2010 April archive at Being Frank

Archive for April, 2010

Apr

“And now, please rise for our opening hymn, uh…’In the Garden of Eden,’ by I. Ron Butterfly.”

Categories: Being Frank...

I can’t remember who it was that said singing is like praying twice, or something along those lines. Basically I guess the inference is that singing is almost like a higher form of prayer. I like a good old sing-a-long during Mass and it does add to the occasion when the congregation is in full voice. So I have no beef with singing in church.

However I do have a minor complaint with the music during Mass in general. Specifically the need to fill every almost moment of silence with some form of noise, be it the church organ, guitar, choir, miscellaneous, or a combination of everything. Oh and don’t get me started on liturgical dance. Is it too much to ask for a little bit of silence now and again during Mass. Maybe some silence so we can reflect on what’s going on, or what’s happening, or even to pray a little. But instead, if the priest takes a little too long to wander over to read the Gospel, or the communion line is getting a little long, the music starts flaring up.

This may not bother everyone, but I find it quite hard to concentrate if I’m either (a) humming along with the music (b) trying to silently recall what the song is and what event it reminds me of (c) wondering why organ music sometimes sounds so sweet, sometimes so out of tune. So please, if you’re a musician, give us a moment to breathe during Mass.

Apr

The Reign of Christ

By Filia Day 164 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Sorry about going AWOL last week: head cold = absent-minded forgetfulness

To the topic at hand….

I have been following a lot of the discussion around the problems with the Legion of Christ, and Regnum Christi, and the troubles with their founder, Fr Marciel. I’m sure many of you have some idea of what has been happening. Now, I want to make something clear for this post. I’m not writing on this topic so that people can condescendingly look at Fr Marciel as a disgusting evil-doer. If we have have that attitude, then we don’t have a deep enough view on how we are all capable of the worst crimes.

In this post I want to consider a few of the details that have emerged in many many places – demonstrating: (1) how Fr Marciel has pulled off an enormous fraud centered on and all about himself, and (2) how the Legion and Regnum Christi were blind to it. These two things are deeply linked in my view.

(1) Fr Marciel…

We can’t pass judgment on him as a person, but we can consider some facts in his life and actions. God is infinitely merciful and we’re all capable of making the same mistakes, and being formed in our human conditioning so that we end up having psychological conditions, or other human issues, which could dispose us to committing horrendous abuses, and sins – like Fr Marciel. So we don’t pass judgment him as a person, or where he stands with God – we simply don’t know. But his life does leave some questions to be asked…

Let us look at some of his actions: he was an amazing fraudster who managed to pass himself off as a living saint, and allowed himself to be referred to as such for years and years when he had abused seminarians, and had slept with three different women, whom he had seduced and impregnated by passing himself off as a suave wealthy business man. He continued to support them financially and apparently continued the relationships for years, whilst he promoted himself as a greater leader of the Church; and was held up by others as a “living saint”. At one point he even gave some of these children a tour of the Vatican (there pictures of this event). Allegations were made against him by seminarians, and Bishops even sent official cases to Rome. But he remained at the head of his “syndicate”, maintaining and convincing everybody within the Legion, and many in Rome, of his innocence until Pope Benedict asked him to step down, and step back from public ministry.

He fraudulently passed off the spiritual writings of another person as his own work. He had constructed for himself a tomb inside the LC Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Rome to the tune of $40 million, and was to be buried there when he died (that is pretty weird). He gave large monetary gifts (“for their charitable use”) to Curial Officials and managed to obtain many favors in Rome, and in other mechanisms of the Church. These habits were then propagated and repeated within the Legion as normal behavior when they needed something – especially from Church Officials. It seems that the man was an ego-maniac, quite probably with some severe personality disorder? A Psychotic? Who knows, but he must have been sick to pull off such a duplicitous double life, and maintain that charade outwardly for so long, and to lie to himself for so long. That is a special type of sick.

He was a master fund-raiser in Mexico raising millions for the work of the Legion and other associated groups, which were then put to use in the many “apostolates” linked to the LC. However, they only fund-raised amongst the rich and wealthy, and only targeted certain types of people. This itself is a warning sign – more about this further on. Marciel also personally implemented the “secret vows” in their constitution, and managed to have these approved by bribing officials within the Roman Curia. The congregation in charge of this found them to be problematic, but Marciel got them through with “personal gifts” to the right people in the right places. These secret vows forbade any criticism of Fr Marciel within the Legion, and made sure that anybody who did criticize him were reported to Legion superiors. This was done under the guise of “vows of charity” where nobody should speak ill of their beloved and saintly father. These vows are the types of things that one finds in regimes.

He was praised by Pope John Paul II as an excellent guide and example for youth, and while Cardinal Ratzinger was trying to begin a canonical process against him, John Paul II was officially praising him publicly at an official ceremony in Rome for wonderful work. There are also stories emerging of how one of the “wives” of Fr Marciel and his child went to see him in Florida when he was on his deathbed – and according to her – he wanted to die in their presence rather than with Legion priests and rather than at the Legion house. When he was dethroned by Pope Benedict, the Legion issued a statement saying that Fr Marciel accepted this as a trial like Christ, innocently suffering the injustice of it all, as another gift from God to make him more holy. Here, he (or the Legion), made the Church look like the Sanhedrin, the Pope to be Pilate, and Fr Marciel to be Jesus. Whether Marciel actually said these things, or whether they were concocted by the Legion propaganda machine, we’ll probably never know.

Now, that is not all, there are many other strange and bizarre details entangled throughout the life of Fr Marciel, and the Legion, but we don’t have time or space here to recount these. We know that Fr Marciel was a sick individual. I say sick here in the medical sense. In my opinion he must have been psychologically sick to be able to pull of such an elaborate and long-term hoax and deception. Sure, he had faith, and had a relationship with Jesus, was a priest, and did some good work – there is no problem there. That is the mystery of the Gospel – Jesus using weak frail men. But it was still a scam and a con that he pulled off – and unfortunately, this is probably the biggest and weirdest quasi-collapse of a religious order that the Church has seen.

(2) The Legion…

Anyway, being a sinner myself, I can understand how another person can commit sin and fail, and be weak. But the real question for me is: how did the Legion allow itself to be duped? For the rank and file LCs and RCs who didn’t have much contact with the founder, I can understand how they wouldn’t have known, and how they kind of innocently trusted what was said to them from above. But those guys at the top? Those guys close to Fr Marciel? How did they not begin to awaken to all this, like they have claimed? With all the accusations and rumors flying around, how did they not begin to ask normal questions? At some point they must have buried their heads and not wanted to know the truth when there were so many rumors and feelings swirling. Or was this blindness brought about by the very formation they had received from the “system” set up by Fr Marciel? I find this blindness to be kind of sick too – a bit like how the Germans – in their vulnerable state after WWI, swallowed up everything Hitler said to them. This is where, I believe, there is also a problem in their formation, spirituality, and organization.

I think, obviously, there has not been enough realism in the order. This problem isn’t just about Fr Marciel, it goes much deeper into what he has founded; and what he had founded is deeply linked to his own personality issues and problems. I think their spirituality has been far too much about developing one’s own spiritual perfections – virtues. And they spiritualize this pursuit by saying that it is for the “reign of Christ”. This is very dangerous, and often leads to a type of stoic approach, and a type of spiritual scrupulosity, perfectionism, and pride. It can then easily devolve into a type of triumphalism (we will save the church!). They are heavily reliant on a very very very detailed and scrupulous rule of life, which defines every little aspect and detail of daily life. In this way, they have placed their ethical and spiritual development more at the level of the “form” (laws, rules, virtues, formulas, techniques, cliches, spiritual systems, programs, books), than at the level of the finality (persons: human persons, and divine persons). A very neo-Jesuit and neo-Platonic error. We grow humanly and spirituality, and therefore flourish and blossom, by loving and entering into union another person, either human or divine. A person is finalized by loving union with another person, who is the finality (final cause) of our own person-hood. It draws us out of ourselves and into relationship, discovering the unique goodness of this other. This is where we grow. This can happen in natural spiritual friendship, marriage, and celibacy for the Kingdom.

It seems to me that they also were far too based on the “model” when it comes to human and spiritual development, and therefore they were far too caught in the exemplary cause, the example, rather than the finality. Now of course Jesus, is our exemplary cause as well as our final cause, but if one is not deeply rooted in Christ as finality (personal relationship with him), then there is a danger that we will make of him only an example. a model. This does have dangers of descending into an over obsessive self-evaluation where we measure ourselves against Christ (the model) all the time, and fall into a excessive introspection and self measuring – looking at whether I have developed my virtues, my perfections, enough today etc.. The virtues should be at the service of guarding and protecting, and stabilizing the love of the friend: Jesus, or other. Also, it would seem that they have been overly caught in idealizing their “model” founder, who was sick.
As I was thinking about a few of these issues, a conversation with a good friend of mine sprung to mind. He thinks that this tendency (to get overly caught in rules and formulas, and self-perfection) is well illustrated in some of the crazy rules the legions follow eg. only eating a banana with a knife and fork, strict directives on how to fold a hanky, on how to hold a fork, on how to part one’s hair (they all had the same side-part), on how to sit, how to stand, how to smile; they also often had whitened teeth, expressing cheesy smiles, and seemed to be a bit too immaculately presented, like plastic action men, looking all plaster-ciny. When they speak, they seem to use all the same “phrases”. It’s one thing to have good manners and to do things well but surely this is a little rigid?

Just before the scandal and truth about Fr Marciel was about to go public, the Legion got all their benefactors together, and let them know, and tried to convince the bigger ones to keep supporting them. Does that seem odd to you? Before you inform your own rank and file members, your own priests, your own little people, you inform the money people. That is sure sign of corruption – that they are so green thumbed (and I’m not talking about doing the garden) – that that was one of their biggest concerns. Will we still get our money? This to me is the problem of American capitalism within certain groups in the Church – and here I’m not just talking about the Legion. I have always been amazed at how certain priests and speakers from the USA charge immense amounts of money to get to speak at different conventions. I certainly think that this Americanism has also produced a very superficial and shallow spirituality within the Legion. Public exterior Image has been a key propagator within the Legion, and far too prominent, in my opinion. Notice how they all look the same – like clones. They look like Mormons. These are all little signs of a type of “sickness” within the group. I hope many of the good people within the group can go beyond a lot of these problems, and limitations with their “charism”.

There is a lack of contemplation in all this (as a fruit or as a cause), and an over emphasis on activity, and active apostolate. Here, it would seem that they have been too stuck in efficiency at the level of work, even at a pseudo spiritual work, which is kind of a caricature, rather than being deeply rooted in a life of gratuity, contemplation, and love – deep union with Christ. Hopefully this crisis will lead them to become spiritually poor, and to a deeper humility, and to rely on Christ, more than their own forms, on what they think they know. Hopefully, this will lead them to realize that they can’t save themselves through their works, through their virtues, through their “saintly” founder, through their own virtues. They need interior poverty, and littleness. This may be difficult for them as many of them were probably drawn to the movement because they like all this dependency on self perfection, and to discover that their founder wasn’t perfect has been an enormous blow to them – almost crushing them. These crazy rules within the Legion could well be linked to the problems of the Founder. Possibly he was scrupulous, due to his own weaknesses, and he embedded that into his own order, and wanted to make sure that none of the priests would turn out like him.

Apr

A convoluted route to Sunday Mass with a bottle of Tonic water…

By Tuppence 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

My blogs seem to focus around my Sundays even though I post on Wednesdays but, whatever…again, another Sunday that I think makes for some good reading (humble opinion that…)

I’ve moved towns again…now I’m in a city in the middle of Congo with the paradox of direct international flights to Nairobi, Kenya and yet a population of bicycles and motorbikes that must be 50 fold the population of vehicules…bizarre.

Anyway, as expected, I only had to ask one team member “Whose Catholic and could point me in the right direction for Mass on Sunday?”

“Ah, talk to the driver Jimmy, he’s a regular…” Jimmy is more than pleased that I ask such a favour and he offers to come to the base on Sunday morning to pick me up so we can go to the parish ‘just around the corner’. “Mass is at 9am…I’ll pick you up at 8.20 so we can be there for 8.30…” “Thank you, though why do we have to be there at 8.30?” “To get a seat of course!” You’d think it was Christmas Eve midnight mass…no no, just a regular Sunday folks.

“And between 8.30 and 9am what happens?” I enquire. He looks a little confused “We wait for Mass to start…” Ah, I should have guessed that one…people wait here, they’re not instantaneously and occidentally impatient! Ok, mental note, pack latest papal reading (by the way JP II’s Apostolic Exhortation “Christifideles Laici – Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful”…suuuper good…) for some reading.

Sunday morning I wake up feeling rather not on form (still adjusting to the new cook and the dodgy water), and not in any position to squish myself in the middle of a pew with no rapid exit strategy in case of emergency (if you get my gist). I call off the generous offer of Jimmy hoping I’ll be a little better later on.

A couple hours of ‘molo’ as they say here (gently does it) and I’m confident that I should be alright. Jimmy had said there was another Mass at 11am so, lacking a vehicle and relishing newfound freedom thanks to less strict security rules, I venture out on foot to find the parish ‘just around the corner’ for 11am Mass.

The heat of the day has already assumed it’s dominating role here…I’m charmingly soaked in sweat within minutes.

After asking for directions a couple of times (and receiving glances of utter confusion “what? A white person, walking?” I’d estimate there’s less than twenty muzungus in the whole city excluding the bolshy, sleazy military from one Anglophone country that will remain nameless…) I find something of a parish but there’s no Mass at 11am. Go to the Cathedral for twelve…ok jonny, on y va.

From my initial perceptions of the town layout, I think I have a reasonable sense of the direction of the Cathedral, in any case…it’s along the river…somewhere. I set off, without any bottled water which is not smart…and finish up making a grand circuit of the town until I finally rest my eyes on the relatively elegant cathedral.

On the way I buy a bottle of tonic because I can’t find anywhere selling water. The lady selling the drink insists I bring back the glass bottle (ironically recycling of glass bottles seems to work better in the Congo than I’ve seen in NZ…). I’ve already paid her almost double the price of the tonic cause I don’t have the change and she insists I shouldn’t miss out on my 5c extra that one receives for returning the bottle.

I enquire to some police if I’m on the right route and they say “No, you cant pass by here, you have to go in that direction…but you have to give me your tonic too…” Oh really? Which piece of local legislation demands that any half-drunk tonic must be given to police upon demand? Caught drinking and walking? No constable, there’s no gin in there… sigh, even in the littlest things it seems like the entire aim is to trump any gullible person possible…corruption sucks.

I arrive to the cathedral to see crowds pouring out from Mass just finished and note that it’s midday…if Mass is just finished it can only mean one thing here, another Mass is about to start…perfect timing.

My energy levels have taken a dive with the hour’s trek around town in the heat, and the tonic while refreshing didn’t particularly quench my thirst…so it’s a struggle to keep up with Mass, nevertheless so very content to have made it!

The choir sing Gregorian chants with the ‘background accompaniment’ of whistles blowing from the local Catholic scouts outside practising whatever scouts practice. Catholic scouts are huge here…all dressed like you imagine scouts…a bit of a blast from the past but too cool at the same time.

I am a little disturbed by the priest’s homily where he says, to paraphrase, to the parents of the congregation – “You shouldn’t give anything of poor quality to God. Choose your most intelligent child, and he or she is the one you should consacrate to God in a religious vocation…” Sorry, what??!! First of all, can I name the number of saints who struggled to get through their theology degrees…and secondly, what about the call of God? It’s not just an offering of sacrifice, but a response to a call. Anyway, it was one of the more explicit examples I’ve seen in my time here of some of the ‘interesting’ attitudes that can arise in the context of the Church here in Congo (remembering that the presence of Church is always intricately linked with the culture in which She inserts herself).

Which reminds me, the other weekend in Goma, there was the installation of the new bishop – the old one was granted retirement by the Holy Father. The installation was of course a grand affair – a huge open air Mass of no less than 5 hours (I must admit I wasn’t there for the entirety…). And I was fascinated by the way they called it the “Passation de pouvoir” (Passing of power…). Rightly so, there is sort of passing of episcopal power, clearly, but it seemed rather striking (and again, reflective of the culture here) that this event was primarily identified with power.

In any case, I still returned the empty tonic bottle after Mass – just to reassure the lady who sold it to me. As for the interaction of Church and culture in the Congo, that I’m still getting my head around…

Apr

What goes on upstairs?

By The Dumb Ox 25 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I was in Mass a while back, and at one point I found myself looking around the church at everyone else present for Mass (yes, I know, I probably should have been paying more attention to Christ, and less to my fellow congregants!).

It was quite obvious, based on what they were doing, that some of the people at that Mass had no real investment in what was going on, in fact some of them seemed downright bored by it all.

But here’s the interesting thing, many of these people attend Mass at my parish every week, and they show exactly the same sort of disinterest each time.

Please understand that I am not being judgmental or critical at all here, I am simply trying to understand why someone would keep coming back to Mass each week if it doesn’t actually mean anything to them at a deeper spiritual level.

This phenomenon really intrigues me.

I often find myself asking whether it’s because of some sort of loyalty to a family member (did they once promise their mother on her deathbed that they’d attend Mass every week?)

Maybe it’s because they enjoy the social interaction after Mass?

Maybe it’s because they think that it brings them some sort of prestige in certain circles, or will earn them a better chance at getting their kids into a Catholic school.

Maybe they feel an obligation to go each week?

Maybe they view it as some sort of cultural thing that their family has always done on a Sunday, so they do it too?

Maybe they enjoy organ music and singing hymns?

Maybe they carry guilt and other burdens, and they see this as some sort of atonement?

Like I said, I find this a really intriguing phenomenon.

Apr

Lest we forget

By James the Least 44 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I have to say that it could have been a bit easier to forget that ANZAC day on this year, as there was no associated public holiday in New Zealand given that it fell on a Sunday.

But we did not forget, and actually I was more aware of the occasion this year than most. I’m not sure why, to be honest. I just seemed to notice more poppies pinned to people’s shirts, more men and women in uniform walking to and from various commemorative services – it just felt more ANZACy than usual…which is strange, given there was no day off to prompt one’s recall.

A visiting priest at our parish gave a very good homily on the subject. He spoke about how war is a terrible thing (and it is) and that people all over the world are suffering from the horrors of it (and they are). He also spoke about how those men who gave their lives in the World Wars and other conflicts were doing so because they felt called to stand up against a perceived evil. They were not going to back down, or disappear, or allow that evil to take over and win. And I find that courageous and heroic.

I don’t want this post to kick off yet another re-litigation of the “Just War” concept, so I’m trying to steer clear. But I will say this – for all those who find it difficult to digest the killing of a fellow human being under any circumstances, let me just say that I’m with you. I can’t grasp the concept…and I pray that I never have to! Our priest spoke of how his father served in wartime, but never spoke of what he had to do as a soldier. And that it wasn’t until much later that our priest realised that his own father probably had killed some other men in war.

That concept is just so foreign to me, but the irony is that this is, in part, because of the sacrifice made by the ANZACs. I mean, our peace was bought by their blood, right? That’s some pretty humbling stuff.

By the way, for those who are interested in the Sixth Commandment conflict here, I’ve recently done a bit of reading on this and I suggest you do too. The Commandment actually translates to “thou shalt not murder”, not “kill”. The word in Hebrew – “ratsach” – means to kill or slay in a predatory or pre-meditated way. In other words, murder or manslaughter. Not war (excluding war crimes), or capital punishment for that matter. But I digress…dangerously close to the Just War line too…

Our priest also talked about yesterday being Good Shepherd Sunday – the day we remember our priests – and he pointedly referred to how difficult it is to look at priests in a good light right now with all the media coverage at the moment on the abuse scandals. But he also pointed out that there are literally thousands of good men who haven’t broken their vows and who have given their lives to the Church and to us. They visit the sick, help the needy, share our joys and our sorrows – and keep us focused on God.

Both categories of men have made sacrifices. For me. And sometimes I take that for granted. Maybe we all do. And we shouldn’t.

I guess…I just wanted to say thank you.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Apr

A new world but the same problems?

By eyeWitness Closed

Categories: Being Frank...

A couple of recent events have highlighted the world’s enormous dependence on technology which has really only come into common use in the last 50 years or so. We are annoyed and inconvenienced that a mere volcano can stop airtravel, even sending some back to the “dark ages” of having to sail on ships.

Even more telling is the fact that a single wrong update sent by McAfee can affect vital agencies such as the Police, hospitals, Universities and even TVNZ (heaven forbid). While it didn’t have a huge impact in this particular case, it does make you wonder if, as we depend on computers more and more and the world is more and more interconnected, that mass disruption will occur whenever something goes wrong…

See this report from Thursday: LATEST: Computers in companies, hospitals and schools around the world – including TVNZ’s in New Zealand – have been crippled by a bug in their antivirus software. Computers running McAfee’s antivirus program got stuck repeatedly rebooting themselves after the software identified a normal Windows file as a virus.

Meagan Richards, of TVNZ corporate affairs, said a couple of hundred PCs were affected at the broadcaster and staff have been working since 4 am to restore them “PC by PC”.
…
At Rhode Island Hospital, the state’s biggest, the computer lock-up prompted personnel to divert emergency room visitors without traumas to other hospitals. The hospital also postponed some elective surgeries…

In Kentucky, state police were told to shut down the computers in their patrol cars as technicians tried to fix the problem. Peter Juvinall, systems administrator at Illinois State University in Normal, said that when the first computer started rebooting it quickly became evident that it was a major problem, affecting dozens of computers at the College of Business alone.

As with all things in life it is only when something is slipped from under our feet that our dependence on it becomes so obvious – perhaps illustrating that the only thing (or even person perhaps) we should depend on completely is God – rather than getting too caught up on depending on ourselves too much all the time.

I wonder what the ANZAC soldiers would think of our world today… I’m sure they would have been happy to have been able to communicate with home as easily as we can today. It is sad to think of so many of them going off as brave young men excited to defend their country, only to never to see their parents, friends and girlfriends again or to return home with a soul slowly torn out through the trauma of killing others and watching your friends die. We owe them for our freedom and it seems that people today still strongly remember that each year. Yet, are we seeking to also adequately protect our freedom and values as courageously as they? Arguably the same evils always exist, albeit in different forms.

Apr

Imagine Life

By On the Road 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

I have become quite the fan of the Imagine advertisements from the USA. These are the people who ran the ad around the super bowl about Obama with the tagline, Life: Imagine the Potential. Quite thought provoking.

I think my favourite ad is their second one, about adoption

These ads run on TV in the USA. There are a couple more, you can see them on the catholicvote.org website. I think this is one of the most effective means of communicating the prolife message. A few weeks back i tried Facebook, but that proved less than effective. But, these incredibly well done advertisements are not too full on and yet you can not walk away without thinking about it.

What are your favourite ways to get the prolife message out to the general public? Is it the sidewalk rosaries outside the abortion clinics? Is it writing to your member of parliament about a particular issue? Any particularly good articles?