That lady is Crazypants.

I guess there isn’t anything better to discuss in the 2000 years of Catholic teaching - nope, thats all figured out.  No need to pray about it or to discuss those topics.  Lets invite crazypants and discuss how she doesn’t want to “die and go to a static heaven”.

It’s a bit mean, but if you look at the average age of the sisters listening to that foolishness about “regenopause” it makes sense that such a message would “resonate.”
It’s all good to talk about being powerful no matter what your age, but time’s taking it’s toll on those orders & all the wishful, New Age thinking in the world can’t stop the shrinkage.

Very insightful, Jennifer.  It is so easy for each of us to fall into the trap of fear, even the most faithful among us (e.g. Peter denying that even even new Jesus in the face of an angry mob).  It is hard to have faith in eternal life, when the very source and summit of that life has already told us that “no eye has seen, nor ear has heard” what that life is.  Here’s the one I grapple with all the time: what does it mean to believe in something if you don’t know what it is?  No priest or deacon has ever given me a good answer on that one.  I don’t mean to suggest that I have no faith, I do.  But there are times when the fact that I can’t see where I am going makes me want to grasp at something I can see.  The nuns in question are, many of them at least, nearer the end than the beginning and it must be tempting for them to seek out something more tangible (even New Age crappola) in the face of primal doubts and fears.  The unfortunate thing is that, while our faith contains within it the very promises that can give us hope in those times of doubt and fear, many of the religious order to which these sisters belong have long since exchanged those promises for New Age lies, and so a vicious cycle ensues.  Doubts - New Age beliefs that have no hope of ever providing any comfort - leading to more doubts - leading to more New Age beliefs - to more doubts, and so on.

OMG is she for real? I am an older, and I hope wiser, woman. With God’s help and my faith and trust in Him, I can and will continue to actively participate in life. (Contrary to this woman who apparently sees herself in some kind of la-la land.)  Apparently she has never experienced the daily joys that come directly to each of us from our Triunne God. She feels the need for self-imposed strange experiences instead of looking to God for all answers.  Must write that I find the term diminishment, while true, sounds like a fatal disease. After all everyone will die sometime. Why use a term that makes those of us chronologically older sound like we are on a slippery downward slope to oblivion?

@Upbeat Dad: I commiserate with your longing to “see”. I take comfort in Jesus words to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and believe.” These poor nuns have lost their spiritual vision and the crises still awaits them when they realize the simplicity of the Jesus message. “Believe in ME and you will have eternal life”. That’s it. Cling to His every word, imitate his life and your reward will be greater than any eye has seen, ear has heard or anything that you can possibly image!!!! Does that sound static? St. Therese said she would spend her eternity doing good on earth. That is not static. Faith is what is needed, Trust in Jesus’ words. Faith is believing in what I cannot see. I never cease to be amazed that my husband loves me and yet God loves me more. It boggles my mind. But I believe.

“regenopause”
-
Catchy perhaps, but makes absolutely no sense if you think about it.  “Pause” means the thing STOPS.  Part of her problem is she seems to think she can throw any combination of syllables together and have it be something profound.

I thought I was watching a post-diagnosis of the London 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremonies.

Me thinks she is a very close relative of L. Ron Hubbard.  No?  (If not, she does a darn good impression!)

“But we should all be aware that when someone taps into our deepest fears and claims to have a solution, we can become so overwhelmed with relief and gratitude that we become blinded to warning signs that this person’s message is ultimately leading us astray.”

You mean like the message of Christianity, which says that you’re going to be tortured for all eternity if you don’t buy into its solution?

Whoa! Hey “Son”, wherever did you read that Christian message and what does it have to do with the above article?

Well, Son, no wonder you don’t believe in Christianity if you think that’s what Christ’s message is!  That’s unfortunate.  I pray for you.

‘son of skifree champion’...i get it…ski free-no ties to any authority, no one holding you back..cool…but why ‘son of’? do you imply you are connected to another?...in fact someone above you!...would ‘he’ be connected to someone above him?...do you reject being connected to the creator and redeemer of the universe?...do you?

Nice to see that you’re also reading Mon. Pope’s blog, too, Jennifer.  I thought that particularly posting was very well done (perhaps the one person commenting above should read it, too) and he was very much on the mark.  And, you’ve done well to make it more concrete.

Regenopause?  Think about it .... it’s a compound word that is actually an oxymoron!  Regenerate and stop at the same time?  Puh-leeze ....

More like we should echo John the Baptist: “I must become less while He becomes more.”

Very interesting observation, Jennifer. Perhaps coincidental that the last line of yesterday’s Gospel read: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Jen- you have ‘hit the nail on its head’- these sisters chose this new-age speaker for exactly this reason- not only are they dying out- their orders are dying out.

My husband’s hospital has three older-than-65-years-old Sisters of Mercy left sponsoring it- their large convent is empty- they live in apartments. A different convent across the street (habited, night home health care workers- Sisters of the Servants of Mary)is full- and with young aspirants and postulants.

I’m seventy five and watching Regis Martin’s series on the Four Last Things. I’d recommend that the sisters watch these videos, reflect on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, and read their bibles. I stay active with volunteering, and have no plans to stop living in the present moment, but I’m aware, as well all should be, that we may be called to judgement anytime and new age gobblegook is not going to help us then. And what joy they are missing: the church has so much to offer us. I am astonished daily at what I find by reading the saints and praying.

Great observation. Fr. Z also has a video up of the Sisters singing a song called “Jehovah, the Blessing.” The words are:
from the Source of Everything
from the Ground of Being
receive strength and light
receive peace, receive love

from our hearts to your hearts
from our souls to your souls
receive strength and light
receive peace, receive love.

I told my husband about it, and though what struck me was the first verse, with its sad, pantheistic view of God and the expansive wish for people to “receive” (rather than for God to “give”), what immediately struck him was the second verse. “Are they now dispensing grace?” he said. To him, the song said that they saw themselves (or wish to see themselves) as full of grace and and blessings that they will bestow upon us if we ask. Where I saw a sad shallow faith, he saw a wish to be all-powerful. After our talk, I think it’s both.

Cassie: Would it be wrong to say that Christians are “overwhelmed with relief and gratitude” that they’re to be spared from the wrath of their creator? Couldn’t they be “blinded to warning signs” that they’ve been “led astray” by whatever packaging of the Christian message they’ve bought into?

LCWR’s choice of gnostic new-ager Barbara Max Hubbard is proof that they are not serious about reform. Instead, they appear to be thumbing their collective noses at the Vatican.

@ Son of:  You fear the Truth of Christ and His Church.  You need to honestly investigate what you fear.  It is easy to reject a caricature; the Truth is compelling.  I will pray for you.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15
!

Son of SkiFree Champion,
Try reading the Bible. Especially the first 4 books of the New Testament, The Gospels. here is where you will begin to know Jesus Christ. Christianity is about Him. Then try and say to yourself “A religion that has been around for 2000 years must have something interesting to say to me. It’s not possible that ALL those people who have followed Christ are morons.” Really, not ALL of us could be morons.  Don’t you think we can agree on that?

I had a horrifying experience with a number of these new age nuns recently. Besides everything that you have described, one other disgusting element I discovered to my horror, was openly blatant lesbianism. I cannot tell you how many times I had to listen to these man-haters talk about their “sexuality” and lesbian sexual encounters with other “nuns”. I couldn’t get away from them fast enough.

Didn’t Suzanne Somers’ anti-aging, feminist empowerment books (Bombshell, Sexy, etc.) for the post-menopausal set deal with this subject already? She’s made millions on her books. We already have a guru. Who needs Hubbard to tell us this.

Sr. Terese Peter,  You have named the cause for the steep decline in what was once a terrific Catholic Girls High School.  It took 20 years of this kind of crap going on - and 15 years later we’re still stuggling to overcome it. How do I know?  Several of my daughters went there.  All but one lost their faith.  I’m so angry and disgusted at this bs.

For Son of:  As a Christian, I choose to call my creator “God” and have never felt (He’s also a “he” to me) He was wrathful.  Also I’ve never believed I was automatically delivered from damnation just because I am Christian.  In my faith eternal happiness (e.g. heaven)is earned by “faith and good works”, sins are forgiven via a sacrament, etc.  As to your second sentence above, my answer has been given by other posters: in a word, faith.  Even though we’ll probably always disagree - Son of - I thank you for your response to my post. You’ve caused me to pause in my day and put some cogent thoughts together.

Sr. Terese Peter - I’ve always suspected what you alluded to - lesbianism among various orders of nuns.  I commend you for your rightous beliefs and for taking action.  You deserve our prayers and thanks - may you receive both.

I was struck by just how gnostic her comments were… “seeing with evolutionary eyes,” “threshholding,” and her desire not to go to a “static Heaven.” She clearly believes that she possesses special knowledge that the rest of us with regular eyes cannot see or know. A friend asked me if I saw such talk as simply crazy or evil. I’d appreciate hearing what others think.

Do you all really think public comment boxes are the appropriate place to discuss sexual matters, real or imagined,concerning nuns?
I may heartily disagree with the sisters on many things & the New Age stuff totally creeps me out, but I think questioning their sexual orientation is going too far on a Catholic site.Even if they’re misled, they’re still religious sisters & deserve better than that.

T. Drake - To me “such talk” is misguided, pitiable and even laughable.  At the moment I will write that laughable was my first reaction.  Honestly I then wondered what drugs she was on - I know not charitable at all, but you did ask us what we thought.  That woman certainly deserves prayers!

Tim Drake,
There’s still residual New Age Speak leftover from the 60’s & ‘70’s.If you read Dr.Elisabeth Kubler-Ross & other respected folk from that era you hear the same sort of jargon.
It’s neither Christian nor orthodox & I find it disturbing, however more disturbing is the more recent spread of atheism & nihilism.
The New Age folk were looking in the wrong places, but at least they were looking.The current trend is to declare there’s nothing there to look for.And I find that philosophy even bleaker.

Kathleen: Unfortunately, this is something I experienced first hand. I didn’t suspect this or guess it—it was proclaimed to my face and everyone else’s bodly and arrogantly. I was told that the words “sexuality” and “spirituality” were somehow connected because someone said that each word had the same base word—“schwa” or something like that. They justified their abomination by trying to say the words meant the same thing. AND, of course, they blamed the CHURCH for being the cause of their sexual “guilt”. Right. In addition, I was ridiuled and harassed because I did not go along with them—or agree with their ideas. It may not seem an “appropriate” subject matter, but it is an evil reality that needs to be exposed.

I think what you’re saying applies to many of the errors (including radical feminism) that the LCWR nuns and many women of their generation have fallen into. It’s about more than aging, IMO. It’s about fear of acknowledging that we are not powerful. So many of these movements are about getting power.

But you know what? Jesus’ message is not about My Empowerment. It’s about me being vulnerable and willing to go to the Cross, like He was. Jesus’ message is not about me demanding My Rights. It’s about me being willing to lay down my life, and even my rights, for love of others. I’m not saying there’s no place for pursuing valid rights and justice. But the idea that it’s all about discovering my Inner Power is bunk. Our Faith is not about discovering My Power. It’s about discovering His. And His Power is the only power that lasts.

Kathleen, sin is sin whether we write about it here or not. My heart and prayers go out to all sisters who witness such an abomination.  How sick society has become.

Erin: Yes, this putrid corruption in religious orders of women does have its element of need for power. But, it is much more insidious than just that. These women were infected early on (in the late 50’s and into the 60’s) with the ancient curse of PRIDE. “We will not obey—we want to be like God.” Once they took a bite of the proverbial forbidden fruit, it was all downhill from there. I was taught by an awesome group of Dominican sisters—I got a better education in high school than I did in college. I graduated in 1968 and by the time 1970 rolled along, none of them wore habits, and many had left the classrooms or the convent all together to pursue other “careers”. And look at the results! Catholic education is no longer the beacon it once was in classical education (at one time a child going to a public school after being in a Catholic school would be far ahead of their public school counterparts—now there is practically no difference); because of the desertion by so many sisters, Catholic schools have had to hire lay teachers who require higher salaries and benefits; Catholic children are not exposed to the possibility of a religious vocation; Catholic schools have had to “dance with the devil” by competing for state and federal dollars to stay afloat—that means that Catholic schools MUST surrender to the state boards of education “requirements”; and finally, Catholic education as a whole is a shadow of its former self.

I stayed at a sisters’ motherhouse recently in NY. There are over 150 sisters living there—none wear a habit. Most are elderly and handicapped. The youngest sister is in her 70’s. I had one sister come up to me (because I wear a ful habit) and proudly proclaim to me that she has been a real estate agent for 17 years. All I could do was amile. In what way does being a real estate agent serve the Church? I had another sister (in a wheelchair) who whispered to me that she loved my habit. It was sooooo sad. I still pray for her and all the others. Most of the sisters I met were gracious and kind—and very eager to talk. But there were others who taunted me (very subtley, of course) and were rude and hateful.

Yes, most of these sisters started out with sincere intentions to serve God and His Church. They probably spent many years trying to accomplish that. But, somehow they got lost—and in being lost, they have lost the Faith. What I experienced with the “mod nuns” wasn’t my imagination. It was far too real and sad. Their Faith has been replaced with ego, radical feminism—even paganism—and hatred for all things male—and in some cases, that includes our Lord. Their masses (I purposely use a lower case “m”)were heretical, (and they used “inclusive” language) and when I went to their “Communion liturgy” I was shocked by what I witnessed. It was blasphemous.

This is not a simple matter—this cancer is embedded into their very souls. When I innocently mentioned my staunch pro-life beliefs, I was met with telling silence. I found out later that many of these “nuns” worked for the enemy.

The saddest part of all is that they are literally dying out—and yet they refuse to recognize why they have had no vocations in decades. They just don’t get it. They hate (and I mean HATE) the many newly formed groups of religious women who retain the habit, traditional community life, praying the Divine Office, and the spirit of sacrifice.

There is no question that the LCWR and its members will not submit to Rome and will pay only lip service to the Pope. In their minds, they have too much to lose. What they don’t want to admit is that they risk losing much more in the end.

The Barbara Marx Hubbards of this world need to go out and do some actual work. Dig a ditch for heaven’s sake, anything! But please stop prattling on about the glories of growing old and pretending “a new paradigm” is going to keep us out of the ground.
If you can be of service to others, by all means do. If you can’t, pray. When you miss your lost youth, go buy a new lipstick.
These ladies do so much more harm than good by peddling impossible ideas ‘regenopause’ indeed! The good Lord set up the system to shut down eventually, have some dignity and accept this!

Sister Terese Peter, what you describe is horrifying, and definitley needs to be exposed.  I can’t imagine why this is tolerated by Rome (if they are aware, and if they’re not, I can’t imagine why).

Simcha….You actually watched this twice? You get the award for feats-
never-accomplished-in-a-single-lifetime-by-any-other-human-being!!! I mean talk about perversity! I could bearly tolerate 5 seconds before I felt my eyeballs and hair levitating into the outer reaches of the cosmos where all those zoidatoids reside in perfect harmony. I mean real regenopause moments I will never forget began appearing before my very
infinitessimally factored self! How could you do it ...and still have the
critoids to write this blog! You are indeed auspacious!! You should try
her acceptance speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention for Vice President for an encore.  Seriously! Its all the Republicans need for a landslide in November. The fact that the LCWR had this nutcase give their keynote address is all the Bishops need to have then all committed. Forget excommunication. They all went waaaaay past excommunication during their latest regenopause cycle!

That video is meaningless.
The rich Catholic asceticism has been replaced with THAT?

BMH looks pretty darn good for somebody who is 81 years old, which tells me that a) she takes good care of herself , and b) she probably has great genes. I think she might be confusing her great genes with spiritual insight about birthing, regenopause, etc. What she should be doing is giving thanks.

How much money would our ‘liberated’ LCWR nuns had to pay to BMH just to have the privilege of getting fooled and deceived by her? In today’s world that doesn’t come cheap.

“(Thomas L. McDonald described it as “a combination of X-Men comics, techno-fetishizing, narcissism, New Age nonsense, paganism, trite bromides…Gnosticism, and good old heresy.”)”

As a former New Ager living in one of the first areas to be New Age Territory, I can tell you that New Age is a synonym for techno-fetishizing, narcissism, paganism,bromides, Gnosticism and a lot of Hindu impersonalism and some necromancy. None of this is new. I had hoped it would be over by now. The Church should have cleaned house on the New Age a long time ago.

I listened to the NPR interview by Terry Gross (her program is called “Fresh Air”) of Sr Pat Farley, and while it was not quite as bewildering as Hubbard’s, it had some of the meandering doublespeak that obfuscated rather than answered the question. It is clear that these people have gone so far “out there” that intelligent conversation using standard English is well-nigh impossible. I suppose that a group this disconnected with reality proved easy prey to the sad evils related above. The gnosticism underlying both interviews shows the degree to which pride has raised its ugly head. Since pride blinds (John 9 is on point), the LCWR seems singularly lacking in perspective, which bodes ill for any constructive reformation of the group.

It is eerie how the same sort of disconnect applies in such venues as comboxes on blogs at the National Catholic Reporter or bumper stickers which make the silly statement “I support the nuns!” People go on and on about the great works done by the sisters, which shows flatly that the writers never actually read the Doctrinal Assessment, which was effusive in its praise for their accomplishments. The word “Doctrinal” is the key to the whole controversy.

Apparently, and if someone could elaborate on this it would be wonderful, for both the sisters and their supporters it really doesn’t matter what they believe or teach so long as they do well in their charitable work. Is it really the case that the left is that squishy in matters of doctrine?

If so, the bishops who have undertaken this task may have reason to hope their service will qualify as penance. I seriously doubt they are envied by anyone!

Somehow, I don’t think Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” holds a prominent place in the sisters’ reading. It’s sad, and long overdue, but those sisters who have somehow held onto their faith in spite of wayward superiors deserve to be delivered from this nonsense.

What Sister There Peter and ATL have described is completely true.  I have been to the “masses” and I in a catholic girls HS I was told, God is a women, the men just don’t want you to know.  Women were preists and one day the Church will figure it out or become extinct and also evey prayer was “O Creator” or “O Mother Earth”. We never EVER used the word “Father”.  We did not use the sign of the cross either, it was “the creator, redeemer and sanctifier” because any discussion of men was not allowed.  This was less than 10 years ago.  I am just know learning what a ture catholic beleives and still finding out that I need “de-programming” on many issues.  Many of my friends were also taken for abortions because life is not sacred to them, feeding the poor is more important (or as I now understand, a picture can be taken for the newspaper).

I was very hesitant to open up this article as I have always enjoyed your writing and I was hoping you weren’t jumping on the “let’s make fun of these old nuns” bandwagon.  I’m sorry that I have been disappointed.  Though many of us may not understand these women completely, I think it is very wrong (especially of fellow Catholics) to judge them, dismiss them, and poke fun at them.  They have given their lives in service to God’s people, and we at least owe them some quiet respect.  Though you many not have openly attacked them in your writing, we all get your point - and you certainly opened the door for your commenters to be critical.  This kind of dialogue among Catholics makes me so very sad, and I am sorry you have joined them.

I love it how religious people can call out the loony stuff in other people’s beliefs all too readily, as evidenced by this post and thread, but if someone like me comes along and points out the same in Catholicism (where to start?  Transubstantiation where the cracker turns into zombie Jesus, the trinity (3 gods equals 1), the saints (you guys pray to all the saints and Mary, yet we’re still to call you monotheists?) and really the entire story of Jesus and the Bible in general, parts of which you hold true and parts you gloss over as the clergy direct you) you come out with throwing Bibles, catechisms and C.S. Lewis (why such a fan of this guy?  Chloroform in print describes him fairly well) at me, if not just telling me to go burn in hell (or whatever it is goes on in hell, something really really bad and it’s waiting for me, you guys are sure.  I’ve read the catechism bit on hell, as you can tell from the previous sentence).  We’re all atheists of a kind, I just go one god further, and when you understand why you dismiss all the new age hokum and all the other gods, you’ll understand why I dismiss yours.

Carly (Aug 14, 2012 7:15 AM): Upon re-reading Jennifer’s post, I don’t see where she jumps on the “let’s make fun of these old nuns” bandwagon. The majority of her post is about her reaction to the video of Hubbard talking about her “regenopause”; she mentions the LCWR only twice, in passing:

1. “wondering why Catholic nuns would want a keynote speaker who adheres to an odd belief system”

2. “None of us can know for certain why the Leadership Conference of Women Religious chose Barbara Marx Hubbard as their keynote speaker”

She states clearly that she doesn’t know why the LCWR invited Hubbard, and I don’t see Jennifer judging, dismissing, or poking fun at them. In fact, Jennifer is taking the matter seriously. She is concerned that Hubbard is a false prophet and that the LCWR is falling prey to her message. She has not attacked the LCWR openly or secretively here.

Jennifer is doing much more than giving “quiet respect”; she is sounding an alarm.

I think the article is well written & thoughtful.The author’s not responsible for innappropriate remarks which may follow.That’s an unfortunate part of free speech & internet conversation whenever comments are allowed.

Steve, you’re right.  Sometimes we get so zealous that we don’t realize our views don’t make sense to others.  For that I apologize, and I also apologize for anyone else to doesn’t think you should be given the time of day.  That said, one good reason we dismiss people like you is because of your dialogue - like yours that I’m responding to right now:  being overly sarcastic and making our beliefs sound like something they aren’t.  Just like you want to be taken seriously so do we, and you make it sound like 2000 years of our beliefs are frivolous.  If you want respect, sound like you want respect.  Don’t sound like you’re deliberately luring us to get back at you for what you just said.

BTW, just because you don’t understand the catechism doesn’t mean it’s all hooey.  It just means you either don’t understand it or don’t want to understand it. A person with average reasoning skills can understand it, so I’m confident that if you did want to you could.  Unfortunately, I do understand some of the ‘new age’ talk because I was a ‘new ager’ before the term ‘new age’ became fashionable.  However, I don’t understand most of what this woman is talking about.  Her views are not 2000 years old; I would surmise they are more like 5 to no more than 10 years old.  I look at her as you would probably look at St. Teresa of Avila’s ascetic works; I’d bet you some good money you wouldn’t understand her either.  Yet I understand St. Teresa of Avila almost perfectly.  So yes, I know there are people that understand this Hubbard woman but I’m not one of them.  It’s a little too over my head, I admit.

@Carly – Jennifer is NOT making fun of nuns, she is pointing out how ethereal and out of reach Hubbard is.  Hubbard is not a nun…  just to clear that up for you.  I originally thought she was a nun too, though

Allison,  Thank you for responding to Steve b. in such a clear, and respectful way. God Bless you.

Maybe Hubbard’s talk wasn’t complete hooey. There were some inspirations and insights worth considering.  Isn’t that what the Devil does?  He takes truth, some attractive ideas, some cutting edge thoughts, but then injects a poison that while swathed with light disfigures the whole. The “beam me up Scotty” and creepo music was as hokey as it gets.  Fail!  The idea that we are in a process in which we are changing and being born to something new, is true and beautiful.  The discussion of the life changing experience of viewing earth from space was moving.  What gave Ms. H. away was her pride.  For those who mentioned her Gnosticism, I had the exact same impression.  She had the smug demeanor of one who is in possession of a truth that none of us are privy to.  Her disgust for her “mammalian body” was also telling.  I can just imagine what the Devil had to say about God himself,incarnate, and being held in his mother’s arms.

Carly: Evil exists when good men (oops…people) do nothing. What you are proposing is that when a person is confronted with evil or error, we should “give the benefit of the doubt.”  Unfortunately, that is what happened during the Holocaust during WWII and what is happening today in many cases such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and on and on the list goes. What you are saying is basically what the radical left has propagandized for decades. That is why we find ourselves in this moral cesspool in the U.S. and elsewhere. Christ didn’t mamby-pamby around trying to be “nice” to those who conspired against Him. He spoke the Truth whether those around Him understood it or not—or whether they LIKED it or not. For anyone who knows the Truth, to deliberately allow error or evil to reign by silence or complacency is in collusion with the evil one. For the evil one, the first sin was wrought through a lie. Silence is not always golden—it corrupts.

All I can say is Wow.  Not so much that she speaks or even believes the stuff she’s saying but that other’s would give her an audience.  Especially those who still claim to be Cathoilic. Perhaps its a combination of pride, fear of dying with a bit of senility thrown in.  I’ll be charitable and assume BMH does not do illicit drugs.

Well said, Sister Terese Peter!
.
I went to a Catholic school from my sixth grade through high school (outside the USA), just after the birth of radical feminism and liberation theology thought systems began to infect the convents and seminaries.  There were many young nuns who, for various reasons, entered that convent in the early ‘60s and most certainly imbibed these radical ideas during their years inside.  Almost all of them eventually left the convent - one who was a very creative person and likely not a really good ‘fit’ for religious life - with rather scandalous behaviour (flirting with the priest on one of the ‘retreats’ of the high school classes) who soon after left the convent, literally wearing a bare midriff top, and got married to some other guy, and had a small family of her own. 
.
I was also very poorly catechised by the nuns especially in high school, and absorbed a lot of the secular culture’s distorted views of the Roman Catholic Church over the next few decades.  It thus wasn’t a stretch for me to fall away completely from my faith soon after, coming home happily to it just early this year.  And only since my reversion did I begin to learn what the Catholic Church’s teachings are *really* about - and they are some of the most beautiful, sensible, and compassionate principles to live vy - but also difficult for us to follow with our fallen nature.
.
Would that these LCWR nuns who seem to have really strayed, far, far away from true Catholic beliefs and doctrine just try to re-learn the genuine Catholic teachings - and see the huge error of their ways.  But, except for a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, I fear that they are so far gone down that alternate road of New Ageism, and doubt that they will ever see the light on this matter.

TeresaL:  Your path back to the Church is not unique. Many, many of us have been on the same path. I swayed, too. But, the fact that I came back, as so many other blessed souls have, is a testament to the great love and mercy of our Lord. “There will be more rejoicing in Heaven for the one sheep gone astray and returned, than the 99 who have not gone astray.” (Not an exact quote, but you get the gist!) I don’t say that it is impossible for the radical nuns to come to their senses, but one must have an open, and receptive heart to do that. Many of these women as so far gone into the abyss of selfishness, error, and pride that only direct Divine Intervention will save them. But, God does not impose His Will on us—He offers it to us. We choose whether to accept or reject Him. These women need much prayer. When we allow our pride to determine truth, we are destined to find emptiness. Nature abhors a vacuum and like nature, people will fill that void with things that are fit what we think will make us happy—or fill that void. Unless we fill the void with the Truths of God through His Catholic Church, we will never be satisfied.  These women clearly are very, VERY unhappy and are desperately trying to fill the void with error. They are blinded by their own pride and egos.  Sad indeed…

Sister Therese Peter, I find it hard to believe that any person is able to compare these sisters to what happened in the Holocaust.  Are you serious?  And, really, public humiliation of these women (our fellow Catholics) is the answer?  Yes, evil needs to be rooted out…yes, their faith may appear different than yours….but do you need to be so self-assured and self-righteous?  This attitude appears to be closer to that of the Scribes and Pharisees than to that of Jesus - who dined with sinners and preached kindness, mercy, and compassion.  And I seem to recall that Jesus met his conspirators with silence.

Sister Therese Peter isn’t trying to humiliate anyone.  But the evil needs to be exposed and addressed, and if these sisters are in fact promoting abortion, then yes, that could lead to a situation comparable to the Holocaust.

Carly you stated: “yes, their faith may appear different than yours….but do you need to be so self-assured and self-righteous?”

Carly, as Professed Catholic nuns, their faith should NOT be different from other Catholics. We’re not talking about 2 different religions here.  As Catholics we should all believe the same thing, be of one mind in Truth.(See John 17, I believe) Many Catholics dissent from what the Catholic Church teaches. Dissent is an error, not a different belief.

Carly: You totally misunderstood my meaning regarding the Holocaust.  What I meant is that millions of innocent Germans were lead astray by the lies and rants of a madman which, at the time, seemed reasonable.  It was NOT reasonable.  As a result, willingly or unwillingly, this blindness lead to the horrific and barbaric murder of 6,000,000 Jews and at least a few million others. As far as public humiliation is concerned, who ultimately is responsible for it?  There would be no public humiliation if they were not to knowingly proclaim their nutty ideas.  These are not ignorant women! They are well-versed in the Catholic faith—they’ve just chosen an easier path. It is very easy to proclaim Jesus as preaching mercy, compassion and forgiveness, which He did. It is much more difficult and far less popular to proclaim His teachings on adultery, error, false prophets, pride and true humility. Jesus spoke not a word before His accusers because there would have been no point. As he said to Caiphas, He preached openly in the synagogues and in public. These accusers had already made up their minds and hearts and had already made up their minds. It is interesting that most liberals are wont to quote Jesus’ teachings on compassion, mercy and forgiveness, yet they conveniently “forget” His other teachings.

A post I put up on a St Louis Review blog site as she LCWR had their meeting in St Louis.
As the St Louis Review article on 08/10/12 mentioned Barbara Max Hubbard was the keynote speaker at their conference this week. She proposed an Idea which she calls “conscious evolution”. As Fr Mitch Pacwa mentioned this is new age and he discussed some problems with this. My major concerns with new age and their speaker and ideas such as “Conscious evolution”, etc. is that it often comes from a Gnostic tendency. Gnosticism, of course, was that ancient heresy the church first fought in which, among other things, it was thought that the way to salvation was through a gradual process of gaining “Higher knowledge”, an expanded consciousness, or in our day such things as “Conscious evolution”. The danger I see here is a type of gnostic pride in which a person can come to see that they have a higher knowledge or a deeper understanding of truth than the “ordinary” ones do. When this happens a person can first become infected with a type of pride which is dangerous. And after they become infected with this pride they can become convinced, either as individuals or as groups that they have superior ideas, knowledge, etc. And even in the church, when persons come to believe they have superior knowledge or understanding they can come to believe that they don’t need to listen or to follow those they consider “less evolved” and this can even affect person’s willingness to obey the persons that God in His mercy has placed in authority over us to give us guidance and to protect us from error.  The solution, I believe is for us to have that mind that the Apostle Paul spoke of in which he was not ashamed of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and he vowed to always preach only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We should be aware of the new age and Gnostic tendencies.
In this dialog in response to this “Assessment” the good nuns must share their ideas and their “wisdom” but they should be encouraged to remember that God and His church, even in it’s imperfections in greater than any wisdom that any of us think we have, and to be willing to obey in the end if the church asks that of you if there is disagreement.
This Vatican document available online gives a good idea of many new age ideas.
Jesus Christ Bearer of the Water of life
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html
And I wondered why their org would have that speaker and these were my thoughts.
, I think we need to be fair that there are many good nuns in the orders this leadership group represents who still do some good work, even more than I do but I am bothered by their having Barbara Hubbard a new ager even after the Church is asking them to reevaluate their adherence to true doctrines. This reaction makes me ask if some of them are arrogantly refusing to listen to what the church is asking or if they have become spiritually blind, as I once was, to the difference between the Salvation we have in Christ or to belief in another, “new age or gnostic gospel”. For our salvation either begins by Christ and His death and resurrection, and continues aided by His grace or it is something we must attain for ourselves by means of mystical or spiritual knowledge and experience.
And even a quick search of Barbara Max Hubbard should give insight into her spiritual beliefs and a discerning Christian should be able to see the difference from the true gospel in her beliefs.
So we should pray for them.
How good it was in my grade school then the good nuns woke us up early for daily mass. I was at a boarding school. And how good it was then they planned carefully for those special days of Eucharistic adoration. How I wish and pray that more of our nuns will have the wisdom to get back to the basics of the faith and avoid the stupid tangents. And I remembered hearing the nuns having their morning prayer down the hallway. Their prayers were not new agey I will tell you that.

I believe the writer of the article has a point.  Taking that thought further, why might there be a “natural human fear of diminishment” among our nuns today?  This is an essential question.  Where is the sincere dialogue and gratitude needed on the part of our church to come to a greater understanding of Christ’s message and meaning for us. I personally am horrified that Marx Hubbard would be a keynote speaker but is this also not the result of a greater breakdown in our church?

MB: What do you think caused this “natural human fear of diminishment”?  The Church’s teachings have not changed in millenia. Whether one sees that as good or evil is immaterial. You are either Catholic or you’re not. One is NOT Catholic if one does not embrace all of Her teachings. Period. For people who rebel against the traditions and teachings of the Catholic Church, the cries and lamentations are always accusatory: “The Church will not DIALOGUE!” When the reality is that the Catholic Church patiently offers opportunities for “dialogue”. However, the Church cannot and will not compromise her tenets to placate or entertain dissidents whose sole purpose is to cause rebellion and division. And that is what all of this stuff is about. These women are attempting to anoint themselves as the new “magisterium”. WE WILL NOT OBEY. Indeed…

Don’t know if this info’s been posted before. BMH believes in a coming “world shift” during which visionary leaders like herself will be in charge of exterminating the “bad seed” in the world, the humans who are too corrupt to follow them into the new era. Thank God for the Holy Catholic Church. She truly is the Lighthouse that will guide us Home in spite of the raging satanic storm.

EK: Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve not heard this one, but nothing surprises me anymore with people like BMH and her ilk. It reminds me of Jim Jones, Koresh, and those nuts who killed themselves because they were going to hitch their spirits onto some meteor…I can’t remember the name of that group. As I said, they have LOST the Faith…and their minds.

And this discussion reminds me of a talk that Peter Kreeft a good Catholic Theologian gave in which he discussed a question he asked of First year Catholic students. The question being “How do you believe you will get to heaven?” And he reports that 75% said something like. “I try to lead a good life” I go to church” or “I try to help the Poor” or something similar. And his response was that if our answer of how we will get to heaven starts with “I” instead of Jesus, we have not even understood the basic gospel. So I wonder how many of these “leaders” understand that our salvation starts through faith in Christ? and if they did I believe they would not have BMH Or others like her speak at their conference.

Bob: Excellent point! The problem with these women is that have long lost Faith in Jesus. I believe part of it is because of their discontentment with their own lives and their need to blame it on someone else—mostly Jesus and His Church. I don’t exactly know how they became so hateful of men. I am a woman and have had lots of negative experiences with the opposite sex (when I was younger, prettier and NOT a sister!). Of course, most of those negative experiences could have easily been avoided had I made better choices in the men I chose.  In addition, I worked many, many years in the corporate arena before entering the convent and I can tell you honestly that I have had worse experiences with female bosses than I ever had with male bosses. My feeling always has been that women feel that they have something to prove—and they have no qualms about taking it out on other women. These women have no problem ridiculing, criticizing, or castigating other women who disagree with their views. I know because I was an object of their hatred. And, make no mistake about it, it is hatred. They are miserable, unhappy, angry, malcontents. All of their claptrapping is a feeble attempt at convincing others (and themselves) that they are somehow justified in their anger at the Church. Baloney…

Hi Sister Terese Peter: I haven’t read BMH’s “Book of Co-creation,” nor will I. But many people quote these words from it: “Out of the full spectrum of human personality, one-fourth is electing to transcend .... One-fourth is destructive [and] they are defective seeds. In the past they were permitted to die a ‘natural death.’ ... Now as we approach the quantum shift from the creature-human to the co-creative human—the human who is an inheritor of god-like powers—the destructive one-fourth must be eliminated from the social body .... Fortunately, you are not responsible for this act. We are. We are in charge of God’s selection process for planet Earth. He selects, we destroy. We are the riders of the pale horse, Death.” Yikes! is all I can say. She might even take out the lcwr for being so easily duped!

As far as I’m concerned, all of that is nothing more than neo-pagan mumbo-jumbo.  How can any logical, reasonably intelligent person make sense out of that nonsense? I think they purposely write that kind of gibberish to strike one silent—or rather, stupify. That way the one reading or hearing that kind of blather feels inadequate, stupid, or worse, awed. These women live in their own private fantasy world. It has no basis in reality.

Mumbo jumbo certainly and yet the gnostics who believe they are more highly evolved can become part of a new tyranny if they believe they have superior knowledge. For another example of this read about Tom Cruise and the cult of Scientology he is involved in and you will see how this crazy thinking can lead to a type of tyranny on a small scale. And Tom spent some time in Catholic schools.
God help us when or if those who believe they are the superior elites get in control.

For much info on this small scale experiment in tyranny, which is Scientology read the Village Voice. Tony Ortega has done some good work there on a practical example of this thinking and Scientology is a Gnostic religion rolled up into a pyramid scheme.

And I fear that the “Dark Lord” will continue to roll out numerous attempts at controlling tyrannies before he tries to institute universal domination, as is fortold in the days of Antichrist. And if he can siphon off many in the Church by subtle means to get them to participate in his plans, both now and in the future, so much the better.

And what is even more ironic is that, in their attempt to free themselves from male tyranny—and especially the Male God and especially His Church, they have embraced another male entity!  I was very tickled when I first saw “The Passion of the Christ” where Satan was portrayed as a female entity. Pride…the mother of all sins and lies her progeny.

Oh, what is the website address for Village Voice?

This link on what is Scientology is a good beginning but remember that these cults and Gnostic systems have endless variations.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/what_is_scientology.php

EK I would like a bit more info on these statements of hers.
BMH’s “Book of Co-creation,” ... But many people quote these words from it: “Out of the full spectrum of human personality, one-fourth is electing to transcend .... One-fourth is destructive [and] they are defective seeds. In the past they were permitted to die a ‘natural death.’ ... Now as we approach the quantum shift from the creature-human to the co-creative human—the human who is an inheritor of god-like powers—the destructive one-fourth must be eliminated from the social body .... Fortunately, you are not responsible for this act. We are. We are in charge of God’s selection process for planet Earth. He selects, we destroy. We are the riders of the pale horse, Death.”

EK I would like a bit more info on these statements of hers. If she said these things and she was their keynote speaker it is fitting to be even more incensed that they were taken in by this fraud and heresy in the name of some type of spiritual teaching.
And I think we know who this god is who selects to destroy. Many new agers don’t believe in evil spirits but they believe that every spirit is good. So much for discernment of spirits.

Hi Bob Gravlin, If you do a search on BMH on youtube or google with just her name and “world shift 2012,” or “Book of Co-creation” you’ll get a lot of articles and a few videos. Here are 2 links to ytube. She’s nuts! And some dummies do follow her!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohQWuZcFxek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7lwEvmem2o

Also, from Father Z’s blog here’s an article of what BMH said to the lcwr as their keynote speaker. I hope the Vatican will just realize that this is enough already and just tell them they can no longer associate themselves with the Catholic Church.

http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/08/fishwraps-article-on-lcwrs-keynote-speaker-teilhard-would-find-in-barbara-a-kindred-spirit/

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that BHX and the LCWR are admirers of Teilhard. He was an amateur paleontologist and archeologist who claimed to have “discovered” a tooth of a “caveman”—supposely proof of a “missing link”.  Turned out that it was a hoax—it turned out to be a wild hog’s tooth that was dyed and sharpened to look older than it was. He was also an avowed pantheist. All of his teachings are heretical and should be thrown in the trash with the rest of heretical teachings. I have heard numerous times from “libnuns” their love of Teilhard.

I opened this link expecting to hear, well I guess I don’t know what. What I find is one religious (read Catholic) woman disturbed by another woman’s words and touting her own personal beliefs in a specific religion and almost all of the posting in comments are from people with similar beliefs supporting her. I find myself agreeing with Steve B and Son of Ski. You are as vehement in your beliefs of a magical creator, celebrated by the transubstantiation of wine and wafer into flesh and blood and the promise of a fantastic heavenly afterlife if you are just good in this one as others are that if they pray five times a day facing Mecca or leave a seat for Elijah at the Seder are about theirs. How is this different from most other spiritual belief systems? If I pray (meditate), believe in a higher power, take certain steps, (attend church, light candles, give of my gifts to those less fortunate)I will go to a better place. Before you write me off please understand that I was born into a Catholic family, educated in a Catholic women’s college and many of my studies included the study of world religions along with substantial research and study outside of the classroom into cultural belief systems. You are entitled to your beliefs. You are not however, entitled to tell other people that their beliefs are wrong, whether that is because they are not Catholic or because they are too woo-woo for you. Frankly I find the consumption of wine and wafers that are supposedly the body and blood of someone long dead is no stranger than believing that developing a higher consciousness in some other way would work. You are only on this site because it confirms your own beliefs and not because you want an open dialogue.

Kfern, you ask us not to write you off, yet your comment dismisses us and presumes to know our reasons for being on this site.  The purpose of Jennifer’s article was not to make fun of people with different beliefs.  It was to expose how some dissenting Catholics are trying to promote (in Catholic circles) beliefs that are contrary to our religion.  Your agreement with people like Steve B, who wrote a mocking comment that completely misrepresented Church teaching, speaks volumes.

kfern, what do you propose we do with something that we believe is very harmful to our faith and to the outcome of our and our loved ones’ eternal life?

Unfortunately there are many that claim to either “have been” or “have grown up” Catholic and then “recovered”.  Those people never knew Catholicism to begin with, even though they may purport to know the Mass and all Catholic prayers by heart, even though they may have had a Catholic education and to have memorized the Catechism.  And yes, even though they may have studied to be a priest or religious.  Have you ever heard the saying “you can lead a horse to water?”

A thirsty horse is not going to drink if he doesn’t recognize the water as that which satisfies his thirst.  But once he gets that ‘connection’, it will seem like he can’t get enough.  Catholicism is very much like that.  You can have all of the information in front of you and think you know it all, but unless and until it ‘connects’, it will all be for naught and it will appear superstitious.  And the reason it is so difficult to connect is that the connection is personal and different for everyone.  You have apparently never connected.  But if and when you do, you will understand.

Ask me how I know.

Never mind that the comments are 2 months old now, Kfern. Not only are you late to the ‘party’ you apparently have not read much on this site. This article was written about Ms. Hubbard because earlier a group of Catholic nuns had this woman speak at their conference. Articles were written about it at the time. As Catholics, on a Catholic site no less, we are certainly free to be disturbed by the fact that some of our nuns would feel the need to have someone speak at their conference whose beliefs are so contrary to our Catholic faith. Imagine an anti-gun group having the President of the NRA speak at their conference, or a Peta spokesperson at a gathering of hunters. It just doesn’t compute.

I agree with Claire. You ask not to be dismissed, yet are dismissive of us. And yes, we ARE entitled to respond to those who post on a Catholic site since we are Catholics, and we have EVERY right to tell someone that we believe their beliefs are wrong, just as many, like YOU, come on our site to tell us our beliefs are wrong. Get it?

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