pauline bookshop in Glasgow and convinced the good sisters to remove Thomas Groome’s books from display have done a great service for all Catholics in the British Isles. I have often been bewildered to find good nuns running Catholic bookshops and selling the most appalling materials containing attacks on Catholic teaching. By having Groome’s books removed, potential readers are protected against the toxicity of error. Also, even though it is a small step in the right direction, it will reduce the flow of money to dissident authors such as Groome. Such forthright action is necessary if we want to protect Catholic children from the diabolical influences on them of marauding dissidents. Fancy that the Jesuits in Glasgow were the ones who recommended Groome’s books to the good nuns. The next step now is to get the Irish Bishops to remove all references to Groome’s books from their website for the Eucharistic Congress.
Padraig Delahunty
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Thank you, Padraig, for your encouraging words and welcome to our blog.
I’m not supposed to be here right now, so excuse this hasty few words.
God bless.
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I’ve just had a telephone call from a reader in town. He tells me that the Groome book display is still in the window of the Pauline Books & Media shop.
Seems the “lovely” Sister wasn’t being truthful after all. Either she’d no intention of removing the display and just wanted us to stop leafleting, or she’s contacted the Jesuits and been told (as I warned her she would be told) that we are a bunch of extremists. We’d prepared her for that charge, so that is no excuse. We pointed out grave errors in the Groome books, so she is certainly now culpable even if, as she claimed, she hadn’t read the books before and didn’t know about the controversy. She sure knows now.
I rang the shop and was told that they are awaiting guidance from “the authorities” and that the book display would be removed soon anyway, as their normal practice. I said that wasn’t good enough because we expected it to be removed to protect customers from Groome’s heresies.
Not to worry. If the display is still there at the beginning of next week, we’ll go back down with the leaflets and this time we won’t be so easily persuaded to leave. Indeed, we’ll leave ONLY after the display is removed.
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editor,
I thought it was too good to be true. I didn’t think the Sisters had any intention of removing the display. To say they are contacting the authorities to ask about changing a window display, that’s ridiculous. You pointed out the errors in the books, so that should have been enough.
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On celibacy I am always quoting the Council of Elvira in the Fourth Century which stated on this question “We cannot change what has been handed down to us from the Apostles”. It is not a matter of doctrine or Papal Authority it is something which is part of the Church that comes to us from Christ. Had the question of women priests been raised back then there would have been the same answer to that as to the Celibacy question. It is not a question of doctrine and this is where people like Groome mislead the faithful, they assert that since this is so anything outside doctrine can be changed. But this is untrue. What has been handed down from the Apostles and been part of tradition for two thousand years is as unchangeable as any doctrine of the Faith. To boast that at Boston College no theologian would disagree with him is true and hilarious. It opposes almost everthing Catholic.
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Just a thought. Why not send a Moslem around to the shop to tell the Sisters they are insulting the Prophet Jesus.
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jkearney,
Elvira is better described as a Provincial Synod rather than as a ‘council’. It was attended by nineteen bishops, all of them from the Spanish peninsula.
Substantially, I agree with you that celibacy is of Apostolic origin. (One of the best books on the subject is by a Frenchman with the very Italian sounding surname ‘Cocchini’. It is published in English by Ignatius Press and is worth getting and reading.) However, the Catholic Church continues to allow the marriage of Oriental Rite Catholics, under quite stringent conditions.
Sometime we Latins forget that the Latin Church and the Catholic Church are not synonymous.
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Thinking of the impending closure of this blog, it is going to be very strange turning on the computer and not scrolling down my list of bookmarked sites to the Catholic Truth blog. By now it is almost an automatic gesture on my part.
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jkearney,
I wonder how many of the theologians of Boston College agree with the dogmas of Papal Infallibilitty, the Immaculate Conception, the Bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virign Mary or, for that matter, with the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Precious few, I suspect.
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highlandpriest,
I’ve got one foot out of the door right now, but my reply to this argument that we Latins forget that the Latin Church and the Catholic Church are not synonymous, is that those who press for an end to priestly celibacy forget that Christ was celibate and that there is a whole “theology of priesthood” arising from that fact, with celibacy at its heart. Even as an Anglican clergyman, he tells us, John Henry Newman said he felt that celibacy was integral to the priestly vocation.
Please don’t make me feel any more guilty than I am already feeling about closing the blog. I truly wish it could be otherwise, but there are just too few hands on deck to keep it going. I’ll miss it too, but maybe now I’ll be inundated with letters for publication in the newsletter. You can all use pseudonyms (and ‘highlandpriest’ is as good as any!) And keep visiting the website anyway – there will be plenty of information (of the kind we’re all too used to) – long after the blog is closed to comments. More than one person has suggested various ideas to keep using the blog – such as posting links and articles – so we’re giving consideration to that. We’re not going away, that’s for sure!
So far, I’ve not heard back from the Pauline Bookshop. I asked the lady I spoke to on the phone to let me know asap when the book display is going to be removed. I’ll be in town tomorrow, so will pop down to check it out.
jkearney, as a matter of interest, there is a Muslim office of some kind right next to the Pauline Bookshop so maybe your idea has some mileage in it right enough!
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Editor,
But all of the pre-Conciliar (pre-Vatican II) Popes accepted married oriental clergy. (Not bishops, of course.). This is a historical fact.
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Mme Editor,
You are greatly to be congratulated on approaching the Pauline Bookshop regarding their display of Thomas Groome books! I hope they will indeed pull the books.
I have not heard anything back from Professor Groome by email since May the 25th even though I asked him, out concern for justice, to verify the quotations I had from him in 2002 pro women’s ordination. From our correspondence I get the impression that the Archdiocese of Glasgow passed on my details to him and have asked him to ‘clear up the situation’ before there is any question of him being invited to come later in the year. That probably explains his repeated insistence that “I restore [his] good name in Scotland”.
Patricia, whilst I have not always agreed with your approach, I think the blog has been a valuable resource for Scottish Catholics. But more than that, you have shown a virtue that is sadly lacking in the Church these last few decades: courage.
If the Catholic faith is going to survive in Scotland then we need more Catholics – but, above all, priests – to stand up for the faith against the coming secular persecution (can anyone really doubt that it isn’t coming?) and to have the courage to remind our bishops of their duty before God to teach the faith in all its purity and to guard the faithful against the many errors that are attacking the faith.
The alternative is that in another decade or so those Catholics who remain such will become a despised minority, the object of political and economic discrimination, and the target for violence (church buildings first but then possibly individuals). Aggiornomento has failed catastrophically. Instead of the world being evangelised, the Church has become ever more conformed to the world (understood as that which is in opposition to God), with bishops acting ever more like company CEO’s and bullying, a la Alan Sugar, as many of their priests as will let them.
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highlandpriest,
It is true that the Easterns, including the Orientals, have a tradition of married priests in that – before ordination to the diaconate – a future parish priest is permitted to marry. Never after ordination and not so monks. All bishops are drawn from the celibate clergy, as you say. However, some of the eastern churches restored celibacy and I recall reading about a conference held some years ago, when the loss of a completely celibate clergy was lamented. I’ve never been able to find anything online about that, but it did happen (or somebody wrote about it, so I presume it happened!)
Do you think that a married priest mirrors Christ in the world? I don’t.
Augustine,
I appreciate your kind comment, but allow me to disabuse you of the notion that I am “courageous.” It is in my nature to speak my mind, confront situations (such as the Groome book display) and while others may have to screw up the courage to do something like that, it is part of my nature. Don’t confuse my brass neck with the virtue of courage! Virtue, I’m sorry to say, is not my strong suit.
You are so right about the need to fight for the faith in Scotland, but I fear that the current fashionable preoccupation with’ image’ (the Devil is a clever so & so!) is preventing many people from effectively joining the battle. With respect, your comment about my approach – the approach of Catholic Truth – betrays this same preoccupation. I find, though, that once people really get to grips with the seriousness of the situation, once they reflect on what we are actually saying and doing in that context, they realise that their criticisms of Catholic Truth are unfounded. If anything, we’re not nearly as hard-hitting as perhaps we should be.
I received a short letter yesterday from a gentleman who said that Catholic Truth is a lone voice in defending the Faith in Scotland. I’m sure he knows that there are plenty of pro life/family type groups around, but they are all, as he probably knows, busy worrying about the way their work is perceived. Anxious to create a good impression. They don’t criticise the bishops at all. Thus, their members are being denied knowledge of a key element in this crisis; for example, the reason why we have bookshops and parishes selling heresy-packed books and journals is because our bishops are negligent – and the reason they are negligent, we have to conclude after ten years of futile requests to them to implement Canon Law, correct error and promote the Faith, is that they’ve, to all appearances, lost the Faith themselves.
There’s no “nice” way to say any of this, Augustine, and, frankly, since I shouldn’t have to devote my every waking minute to this apostolate in the first place, I’m not inclined to waste time trying. Let someone with more patience and virtue follow the advice of the image consultants. We, at Catholic Truth, can only follow the lights and graces we’re given, and do the best we can.
I hope, by the way, that you will come along to the meeting in the Woodside Halls on 26 June (see our homepage for details) when – among other things – we’ll be discussing our proposal for a dignified demonstration of our love and support for the Pope, during his visit in September. There’ll be news from the U.S.A., Canada, France, Ireland, and England at that meeting, so don’t miss it.
All welcome, but, for catering reasons, please email us to reserve a place.
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My heart is heavy within me after reading the good nun at the Pauline bookshop has not honoured her word and withdrawn Groome’s books. Who are the ‘authorities’ she referred to? Is it the Jesuits in Scotland? While there are still many great Jesuits in the world who are true sons of St. Ignatius and who are obedient to the Pope, there are many however who are not. The ones who are not will destroy the order unlewss they are expelled. They have been smitten by their pride, and instead of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been proclaimed authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church, these Jesuit dissidents have presented a counterfeit Gospel, albeit with sugar coating and dressed up as “a fundfamental option for the poor.” In presenting this counterfeit Gospel, they have betrayed the poor, and the young. The situation is most acute in the U.S. where Jesuit Universities such as Georgetown and Boston College are Catholic in name only. They have however one thing going for them, for the moment at least, i.e. plenty of money flowing into their coffers from their benefactors and their investments. Finally, Patricia, my poor heart is even heavier knowing that your blog is going to close. Could you not even operate it at reduced capacity, meaning rather than update it everyday, do it say twice a week. I hope you change your mind. I would offer to manage it myself, but unfortunately I do not have the IT skills to do so. In any case, all that matters in the end is that “we keep the faith and fight the good fight,” as our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI is doing and bearing the suffering that comes with fidelity to Christ.
Mursheen Durkin -
Well said Mursheen, spoken like a true Irishman. I was wondering if you were related to the famous Muirsheen Durkin himself, who was immortalised in the song bearing his name the first two verses of which are:
In the days I went a courtin’ I was never tired resortin’
To an alehouse or a playhouse and many’s the house beside
But I told me brother Seamus I’d go off and be right famous
And I’d never would return again ’til I’d roam the world wide.Goodbye Muirsheen Durkin sure I’m sick and tired of workin’
No more I’ll dig the praties and no longer I’ll be fooled
As sure as me name is Carney I’ll be off to California
Where instead of diggin’ praties I’ll be diggin’ lumps of gold.Well, like so many Irishmen before and after him, I doubt if Muirsheen found much gold. They did however hold on to their Catholic Faith and pass it on to their children. They did not compromise it in order to be seen to have accomodated themselves to the prevailing zeitgeist (‘spirit of the times’).
Mursheen, keep penning letters that tell the truth, in season or out of season. With Mursheen, I too am sad to see the blog fold. Can you think this through further Patricia?Padraig Delahunty.
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Mme Editor,
My comment about the ‘approach’ was concerned with the article on the funeral of Fr Gerry Nugent (may God rest his soul) which I thought confused the charitable actions of the priests in attending and concelebrating his funeral Mass with approval of the late Father’s actions. But let’s leave that aside.
Indeed, you are greatly to be commended for not being concerned with image. There is a strange mentality amongst many otherwise orthodox Catholics that something contrary to the Faith is wrong unless a bishop does it – and, then, it is seen as uncharitable, disobedient, or even ‘un-Catholic’ to criticise his actions!
A strange thing happened at the time of the blasphemous play Jesus, Queen of Heaven in Glasgow. I asked an acquaintance if he was going to the demonstration and he said that he wouldn’t because “Catholic Truth will probably be there”. So, he actually refrained from standing up for the faith for fear of being associated with Catholic Truth Scotland! This kind of attitude is one which is not only morally reprehensible but is positively destructive of the Faith.
Frankly, Catholic Truth Scotland – for all their flaws (and who doesn’t have an abundance of those?) – is the only organisation in Scotland that takes on militant secularism and has the courage to openly stand up against the bishops when they do things contrary to the Faith. It seems that many Catholics think complacency and indifference towards the slow death of the Faith in Scotland is actually a virtue somehow and that any manifestation of anger against actions destructive of the faith show a want of ‘balance’ or ‘maturity’. “We are all Buddhists now”. I have come across this confusion of tepidity in defending the faith with a virtue time and time again since I was received into the Church.
How few there are who do what is right regardless of the tut-tutting of others. Thank you, Patricia, for following your conscience and not being afraid of what others might say or think.
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Mursheen Durkin and Padraig,
you two make me want to say what I said when I was leaving one school to take up an appointment in another, and the usual flattering speeches were coming my way at the end of my final term there. I said, “if I’d known you were going to say all these lovely things about me, I’d have left ages ago!”
Don’t think of the blog as “folding” – look at it this way: I’ve said we’ll re-open to comments if something huge happens, such as the Consecration of Russia. So get working to that end! Write to the Pope to ask him to consecrate Russia. Everyone who receives our hard copy newsletter in July will receive a postcard to sign and post to the Pope for that purpose. Quite a few are already stamped, thanks to a generous group of readers who work hard to promote Fatima. I don’t know if you two are on our mailing list but if not, please write a short letter of request to the Pope from time to time. We need to make every effort because it is the Consecration of Russia that is the answer to this crisis. Our Lady said as much.
Augustine,
Just to touch on your comment about Fr Gerry Nugent’s funeral, I think the key point about our report on the high number of priests attending that funeral, wasn’t to confuse their presumably charitable action in attending (we all prayed for the soul of Father Gerry Nugent) but in the very public manner of his funeral which should have been kept very low key. The fact is, some priests did NOT attend because they knew it would be turned into a public spectacle and I don’t think it would be fair to accuse them of being “uncharitable” – there is no doubt that they, like us, prayed for the repose of Fr Nugent’s soul.
Since I had every intention of attending the demonstration outside the Tron Theatre, but was prevented due to circumstances beyond my control, I am very interested to read your comment about your acquaintance, because, even if the Catholic Truth team had attended, and not just me, we would not have stood out in the crowd. We’d have been there as Catholics, alongside your friend, protesting a blasphemy. It shows the level of hatred for Catholic Truth that your friend shares in common with certain clerics and with the homosexual activitist group Stonewall. They nominated me for the dubious award of Bigot of the Year, if you recall. It is all part of the spiritual blindness that descends when, among other things, people deny the manifest truth and, in this case, the manifest truth is that it is our defiant and disobedient bishops who are helping to destroy the Church. Denying the manifest truth, remember, is “the unforgivable sin.”
Anyway, Augustine, you are entirely correct in your assessment of “otherwise orthodox Catholics” – unfortunately – and I must thank you again for your generous remarks about the newlsetter team – we appreciate your encouragement, same goes for your comments, Mursheen Durkin and Padraig. God bless you all.
ps Augustine, I think the answer to helping Groome to clear up the situation, is to tell him he must recant all his heresies – otherwise he is not welcome in Scotland in his capacity as an RE “expert”. Indeed, the fact that he’s a former priest should disqualify him completely. I once withdrew from a course at All Saints in Leeds because my tutor was a former priest. Here’s a report which is very interesting, given the topic of this thread
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10061116.html -
In case anyone’s wondering, the book display is still in the windows of the Pauline bookshop today. I was going to say something but the shop was busy and I didn’t have time to wait for a quiet spell. Open House was also on sale. It is awful that a Catholic bookshop run by nuns is not a safe place to buy books on the faith. I think it is a shocking indictment of the Church in Glasgow.
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Barbara,
Your report is very interesting. I had occasion to go into town this afternoon myself, and I, too, paid a flying visit to check out the Pauline Sisters’ window display, which, as you say, is still sporting Thomas Groome’s works. Shame on those Sisters who know they are selling heresy.
I had no intention of speaking to anyone in the shop – been there, done that. I did go in for a few minutes to check out the scene and noted that is was not all that busy, and the customers were almost entirely senior citizens, as far as I could tell. We’ll check back early next week and since they obviously don’t want us leafleting outside the shop, we’ll do it – if, that is, the Groome books are still on display.
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Patricia,
Can you give the names of Groome’s books that are on display at Pauline Books and Media? If they include Sharing Faith, Educating for Life or What Makes Us Catholic then we are really dealing with a terrible scandal.
Mursheen Durkin -
Mursheen Durkin,
The two books on display are Educating for Life and What Makes Us Catholic.
We are, without doubt, dealing with a terrible scandal. If you go into town tomorrow, will you let me know if they are still on display? Our secretary can’t manage to help with the leafleting until Tuesday, so at least the two of us will go into town on Tuesday, if we can’t get a group together in time to go there on Monday)
I’d warn anyone against making any kind of approach to the staff in the shop, however polite, without a wiitness being present.
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Dear Patricia,
I do not live near Glasgow so I cannot personally attend a demonstration outside the Pauline Books and Media shop. If I could, I would.
I am angry at the failure of Catholic authorities in Glasgow to stop the promotion of Thomas Groome’s books in Catholic outlets. I have read Eamonn Keane’s critique of Groome’s book What Makes Us Catholic (see online article ‘Promoting Thomas Groome’s Errors in the Archdiocese of Armagh and Beyond’) and I am disgusted that Pauline Books and Media could be promoting it in Scotland. I am saddened that the Jesuits in Britain could have forsaken the authentic charism of their great founder. As for the Catholic Education Service in Scotland, those who collaborated in inviting Groome here should be sacked.
For the benefits of your readers, I have picked what I think are the most damning points about Groome’s What Makes Us Catholic as these are set out in Keane’s critique of the book. I recommend that your readers read the whole of Keane’s article. Here is my summary of his work
Breda McCleod
Groome states the focus of the book as follows: “My focus throughout this book is Catholic Christian identity…I try to describe the defining attitudes of Catholic Christianity as these might shape how people engage in the world” (p. XVIII)
On women priests Groome says: “It would appear that the Western church is insisting upon celibacy and maleness for priesthood at the expense of people’s access to Eucharist – so central to Catholic identity and spirituality” (pp. 102-103 ). He adds: “There can be problems in making an argument from nature to favor society or social arrangements. For example, there has been much gender and racial bias in how the dominant culture has interpreted ‘nature’. As late as 1880, the Massachusetts Medical Society argued that women were unsuited ‘by nature’ to be physicians. This is not unlike the argument that the Catholic church still makes against women becoming priests” (p. 104).
Then, ridiculing the magisterium and Catholics who accept its teaching he says:
“Catholics can have an air of know-it-all, acting as if ours is the only and completely true faith, replete with all the answers. Surely, this is more the sin of pride than a truly catholic spirituality. Some of the hubris is encouraged by a teaching magisterium that typically sounds absolutely certain in its pronouncements, as if faith is no longer a ‘leap’ and all can be assured. The joke rings true that when the Catholic church finally agrees to ordain women, the pronouncement will begin with, ‘As we have always taught…’.” (p. 263)
Drawing on crackpot biblical interpretations of early Christian origins by radical pro-abortion feminist theologian, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Groome seeks to bolster his position about the early Church as some kind of non-hierarchical egalitarian community when he says:
“Note the spirit of equality in the first Christian community. A great scripture scholar of our time, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, argues that a defining aspect of Jesus’ ministry was his attempt to forge ‘an inclusive discipleship of equals.’ Jesus’ community should be totally inclusive, with a radical equality among the members. Indeed, there are roles of leadership, but all Christians are equal before God…The Catholic church has yet to function as an ‘inclusive discipleship of equals.’ In fact it has looked more like the Roman Empire (its first structural context) with its top-down chains of command and severe inequalities” (p, 188).
Together with his reliance on Fiorenza, Groome in What Makes Us Catholic, also draws on the on the work John Dominic Crossan who is also a heretic. Referring to Crossan’s book The Historical Jesus, Groome states:
“For first-century Palestine, nothing bespoke the inclusivity of Jesus’ ministry more than his table fellowship…The New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan explains that in Jesus’ world, ‘Open [table fellowship] profoundly negated distinctions and hierarchies between female and male, poor and rich, Gentile and Jew.’ Jesus welcomed all to the table – total inclusion!’” (p. 189)
Born in Ireland in 1934, Crossan was ordained to the priesthood in 1957 but left it in 1969. He is one of the leaders of the ‘Jesus Seminar’ which is a group of scholars who posit that over 80 percent of what Jesus is reported to have said and done in the Gospels is fiction. This fictional material would include the Resurrection of Jesus. Apart from this, Crossan in his books asserts that Jesus did not rise from the dead ( in an April 10, 1995 article in Time Magazine he said that dogs probably devoured the body of Jesus), that there was no Virgin Birth etc. I will say no more on this, lest I blaspheme!
Throughout What Makes Us Catholic, Groome can never get away from his apparent need to sideline the doctrinal truth regarding the Church being an hierarchical institution. He says: “Vatican II championed a communal understanding of the Church, insisting that its primary nature is to be ‘a people of God’ rather than a hierarchical institution” (p. 188). This is simply false. I will not go into this point here, but let me say that the question is well dealt with in Keane’s article. Groome is consistent in his erroneous assertions however. Throughout his work he rarely fails to blur the distinction between the hierarchical (ordained) priesthood and the common priesthood of all the baptised, something that would call for a rejection of the hierarchical nature of the Church as something established by Christ.
In What Makes Us Catholic, Groome uses ‘suspicion’ to chip away at the integrated structure of Catholic faith and life. He says:
“From experience we know well the human capacity for error…Should it surprise us, then, that we find the same – error and sin – throughout the history of the Christian people? Besides approaching Christian Story with retrieval and creativity in mind, therefore, we also need to approach it with a bit of healthy suspicion” (p. 28 )
Applying ‘suspicion’ to the teaching of the Church in What Makes Us Catholic, Groome concludes as follows: “It is clear that women carried on functions of ministry in the first Christian communities that would now be associated with the priesthood. Disciples and their communities of faith should be as fully inclusive” (pp. 189-90). While not stating in What Makes Us Catholic what these functions were, he does however in his book Sharing Faith assert that the authority to preside over the celebration of the Eucharist was not related in any way to a special power bestowed through a sacrament conferred by the apostles or their successors, while at the same time he erroneously asserted that women presided over the celebration of the Eucharist. He says:
“Instead, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, the ‘sacramental powers’ resided in the whole community and in its enacting of the sacred symbols that made manifest God’s saving presence; the community chose certain people to preside at divine worship for the sake of ‘holy order.’ Usually, but not invariably, this designation fell to the community leader, not because of a sacral power, but by her or his function of leadership. Power to celebrate Eucharist did not lead to community leadership, but rather leadership led to presiding at Eucharist” (Sharing Faith, p. 310).
Contrary to Groome’s heretical reconstructions of early Christian origins, the fact remains that it is Catholic doctrine that Jesus commissioned the apostles at the Last Supper to preside over the celebration of the Eucharist, and that in passing on this power to their successors, they conferred it only on men, something which they knew to be in keeping with “the will of the Lord.” But on this point Groome is again consistent in his assault on Catholic teaching. In Sharing Fait, and by way of a quotation from Kenan B Osborne cited approvingly, Groome puts forth the following heretical proposition:
“Of the traditional Catholic notion that the apostles were commissioned at the Last Supper to preside at Eucharist, Osborne writes, ‘In spite of the long tradition of this view, contemporary scholars find no basis for such an interpretation. In other words, Jesus did not ordain the apostles (disciples) at this final supper to be ‘priests,’ giving them thereby the power to celebrate the eucharist’” (Sharing Faith, p. 512, note 27).
In What Makes Us Catholic, Groome has nothing good to say about the celebration of Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. He says:
“I was present for a papal mass on that Epiphany morning, and the liturgy reflected the same exclusivity – no women or people of color in the sanctuary, only white men and none of them looked poor. Now I found myself wondering if Jesus, who founded a radical inclusive community of disciples – catholic at its best – would recognize any of this as his legacy” (p. 239)
This stands in stark contrast with his experience of liturgy at the Abbey of Iona which he describes as follows:
“The storm howled through the rafters of the great stone Abbey of Iona as if gathering us from the four winds. We were a rainbow community, with all the hues of humanity, assembled around the high altar to share ‘the bread of life.’ Although our diversity was dramatic, more amazing still was the local inclusivity. For old neighboring enemies – English Anglicans, Scottish Calvinists, Ulster Presbyterians and Irish Catholics – were assembled here to celebrate as one Body of Christ. I’d never imagined a gathering like it this side of eternity, if then…As the sacred drama unfolded on this Sabbath morning, the presider invited us ‘to come to the table of company with Jesus…the table of sharing with the poor of the world…the table of communion with the earth in which Christ became incarnate.’ What Christian could refuse such an invitation? It felt as if the whole world came forward as one grand communion, the living and dead, the saints and sinners…” (pp. 107-108)
In a part titled “Concerning the Celebration of Communion” in the Iona Abbey Worship Book, we find the following:
“We celebrate Communion twice weekly in the Abbey Church, on Sunday morning and on the evening before the guests leave. Because we are an ecumenical community, we bring a wide range of traditions to this celebration. Some call it the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion, while others refer to it as the Eucharist, the Mass or the Breaking of Bread. We believe that the invitation to this sacrament comes not from any Church or individual, but from Jesus. We therefore invite in Christ’s name all who hear his invitation and who wish to respond by receiving the bread and the wine.”
Promoting his false ecumenism in What Makes Us Catholic, Groome says: “The ecumenical dialogue encouraged by Vatican II also helped Catholics to realize how much they hold in common with other Christians, and that our differences are more of emphasis than of kind” (p. 32). This is simply false. I will not elaborate this point, any person with a modicum of Catholic faith will see Groome’s statement for what it is.
Groome follows up the statement above in What Makes Us Catholic by saying: “Remember, too, that there are three major expressions of Catholic Christianity, each with its own distinctiveness – Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the Roman Communion” (WMUC 33). He adds: “…Vatican II avoided the term Roman Catholic, wanting to honor the catholicity of the whole Church of Christ – Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic” (p. 242). Further on in the book, and in reference to the statement by Saint Ignatius of Antioch that “Where Christ is, there is the Catholic Church,” Groome says:
“The surrounding text indicates Ignatius’s meaning, namely, that when the spirit of Jesus prevails in a community, it is complete, the ‘whole’ Church is present. In other words, each Christian community constitutes its own unique expression of Church, and the completeness of the local community is an instance of Christian catholicity” (p, 245-46)
As Keane points out in his commentary on this passage from Groome’s book, “Groome has failed to include a key element regarding the nature of the Church which St. Ignatius referred to in chapter 2 of his Letter to the Smyrnaeans. Where St. Ignatius speaks of Jesus Christ being present wherever a Christian community is gathered, he has in mind a community gathered around its bishop, or someone the bishop has appointed.” Having said this, Keane went to reproduce the words of Saint Ignatius where in chapter 8 of the Letter to the Smyrnaeans he says:
“You must all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop, or by one whom he appoints. [2]Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. Nor is it permitted without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate the agape; but whatever he approve, this too is pleasing to God; so that whatever is done will be secure and valid.”
Continuing with his dissembling and false ecumenism in What Makes Us Catholic, Groome says:
“The Reformers associated catholic with the hegemony they were rejecting. By contrast, Western and Eastern Catholics began to claim that they were fully catholic and that this proved their credential as the Church of Jesus Christ. Vatican II avoided such polemics and proposed catholicity as a challenge for the whole Christian Church. Catholic is not an accomplishment of any denomination but a vision for what Christians – Protestant and Catholic – should become together. The Catechism echoed this sentiment, saying that the Church is ever ‘called to realize’ its catholicity” (p. 247)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church never “echoed” any such nonsense. It did list the various Rites that are present in the Church and which possess their own spiritual and liturgical traditions and practices (cf. n. 1203), but they are all nevertheless in communion with and governed by the Successor of St. Peter, the Pope. This is the same Church as was manifested at Pentecost, it was universal then, and it remains “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” due to the fact that “Christ governs her through Peter and the other apostles, who are present in their successors, the Pope and the college of bishops” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 869).
In What Makes Us Catholic, Groome promotes a form of inclusive language that has been rejected by the Church. He says:
“Once, having seen Jesus in prayer, the disciples requested, ‘Lord, teach us to pray.’ Jesus taught them first to address God like a Loving Parent [footnote inserted here], then to reverence God’s holy name, to pray that God’s reign might be realized as God’s loving will on earth as in heaven…” (p. 186).
With this statement, Groome inserts a footnote which reads:
“The texts of the New Testament make it clear that Jesus addressed God as ‘Father.’ It is also evident, however, that Jesus’ sense of father included many characteristics that, even today, would be associated culturally with a mother. It is certainly true that by referring to God as father Jesus never intended to legitimate patriarchy or male superiority” (p. 304).
For several decades Groome has promoted a form of inclusive language to be surreptitiously introduced to children and into Catholic liturgy. In reference to what he termed “central themes for the hearts of Christian religious educators,” in Sharing Faith goes he lists among other things “God the Father/Mother, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit” (Sharing Faith, 427). Again in Sharing Faith, he says: “One traditional (since Augustine) imaging of the inner life of the Trinity poses the Holy Spirit as the Love between God the Father/Mother and the Second Person, revealed in Jesus Christ” (pp. 442-43).
In the 1991 edition of his book Language for a Catholic Church, Groome erroneously asserted that Christ’s maleness was one of “the ‘accidents’ of his life.” (p. 27). In the 1995 edition of the same book, Groome went so far as to cast a dark shadow over the historical concreteness and reality of the Incarnation itself when he said it “is helpful to reduce reliance on gender-based pronouns” when referring to Jesus so as “to emphasize his humanity rather than his maleness” (p. 28). He continued :
“As for all human beings, Jesus had to be one gender or the other, and the Gospels give no indication of any particular significance in his being male. Better, then, to treat this as one aspect of the ‘scandal of particularity’ that was his life: as a person, Jesus was a man, a Jew, a carpenter, from Nazareth, etc. It is through his divinity and humanity, not particularly his maleness, that Jesus is our Saviour and Liberator” (pp. 26-27).
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As pointed out by Pope Benedict XVI in his book Jesus of Nazareth, “God is never named or addressed as mother, either in the Old or in the New Testament” (p. 139). The most fundamental reality of all Christian prayer, worship, and action in the world, is that it is offered through the Son, in the Spirit, and to the Father. Groome’s program for “inclusive language” is a poisoning of the wellsprings and foundations of Christian prayer.To assert that the fact that the Incarnation of the Son of God took place in the male form is of no more than ‘accidental’ matter in the plan of redemption is erroneous. Again anyone with a modicum of authentic understanding of Catholicism and its being rooted in real events that occurred in history, not to mention its sacramental system, will understand Groome’s heretical affirmation here for what it is. Suffice to say again, Groome is consistent. He wants us to avoid using male pronouns to refer to Jesus because he rejects that teaching of the Church which holds that the one who represents Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Mass by lending Him his voice so as to pronounce the words of consecration must be a man, since Jesus who becomes present in the ordained priest was and remains for ever a man: “Jesus Christ, the same Yesterday, Today and Forever”.
In What Makes Us Catholic, Groome says:
“Christian faith holds that the divine and human natures in Jesus never interfered with each other. So, as human, Jesus had to be reared and taught like any person. Luke’s Gospel explicitly states that Jesus ‘grew in wisdom, age, and grace before God and all the people’ (Luke 2:52)” (p. 129).
Earlier in What Makes US Catholic Groome says: “Echoing his Hebrew faith, Jesus preached such radical love as ‘the greatest commandment’ (Mk 12:31)…” (p. 66). Later he adds: “For more than two hundred years, critical scripture scholars have attempted to describe ‘the historical Jesus’ – the kind of person he was, how he lived, what he preached. From this scholarship we can now glean a reliable picture of the faith that Jesus modeled for disciples” (p. 176). Finally on this question of the alleged “faith” of Jesus, he says:
“No matter what ‘hat’ Jesus wore – wisdom teacher of love and happiness, prophet of peace and justice, miracle worker restoring health and feeding the hungry, liberator from sin and oppression – they all had this defining purpose: that God’s rule of peace and justice, love and freedom might come and God’s will of fullness of life for all be realized on earth as in heaven. This was the core of Jesus’ own faith: living for the reign of God” (p, 176)
While the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the “human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge” (n. 472), it is careful to add:
“But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person. ‘The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.’ Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of his Father. The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts” (n. 473).
The next paragraph of the Catechism says: “By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal. What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal.”
As Keane points out, the passages from the Catechism of the Catholic cited above “indicate that in Christ there existed a communicatio idiomatum, meaning that properties of his divinity can be referred to his humanity as a consequence of the unity of the divine and human natures in the one Person of the Word Incarnate. In consequence of this, throughout his life Jesus was in possession of the Beatific Vision. Being in possession of the Beatific Vision throughout his earthly life, Jesus did not therefore live by faith.”
Keane recalls how in November 2006, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Notification approved by Pope Benedict XVI warning against erroneous notions about the Person of Jesus Christ that had been spread far afield by the Jesuit theologian Fr. Jon Sobrino A section of this Notification headed “Self-Consciousness of Jesus” said: “Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, enjoys an intimate and immediate knowledge of his Father, a ‘vision’ that certainly goes beyond the vision of faith. The hypostatic union and Jesus’ mission of revelation and redemption require the vision of the Father and the knowledge of his plan of salvation” (n.8). The Notification recalled a passage from Pope Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis Christi which teaches that Christ was in possession of the Beatific Vision from the first moment of the Incarnation, on which basis it rejected as contrary to Catholic Christological doctrine the false assertion that Christ had or needed the theological virtue of faith. Hence, when Groome speaks in What Makes Us Catholic of the “the faith that Jesus modeled for disciples,” and when he says that the reign of God “was the core of Jesus’ own faith” (p. 176), Groome has stepped beyond the bounds of Catholic orthodoxy.
I have run out of time, so below I paste a few random quotations from Groome’s What Makes Us Catholic. Anyone with a modicum of historical perspective will see what an exaggerated and unjust portrayal of the role of the Catholic Church in history they present. True, Catholics including Popes, Bishops and Priests, not to mention ourselves, have done things that we are all ashamed of. In saying this however, let’s keep a sense of proportion. Here we go.
“The Catholic church often sins egregiously against catholicity. Both insiders and outsiders can experience it as a hierarchical club, marked by inhospitable signs of sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia. Its dominant culture – patterns of thought, symbols and rituals, structures and laws – all are distinctly Western, or even European parochial…For all its claims to catholicity, Catholicism is struggling to become an inclusive church” (p. 241).
“Though very embarrassing, evidence abounds of slavery and racism, of hatred of women and sexism, of intolerance and bigotry in the Church’s beliefs, practices and worship throughout its history…It [Catholic Church] participated in the destruction of millions of innocent women who were put to death as witches” (p. 28).
“The pages of history are strewn with evidence that the Catholic church has failed – often miserably – to live by the faith that does justice…It has executed countless people for dissent by its Inquisition, and conducted witch-hunts, using horrible misogynist rhetoric to justify destroying millions of innocent women” (p. 228)As the foregoing reveals, Groome’s error extends way beyond the question of the ordination of women. For a Catholic diocese or bookshop to promote his work is cooperation in evil, the evil of leading faithful Catholics away from the truth. One might argue that the same might be said about promoting the works of Aristotle who reached erroneous conclusions on several important points, including ethical ones. This would be a wrong conclusion. Aristotle was a great philosopher, albeit limited by the knowledge of his time. In Groome’s case we have the situation of someone contradicting Catholic doctrine while claiming to be a Catholic theologian in good standing. With patronage from the Jesuits and his books sold by Catholic nuns, his work will appear to poorly formed Catholics as sound doctrine. In the meantime, the resident Archbishop is reported to have said to his priests something to the effect that Groome is good at what he does. With all due respect for his Grace, I am compelled to ask: “What exactly is Groome good at”?
Here again we have a case of an abuse of power by those who have been called to assist parents in leading their children into the fullness of Catholic faith. This is a scandal of possibly even greater proportion that the other abuse scandal which has done so much damage to the good name of the Church in recent years. It is an abuse of one’s power not to use that power to defend the rights of children and parents to be educated in authentic Catholic doctrine.
On June 11, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of sin, satanic influence and the toleration of heresy lie at the root of the priestly sexual abuse scandals. Taking Psalm 22 where it says “Your rod and your staff – they comfort me”, Pope Benedict went on refer to the need for the “rod” of discipline to correct errors in the Church. “The Church too must use the shepherd’s rod,” he said, adding “the rod with which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents which lead the flock astray.”
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Breda McCloed,
Welcome to our blog and thank you most sincerely for your first excellent, and thoroughly documented expose of the heretic Groome.
You’ve selected first class quotes from What Makes Us Catholic (ironic title, if ever there was one) and you crystallise for our readers, just how serious is the neglect of the Archbishop, the Jesuits and the Pauline Sisters in promoting Groome’s heretical opinions in Glasgow. Absolutely shocking.
So, thanks for taking the time to type such an informative post, Breda McCloed – very much appreciated. For the few weeks left to the life of this blog, stick with us!
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Breda McCloed,
That was a really detailed post on Thomas Groome and it made me realise that he’s even worse than I thought.
It is just unthinkable that Archbishop Conti is permitting the sale of his books. No wonder Catholic teachers and priests are ignorant of the faith. I used to be amazed when I heard of priests leaving the church, but now I’m amazed that any of them stay. They’re not being taught the real thing at all. It will be interesting to see how many priests and teachers turn up for the Groome lecture if the lecture goes ahead.
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I forgot to say that I googled Eamonn Keane on What Makes Us Catholic and his review is well worth reading right through, as Breda McCloed says. He’s all over the place, Groome, and really hasn’t a clue. How anyone can think he’s an expert on anything to do with religion, beats me.
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It will be interesting to see how many priests and teachers turn up for the Groome lecture if the lecture goes ahead.
I sincerely hope that Professor Groome will not be invited back to Glasgow! I need to get my act together and post my various documentation to the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. I’m including my correspondence with Professor Groome as it touches on his rejection of Magisterial teaching.
If Professor Groome were invited to Glasgow again then I think it no hyperbole to describe such an act as at least materially schismatic. I do not think it will come to that, however. Hopefully, the Archbishop now realises the gravity of Professor Groome having been invited in the first place.
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Augustine,
I suppose with all the publicity on this website and blog, with picketing outside the Pauline Bookshop, plus your letters, the Archbishop just might think twice about allowing Groome to be re-invited, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if another lecture goes ahead. I got the feeling after the ad limina in February, that they no longer care about keeping up a front, the bishops. We’ll have to wait and see, but nothing would surprise me.
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After all the publicity on this website, and, the demonstration outside the Pauline Bookshop recently. I had a good look at the windows of this very shop about 10 minutes ago, and, I’m delighted to tell everyone that Thomas Groome’s books have been removed from the window. No sign of them at all. If they hadn’t been, I for one, would have been back tomorrow picketing and continue to picket until they were.
God protect us from heretical claptrack.
Our Lady of Fatima pray for us.
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I have just read the great news, Groome’s books are gone. This whole affair is I hope a turning point for the Catholic Church in Scotland.
For too long we have sat down with dissenters and remained mute as they spread their errors to our children and our friends. We were encouraged to be open to new ideas, to dialogue with those in the “household of the faith” who simply espoused “different theologies.” Rather than stand up and defend the truth, we were duped into raising hardly a whimper of protest against those intent on subverting the faith that had come down to us from the Apostles. Our gatekeepers in the “household of faith” at times dismissed us as “shrill’, all the while fogging off our complaints to their so-called “experts”, who in many cases were drawing such high incomes out of the “system”, that they lost touch with the base of the Church, with the true sensus fidelium.
Dissent is evil as our great and holy Pope Benedict XVI commented recently. But due to apathy and fear of offending someone, we were told to be tolerant of all opinions, which in effect came to mean that we do nothing to defend the faith. In the meantime, the dissenters took control of the switchpoints in the Church’s educational institutions, like pied pipers they led our children away from the faith. Sometimes they did this not so much by what they said, as by what they did not say: “Lord forgive me, for what I have done, and for what I have failed to do.” We were browbeaten by highly paid “experts” and “liturgists” and “facilitators” and “directors” and “pastoral associates” and “scripture scholars” and Dr. This and Dr.That. I am not hostile to good education, far from it, I draw my living from it. But mediocrity and cowardice I find nauseating.
Thanks Patricia for standing up for the truth and opposing error in the public square. If Catholic authorities want to put destroyers of the faith on public pedestals in our community, then those who truly cherish the truth will in conscience oppose them. One saint said something to the effect: “Error that is not opposed is sanctioned”.
Let’s hope that a new day is dawning for the Catholic Church in Scotland. Numbers of those faithful to the Magisterium will be small, but they will have the courage to live by Faith in the Son of God. Like Him and through Him, the will bear witness to the truth, “even to death on a Cross”.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, in addressing Pope Benedict XVI on the visit of Irish Bishops to the Vatican earlier this year, said something to the effect that “the grandmothers of Ireland are angry”. He was referring to the failure in episcopal oversight that sheltered abusers of children. We are entering upon a new era in the Church’s history in Western couintries. The Church will not survive in Western countries if Catholics in general are to enmesh themselves in easy compromises with the preoccuptions and pathologies of bourgeoise and secular culture. Only “The Truth will set you free”, nothing else will: neither money, or contraception or homosexual acts or women priests etc. Only the Truth! The Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter, has been established by Christ as the “Bulwark of the Truth.”
Matilda Buchanan
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I like your optimism, Mrs Buchanan! However, I fear that the removal of Professor Groome’s books from the window of the Pauline Bookshop does not signify any sea change in the present attitude of our episcopate. I’d sincerely love to be proved wrong though.
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Not a “sea change” as you say Augustine, but a move in the right direction nevertheless. Just as the evangelisation of the barbarian hordes took many centuries, so affirming orthodox faith in nominally Catholic institutions will take time, step by step engagements with those who opppose renewal. The principle involved in the issue Pauline Books and Media selling books containing heresy is critical: should Catholic instutions promote theological works that attack Catholic teaching? Should Catholic book shops sell books that promote error? Should they sell books on moral theology that repudiate Church teaching such as those of Charles Curran and Richard McCormick? If those who run such enterprises answer ‘Yes we should,” then Catholics should tell them frankly that they are spreading the culture of death and are thus on the side of the Devil. Bishops cannot be neutral on this issue.
Matilda Buchanan
Matilda Buchanan
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Matilda Buchanan, welcome to our blog and thank you for your two very interesting posts.
I agree with you that this is a small victory for the truth. It stems, however, more from Sister Virginina’s fear of picketing/unpleasant publicity, than from a love of the Faith and the truth.
We’ve meant to act in the matter of the Pauline Bookshop for a long time. However, be assured that they’ve not seen the back of us. We will have awaken the consciences of their customers who appear blissfully unaware of the deadly poison they peruse on the shelves of that bookshop. For example, we studiously avoided posting a link to Pauline Books and Media on our website. Maybe we should now explain why. All other ideas welcome!
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Matilda Buchanan
I thought you might find this interesting: Archbishop Fulton Sheen on TRUE tolerance, not FALSE tolerance such as that promoted by the United Nations and its Masonic string-pullers (remember the UN “Year of Tolerance”?):
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0014.html
By the way, I apologize if I’ve missed it, but does anyone know if Gerald Warner has weighed in on the Thomas Groome swoon?
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Torkay, no, as far as I know, Gerald Warner hasn’t written about Thomas Groome, at least not yet.
He is primarily a political commentator, so he doesn’t write about religious issues all the time. When he does, though, it’s well worth the wait!
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Editor
Perhaps you could use your unlimited powers of persuasion to give him a nudge toward this issue?
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Torkay,
I’m forever “nudging” him on various issues. He pays the same attention to me as, well, er, do you!
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Editor
Have you tried flattery yet? In Gerald’s case….well OK, in mine as well….
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