I hope all of you have a happy and blessed New Year! Have fun tonight (not too much, OK?) and remember–tomorrow’s a Holy Day, so get thee to a Church! Or go tonight, like I am. 
I’ve left plenty of reading for y’all, but I’ll probably post on Monday….and once the holidays are over (also Monday), we’re back to normal posting schedule. Enjoy!
(like the new movie headline? )
Just saw the film adaptation of one of my favorite novels, Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha , which I enjoyed, although I found it very helpful to have read the book first. I saw it with three girlfriends, none of which had read the novel, so I got some good feedback from them about what they wish they would have known, or questions they had, about the film after they saw it. So this is a three parter: a synopsis, the review, and then the FAQs.
Synopsis: Young Chiyo and her sister, Satsu, are sold by their parents to become geishas in the Japanese city of Gion, to geishas what Broadway is to singers and dancers. The sisters are sure they will be housed together, but the geisha house (or okiya ) only take Chiyo, while her sister is taken to another part of town (we discover later that she has been sold as prostitute). Chiyo meets Mother and Auntie, who run the house, and she is enlisted as a servant with another girl, Pumpkin, until she is old enough to attend Geisha classes and begin her training. As Geisha means “artist”, these classes consist of dance practice, training in traditional Japanese instruments, and tea ceremony (these are described in detail in the novel but are brushed over quickly in the film). Chiyo manages to fall out of favor with Mother, however, when she tries to escape with her sister and ruins a kimono that belongs to Mameha, the greatest geisha in Gion, at the urging of Chiyo’s enemy in the house, Hatsumomo. Hatsumomo is one of Gion’s best geisha, unendingly jealous of Mameha, and hates Chiyo because she sees in her a potential rival, so she does everything in her power to ruin the young girl’s future. As a maid, Chiyo begins to despair of her life after her training is ended until she meets the chairman (Ken Wanatabe), who shows her kindness and treats her with respect. She falls instantly in love and vows to one day become a geisha so she can be around him. Unexpectedly, Mameha takes Chiyo under her wing, trains her as a geisha, and gives her the new name Sayuri. As Sayuri, she becomes the top geisha in Gion, much to the displeasure of Hatsumomo, who eventually goes mad after setting a fire in the okiya and leaves the family. The rest of the film charts Sayuri’s attempts to capture the chairman; the loss of her virginity to the highest bidder; the harsh treatment she endures at the hands of men, who think her nothing more than a prostitute, and other geisha; and the coming and aftermath of World War II and the effect it has on geisha culture and Sayuri’s life. I’m not going to give away the ending, but that’s a brief sketch.
Review: I really enjoyed this film, especially the cinematography, scenery, costumes (by Colleen Atwood, who also designed for Chicago ), and the wonderful score by John Williams that features Itzhak Perlman on the violin and Yo-Yo Ma on the cello. It’s simply divine to listen to (and has been nominated for a Golden Globe). The pacing is good (at times, too good), and the acting excellent, especially in Ken Wanatabe, Zizi Zhang (who plays adult Chiyo/Sayuri), and Michelle Yeoh, who plays Hatsumomo. The film captures the heart and spirit of the novel wonderfully without too much attention to following Golden’s dense plot like a BBC serial. Enjoyable, adult romance which I found quite satisfying. Some of the actors’ accents, however, are difficult to understand, so some knowledge of the story is helpful in deciphering what’s happening.
FAQs:
1. Why are Chiyo and Satsu sold? The girls are sold because their mother is dying and their father is in his 60s and is a fisherman. He has no sons, and with his wife’s death imminent, he is worried about how to provide for the girls, since he does not see himself living much longer than his wife. Selling the girls will not only give him some money to provide for his wife’s burial, but will also enable to the girls to get some sort of education and have skills to make a living upon. (He probably did not picture Satsu’s life as a prostitute…he probably thought they’d both be sold into geisha houses and trained.) This did actually happen to girls in the countryside of Japan in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
2. What happens to Satsu? she ends up becoming a prostitute and does eventually escape Gion. We aren’t sure what happens to her after that.
3. What’s a geisha’s debt? How is it acquired? An apprentice geisha, before she makes her debut, already owes the ohiya a lot of money–the money it cost to acquire her, money for her lessons, clothes, food, doctor’s visits, etc. Since chiyo has broken her arm and damaged an expensive kimono, she is more in debt that most. That is why Mameha makes the deal with Mother about her fees. There’s no way Mother, who is very stingy, would have permitted the girl to acquire more debt with the uncertainy of her future earnings and ability to pay it off.
4. What’s mizuage? a mizuage was a way of “selling” an apprentice geisha’s virginity–it was also a way to make a lot of money for the geisha and pay down her debts. In the film, Chiyo’s mizuage sets a record for being the highest ever, with Dr. Crab finally taking the honors. It was considered a great honor in some circles of men to “deflower” a virgin girl and was very ceremonialized in its actions. The boxes that Mameha has Chiyo present to Nobu, the Baron, and Dr. Crab are ekubo cakes, which symbolize that a girl is ready for her mizuage and that she is inviting these men to “bid” for it. The bidding was done through a third party.
5. What exactly is a geisha? First and foremost, they are not prostitutes. As stated above, geisha means “artist”, and so the women were trained as entertainers (like lounge singers today, or something). They knew the ancient arts of dance and music, as well as tea ceremony, and were taught how to conduct gracious conversation and keep things pleasant at a party. For men to hire geisha to entertain a party was a display of wealth and taste, especially if they were top geisha, like Mameha and Sayuri. There were some sexual relations involved–the Baron is Mameha’s danna but sex was not the top priority. Not all parties were dance and tea ceremony, however; the island party at the end of the film demonstrates a “coarser” type of event.
6. What’s a danna? a danna is a geisha’s patron. He pays for her apartment, lesson fees, and other things she may need. He also gives her gifts, such as kimono, and other things. Sex is involved, usually, but that’s not the primary focus. A geisha is essentially a high-class mistress when she has a danna , and these men usually provided the financial independence necessary for geisha to move out of their okiyas and set up their own housekeeping, like Mameha does in the film. In the novel, Sayuri also has a danna , a general.
7. Why does Chiyo change her name? It’s part of the right of passage of becoming a geisha, much like people taking names at Confirmation, or things like that. It demonstrates that she is a full-fledged geisha now. Usually the name was derived from their big sister’s name, to help her ‘establish’ herself, but in Sayuri’s case all the names with part of Mameha’s were considered “inauspicious” (geisha are very superstitious), so her name is different.
8. How do you know all this? 
I’ve read a lot! I’ve read the novel several times, but also the book Geisha, a Life by Mineko Iwasaki, whose life was the inspiration for Golden’s novel and who Golden himself interviewed several times in the course of writing. She talks very candidly about her life as a geisha and the geisha culture, and I found it very interesting and educational. I highly recommend it if you’re interested in this culture.
Benedict XVI said that the last lesson that Pope John Paul II left to humanity was to show with his example that suffering has meaning. On Thursday, when reviewing with the Roman Curia the key events of 2005 for the Church, Benedict XVI began by reliving the last days of John Paul II. “No Pope has left us an amount of texts as he has left us; previously, no Pope was able to visit, as he did, the whole world and speak directly to the people of all the continents,” Benedict XVI said. “But at the end, he was given a path of suffering and silence. … “With his words and deeds, he gave us great things; but no less important is the lesson he gave us from the chair of suffering and silence.” The German Pontiff said that John Paul II “left us an interpretation of suffering which is not a theological or philosophical theory, but a ripe fruit through his personal journey of suffering, undertaken by him with the support of faith in the crucified Lord.” “This interpretation, which he had elaborated of the faith and which gave meaning to his suffering, lived in communion with that of the Lord, spoke through his silent suffering, transforming it into a great message,” Benedict XVI continued. He said that, in the face of “the spectacle of the power of evil” in the 20th century, John Paul II answered the question that every man asks himself: “Is evil perhaps invincible? Is it the ultimate, authentic power of history?” “The power that puts a limit to evil is divine mercy,” explained Benedict XVI. Likewise, divine mercy puts a limit “to violence, to the ostentation of evil.” “The lamb is stronger than the dragon, we might say with Revelation,” he added. Evil “also exists in the world to awaken love in us, which is giving of oneself,” said Benedict XVI when touching on some of the ideas highlighted by John Paul II. “Surely we must do everything possible to attenuate suffering and prevent injustice which causes the suffering of the innocent,” Benedict XVI added. “However, we must also do everything possible so that people will be able to discover the meaning of suffering and, in this way, be able to accept their own suffering and unite it to the suffering of Christ.” At a time of much violence in the world, John Paul II “again showed us love and suffering at the service of others,” Benedict XVI said. “He showed us, so to speak, ‘live,’ the Redeemer and redemption, and gave us the certainty that evil does not have the last word in the world.”
From the Herald Sun :
IT was always going to be a hard act to follow, but Pope Benedict XVI has taken a surprise “softly softly” approach in taking over from Pope John Paul II.
After eight months Pope Benedict, at 78, is curiously displaying no signs of being in a hurry.
His moves and decisions so far have been minor, nothing like the reactionary, hard-line pontificate hostile commentators had predicted.
Up to his last days, John Paul II set a frenetic pace, criss-crossing the world and issuing a blizzard of sermons and papal documents.
Benedict has slowed things down considerably.
He meets fewer dignitaries, makes fewer speeches and statements and travels far less frequently than his predecessor — though he has pencilled in a trip to Australia for World Youth Day in 2008.
His twice-weekly sermons at St Peter’s Square, however, attract larger crowds and are considered easier to understand than those of his predecessor, whose heavy Polish accent was slightly slurred.
As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, his reputation was as the intransigent Vatican enforcer — the Grand Inquisitor — but as pope, Benedict’s demeanour has been joyful and serene.
For Australian church commentator Dr Paul Collins, whose book God’s New Man hit the bookshops soon after the April conclave, Benedict has done the right thing by doing very little.
“We needed a retreat from the high papacy of JPII. He tried to be omnipresent and was up for every gig that you could poke a stick at,” Dr Collins said.
“In Benedict we have a more modest approach — he’s got a better grip of the true role of the pope, which is partly to inspire others to use their gifts.”
Benedict is a deep thinker, thorough and brutally analytical. Problems are approached from every angle and then acted on, decisively.
But he is also from folksy beer-drinking Bavaria.
He relaxes by playing Mozart on his piano and prefers traditional sacred music and art.
It is believed he wants big improvements in the liturgy, but realises tens of millions of Catholics have grown accustomed to their suggestions being included in masses, weddings and funerals.
Dr Collins predicted that priorities for the new pope would include healing the 1000-year rift with the Orthodox churches, reorganising the curia (the central administration of the church) and appointing a more talented bench of bishops.
Others predict Benedict will attempt to reform the church’s liturgy, which they believe has gone from a universal and familiar rite to a free-for-all at which congregations have a tendency to worship themselves rather than God — with bad music to go with it. (me: uh, yeah!! Clean up the music, please!!)
Another church commentator, Fr Ephraim Chifley, said the curia was likely to be frightened of the new pope because he used to be one of them.
Cardinal Ratzinger was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith for 24 years.
“No one knows what he’s going to do,” Fr Chifley said. “Because he is ‘curia wise’, he won’t be suffering from staff capture.”
Fr Chifley also described the new pope as a man of symbols.
“What he’s done so far suggests he is very ‘old school’ and won’t be conducting vast masses with dancing girls,” he said. (me: did anyone ever have a Mass with dancing girls?? If so, I want to see a tape!)
“He’s a step-by-step man, but no one will have any doubts about what direction he is heading in.”
HIS few decisions so far have included prohibiting sexually active gay men from training to be priests and a crackdown on seminary professors promoting a gay culture.
However, Benedict sensibly stopped short of totally banning a religious life for those with homosexual inclinations.
At the same time he opted to maintain the tradition of a celibate priesthood — something likely to create difficulties for many bishops.
But Benedict also invited the church’s most famous rebel, Hans Kung, to his summer palace — and the liberal theologian said the meeting was friendly.
Papal watchers predict Pope Benedict is likely to axe several Vatican departments and bring to heel the all-powerful Secretariat of State, which has run the church since Pope Paul VI upgraded it in the 1960s.
When still a cardinal, Benedict argued that the two biggest problems facing the church were its lacklustre bishops and the crisis in the liturgy.
However, a recent synod of hundreds of bishops in Rome showed his “generals” were extremely reluctant to revive past practices and Benedict knows he cannot move too far ahead of them.
W HILE there are exceptions, the Catholic Church’s bishops range from the uninspiring and complacent through to the timid and negligent.
Dr Collins agrees that quality of bishops is a major problem, but argues that the pool of clergy to choose from are “limited, small and ageing”.
“He won’t be able to do much to brighten up our bishops, because he refuses to broaden out who can be ordained,” Dr Collins said.
Inside the Vatican editor Dr Robert Moynahan recently declared that the new pope faced myriad problems, but all were reducible to just one: the faith.
“We all know the consequences of the loss of faith: selfishness, sin, cruelty, oppression, strife, division, suffering, disease, tears, hatred, death,” Dr Moynahan said.
“However, the overall ‘plan’ of Benedict’s pontificate can be nothing other than this — as it is the overall plan of all popes: to preserve the faith and to confirm others in the faith.”
When many believe we are in the post-Christian era, it is equally a very modest and a monumental agenda, but more than enough to keep a man on the cusp of his 80th birthday occupied.
I just want to see the dancing girls. 
And can we please, please, please get back to the Old Mass music? I mean, some of the new stuff is good, but I want “O Sacred Head Surrounded” during Lent and “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” at Christmas, and the chant!! I want Old School occassionally. And can Catholic schools please instill in their pupils correct singing method? Maybe then our singing would get better (although at my parish, we’re no slouches, thank you).
Geez, some of us are so imptatient! This from the Manilla Times …comments to follow:
After Catholics bade adieu to Pope John Paul II, a charismatic giant who touched millions across the world, they are still taking the measure of his timid successor Benedict XVI, whose thoughts on the future of the Church remain inscrutable.
Even after eight months as the new leader of the globe’s 1.2 billion Catholics, the new Pope has yet to make his mark on the Holy See, Vatican insiders say.
Shortly after his name was first announced to the masses from the loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica on April 19, expectations abounded that the new Pope would make sweeping changes in the Roman Curia, the lumbering apparatus of Vatican government.
But Benedict has made only one significant change to the Vatican hierarchy, installing US Archbishop William Levada as his own successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Meanwhile, old faces long ago put in place by his predecessor, notably Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and “foreign minister” Msgr. Giovanni Lajola, remain.
Some members of the Curia said they believe that rather than decree a quick shake-up at the Holy See, Benedict will continue to impose change slowly through a series of careful adjustments.
Some say he still has not communicated how he intends to alter the Church. Veteran Vatican watcher Giancarlo Zizola said: “His choosing to remain silent is itself a sign of reform of the papacy.”
He said the new pontificate marks an end to the worrying “idolatry” of the late John Paul II.
Vatican insiders have inevitably contrasted Benedict’s first eight months to those of his three immediate predecessors.
They point out that John Paul II launched an outspoken defense of the Solidarity democracy movement in his native Poland, and published his first encyclical; Paul VI made a significant pilgrimage to the Holy Land; John XXIII laid the foundations for the ground breaking Second Vatican Council.
Benedict has, however, been scrupulously honoring commitments made by John Paul II, including a visit to his native Germany for the World Youth Day celebrations in August, his first—and to date, only—foreign visit.
All that is about to change, however. The new Pope’s ability to reach out to the masses in the manner of the charismatic Pope will come under renewed scrutiny next year during planned visits to Turkey, Spain, Germany and Poland.
His campaign to forge closer ties with Jews, including an address at Cologne’s historic Synagogue, has proceeded without incident.
But lately Benedict has faced what many see as the first crisis of his pontificate, as homosexual priests publicly rejected his prohibition of gay men from entering the priesthood.
Well, geez! Give the man some time. The vatican Instruction was–is–a big thing, but I don’t think it’s a “crisis”. It’s what we’ve always said, isn’t it? He’s been to Cologne and spoke at World Youth Day, he’s been appointing bishops…there was a lot to catch up on, in a sense. And if he’s going to Turkey next year, that alone is going to need preparation. That’s a big visit, along with Spain, Germany, and Poland. And he’s not 50 something. Not every pope can come up with Vatican II (thank God!). I’m content to let him move along. As the old saying goes, “The Devil works quickly, but God works slowly” Let the man “go slowly”…that’s fine with me!
On Nov. 28, in Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI said to the archbishop of Khartoum, “The horror of events unfolding in Darfur points to the need for stronger international resolve to ensure security and basic human rights” there. Reuters, reporting the pope’s concern, noted, as much of the world knows, that hundreds of thousands of black Africans have died of violence or disease, and more than 2 million have been driven from their homes.
Now, normally, as a Republican, I’m a bit skeptical of tossing money out left and right, but I think that stopping genocide, wherever it’s taking place, is something we have a moral obligation to do. This is a crime, especially after we saw what happened in Rwanda–peace cannot be had in a world where people kill other people simply because of their bloodlines, the color of their skin, or national/familial background. And yet I do not see Europe or the UN or the peaceniks working to get things done there….just another thing that requires much prayer…
From Reuters (ehhh…)
God sees embryos as “full and complete” humans, Pope Benedict said on Wednesday in an address that firmly underlined the Roman Catholic Church’s stance against abortion and scientific research on embryos.
“The loving eyes of God look on the human being, considered full and complete at its beginning,” Benedict said in his weekly address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Quoting Psalm 139, Benedict said the Bible teaches that God already recognises the embryo as a complete human. That view is the basis for the Church teaching that aborting or manipulating these embryos amounts to murder.
In Psalm 139, the psalmist says to God: “Thou didst see my limbs unformed in the womb, and in thy book they are all recorded.”
“It is extremely powerful, the idea in this psalm, that in this ‘unformed’ embryo God already sees the whole future,” Benedict said.
“In the Lord’s book of life, the days that this creature will live and will fill with works during his time on earth are already written.”
Benedict has already weighed into an Italian debate on abortion ahead of a general election in April, publicly supporting a pro-life group that right-wing Health Minister Francesco Storace wants to have access to counselling centres advising women seeking to terminate pregnancy.
The Pontiff also raised the theme in his Christmas Eve mass on Saturday, saying the love of God shines on each child, “even on those still unborn”.
As well as being against abortion in all cases, the Church opposes stem-cell research which extracts useful cells from unused embryos left over from fertility treatments.
This goes in the “good thing we have journalists” file–how else would we know this stuff?? But it isn’t just religion, actually that says this–it’s science, too. I think we all learned in high school biology that the sperm and the egg, once joined, have all the DNA and chromosomes and unique genetic code that make it a unique human being from the outset. It’s genetic imprint is created, fascinating and unique, from the moment of conception. So there we have it. This isn’t new, folks. But perhaps we need to be reminded, again and again, until what people used to know intrinsicly becomes that way again.
From the Irish Examiner :
A Polish opposition party today urged the government to buy the house where the late Pope John Paul II was born and which hosts a museum in his honour.
The present owner, Ron Balamuth, who lives in the United States, has decided to sell the two-storey house in the southern town of Wadowice, where the late pontiff was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920.
Balamuth has not said why he wants to sell. Polish media have reported that the price is about €828,000.
The Peasant’s Party said it wrote a letter to Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz asking the government to buy the house.
There was no immediate reaction from the government.
Earlier this month, Polish Roman Catholic Church authorities confirmed they were in negotiations to purchase the house. No final decision has been announced.
The Wojtylas moved into the house in 1919, with their elder son Edmund. After the death of the mother and of Edmund, the future Pope moved with his father to the city of Krakow, where he studied Polish literature at the Jagiellonian University.
Built in the mid-19th century, the house has housed a museum devoted to the life and teachings of John Paul II since 1984. Some 3,500 people have visited the museum daily since his death on April 2.
Separately, an exhibition has opened showing scenes from the Pope’s life represented by 20in tall porcelain dolls at a museum in the southern Polish town of Pilzno, the Polish news agency PAP reported.
The 14 scenes include baby Karol Wojtyla posing for a picture with his mother, him as a young priest, as newly elected Pope in 1978 and in the 1981 assassination attempt. The last scene shows the arrival of new Pope Benedict XVI.
From USA Today :
“Be not afraid,” Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the brilliant Polish theologian, said on the October 1978 day when he became Pope John Paul II.
And it seemed he never was – spiritually, morally, politically or physically – until his death April 2 from heart and kidney failure while thousands prayed in St. Peter’s Square.
During his historic 26-year papacy, John Paul II carried his radiant faith and fierce convictions to the ends of the earth as Roman Catholicism’s unmovable defender.
By last spring, however, the once-robust pope, who skied in his youth and hiked the Italian hills, was physically ravaged by injury and illness. He had withstood six surgeries and borne uncomplainingly the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Yet, even in his last decade, as his back froze in a stoop, his voice slurred and his hands shook, John Paul II kept his laser-sharp gaze on his flock.
And they on him. “John Paul the Great!” they cried as they choked the streets for his funeral Mass, televised in places where no pope before him had ever been.
By his death at age 84, John Paul II had journeyed more than 700,000 miles, about 1½ round-trips to the moon. He saw the map of the world transformed by political and social revolution and the landscape of the spirit quake with cultural upheaval.
Since St. Peter established the papacy, only Pope Pius IX served longer as the Vicar of Christ. John Paul outlived the Nazis, outwitted the Communists of the USSR and survived a 1981 assassination attempt.
He challenged communism, socialism, materialism and relativism, inspiring 1.1 billion Catholics and countless admirers worldwide. He also changed the map of personal faith, with his deep devotion to the Virgin Mary and his addition to the rosary prayers of new meditations on Jesus’ life.
He created more cardinals, named more bishops than ever in history, recognized more saints than the previous 17 popes combined. And he made an unprecedented plea for pardon for 2,000 years of grave errors by sons and daughters of the Church.
Yet not all was well for the Church on his watch. Catholicism expanded in Africa and held ground against vigorous Protestant proselytizing in South America, but Mass attendance plummeted in Europe and slid in the USA. He was admired but hardly obeyed by many of the USA’s 67 million Catholics. His opposition to the 1991 Gulf War and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq was politely ignored in Washington.
The Vatican took years to respond to a global crisis of sexual abuse by clergy. By the time the U.S. scandal exploded in 2002, more than 5,000 priests had abused thousands of children and teens over half a century, said a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The news outraged the faithful, costing the U.S. church $1 billion at last count.
But in the Church, John Paul could, and did, enforce his vision.
He reeled in Catholic institutions to toe the doctrinal lines in teaching, booted dissident theologians and muted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which once issued powerful letters on war and economics. Women were told that the male-only priesthood was settled doctrine that no pope couldchange. Meanwhile, he praised celibacy for priests – a tradition he had the authority to change but never did.
He flatly denounced dissent from official Church stands denouncing abortion, birth control, homosexual behavior, euthanasia and the death penalty.
“Freedom,” John Paul II often said, “consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”
From NPR (so proceed with caution)….my comments follow….
The San Bernardino Diocese says Father Ned Reidy is leading Catholics astray with his breakaway parish near Palm Springs. While a secret diocese tribunal deliberates on a verdict, Father Reidy continues to celebrate Mass for his small but devoted congregation at the Pathfinder Community of the Risen Christ in San Bernardino, Calif.
Reidy left the Roman Catholic church in 1999 to join the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, a denomination that now boasts more than a dozen parishes nationwide. While Catholic in name, it splits with the Vatican over some fundamental church doctrines. Unlike heretics of old, Reidy does not openly rail against Roman Catholic teachings with which he disagrees. He says he just offers an alternative.
“We’re involved in ministry here: women’s ordination and calling men who are married and who’ve all their lives wanted to be priests (emphasis mine),” Reidy tells Steven Cuevas of member station KPCC. “I’m involved with priests who’ve left, who are just floating around. We’re involved in preaching a good news that a lot of people have never heard before.”
It’s a message that resonates with some Catholics. Gene Philips is a regular at Pathfinder. A staunch anti-abortion Catholic, he broke away after a priest told him that as a divorced man, he could not receive communion.
“When Jesus said, ‘Take this all of you and eat it. Take this all of you and drink from it,’ he meant all!” Philips says. “He meant all of you!”
But in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, Father Reidy is a heretic — someone who goes against basic church teachings. Father Howard Lincoln, a spokesman for the San Bernardino Diocese, says the rare heresy trial is necessary to clarify Reidy’s status within the church: He is no longer a Roman Catholic priest. The diocese fears that by using the word “Catholic” in his denomination, Reidy could mislead some worshippers.
“Ned Reidy made promises to his religious community and vows at his ordination, which he publicly broke with the Roman Catholic Church with the establishment of another denomination,” Lincoln says.
Reidy is also charged with schism, which is defined as a failure to submit to the authority of the pope or of church leaders.
Reidy doesn’t deny the charges. But he says the diocese no longer has jurisdiction over him. If found guilty, Reidy would be formally defrocked and ex-communicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
Reidy was a Roman Catholic priest in good standing for nearly 20 years in the Palm Desert area of Southern California. Tom Roberts, editor of the National Catholic Reporter, says he understands if the diocese might feel a little threatened by Reidy’s breakaway denomination.
“If he’s an effective minister, someone who’s been high profile in the community, and he leaves and co-founds his own denomination, I can understand the bishop wanting to make a special statement about this person,” Roberts says. “I also don’t think Catholics are confused by these issues. I don’t think they would mistake this person as a Roman Catholic cleric.”
Whatever the verdict, Reidy can always appeal to the Vatican. But he says he won’t. He didn’t attend his heresy trial, and he says he plans to continue his ministry regardless of the verdict.
Oh, where to begin, where to begin, where to begin. …let’s see. Well the whole vow of obedience has clearly gone out the window. Women priest? Married men as priests? Come on! I mean, yeah, this is California (what would the Spanish missionary founders say now?), but let’s get real. You are either Catholic or you’re not. If this guy wants to found his own thing, fine, but take the Catholic our of it. He’s not Catholic. This is not the Catholic church, nor Catholic doctrine. And I don’t think the diocese is doing this because it feels “threatened”. The bishop has a responsibility to protect his flock, and he has to do that by making sure that this guy doesn’t lead faithful Catholics astray. Mr. Roberts doesn’t think that people would “mistake this person as Roman Catholic cleric”, but you never know. I’ve run into some Catholics who have been swayed by many Protestants into thinking that certain pieces of their doctrine are compatible with ours. What about “the wolf in sheep’s clothing” thing? Hmmm?
I think the diocese is doing exactly the right thing here. Bravo for having the courage to do it.
