Showing posts with label New Ulm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Ulm. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Bird Island priest's Italian Nativity scene grows into a biblical metropolis
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Each figure in the Rev. George Schmit’s Fontanini Nativity set stands only 5 inches tall, but his entire collection is no little town of Bethlehem.
Each figure in the Rev. George Schmit’s Fontanini Nativity set stands only 5 inches tall, but his entire collection is no little town of Bethlehem.
His Fontanini Nativity set collection began as a simple creche handed down to the Bird Island priest of St. Mary’s Catholic Church nearly 20 years ago from a parishioner at his former parish in New Ulm, Minn.
Today, Schmit’s set has grown into a miniature biblical metropolis on display in his basement, complete with hundreds of figurines, structures, flora and fauna.
Fontanini Nativity sets have graced mantels in homes for more than 100 years. Handcrafted in Italy, Nativity scenes from the family-owned Fontanini Co. are internationally recognized. Each of the hundreds of figurines in the collection contains a name and a historically accurate story, included inside each collector box. Today, there are more than 600 pieces in the Fontanini set.
Schmit is well on his way to acquiring the entire collection, though the miniature world of Fontanini was unknown to Schmit until he discovered several more pieces to the collection tucked away at a gift shop in St. Cloud.
“I wasn’t aware that an entire village existed beyond my Nativity scene,” Schmit said.
Schmit purchased the marked-down pieces to the collection at the gift shop after Christmas. His Nativity grew that day to include a poultry shop, bakery, pottery shop and an inn. Schmit’s passion was ignited with this first purchase of collectible pieces.
“I figured since I’m buying these, I’m buying every darn piece,” Schmit said.
And he wasn’t kidding. Schmit’s collection expanded with each purchase of the hand-painted figurines.
Nearly 112 figurines and more than 23 structures later, the Fontanini collection spans the length of three tabletops in Schmit’s basement.
Each year, Schmit picks up several more pieces to the collection. His collection has grown so large that he can no longer determine which pieces he already owns without the aid of his note card, which contains an alphabetized list of the hundreds of pieces he already owns.
Every element of the collection, from the palm trees peppered throughout the village to chickens pecking around the chicken coop, is a Fontanini collector item. The collection is displayed year-round, as the set itself took years to complete.
The Holy Family, along with the hundreds of other characters in Schmit’s collection, have taken permanent residency in the set Schmit constructed himself. Schmit constructed the base of the set using insulation which he sculpts and paints dark brown to give the entire set an authentic feel. Hamster bedding is used to replicate terra firma for the miniature Bethlehem.
Schmit’s time invested in his village is not spent on just himself; he opens his basement around Christmas each year for children in his congregation to view the village.
Though he is careful to include only Fontanini items in the village, there are certain pieces of the collection he refuses to purchase: soldiers, angels and the St. Francis of Assisi figurine.
“I won’t buy angels because they weren’t in the village,” Schmit said. “They were in the sky.”
Schmit believes he is far from owning the entire Fontanini collection. He plans to expand his set as often as necessary to accommodate his growing collection.
“I keep adding and telling myself I’ve got to stop sometime,” Schmit said. West Central Tribune
Thursday, December 24, 2009
St. Mary's Cathedral in New Ulm: Almost Ready for Christmas
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So you think you've had a hard time getting your home ready for the holidays?
So you think you've had a hard time getting your home ready for the holidays?
Be glad you don't have the kind of last minute projects that St. Mary's Catholic Church in New Ulm has been undertaking as it rushes to finish most of its sanctuary remodeling in time for Christmas Eve services today.
The project has been underway since June to turn the church's sanctuary from a nice, comfortable wood-paneled rec-room look to a dramatic limestone wall that draws all of one's attention to the altar and the tabernacle.
The wall has the look of an ancient temple, or maybe a gateway to the New Jerusalem, with its large blocks and its archway capped by 5,000 pound lintel. The floor of the sanctuary has been stripped of its carpet and paved with limestone matching the wall. The altar has been replaced with a dark red granite altar imported from Italy, with a matching lectern.
While the Christmas Eve and Christmas services will unveil the largely finished sanctuary, the blessing of the new altar will take place at 10 a.m. Mass on Sunday, with Bishop John LeVoir presiding.
The altar is the focal point of any Catholic church. "It is on the altar that bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. In a very real way, an altar is where heaven and earth meet," according to the church's bulletin.
Underneath the altar are the relics of four saints, which had been stored at St. Mary's for many years. The relics include St. Luke the Evangelist, the apostle of Jesus, who lived and died in the first century; St. Bonaventure, (1221-1274), bishop and Doctor of the Church; St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639), known for his tireless work for the poor and his devotion to prayer, and St. John Vianney (1786-1859), universal patron of priests.
On Tuesday, workers from Twin Cities Tile and Marble were busy moving the granite altar pieces into place. A large base was set in the floor, covering the aperture where the relics of the four saints are being kept. Four columns on the corners support two large slabs of granite that make up the altar table. All together, the altar weighs about 6,500 to 7,500 pounds.
The workers also placed the matching lectern, which weighs about 2,500 pounds.
Meanwhile, crews from Heymann Construction were grouting the floor stones and putting plasterboard up along the side walls.
Tim Clyne, who is overseeing the engineering for Heymann Construction, the contractor on the job, estimates the wall itself contains about 60,000 pounds of stone. The wall also includes several tons of structural steel in back, and there are tons of supporting steel below holding it all up.
Msgr. Douglas Grams, pastor of St. Mary's said the work on the inside of the church began in June when footings were sunk in the basement, six feet into the ground. Supporting steel pillars and crossbeams were added to support the weight.
Upstairs, the wood panel faade behind the altar was removed while work crews cut two large vertical windows behind the sanctuary, to throw natural light around the side of the stone wall. The paneling was moved forward to cover the construction from view during the week when Sunday Mass was held upstairs. Daily masses were said in the church basement.
The church should be ready for Christmas Eve services today. The only parts remaining to be placed are the seven-foot tall tabernacle, the cabinet that holds consecrated hosts, that will stand in the archway, and a new presider's chair for the altar, and a new lighting system for the church.
When all is finished, it will complete the remodeling project on the church that has been in the works since plans were first presented and approved to diocesan committees in 2000. A $1.3 million capital campaign is financing the work, which included a needed repair of the church roof, the addition of offices on the north side of the church, a new faade over the front entrance and a bell tower that houses the old bell and statue of St. Mary salvaged from the former St. Mary's Church and School next door.
The project this year included paving the parking lot near the church, remodeling the kitchen and basement bathrooms, and a new sound system for the church.
The design work was overseen by Fr. James Notebaart, a liturgical consultant who has overseen many projects throughout Minnesota, said Msgr. Grams. R.L. Engebretson was the architectural firm overseeing the project, and Heymann Construction was the main contractor. New Ulm Journal
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Minnesota area Catholic Dioceses contributed to Maine ballot initiative
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The campaign finance report for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine shows that four Minnesota area Catholic Dioceses contributed $6250 to a campaign to reject a law legalizing gay marriage in Maine. The ballot measure asked voters "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
The campaign finance report for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine shows that four Minnesota area Catholic Dioceses contributed $6250 to a campaign to reject a law legalizing gay marriage in Maine. The ballot measure asked voters "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
The measure passed 53 percent to 47 percent in the November election. The Catholic Church considers homosexuality a sin and has worked actively to define marriage as between "one man and one woman" in states across the country.
The Diocese of Crookston donated $5,000 to the effort. The Diocese of Winona and the Diocese of La Crosse, WI gave $500 each. New Ulm's Bishop John Levoir gave $250.
Rose Hammes, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Winona, said the contribution was given because Winona Archbishop John Quinn felt it was important to help his colleagues in Maine:
"He made a contribution because they're in solidarity with all of the bishops in the country and I'm assuming that Bishop Quinn decided that that was important to be in solidarity with his brother bishops."
Hammes said the donation came from an account that is used to help efforts like the ballot initiative in Maine. She said the fund is from "private donations" not parishoner contributions.
I left messages with the Dioceses of Crookston and New Ulm but haven't heard back from them. A spokeswoman for New Ulm's Bishop just called me back and said "We have no comment."
Here's the campaign finance report.
For those wondering about tax violations, the IRS forbids tax exempt organizations from backing a political candidate but "can engage in a limited amount of lobbying (including ballot measures) and advocate for or against issues that are in the political arena. The IRS also has provided guidance regarding the difference between advocating for a candidate and advocating for legislation."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Future deacons become lectors; Process a first for Diocese of New Ulm
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"Click"
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Eleven area men, including a Mankatoan, are working toward ordinations as permanent deacons for the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm. The process, a first for the diocese, will include their installment as lectors in a 5:30 p.m. ceremony today [Saturday] at the Church of St. Mary in Sleepy Eye.
"Click"
Eleven area men, including a Mankatoan, are working toward ordinations as permanent deacons for the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm. The process, a first for the diocese, will include their installment as lectors in a 5:30 p.m. ceremony today [Saturday] at the Church of St. Mary in Sleepy Eye.
Deacons are lay people who perform many of the same duties as priests. [Deacons are ordained ministers]!
Sleepy Eye City Manager and permanent deacon Mark Kober said deacons don’t conduct mass or hear confessions, but they can baptize, anoint the sick and distribute communion.
[The Second Vatican Council lists the deacon's liturgical and pastoral functions: "to administer Baptism solemnly to reserve and distribute the Eucharist, to assist at and bless marriages in the name of the Church, to take Viaticum to the dying, to read Sacred Scripture to the faithful, to administer sacramentals, and to preside at funeral services and burials"]
The 11 candidates are in the third year of a five-year discernment and formation process. Their ordinations would be in 2012.
“We’re very proud of these people. It’s a lot of commitment and a lot of time that they’ll put in,” said Kober, director of the diocese’s diaconate program.
Among the candidates is Russ Blaschko of the Church of the Holy Rosary in North Mankato. Blaschko, who has two sons contemplating the priesthood at a St. Paul seminary on the University of St. Thomas campus, said his decision to become a deacon was spurred by a growing strength in his faith. “I’m just going down life’s path, and things happen to me,” said the Mankato banker.
Kober said the lack of a Catholic university in the New Ulm diocese has been a key reason why the diocese didn’t pursue diaconate programs in the past. He said the 11 candidates will be trained by visiting staff from an Indiana seminary.
Other Mankato-area candidates include Rick Christensen, Steve Spilman and Jim Guldan, all of New Ulm; Roger Osborne of Winthrop; and Tim Dolan of Gaylord.
The Diocese of New Ulm serves 15 southwestern Minnesota counties. Mankato Free Press
The ordination of these men as deacons in 2012 will be a tremendous boon to the Diocese of New Ulm, one of the most rural dioceses in the country and one that suffers greatly from the shortage of priets.
This is what Deacon Kober really said:
by Deacon Mark Kober, director
Office of Permanent Diaconate
Diocese of New Ulm
On October 10, 2009, eleven candidates for the permanent diaconate will be instituted by Bishop John M. LeVoir as lectors of the Church. The ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Church of St. Mary in Sleepy Eye. One year ago, the eleven men were admitted as candidates for the order of deacon in a similar ceremony.
During the five-year formation process adopted by the Diocese of New Ulm to prepare men to be permanent deacons, there are several steps. In the first year, called aspirancy, the man and the Church discern whether or not there is truly
a call to formation. It officially ends with the aspirants’ evaluation and the bishop's decision to accept or reject them as “candidates” for the diaconate. After successfully completing the first year of academic training, candidates are
instituted as “lectors.” They may read the lessons from Sacred Scripture, except for the Gospel, in the Mass and other sacred celebrations.
After two years of formation, the men are instituted as "acolytes." It will then be their responsibility to assist priests and deacons in carrying out their ministry, and as special ministers to give Holy Communion to the faithful at the liturgy and to
the sick.
When the period of discernment and formation is completed, the candidates are ordained to the permanent diaconate. The ordination ceremony is tentatively scheduled for April 2012.
Similar steps are taken in the formation of candidates for priesthood. However, a man in formation to become a priest is
ordained a “transitional” deacon rather than a “permanent” deacon. In other words, he transitions to the priesthood. Ordination to the permanent diaconate results in just that, a permanent deacon.
It is important to note that all of this occurs at the discretion of the bishop. Each step along the way, the bishop is the ultimate decision maker for the Church. He is also the one who decides how deacons will serve the Church.
Bishops have a special relationship with deacons because it is for bishops that deacons are particularly ordained. Other than the deacon, only the bishop is authorized to wear the dalmatic, a vestment worn by the deacon at Mass. This custom
symbolizes the relationship between a bishop and his deacons. The deacon is assigned his duties directly by the bishop and he serves the people of God under the bishop’s authority. While deacons sometimes have diocesan roles, bishops
generally assign deacons to a particular parish and assign them under the supervision of the parish pastor.
Deacons also have a special relationship with priests. After Vatican II, early on in the renewal of the permanent diaconate, some felt that deacons represented a “threat” to the priesthood. The opposite is true. The two ministries, that of priest and that of deacon, compliment one another. The Prairie Catholic
Tip O' the Hat to Bill
Thursday, September 24, 2009
"On a Mission for Christ" - A Talk by Bishop John M. LeVoir, Bishop of New Ulm
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Come; learn more about your Catholic faith and get some direction for your spiritual journey by attending a talk "On a Mission for Christ - Ways you can carry out your baptismal mission and imitate Christ by acting as prophets, priests, and kings", followed by a Q&A session by Bishop John M. LeVoir, Bishop of New Ulm Diocese on Tuesday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m.
Bishop LeVoir has written several publications including, Covenant of Love: Pope John Paul II on Sexuality, Marriage and the Family; Faith for Today: Pope John Paul II's Catechetical Teachings; and was the theological consultant and author of Image of God Religion Series. Conference will be held at the Church of St. Mary, located at 261 E. 8th Street, St. Paul, MN. The talk is open to everyone and there is no fee for the talk - a free will offering will be collected. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the talk will begin at 7:00 p.m. If you have any questions please call (651) 458-8142 or send an e-mail to apologetics@nomensanctum.org Sponsored by the Holy Name Society of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
New Ulm's Bishop John LeVoir joins 45 other U.S. bishops against decision to invite President to Notre Dame for honors
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. . . .Like the majority of the U.S. bishops against the scandal, Bishop LeVoir of New Ulm, MN reacted to Notre Dame's decision by recalling the U.S. Bishops Conference 2004 directive against honoring pro-abortion politicians.
"Since President Obama has taken stands that contradict the fundamental moral principles of the Catholic Church, e.g., the approval of abortion and embryonic stem cell research, he 'should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for his actions' at a Catholic university," said Bishop LeVoir in an April 13 statement.
"The decision of the University of Notre Dame makes it much more difficult for the Church to carry out her vital mission to transform our culture into a culture of life and love," he concluded. . . . LifeSiteNews
. . . .Like the majority of the U.S. bishops against the scandal, Bishop LeVoir of New Ulm, MN reacted to Notre Dame's decision by recalling the U.S. Bishops Conference 2004 directive against honoring pro-abortion politicians.
"Since President Obama has taken stands that contradict the fundamental moral principles of the Catholic Church, e.g., the approval of abortion and embryonic stem cell research, he 'should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for his actions' at a Catholic university," said Bishop LeVoir in an April 13 statement.
"The decision of the University of Notre Dame makes it much more difficult for the Church to carry out her vital mission to transform our culture into a culture of life and love," he concluded. . . . LifeSiteNews
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Father John LeVoir becomes New Ulm's Fourth Bishop
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As the symbolic staff called a crozier was passed to new bishop John LeVoir, 3,000 people in the New Ulm Civic Center responded with a standing ovation.
As the symbolic staff called a crozier was passed to new bishop John LeVoir, 3,000 people in the New Ulm Civic Center responded with a standing ovation.
LeVoir, 62, became the fourth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm in a two-hour ceremony Monday.
He replaces John Nienstedt, who became archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis following 61⁄2 years as bishop in New Ulm.
Ceremony attendees began arriving at 12:30 p.m. for the 2 p.m. ceremony, filling the civic center’s permanent seating area and much of the arena floor.
Marty Rossini of Stillwater was among those in attendance. He said parishioners from two Stillwater churches filled three buses to travel to Monday’s ordination and installation ceremony.
LeVoir served the Stillwater churches the past four years, and Rossini was a member of a church panel that chose LeVoir as pastor.
“He’s a super guy, and such a people person,” Rossini said. “Every morning he’d be at the front door of our school saying hi to the kids, and every afternoon he’d be at the door saying goodbye to them.”
LeVoir, a self-acknowledged baseball fan — which should serve him will in baseball-intensive New Ulm — is also a pretty fair golfer, Rossini said.
“The first time he played in a church tournament, he got a hole-in-one.”
LeVoir became a certified public accountant after graduating from the University of Minnesota in 1971.
He obtained a master’s degree in theology in 1981, was ordained into the priesthood that year and has served in a succession of Minnesota parishes.
In an interview following his selection as bishop, he said he picked up ideas on how to help people be successful by observing how Minnesota Twins managers went about their business.
He said he was stunned to find the message on his answering machine of his selection to the New Ulm post because he always figured his assignment in Stillwater as a parish priest would be his last before retirement. Mankato Free Press
Father LeVoir to be new Bishop of New Ulm -- The Catholic Spirit
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
As long as we're in a 40 year retrospective mood, review one of the major dissidents
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Cardinal James Stafford, originally from Baltimore, recently wrote on the reception of the Humanae Vitae encyclical on birth control by the priests of his archdiocese in 1968. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died the other day, spoke in 1974 on the problems of Western civilization
In 2000, Paul Likoudis wrote on Bishop Raymond Lucker of New Ulm who was a leader of many who sought major changes in the Church. He was especially prominent in the field of catechetics, something that disappeared from the American Church after Vatican II. Bishop Lucker resigned because of cancer in 2000, died in 2001 and was succeeded by Bishop John Nienstedt, now Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Archbishop Nienstedt receives a lot of criticism from those who didn't agree with the changes he made after his arrival in New Ulm. Many of those objectors probably don't know very much about Bishop Lucker. Likoudis' article might be of interest to Archbishop Nienstedt's critics.
Bishop Raymond Lucker: A Tragic Figure of the 'New Catechetics'
by Paul Likoudis
In a May 1998 article on the catechetical debacle of the past 40 years for Catholic World Report, author Donna Steichen wrote:
"The classic goal of catechesis was to inform the understanding of the Catholic faithful by teaching them the principles that would enable them to love God, make moral judgments independently, and ultimately to go to Heaven when they died. Like any human endeavor, it was never perfectly done, nor effective in every case; but during World War II, Msgr. Ronald Knox observed that the young American Catholic servicemen stationed in England were the best instructed laymen he had ever met."
That "classic goal" of catechesis was, perhaps, fatally subverted by a relatively small circle of self-proclaimed experts, the most prominent of whom have been named throughout this series: ex-Brother Gabriel Moran, Fr.
Gerard Sloyan, Fr. Richard McBrien, et al., but in the center of that influential circle was Bishop Raymond Lucker, who died September 19 after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 74 at the time of his death.
Bishop Lucker of New Ulm, Minn., with the late Bishop William E. McManus of Fort Wayne-South Bend (and former superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago), was a key change agent at the "switching points" of the Church's catechetical enterprise in this country for over 40 years.
To the end, Lucker was one of the most defiant and outspoken of the "gang of 40" — those American bishops who openly and actively support an agenda contrary to the Second Vatican Council, and encourage dissenting
theologians, university professors, and catechists engaged in the ongoing process of ecclesial deconstruction engineered in the years prior to the convening of Vatican II.
For decades, Lucker was at the center of "the new experiential catechesis" and acted as the point man for an entire religious education establishment's battle with the Holy See over content and methods in religious education programs.
In many ways, he was a figure as tragic as the products of the catechesis he promoted: As a young priest, he was known for his orthodoxy and his "conservatism," but as time would show, he never recovered from the
"theological I scholarship" or brainwashing he caught from European periti during Vatican II while he was student in Rome.
As bishop of New Ulm, Lucker gained national attention by his positions favoring the ordaining of women and the ordaining of married men, opposing Humanae Vitae, and criticizing Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (and the late John Cardinal O'Connor, by the way). As an obituary in St. Paul's Pioneer Press observed felicitously, Lucker "moved like a zephyr through the corridors of power in the American Catholic Church."
Raymond Alphonse Lucker was born in 1927 in St. Paul, the son of a railroad worker. He was educated at Sacred Heart Grade School and Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary. In 1948, he received his BA in philosophy from St. Paul Seminary, and in 1952, a master of arts degree in Church history, also from St. Paul's. In 1966, he received his doctorate in sacred theology (STD), from the University of St. Thomas in Rome and in 1969, a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota.
Upon his Ordination to the priesthood on June 7,1952, he was appointed assistant director of the archdiocese's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a post he held until 1958, at which time he moved over to St. Paul's Seminary to instruct seminarians in catechetics, where he remained, except for his years in Rome, until 1969. During that same period, he also held the post of director of the archdiocese's CCD office.
In 1969, he became director of the Department of Education in the newly created United States Catholic Conference, a post he held until 1971. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese in 1971, and, after serving in two parishes, was appointed bishop of New Ulm on December 23, 1975, and installed February 19, 1976.
As author of several books, including Aims of Religious Education, 1966, and a contributor to Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese's Universal Catechism Reader (1990), a bitter critique of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Lucker was truly a "pioneer" in what he always insisted was a "catechetical renewal." He helped, with the late Bishop McManus, set up the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, was a delegate to the International Catechetical Congress in Rome in 1971, represented the bishops of the United States as a delegate to the synod in 1977 and as an alternate delegate to the synod in 1987.
He participated actively in the annual diocesan director meetings from 1952 until the establishment of the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education in 1966. He was also one of the founders of the Catechetical Forum, an association of catechetical writers, professors of catechetics, CCD directors, and other catechetical leaders, and he was actively involved in many dissident organizations, such as Call to Action.
In March 1981, Lucker was the first bishop in the United States to appoint pastoral administrators (who are often radical nuns) as leaders of parishes. He created an international sensation when he placed one of his rural parishes under interdict until every member received psychological counseling. The parishioners' crime: They objected to a nun-catechist trained in New Age spirituality by Matthew Fox catechizing their children, and her decision to replace the crucifix in the church's sanctuary with a "cosmic pillow."
Lucker, considered one of the most activist and modernist among the American bishops, was a sought-after speaker, and addressed hundreds of national and diocesan conventions, conferences, and symposia on catechetics, evangelization, laity in Church and society, pastoral planning, and spiritual renewal.
He was a regular speaker for conferences sponsored by the National Center for Pastoral Leadership, which sponsors major, national catechetical conferences, established by Maryland layman Tim Ragan to promote dissent in the Church, and even served on its advisory board.
Ragan selected speakers/wrote Dan Guido for an Annapolis business magazine, "who have been rebuked by the Church or forced out of their Church-related positions for their criticism of the policies of Pope John Paul II, as well as more mainstream Catholics who share the same outlook."
The list of speakers with whom Lucker would share a podium included many of the most prominent dissenters of the past 25 years: Hans Kung, Charles Curran, Rosemary Ruether, and Ruth Fitzpatrick; dissident nuns like Sisters Sandra Schneider, Joan Chittister, Mary Luke Tobin, Barbara Fiand, Miriam Therese Winters, and Jose Hobday; resigned priests Bernard Cooke, Anthony Padovano, and Thomas Groome; Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Mich.; and Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton; Notre Dame's top theologian Richard McBrien, New Age guru Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., and many others, most of whom also appear at Roger Cardinal Mahony's annual Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, the country's largest.
In her 1998 CWR article, Steichen eloquently and succinctly summarized the data shown in this series:
"Catechesis is generally conceded to be a dismal failure today. Survey after survey demonstrates the shocking doctrinal, ecclesial, and moral illiteracy of American Catholics of every age and ethnicity. Two-thirds do not believe Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist; most do not even know they are supposed to believe this fundamental tenet of Catholic faith . . .
"The catechetical collapse of the past 35 years has not been an isolated phenomenon. One of the most prominent partisans in the campaign that produced the 'new catechetics,' Fr. Berard Marthaler, cheerfully concedes that it 'has had a symbiotic relationship with biblical scholarship, the liturgical movement, and the 'new theology" ' . . .
"Thus, in what was supposed to be an age of lay empowerment, the DRE and her colleagues form a new clericalism more rigid than the old, with a rule and a compulsory 'process' for every eventuality. Earlier religious reforms had typically called for more intense prayer, stricter asceticism, higher standards of personal morality, and greater purity of doctrine. The 'new catechetics,' mandated as the legitimate expression of 'the Spirit of Vatican II,' seemed to call believers to greater laxity, instead. Doctrines
the faithful had previously accepted as true and changeless were swiftly replaced by a 'new theology' whose major premise seemed to be that the 'old church' — now dead — had been wrong about virtually everything, while the 'new church' purportedly born of the council, knew with certainty that truth cannot be known with certainty.
"Much talk was heard about 'the signs of the times,' but the new experts seemed to regard them as welcome revelations rather than as challenges. Bewildered Catholic parents were told that the rote memories of the young must no longer to be filled with 'dry formulas' of 'cognitive information.' Building self-esteem replaced the transmission of Catholic doctrine as the goal of pedagogy. In elementary school, textbooks became vapid but colorful. The Blessed Sacrament was described as 'special bread' for a special celebratory 'community meal.' Students were told to see Christ in each other, rather than 'in that bread box on the altar.' No more would their consciences be 'deformed into scrupulosity' by a 'rigid personal morality focused on sin.'
"Catholicism would henceforth entail accepting one another unconditionally, as God does, being kind to each other, and rejecting any temptation to judge another's actions against an objective standard. Instead, young Catholic students were given to understand that God was speaking to them in their experience. The new role of the catechist was to help them to reflect on it. Often 'religion class' became an attempt to provide the desired religious experience through such 'creative' activities as finger painting, banner making, liturgy-planning (or 'para-liturgy' planning), or talking about current secular heroes.
"At the high school level, the new religious education seldom involved textbooks reflecting traditional Catholic doctrine. When doctrinal matters were addressed, they might be explained in terms formally rejected long ago as 'anathema.' Class time might mean directed small-group discussions of
'Lifeboat' ethical dilemmas, or the evils of war or of capital punishment, or perhaps — as thousands of religious jumped ship — self-justifying denunciations of Church teachings on contraception, celibacy, or other
embattled points. Over the decades, classes at all levels centered more frequently on 'creation spirituality' — an exaggerated environmentalist anxiety over the 'endangered planet' that sometimes edges into idolatry.
"Nor is this crisis past. Even now, widely used catechetical texts embody a religious agenda that not only omits but in important particulars contradicts Catholic teaching."
As one of the U.S. bishops' top catechetical experts, and as ordinary himself after 1976, Lucker was intimately involved in every major catechetical endeavor in the postconciliar era. For example:
• The 1971 International Catechetical Congress in Rome: There, as related in the anonymous work, DOA: The Ambush of the Universal Catechism (Crisis Books, 1993), "John Cardinal Wright and his Congregation for the Clergy were seriously embarrassed by a series of resolutions passed by the English-speaking language group at the congress" who declared that the recently issued General Catechetical Directory could be ignored by those bishops who disagreed with its requirements.
Among the highlights of that congress was Cardinal Wright's swipe at Lucker's predecessor at the USCC Education Office, then-auxiliary bishop of Chicago, William E. McManus — the same cleric who was responsible for Kalt & Wilkins' heretical and psycho-babbling To Live Is Christ.
Cardinal Wright, taking note of the tremendous popular tumult over the "new catechesis," exhorted the professional catechists to "clear your minds of theological smog, your hearts of induced sociological confusion, so that you may recapture joy in the Lord." McManus responded to this criticism by suggesting that the cardinal might hire a professional public relations professional "to make sure he doesn't fall on his face in much more important matters."
Wright retorted: "Well, maybe. But there are those of us who believe that professionalism, despite all its virtue, can ruin religion more quickly than sin — at least if the sinners have contrite and humble hearts."
• In September 1972, Lucker and his creation, the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, published their Commentary on the General Catechetical Directory, which contradicted and undermined the Holy See's document.
• The National Catechetical Directory, Sharing the Light of Faith, was eventually approved by the U.S. bishops in 1977 and was granted a recognitio by Rome after the Holy See made significant amendments. But during the four-year process of its creation, the NCCB-USCC staff in Washington labored mightily to enshrine in the document the right of Catholics to dissent from authoritative Church teaching on a variety of issues, including such hot-button issues as contraception and First Communion before First Confession.
• Lucker was one of four U.S. bishop-delegates at the Synod of Bishops, in Rome 1977, which focused the bishops' attention on the "state of catechetics."
Summarizing the synod, Aloisio Cardinal Lorscheider said the bishops "expressed the wish that Revelation should not be diluted or drowned out in a catechesis which is centered on speculative or psychological side issues. Catechesis should not propose immature theological opinion, or even more serious, theological opinions that are contrary to the faith."
Lucker's view at the time, criticized in an editorial (October 27, 1977) by A.J. Matt Jr. in this newspaper, was that "theological speculations do not disturb my faith."
• In 1989, after the "mini-summit" involving top officials of the Holy See and the American bishops, at which Catechetical concerns were again mentioned, Lucker said he was "flabbergasted" that John Cardinal O'Connor
seemed to agree with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger that there had not been a "Catechetical renewal" in this country over the past 35 years.
With "a heavy heart, with tears, Lucker told a group of educators in Sacramento, he heard of O'Connor's lament that "years of confusion and diversity in catechetical instruction material . . . [have] left an entire
generation in a state of ambiguity," and of Ratzinger's caution that religious education "has been turned over to the so-called professional," resulting in a "confusion of voices, making it all the more difficult to
recognize that of the Gospel."
Lucker worried that Ratzinger's and O'Connor's views reflected those of "reactionary" groups such as Catholics United for the Faith and the readers of The Wanderer and Fidelity.
At that same meeting, Lucker gave a preview of how The Catechism of the Catholic Church would be received in this country by the professional "religious education" establishment by hinting that it would be merely a
"resource for bishops."
After the Holy See produced its Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first official Catechism since the Council of Trent, Lucker responded with The Peoples' Catechism: Catholic Faith for Adults, by the People of God, for the People of God, co-edited by Patrick Brennan and Michael Leach (Crossroads), one of a group of hostile responses intended to undercut the Catechism and render it obsolete.
Reviewing the book, Fr. Alfred McBride, O. Praem., observed at the time:
"The book states its material is ‘drawn from human experience . . . written in modern idiom for real people . . . a truly contemporary catechism, an adult followup to the new Catechism . . . directed to mature Catholics . . .
presents Catholicism as the living faith of a people.’
"This is a tired repetition of a narrowly understood view of human experience, a restrictive attention to the present with little connection to Church history or the history of salvation, a preoccupation with
psychological maturity — admirable in itself, but insufficient for those who believe they have been called to holiness, grace, faith, and the supernatural life.
"This is a flattened landscape where the experience of God from the great sources of Revelation — Sacred Scripture and Tradition, and sacraments and prayer — should be the proper object of catechesis. Biblical, liturgical, and ecclesial signs of God’s presence . . . In this Peoples' Catechism, we are pressed down here in a pedestrian commerce with one another when we need to stand in awe before the majesty of God, the splendor of the cross, the overflowing love of the Trinity, and the companionship of Mary and the saints (the ones who are irretrievably members of God's People)."
The tragedy of Bishop Lucker and so many of his peers in the field is that once they accepted the subversive elements of the "new theology" and the "new catechetics," they embraced it to the end, oblivious to the fact that the embrace set them apart from the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Earlier this year, aware he was dying of cancer, Lucker gave an interview to The America Catholic's Catharine A. Henningsen, published in its January/February 2001 issue.
In the interview, Henningsen reiterated the points Bishop Lucker had made in an address to members of Call to Action in November 2000, in which he claimed that the Church had changed its teaching on 65 subjects, and stated his view that the Church could "reform" its teachings on such matters as ordaining women and artificial birth control.
Lucker defined an "authoritative teaching" as one that a large number of people accept, but when there is a "critical mass" of people who no longer accept that teaching, then it is subject to change.
At one point in the interview, Henningsen asked: "But when you look at Ordinatio Sacerdotalis [the definitive papal document on the impossibility of ordaining women], which the Church has proclaimed as a definitive
teaching, there is nothing in Scripture against the ordination of women."
Lucker responded:
"That's right. The teaching on the ordination of women is one of the most difficult issues that we face. The biblical scholars will say that there's nothing in Scripture that will prove it one way or the other. Where do you prove it from then? Well, it's basically a question of practice. We haven't done it.
"Does this mean that's the source of the doctrine? Well, the pope came up with two new reasons against ordaining women when he proclaimed Ordinatio Sacerdotalis definitive. First, he said, 'Well, there were no women at the Last Supper.' But do we really know that? No. We don't have any proof of that. Then he said that Jesus ordained the disciples at the Last Supper and there were no women there, so it was not Jesus' intention to ordain women. Well, we can't prove Jesus ordained anybody. Basically, the Church's argument against the ordination of women — which has been taught for at least 800 years — is that women are inferior. But we don't believe that women are inferior anymore. There is a lack of argumentation for the teaching. And the argumentation is weak."
"Where does the teaching about birth control fit into this discussion?" Henningsen asked.
In his response, Lucker summed up a lifetime of opposition to the Holy See.
"Some say birth control is a definitive teaching, others that it is an authoritative teaching. Now you have some very conservative theologians — a whole bunch of them over in Rome — who claim that the teaching about birth
control is definitive. Some even wanted to ratchet it up to infallible! To say the ordinary teaching magisterium of the Church for centuries has taught it this way. Almost every theologian except the very conservative ones would say that birth control is an authoritative teaching — a teaching, which has
been expressed by theologians and supported by the magisterium . . .
"So obviously it becomes a power issue, a patriarchal issue and a political issue. When the people in Rome want to have a theological discussion on a particular topic, they will bring in theologians from around the world, but they're all hand-picked, so they all say the same thing. They'll say, 'We consulted broadly on this issue and this is what we hear,' but really, they're only listening to one side of the question. We give great weight to officially held positions, and we arrive at them, as I described before, through listening to the theologians, having free and open discussion of these questions and listening to the people."
Not only did Lucker reveal himself to be a dissenter from Catholic teaching on birth control and ordaining women and reveal his sympathy for dissenting theologians who "suffer" from Vatican oppression, he sided with those progressive theologians who have deconstructed Catholic teaching and confused millions of the faithful through their influence in the "new catechetics" and religious-owned publications such as U.S. Catholic and St. Anthony Messenger.
He ridiculed efforts to enforce Ex Corde Ecclesiae, and expressed his support of Fr. Robert Nugent's fight against Vatican efforts to ensure fidelity to Catholic teaching. His remarks on sexism, patriarchalism, and
"women's inequality" evidenced his acceptance of radical feminist language and perspectives. He then accused "ultra-conservative Catholics" who prefer the Tridentine Mass of being dissenters from definitive teaching — even though their criticisms are hardly in the same category as his dissent from definitive teaching on birth control and ordaining women.
In this self-revelation, Lucker remains a "poster child" for the theologically confused. It helps explain why he was unable to provide Catholic teaching to the people of New Ulm or the neomodernist catechetical establishment he supported. Unable to distinguish definitive doctrine from disciplinary, administrative, canonical, and hortatory enactments by Church authority, Lucker epitomized the doctrinally inept bishop blind to the dismal truth that the neomodernist "experiential catechetics" ends in disbelief.
© Wanderer Printing Co., 201 Ohio Street, St. Paul, MN 55107, 612-224-5733.
Catholic Culture
Cardinal James Stafford, originally from Baltimore, recently wrote on the reception of the Humanae Vitae encyclical on birth control by the priests of his archdiocese in 1968. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who died the other day, spoke in 1974 on the problems of Western civilization
In 2000, Paul Likoudis wrote on Bishop Raymond Lucker of New Ulm who was a leader of many who sought major changes in the Church. He was especially prominent in the field of catechetics, something that disappeared from the American Church after Vatican II. Bishop Lucker resigned because of cancer in 2000, died in 2001 and was succeeded by Bishop John Nienstedt, now Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Archbishop Nienstedt receives a lot of criticism from those who didn't agree with the changes he made after his arrival in New Ulm. Many of those objectors probably don't know very much about Bishop Lucker. Likoudis' article might be of interest to Archbishop Nienstedt's critics.
Bishop Raymond Lucker: A Tragic Figure of the 'New Catechetics'
by Paul Likoudis
In a May 1998 article on the catechetical debacle of the past 40 years for Catholic World Report, author Donna Steichen wrote:
"The classic goal of catechesis was to inform the understanding of the Catholic faithful by teaching them the principles that would enable them to love God, make moral judgments independently, and ultimately to go to Heaven when they died. Like any human endeavor, it was never perfectly done, nor effective in every case; but during World War II, Msgr. Ronald Knox observed that the young American Catholic servicemen stationed in England were the best instructed laymen he had ever met."
That "classic goal" of catechesis was, perhaps, fatally subverted by a relatively small circle of self-proclaimed experts, the most prominent of whom have been named throughout this series: ex-Brother Gabriel Moran, Fr.
Gerard Sloyan, Fr. Richard McBrien, et al., but in the center of that influential circle was Bishop Raymond Lucker, who died September 19 after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 74 at the time of his death.
Bishop Lucker of New Ulm, Minn., with the late Bishop William E. McManus of Fort Wayne-South Bend (and former superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago), was a key change agent at the "switching points" of the Church's catechetical enterprise in this country for over 40 years.
To the end, Lucker was one of the most defiant and outspoken of the "gang of 40" — those American bishops who openly and actively support an agenda contrary to the Second Vatican Council, and encourage dissenting
theologians, university professors, and catechists engaged in the ongoing process of ecclesial deconstruction engineered in the years prior to the convening of Vatican II.
For decades, Lucker was at the center of "the new experiential catechesis" and acted as the point man for an entire religious education establishment's battle with the Holy See over content and methods in religious education programs.
In many ways, he was a figure as tragic as the products of the catechesis he promoted: As a young priest, he was known for his orthodoxy and his "conservatism," but as time would show, he never recovered from the
"theological I scholarship" or brainwashing he caught from European periti during Vatican II while he was student in Rome.
As bishop of New Ulm, Lucker gained national attention by his positions favoring the ordaining of women and the ordaining of married men, opposing Humanae Vitae, and criticizing Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (and the late John Cardinal O'Connor, by the way). As an obituary in St. Paul's Pioneer Press observed felicitously, Lucker "moved like a zephyr through the corridors of power in the American Catholic Church."
Raymond Alphonse Lucker was born in 1927 in St. Paul, the son of a railroad worker. He was educated at Sacred Heart Grade School and Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary. In 1948, he received his BA in philosophy from St. Paul Seminary, and in 1952, a master of arts degree in Church history, also from St. Paul's. In 1966, he received his doctorate in sacred theology (STD), from the University of St. Thomas in Rome and in 1969, a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota.
Upon his Ordination to the priesthood on June 7,1952, he was appointed assistant director of the archdiocese's Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a post he held until 1958, at which time he moved over to St. Paul's Seminary to instruct seminarians in catechetics, where he remained, except for his years in Rome, until 1969. During that same period, he also held the post of director of the archdiocese's CCD office.
In 1969, he became director of the Department of Education in the newly created United States Catholic Conference, a post he held until 1971. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of the St. Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese in 1971, and, after serving in two parishes, was appointed bishop of New Ulm on December 23, 1975, and installed February 19, 1976.
As author of several books, including Aims of Religious Education, 1966, and a contributor to Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese's Universal Catechism Reader (1990), a bitter critique of The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Lucker was truly a "pioneer" in what he always insisted was a "catechetical renewal." He helped, with the late Bishop McManus, set up the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, was a delegate to the International Catechetical Congress in Rome in 1971, represented the bishops of the United States as a delegate to the synod in 1977 and as an alternate delegate to the synod in 1987.
He participated actively in the annual diocesan director meetings from 1952 until the establishment of the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education in 1966. He was also one of the founders of the Catechetical Forum, an association of catechetical writers, professors of catechetics, CCD directors, and other catechetical leaders, and he was actively involved in many dissident organizations, such as Call to Action.
In March 1981, Lucker was the first bishop in the United States to appoint pastoral administrators (who are often radical nuns) as leaders of parishes. He created an international sensation when he placed one of his rural parishes under interdict until every member received psychological counseling. The parishioners' crime: They objected to a nun-catechist trained in New Age spirituality by Matthew Fox catechizing their children, and her decision to replace the crucifix in the church's sanctuary with a "cosmic pillow."
Lucker, considered one of the most activist and modernist among the American bishops, was a sought-after speaker, and addressed hundreds of national and diocesan conventions, conferences, and symposia on catechetics, evangelization, laity in Church and society, pastoral planning, and spiritual renewal.
He was a regular speaker for conferences sponsored by the National Center for Pastoral Leadership, which sponsors major, national catechetical conferences, established by Maryland layman Tim Ragan to promote dissent in the Church, and even served on its advisory board.
Ragan selected speakers/wrote Dan Guido for an Annapolis business magazine, "who have been rebuked by the Church or forced out of their Church-related positions for their criticism of the policies of Pope John Paul II, as well as more mainstream Catholics who share the same outlook."
The list of speakers with whom Lucker would share a podium included many of the most prominent dissenters of the past 25 years: Hans Kung, Charles Curran, Rosemary Ruether, and Ruth Fitzpatrick; dissident nuns like Sisters Sandra Schneider, Joan Chittister, Mary Luke Tobin, Barbara Fiand, Miriam Therese Winters, and Jose Hobday; resigned priests Bernard Cooke, Anthony Padovano, and Thomas Groome; Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee and Bishop Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Mich.; and Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton; Notre Dame's top theologian Richard McBrien, New Age guru Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M., and many others, most of whom also appear at Roger Cardinal Mahony's annual Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, the country's largest.
Succinct Summary
In her 1998 CWR article, Steichen eloquently and succinctly summarized the data shown in this series:
"Catechesis is generally conceded to be a dismal failure today. Survey after survey demonstrates the shocking doctrinal, ecclesial, and moral illiteracy of American Catholics of every age and ethnicity. Two-thirds do not believe Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist; most do not even know they are supposed to believe this fundamental tenet of Catholic faith . . .
"The catechetical collapse of the past 35 years has not been an isolated phenomenon. One of the most prominent partisans in the campaign that produced the 'new catechetics,' Fr. Berard Marthaler, cheerfully concedes that it 'has had a symbiotic relationship with biblical scholarship, the liturgical movement, and the 'new theology" ' . . .
"Thus, in what was supposed to be an age of lay empowerment, the DRE and her colleagues form a new clericalism more rigid than the old, with a rule and a compulsory 'process' for every eventuality. Earlier religious reforms had typically called for more intense prayer, stricter asceticism, higher standards of personal morality, and greater purity of doctrine. The 'new catechetics,' mandated as the legitimate expression of 'the Spirit of Vatican II,' seemed to call believers to greater laxity, instead. Doctrines
the faithful had previously accepted as true and changeless were swiftly replaced by a 'new theology' whose major premise seemed to be that the 'old church' — now dead — had been wrong about virtually everything, while the 'new church' purportedly born of the council, knew with certainty that truth cannot be known with certainty.
"Much talk was heard about 'the signs of the times,' but the new experts seemed to regard them as welcome revelations rather than as challenges. Bewildered Catholic parents were told that the rote memories of the young must no longer to be filled with 'dry formulas' of 'cognitive information.' Building self-esteem replaced the transmission of Catholic doctrine as the goal of pedagogy. In elementary school, textbooks became vapid but colorful. The Blessed Sacrament was described as 'special bread' for a special celebratory 'community meal.' Students were told to see Christ in each other, rather than 'in that bread box on the altar.' No more would their consciences be 'deformed into scrupulosity' by a 'rigid personal morality focused on sin.'
"Catholicism would henceforth entail accepting one another unconditionally, as God does, being kind to each other, and rejecting any temptation to judge another's actions against an objective standard. Instead, young Catholic students were given to understand that God was speaking to them in their experience. The new role of the catechist was to help them to reflect on it. Often 'religion class' became an attempt to provide the desired religious experience through such 'creative' activities as finger painting, banner making, liturgy-planning (or 'para-liturgy' planning), or talking about current secular heroes.
"At the high school level, the new religious education seldom involved textbooks reflecting traditional Catholic doctrine. When doctrinal matters were addressed, they might be explained in terms formally rejected long ago as 'anathema.' Class time might mean directed small-group discussions of
'Lifeboat' ethical dilemmas, or the evils of war or of capital punishment, or perhaps — as thousands of religious jumped ship — self-justifying denunciations of Church teachings on contraception, celibacy, or other
embattled points. Over the decades, classes at all levels centered more frequently on 'creation spirituality' — an exaggerated environmentalist anxiety over the 'endangered planet' that sometimes edges into idolatry.
"Nor is this crisis past. Even now, widely used catechetical texts embody a religious agenda that not only omits but in important particulars contradicts Catholic teaching."
Flashback
As one of the U.S. bishops' top catechetical experts, and as ordinary himself after 1976, Lucker was intimately involved in every major catechetical endeavor in the postconciliar era. For example:
• The 1971 International Catechetical Congress in Rome: There, as related in the anonymous work, DOA: The Ambush of the Universal Catechism (Crisis Books, 1993), "John Cardinal Wright and his Congregation for the Clergy were seriously embarrassed by a series of resolutions passed by the English-speaking language group at the congress" who declared that the recently issued General Catechetical Directory could be ignored by those bishops who disagreed with its requirements.
Among the highlights of that congress was Cardinal Wright's swipe at Lucker's predecessor at the USCC Education Office, then-auxiliary bishop of Chicago, William E. McManus — the same cleric who was responsible for Kalt & Wilkins' heretical and psycho-babbling To Live Is Christ.
Cardinal Wright, taking note of the tremendous popular tumult over the "new catechesis," exhorted the professional catechists to "clear your minds of theological smog, your hearts of induced sociological confusion, so that you may recapture joy in the Lord." McManus responded to this criticism by suggesting that the cardinal might hire a professional public relations professional "to make sure he doesn't fall on his face in much more important matters."
Wright retorted: "Well, maybe. But there are those of us who believe that professionalism, despite all its virtue, can ruin religion more quickly than sin — at least if the sinners have contrite and humble hearts."
• In September 1972, Lucker and his creation, the National Conference of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, published their Commentary on the General Catechetical Directory, which contradicted and undermined the Holy See's document.
• The National Catechetical Directory, Sharing the Light of Faith, was eventually approved by the U.S. bishops in 1977 and was granted a recognitio by Rome after the Holy See made significant amendments. But during the four-year process of its creation, the NCCB-USCC staff in Washington labored mightily to enshrine in the document the right of Catholics to dissent from authoritative Church teaching on a variety of issues, including such hot-button issues as contraception and First Communion before First Confession.
• Lucker was one of four U.S. bishop-delegates at the Synod of Bishops, in Rome 1977, which focused the bishops' attention on the "state of catechetics."
Summarizing the synod, Aloisio Cardinal Lorscheider said the bishops "expressed the wish that Revelation should not be diluted or drowned out in a catechesis which is centered on speculative or psychological side issues. Catechesis should not propose immature theological opinion, or even more serious, theological opinions that are contrary to the faith."
Lucker's view at the time, criticized in an editorial (October 27, 1977) by A.J. Matt Jr. in this newspaper, was that "theological speculations do not disturb my faith."
• In 1989, after the "mini-summit" involving top officials of the Holy See and the American bishops, at which Catechetical concerns were again mentioned, Lucker said he was "flabbergasted" that John Cardinal O'Connor
seemed to agree with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger that there had not been a "Catechetical renewal" in this country over the past 35 years.
With "a heavy heart, with tears, Lucker told a group of educators in Sacramento, he heard of O'Connor's lament that "years of confusion and diversity in catechetical instruction material . . . [have] left an entire
generation in a state of ambiguity," and of Ratzinger's caution that religious education "has been turned over to the so-called professional," resulting in a "confusion of voices, making it all the more difficult to
recognize that of the Gospel."
Lucker worried that Ratzinger's and O'Connor's views reflected those of "reactionary" groups such as Catholics United for the Faith and the readers of The Wanderer and Fidelity.
At that same meeting, Lucker gave a preview of how The Catechism of the Catholic Church would be received in this country by the professional "religious education" establishment by hinting that it would be merely a
"resource for bishops."
At War With The Catechism
After the Holy See produced its Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first official Catechism since the Council of Trent, Lucker responded with The Peoples' Catechism: Catholic Faith for Adults, by the People of God, for the People of God, co-edited by Patrick Brennan and Michael Leach (Crossroads), one of a group of hostile responses intended to undercut the Catechism and render it obsolete.
Reviewing the book, Fr. Alfred McBride, O. Praem., observed at the time:
"The book states its material is ‘drawn from human experience . . . written in modern idiom for real people . . . a truly contemporary catechism, an adult followup to the new Catechism . . . directed to mature Catholics . . .
presents Catholicism as the living faith of a people.’
"This is a tired repetition of a narrowly understood view of human experience, a restrictive attention to the present with little connection to Church history or the history of salvation, a preoccupation with
psychological maturity — admirable in itself, but insufficient for those who believe they have been called to holiness, grace, faith, and the supernatural life.
"This is a flattened landscape where the experience of God from the great sources of Revelation — Sacred Scripture and Tradition, and sacraments and prayer — should be the proper object of catechesis. Biblical, liturgical, and ecclesial signs of God’s presence . . . In this Peoples' Catechism, we are pressed down here in a pedestrian commerce with one another when we need to stand in awe before the majesty of God, the splendor of the cross, the overflowing love of the Trinity, and the companionship of Mary and the saints (the ones who are irretrievably members of God's People)."
Confused To The End
The tragedy of Bishop Lucker and so many of his peers in the field is that once they accepted the subversive elements of the "new theology" and the "new catechetics," they embraced it to the end, oblivious to the fact that the embrace set them apart from the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Earlier this year, aware he was dying of cancer, Lucker gave an interview to The America Catholic's Catharine A. Henningsen, published in its January/February 2001 issue.
In the interview, Henningsen reiterated the points Bishop Lucker had made in an address to members of Call to Action in November 2000, in which he claimed that the Church had changed its teaching on 65 subjects, and stated his view that the Church could "reform" its teachings on such matters as ordaining women and artificial birth control.
Lucker defined an "authoritative teaching" as one that a large number of people accept, but when there is a "critical mass" of people who no longer accept that teaching, then it is subject to change.
At one point in the interview, Henningsen asked: "But when you look at Ordinatio Sacerdotalis [the definitive papal document on the impossibility of ordaining women], which the Church has proclaimed as a definitive
teaching, there is nothing in Scripture against the ordination of women."
Lucker responded:
"That's right. The teaching on the ordination of women is one of the most difficult issues that we face. The biblical scholars will say that there's nothing in Scripture that will prove it one way or the other. Where do you prove it from then? Well, it's basically a question of practice. We haven't done it.
"Does this mean that's the source of the doctrine? Well, the pope came up with two new reasons against ordaining women when he proclaimed Ordinatio Sacerdotalis definitive. First, he said, 'Well, there were no women at the Last Supper.' But do we really know that? No. We don't have any proof of that. Then he said that Jesus ordained the disciples at the Last Supper and there were no women there, so it was not Jesus' intention to ordain women. Well, we can't prove Jesus ordained anybody. Basically, the Church's argument against the ordination of women — which has been taught for at least 800 years — is that women are inferior. But we don't believe that women are inferior anymore. There is a lack of argumentation for the teaching. And the argumentation is weak."
"Where does the teaching about birth control fit into this discussion?" Henningsen asked.
In his response, Lucker summed up a lifetime of opposition to the Holy See.
"Some say birth control is a definitive teaching, others that it is an authoritative teaching. Now you have some very conservative theologians — a whole bunch of them over in Rome — who claim that the teaching about birth
control is definitive. Some even wanted to ratchet it up to infallible! To say the ordinary teaching magisterium of the Church for centuries has taught it this way. Almost every theologian except the very conservative ones would say that birth control is an authoritative teaching — a teaching, which has
been expressed by theologians and supported by the magisterium . . .
"So obviously it becomes a power issue, a patriarchal issue and a political issue. When the people in Rome want to have a theological discussion on a particular topic, they will bring in theologians from around the world, but they're all hand-picked, so they all say the same thing. They'll say, 'We consulted broadly on this issue and this is what we hear,' but really, they're only listening to one side of the question. We give great weight to officially held positions, and we arrive at them, as I described before, through listening to the theologians, having free and open discussion of these questions and listening to the people."
Not only did Lucker reveal himself to be a dissenter from Catholic teaching on birth control and ordaining women and reveal his sympathy for dissenting theologians who "suffer" from Vatican oppression, he sided with those progressive theologians who have deconstructed Catholic teaching and confused millions of the faithful through their influence in the "new catechetics" and religious-owned publications such as U.S. Catholic and St. Anthony Messenger.
He ridiculed efforts to enforce Ex Corde Ecclesiae, and expressed his support of Fr. Robert Nugent's fight against Vatican efforts to ensure fidelity to Catholic teaching. His remarks on sexism, patriarchalism, and
"women's inequality" evidenced his acceptance of radical feminist language and perspectives. He then accused "ultra-conservative Catholics" who prefer the Tridentine Mass of being dissenters from definitive teaching — even though their criticisms are hardly in the same category as his dissent from definitive teaching on birth control and ordaining women.
In this self-revelation, Lucker remains a "poster child" for the theologically confused. It helps explain why he was unable to provide Catholic teaching to the people of New Ulm or the neomodernist catechetical establishment he supported. Unable to distinguish definitive doctrine from disciplinary, administrative, canonical, and hortatory enactments by Church authority, Lucker epitomized the doctrinally inept bishop blind to the dismal truth that the neomodernist "experiential catechetics" ends in disbelief.
© Wanderer Printing Co., 201 Ohio Street, St. Paul, MN 55107, 612-224-5733.
Catholic Culture
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
My Friend: Bishop-Elect John LeVoir
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The Wanderer, July 24, 2008
The Wanderer, July 24, 2008
| By FR. RICHARD M. HOGAN Bishop- elect John LeVoir, appointed as the fourth bishop of New Ulm, Minn., on July 14, 2008 by Pope Benedict, has been a very good friend of mine since the summer of 1977. I was tied to St. Agnes Parish in St. Paul, Minn., because my priest-uncle, the late Msgr. Richard J. Schuler, was pastor there. Bishop-elect LeVoir, together with his parents, were parishioners at St. Agnes. Msgr. Schuler inspired me to think of the priesthood and by the summer of 1977, I was ready to consider beginning my seminary education at the St. Paul Seminary. Bishop-elect LeVoir was in a similar position and Msgr. Schuler suggested that the two of us visit with one another. One day that summer, the future bishop came over to my parents’ home where I was living and we visited for some hours, exchanging personal histories and hopes for the future. We were both planning on entering the seminary in the fall of 1977 and were hoping to be archdiocesan priests of St. Paul and Minneapolis. |
Monday, July 14, 2008
Father John LeVoir, Stillwater, Appointed Bishop of New Ulm
.
.
As reported here late last week, the longest vacancy of a Stateside diocese was settled this morning with the Pope's appointment of Fr John LeVoir, a priest of the Twin Cities and pastor of Ss. Michael and Mary parish [parishes] in Stillwater, as bishop of New Ulm.
LeVoir, 62, succeeds Archbishop John Nienstedt of St Paul and Minneapolis, who was transferred out of the exurban Minnesota church in April 2007. Ordained in 1981 and a parish priest throughout, the bishop-elect -- an accountant before entering seminary -- has authored a series of books, both on the teachings of John Paul II and the Image of God catechetical series.
Following in the footsteps of Bishop Peter Christensen of Superior, the bishop-to-be is the second Twin Cities pastor named an ordinary in the last year -- and the figure jumps to three when Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines gets added in; the former local auxiliary was named to the Iowa diocese in April.
As always, more to come.
From the bishop-elect:
Rocco, of course
St Charles Borromeo, Holy Trinity, St. Augustine, St Mike's and St. Mary's: You can't find a much better pedigree than that around here.
Now that we have our episcopal needs fulfilled for the time being, maybe now we can honor some of our highly deserving priests of the archdiocese as monsignori!
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As reported here late last week, the longest vacancy of a Stateside diocese was settled this morning with the Pope's appointment of Fr John LeVoir, a priest of the Twin Cities and pastor of Ss. Michael and Mary parish [parishes] in Stillwater, as bishop of New Ulm.
LeVoir, 62, succeeds Archbishop John Nienstedt of St Paul and Minneapolis, who was transferred out of the exurban Minnesota church in April 2007. Ordained in 1981 and a parish priest throughout, the bishop-elect -- an accountant before entering seminary -- has authored a series of books, both on the teachings of John Paul II and the Image of God catechetical series.
Following in the footsteps of Bishop Peter Christensen of Superior, the bishop-to-be is the second Twin Cities pastor named an ordinary in the last year -- and the figure jumps to three when Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines gets added in; the former local auxiliary was named to the Iowa diocese in April.
As always, more to come.
From the bishop-elect:
My background is that of a parish priest. I was an Associate Pastor at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony for eleven years, and Pastor of Holy Trinity in South St. Paul for twelve years and for four of those years, I was at the same time Pastor of St. Augustine in South St. Paul. I have been Pastor of St. Michael and St. Mary in Stillwater since 2004.For not a few, the mention of Schuler will ring a bell -- a revered figure among church conservatives, the sacred musician led the Twin Cities' Tradition-haven of St Agnes for nearly four decades before his death last year.
I am grateful to the parishioners of all of these parishes for their goodness to me. I am especially grateful to the late Monsignor Richard Schuler for the support that he gave me during my seminary years and for Father Francis Kittock, who was my Pastor and mentor at St. Charles Borromeo where I was his Associate.
I am particularly grateful to my parents, Marvin A. LeVoir, now deceased, and Mary A. LeVoir, now 93 years old, and to my brothers Frederick J. LeVoir and Paul W. LeVoir, and my sister, Mary Ellen Steinkraus.
In his retirement years, I was blessed to have known Bishop Alphonse Schladweiler, the founding Bishop of the New Ulm diocese. He was a kind and gentle shepherd.
I am pleased that this announcement is being made on July 14, the Feast of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680). She was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. Kateri is the first Native American to be declared Blessed.
I am going to be a new Bishop. I know that I have much to learn about serving as a Bishop and about the New Ulm diocese. Archbishop Nienstedt has assured me of his advice and help. I appreciate that so much. I ask the clergy, the religious, and the people of the diocese to be patient with me and to pray for me, as I will for them. With the help of God's grace, I will do my best to be a faithful shepherd.
Rocco, of course
St Charles Borromeo, Holy Trinity, St. Augustine, St Mike's and St. Mary's: You can't find a much better pedigree than that around here.
Now that we have our episcopal needs fulfilled for the time being, maybe now we can honor some of our highly deserving priests of the archdiocese as monsignori!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Q: What is an Oratory?
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A. An Oratory is a sign of declining population in some parts of Minnesota.
The New Ulm Diocese, which covers 15 counties from New Ulm to the South Dakota border, including Marshall and many surrounding areas, will re-designate one church, as well as await the appointment of a new bishop this summer.
The Taunton parish will be re-designated this summer as an oratory, meaning it will no longer hold Sunday mass, but can continue to host weekday prayer services.
Due to declining demographics in western Minnesota, the Committee on Parishes for the diocese decided to re-designate the parish, Monsignor Douglas Grams of the New Ulm Diocese said.
The committee looks at programming, church attendance and finances before re-designating a church, Grams said.
“When the bulk of finances is going to pay just the heat and electricity bills then we reassess,” Grams said.
After a church is named an oratory, parishioners are encouraged to join another church in the area.
Parishioners are also given the chance to choose whether to keep the building open or close the church. The Taunton parishioners chose in a 38-9 vote to close their building.
“A great deal of consultation takes place,” Grams said.
The vote is then sent to the Bishop of the diocese as a recommendation for what should be done. Since the New Ulm Diocese is currently waiting for a new appointment of a bishop after Archbishop Neinstedt left [officially] in May of 2007, the church will remain open as an oratory until the new bishop is appointed and can approve or reject the recommendation.
If the recommendation is later approved by the bishop, the church will be closed, the property sold, and any remaining money will follow the former parishioners to their new church.
“If five people decide to join the church in Marshall, then that percent of the remaining money would go to that church,” Grams said. Marshall Independent
As farms have grown larger, farm populations and farm-related business have decreased considerably, particularly in southwest Minnesota, which were it not for the cities of Marshall and Worthington, would be in a catastrophic population freefall.
A. An Oratory is a sign of declining population in some parts of Minnesota.
The New Ulm Diocese, which covers 15 counties from New Ulm to the South Dakota border, including Marshall and many surrounding areas, will re-designate one church, as well as await the appointment of a new bishop this summer.
The Taunton parish will be re-designated this summer as an oratory, meaning it will no longer hold Sunday mass, but can continue to host weekday prayer services.
Due to declining demographics in western Minnesota, the Committee on Parishes for the diocese decided to re-designate the parish, Monsignor Douglas Grams of the New Ulm Diocese said.
The committee looks at programming, church attendance and finances before re-designating a church, Grams said.
“When the bulk of finances is going to pay just the heat and electricity bills then we reassess,” Grams said.
After a church is named an oratory, parishioners are encouraged to join another church in the area.
Parishioners are also given the chance to choose whether to keep the building open or close the church. The Taunton parishioners chose in a 38-9 vote to close their building.
“A great deal of consultation takes place,” Grams said.
The vote is then sent to the Bishop of the diocese as a recommendation for what should be done. Since the New Ulm Diocese is currently waiting for a new appointment of a bishop after Archbishop Neinstedt left [officially] in May of 2007, the church will remain open as an oratory until the new bishop is appointed and can approve or reject the recommendation.
If the recommendation is later approved by the bishop, the church will be closed, the property sold, and any remaining money will follow the former parishioners to their new church.
“If five people decide to join the church in Marshall, then that percent of the remaining money would go to that church,” Grams said. Marshall Independent
As farms have grown larger, farm populations and farm-related business have decreased considerably, particularly in southwest Minnesota, which were it not for the cities of Marshall and Worthington, would be in a catastrophic population freefall.
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2005 | |
| Lincoln (Ivanhoe) | 8,207 | 6,890 | 6,429 | 6,065 |
| Lyon (Marshall) | 25,207 | 24,789 | 25,425 | 24,948 |
| Redwood (Redwood Falls) | 19,341 | 17,254 | 16,815 | 16,096 |
| Pipestone (Pipestone) | 11,690 | 10,491 | 9,895 | 9,497 |
| Murray (Slayton) | 11,507 | 9,660 | 9,165 | 8,857 |
| Cottonwood (Windom) | 14,854 | 12,694 | 12,167 | 11,842 |
| Rock (Luverne) | 10,703 | 9,806 | 9,721 | 9,541 |
| Nobles (Worthington) | 21,840 | 20,098 | 20,832 | 20,553 |
| Jackson (Jackson) | 13,690 | 11,677 | 11,268 | 11,175 |
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