I went to a Spirit & Truth meeting at St. Mary’s in West Chicago last night, primarily to hear a talk by Brian Preston on the Salve Regina.
All proceeded peacefully until the pastor entered, listened for a moment or two, and then chose to explain to the group all the problems he personally has with devotion to Mary. Nothing he said was catechetically unsound, per se, but as a man whose role it is to build up the body of Christ, he did his level best to denounce, debase, and deride – generally making the entire proceeding most uncomfortable.
Among the nuggets he spewed:
- Marian devotion is generally overwrought and idolatrous. (And, incidentally, he doesn’t hear enough confession of idolotry in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.)
- Personally, he only sees validity in the apparitions of Guadalupe. Otherwise, he doesn’t really approve of them. (I hope no one in the room was planning a pilgrimage to Lourdes or Medjugorje.)
- He thinks that devotion to a saint needn’t necessarily include the “dangerous” practice of prayer.
- While he has no problem with the doctrine of the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception bothers him, but he accepts – with a sigh – that he is bound to believe it.
The priest’s conduct was inexcusable for a number of reasons. First, his interruption of the speaker was rude. Second, he expressed contempt for the teachings of a Church that he is supposed to represent. Third, he undermined the entire theme of the evening with his own personal tone of derision. And, finally, despite his self-assumed authority, he didn’t even have his facts straight.
I held my temper until he started to declare emphatically that Pope John Paul II completely rejected the doctrine of Mary as co-redemptrix as blasphemous in its very soul. I turned to him and stated that Pope John Paul II did no such thing. In fact, Pope John Paul II chose not to define the doctrine for (valid) ecumenical reasons. He reiterated his mistake and after that, I more or less tuned him out.
:: sigh :: I’m sure Brian or Bryan will correct any misinterpretations or misimpressions I had – and the pastor did make several good points – but I was annoyed by his contempt and I’m sure it was visibly obvious. The pastor is entirely permitted to struggle with his personal bugaboos – and even privately direct people to temper their Marian devotion if he sees it getting out of hand – but to impose his opinion on an evening of discussion and fellowship under the auspices of his priestly authority was completely out of line. We were there to discuss proper devotion to Mary. He used the evening as his personal soapbox. And – like it or not – once a priest speaks, the discussion is essentially concluded. Who will disagree?
Preening priests with their personal agendas really perturb me.
[DISCLAIMER added 03 June: Remember that my opinion expressed above is just that – my opinion. Fr. Conway has a couple of stout supporters who have vigorously defended him (and chastised me) in the comments of this post, so please read through them before forming an opinion of a priest who – as I pointed out – said nothing to contradict Magisterial teaching and clearly has the best interest of his flock at heart.]
Tarry for the Nonce 