LIFETEEN Founder Excommunicated

Teenagers Gather Around the Alter During the Consecration

As Was A Common Practice In LIFETEEN Masses Some Time Ago
Only A Few LIFETEEN Parishes Still Continue This Practice

(AP) - Phoenix's Catholic bishop has excommunicated a priest who started a nondenominational ministry after the priest was charged with misdemeanor sexual misconduct.

The action announced Monday against Monsignor Dale Fushek, once the diocese's second highest-ranking administrator, was a response to his creation of the Praise and Worship Center in Chandler....

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THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's time for Catholic parishes around the nation to rethink what they're doing. Yes, as Catholics we MUST reach out to the youth in our own congregations, but we need to reconsider how we're doing it.

For starters let's look at the English version of the mass itself. We're currently using a translation of the liturgy that the Vatican has labeled "defective" (read more here), and has revoked our permission to keep using it. That's why a new English translation has been approved by the Vatican and the USCCB, which will be put into use sometime in 2010.

The pope has also made it clear that we should expect more changes to the Ordinary Form of the mass, that will reintroduce traditions long since forgotten by most Catholics. For example, we can expect to see the use of high alter candle configurations, wherein the priest always faces a crucifix, and sometimes (when appropriate) the use of the ad orientem posture, where the priest faces east. We can expect to see the reintroduction of bells at the consecration, along with the use of more incense. The pope has also suggested the use of Latin at the consecration itself in all masses, no matter what language it's celebrated in. He is also planning on moving the "sign of peace" closer to the creed so as to create a greater atmosphere of solemnity during the eucharistic prayers. He has already indicated he would like to see greater use of traditional sacred music (such as Gregorian chant) during mass. The list goes on and on.

What's the message being sent here? It should be obvious. The Catholic Church needs to start being "Catholic" again, embracing our historical traditions, and giving them new life in the modern world. The changes coming out of the Vatican should serve as a guide for the average parish liturgist and choirmaster. We're heading toward a period of greater solemnity, greater reverence, and more tradition. Parishes that resist this change will only get left behind and ultimately hurt themselves.

But what about the youth? How will they be able to relate? Those who seriously ask such questions are operating on a template that is about 30 years old. The pop culture folk masses (which are epitomized by LIFETEEN) are an antiquated relic of the last generation. Youth may still be seeking out loud contemporary music, but mass is not where they really want to find it. Contemporary Christian music is a huge industry now. There are radio stations around the nation 100% dedicated to playing these songs around the clock. Youth can listen to these songs on their car radios, iPods and MP3 players. In fact, they often do. Over the last 30 years a new phenomenon has developed called the "Christian rock concert," wherein Christian youth can scream, dance, wave their hands in the air, etc. This didn't exist in the 1970s and 80s, but it does now, and it's bigger than ever. The youth hear this music all the time, outside of mass, and in fact, it's usually a lot better than anything the local parish choir can produce. Yes there is an outlet for Catholic youth in contemporary music, and Catholic parishes SHOULD be promoting it, but not at mass!

The point is the youth of today can get their pop culture music, in Christian variety form, anywhere they want. There is even a "Catholic flavor" of Christian pop music -- believe it or not. What, you've never heard? Ask any Catholic teenager. Many surveys are now perplexing Church leadership with results finding that the majority of practicing Catholic youths are more "pre-Vatican II" in their mentality. How could that be? and why? For starters, Vatican II has nothing to do with it. What it really has to do with is the sense of solemnity. When Catholic youth visit mass, they're not looking to hear the same thing they can get on their iPods and MP3 players. They're looking for something completely different. They're looking for a sense of the sacred. They want mystery. They want other-worldly. They want to escape the trappings of this earth to meet the Lord in sublime reverence and awe. That's why so many of them are flocking to the Extraordinary Form of the mass. It has nothing to do with Latin. It has nothing to do with the 1962 Missal. It's about solemnity, mystery, reverence and transcending everyday reality. That's something they can't get on their iPods and MP3 players. That's something they don't hear on the car radio, and it's something they will never experience at a Christian rock concert. It's something that only the Catholic Church can give them, that is, IF their local parish is willing.

The excommunication of LIFETEEN founder Dale Fushek should be an eye opening watershed to most LIFETEEN parishes, and contemporary Catholic parishes in general. Fushek's excommunication had nothing to do with LIFETEEN, directly, but it did have a lot to do with the attitude and mindset of the man who created LIFETEEN. It was an attitude and a mindset that got him into trouble with the law, and ultimately led him to create a "nondenominational worship center" outside of the Catholic Church -- effectively a schismatic act. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying LIFETEEN is schismatic, but I am saying that it was produced by a schismatic mind, and that in itself should be cause for alarm. When you compound this with the obvious problems associated with the current English mass translation (soon to be retired), and a general loss of historic Catholic traditions, you can begin to see the possible dangers. The tragic and saddening event of Dale Fushek's excommunication should be a wake-up call to Catholic parishes all around the nation. Perhaps it's time to look to the pope for new guidance and reconsider the direction of the American Church.

BREAKING! Pelosi's Bishop Calls Her On the Carpet

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bishop has called her to join him in a "conversation" about the pro-life position of the Catholic Church...

By Most Rev. George H. Niederauer...

I regret the necessity of addressing these issues in so public a forum, but the widespread consternation among Catholics made it unavoidable. Speaker Pelosi has often said how highly she values her Catholic faith, and how much it is a source of joy for her. Accordingly, as her pastor, I am writing to invite her into a conversation with me about these matters....

source

Let us pray that three things happen. First, Speaker Pelosi responds to her bishop and makes an appointment to see him. Second, Archbishop Niederauer has the courage to act as a true shepherd, correcting as needed with care, and disciplining those who are unrepentant. Third, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as a result of this "conversation," actually repents of her heresy and embraces the Pro-Life position of the Catholic Church fully, both personally and politically.

Now we shall see what Speaker Pelosi is really made of. Nobody can deny that she's a "Liberal Catholic" (which is an oxymoron), but now we shall see if she's a Liberal before she's a Catholic, or a Catholic before she's a Liberal. I have a bad feeling it's probably the former.  For her sake, I hope I'm wrong.

Some Examples of Liturgical Abuse

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Liturgical abuse is when the rubrics of the liturgy are ignored for the purpose of innovation. Such innovations usually serve to suit the fancy of whomever is coordinating the liturgy of the mass. Sometimes it's the priest's doing. Sometimes it's the result of lay involvement in liturgical planning. Whatever the case, liturgical abuse hurts the entire congregation, and the whole Body of Christ, by reducing the solemn occasion of the mass into a "show" (if you will) designed to please the fancy of those in attendance. The following are some pictorial examples of liturgical abuses that have occurred very recently in diocese all around the United States...

A group of three scantily clad women performed a provocative style "liturgical dance" in a recent Franciscan Jubilee Mass for a group of women religious at the cathedral in Joliet, Illinois...

I'm sure they are nice young ladies who didn't mean any harm, but somebody should have had the good sense to put a stop to this before it happened.

So-called "liturgical dance" is nothing new. It's one of those innovations that's seen the rounds in this post-conciliar period. Nothing in Vatican II called for such a thing, and nothing in the rubrics of the ordinary mass (Novus Ordo) allows for it. It's just something people made up - out of thin air - appealing to the vague and undefined "spirit of Vatican II."

Below we see a mass presided over by Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles in 2005. That's him seated in the background. Yes, this is a mass. At least the young ladies are more appropriately dressed for the occasion, but the every fact that they're dancing around the sanctuary is in itself enough liturgical abuse to make most Catholics cringe...


Here we have an example of liturgical dance gone wild in the diocese of Stockton California in May of this year. A full article was written on this event in the New Oxford Review...


In what seems to be a whiff of Paganism, we now see dancing women incense the altar of Holy Name Church in the Los Angeles Archdiocese...


Again, we see a similar act performed by sisters at the Los Angeles cathedral...

Granted, there is nothing wrong with incense, and in fact it's just as Biblical as it is Catholic. However, it should be pointed out that this is accompanied by liturgical dance, which is an innovation that turns the mass into a kind of "show" more for the viewing pleasure of the congregation, rather than the worship of God. None of this is sanctioned by the rubrics of the mass mandated by the Holy See, nor the Code of Canon Law.

Ah, as bad as that is, it doesn't hold a candle to a mass celebrated on Sept. 1 2002 at Christ the King Catholic Church, Pleasant Hill, California....

It's called a "clown mass," and yes this is a real Catholic Church depicted here. Feel free to investigate for yourself. I've never understood the reasoning or rational behind such gross liturgical abuse. It doesn't make any sense to me, and I suppose I would be worried about my sanity if it did. If you think these are rare occurrences, think again. It's going on all over the United States at various times. It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time to see one. (Or maybe I should have said "wrong place at the wrong time.")

'The Catholic Knight' points this out for a reason. I certainly don't want to shock my readers or enrage them. (Though shock and rage might be the expected normal reaction.) Rather, I point this out to bring attention to a serious problem we're facing in the liturgy of the post-conciliar Church. The ordinary mass (Novus Ordo) we currently celebrate, promulgated under the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, has been easily twisted and abused by those who would like to insert their own personal fancies into the worship of the universal Church. Pope Benedict XVI is about to initiate some reforms designed to reign in the "anything goes" mentality of these modern liturgists. The much anticipated Motu Proprio, liberalizing the celebration of the Tridentine (pre-1970) Latin mass, is expected to be the first step in that reform. Let us pray it comes soon, and produces the pope's desired effect.

Sex-Abuse of Minors Higher in Protestant Churches

(Chicago Sun Times): The three companies that insure the majority of Protestant churches in America say they typically receive upward of 260 reports each year of young people under 18 being sexually abused by clergy, church staff, volunteers or congregation members.

The figures offer a glimpse into what has long been an extremely difficult phenomenon to pin down -- the frequency of sex abuse in Protestant congregations.

Religious groups and victims' supporters have been interested in the figure ever since the Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis hit five years ago. The church has revealed that there have been 13,000 credible accusations against Catholic clerics since 1950 -- 228 a year...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: There you have it folks. Annual sex-abuse in the Catholic Church = average of 228 cases a year. Annual sex-abuse in Protestant churches = average of 260 cases a year. Protestants got Catholics beat by an average of 32 reported cases a year.

"Protestants Beat Catholics in Sexual Abuse of Minors"

But you won't read that headline in the New York Times -- not tomorrow, not the next day, not ever. Now the purpose of posting this story is not to gloat. The difference between Catholics and Protestants on this issue is only an average of 32 reported cases a year. When you consider that both groups average over 200 cases a year, that's nothing to be proud of. It's a tragedy! And the difference between the two groups is just a drop in the bucket.

However, Protestants can breath a sigh of relief, because they are not the target of my rant today. I have no intention of maligning my Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ over this matter. Not only for the sake of Christian charity, but also for the fact that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Anyone who would use this kind of data to slander an entire religion is a scoundrel to say the least. Which brings me to the target of my rant -- the mainstream media.

In 2002 evidence of widespread sexual-abuse surfaced in the Catholic Church. To make matters worse, evidence suggested that a cover-up was going on in some large US Catholic diocese. The problem was large. But just how large? As the news broke, the numbers started to pour in. What was found as that over the last 50 years, some 3% of US Catholic clergy were in some way involved in sexual-abuse and cover-up. However, those same statistics revealed that 97% of US Catholic clergy were NOT involved in it. So out of 100 Catholic clergy, 3 were abusers, and the other 97 were not. But did we hear this on the news? No we didn't. Instead we were treated to hours upon hours of generalizations, vague associations, and grandiose speculations. This happened in the print media, the radio media, and especially in the television media. Real numbers and statistics were never given. The problem was not once put into proportion. Instead it was hyped, to the point were it looked like virtually all Catholic clergy were involved in it. By the time it was all over, many Catholic priests in this country were afraid to wear their clerical collars in public, due to the excessive pointing and whispering. Some priests were threatened with bodily harm. So for a couple years anyway, the clerical collar virtually disappeared from America, as priests tried to discretely hide who they were while in public. This in spite of the fact that 97% of priests did absolutely nothing wrong. All of this I attribute to the mainstream media, which recklessly and intentionally, tried to bring down America's largest religious institution.

Now we have the same problem in Protestant churches, but what does the media say -- virtually nothing. I doubt CNN will be doing a week long special on the "Sexual Crisis in Protestant Churches," as we were treated to similar titles during 2002. I doubt you'll see televised trials of sexually abusive Protestant ministers, as we were treated to when former Catholic priests took the stand.

What I'm pointing out here is an inconsistency. I'm pointing out an omission, which by itself, reveals far more than any kind of persistent smear campaign. The fact that the mainstream media went wild on Catholic sex-abuse, but virtually ignores a greater incidence of Protestant sex-abuse, proves one thing beyond the shadow of a doubt. The mainstream media is not really all that interested in tawdry sex-scandals involving minors. No, that's just the bait to get you watching and listening to them. What they're really interested in is an agenda, and that agenda involves deconstructing organized religion in America entirely. To do this you must first deconstruct, slander and destroy the largest Church in the United States. That would be the Roman Catholic Church. Once the "big boy" Church (Catholicism) is knocked down, the rest of the "little boy" churches (Protestantism) will scatter to the wind. If it was really about the sex and the ratings, the mainstream news media would be all over this Protestant sex-abuse story. But they're not that interested in it. They pound the Catholic Church over and over again, but then they virtually ignore Protestant churches with the same problem. Why? Because if you just take down one Protestant denomination, it won't effect much. Other denominations will step in where the first once stood. But if you can manage to take down the Catholic Church, the largest organized religion in America, it will send shock waves throughout all of American Christianity. That's what they want.

The mainstream media isn't going to waste much of their time on sex-abuse stories that don't further their insidious agenda. Though sexual abuse of minors is far more prominent in public schools than any church, we won't see much reporting on this sweeping crisis. Instead the media will focus in an a few anomalies here and there. They'll report about the pretty teacher who sleeps with teenage boys, with the focus of their story centering not on her perversion, but on "how complicated these things are." Meanwhile sex-abuse of minors runs rampant in our public schools, mostly by teachers not so pretty as those featured on television, as much of it is covered up by school administrators, abusive teachers are transferred, and families of victims are bought off in legal settlements. (Your tax dollars hard at work there.)

The moral to this story is this. Sexual abuse of minors is not a "church problem." It's not a "religion problem," and it's certainly not a "Catholic problem." Sexual abuse of minors is a SOCIETY PROBLEM -- it's our society that's the problem! When you have a society problem, it effects all the institutions of that society, including schools and churches. Our society is a decadent society fixated on sex. Our kids are bombarded with sexual images in advertising, television, magazines, and the Internet. Our clothing and fashion trends reflects the attitudes of an over-sexed people -- less is more and tighter is better. Everywhere we turn we see sex -- more and more of it. In the United States, pornography is a protected industry. Couples are paid high dollar to engage in sexual activities while on camera, and somehow that's NOT considered prostitution? Couples living together, without marriage, is the status quo. While homosexuality is considered "normal." Children are "educated" in how to use a condom in public schools. Abortion of unwanted pregnancy (a consequence of reckless sexuality) is a sacrosanct "right" guaranteed by our nation's Supreme Court. Gay men kiss in public, and this is socially allowed. Straight couples make out in the parks -- and that is considered okay. And somehow in the midst of all this sexual PERVERSION, we are surprised when a small segment of our society goes off the deep end and turns into sexual predators? Somehow, after we've allowed perversion after perversion to take place, we are shocked when the perverts we helped create turn on our children? Oh, but rather than blame our own lax attitudes, and the permissive behavior of our society, we instead look for the scapegoat, somebody else to blame. So when the sexual perversion of our society finally hits the Church, we blame the Church, rather than our society. At least that's what the media would like us to do. They play on our refusal to take responsibility for ourselves. They report the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, as if the Catholic Church invented sexual abuse! They blame the priests and the bishops, even though only 3% were responsible, and cast a shadow of suspicion over the whole Catholic religion. The public buys into it, because it's easier to blame a Church than to blame ourselves. But I submit to you that the media's real agenda is to discredit organized religion in general, and that means the Catholic Church simply must be taken down. Why? Why would they want to do this? I think the reason becomes self-explanatory when you look at statistics of those running the mainstream media. They are nearly 80% Liberal. Most of them are Secular Humanists? And a majority of them don't believe in organized religion. Enough said.

Sex-Abuse Scandal Caused By 'Lack of Catholicism' In the US Catholic Church

Apr. 10, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The sex-abuse crisis within the Catholic Church was brought on in large part by a collapse in the traditions of ascetical discipline, especially among the clergy. That is the argument of an important book about the crisis, and after years of research on the topic, I find that argument persuasive.

Just over one year ago, the Linacre Institute released After Ascetism: Sex, Prayer, and Deviant Priests. Regrettably, the book has received little public attention-- certainly nowhere near the attention it deserves.

Perhaps this is understandable. The secular media, which have done so much to expose the failings of the Catholic clergy, have little interest in promoting traditional Catholic spirituality. So we couldn't expect the media to recognize the value of After Asceticism.

Church leaders should have snapped up the Linacre Institute's argument. Bishops, religious superiors, and seminar rectors should have recognized an important argument on the proper formation of priests. They did not, and that fact should tell us that something was amiss. But then, we already had plenty of evidence on that score!

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Yes, you read that headline right. The sex-abuse scandal in the US Catholic Church was caused by a general lack of Catholicism in the US Catholic Church. If Catholic clergy had just been well, "more Catholic," none of this would have ever happened.

The problem is generally an American one, though there is evidence of it in other parts of the western Church as well. Some have blamed Vatican II for the woes of western Catholicism, but these problems are not as prevalent in the eastern Church, which Vatican II affects equally. So the problem was not Vatican II. The problem was how Vatican II was implemented in the western Church -- specifically in North America, and particularly in the United States.

Western Catholic bishops, for the most part, interpreted Vatican II in a very liberal and radical way. Rather than seeing Vatican II in its proper context, as flowing from the historic tradition of the Catholic Church, western bishops tended to view Vatican II as a watershed event, which repudiated historic Catholic tradition. As a consequence, western bishops (for the most part) tried to recreate Catholicism in a whole new image. Time honored historic traditions were cast aside. New traditions were created out of thin air -- some of them from non-Christian sources. Moral teachings were pushed to lesser importance, while historic Catholic teachings on social justice were twisted into a kind of Church sanctioned socialism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "Liberation Theology," repudiated by the Vatican, after being popularized in Central and South America.

The hand of Marxism weighed heavily on the western Church during the decades following Vatican II, while simultaneously, the eastern Catholic Church triumphed over Marxism in eastern Europe. Again, this goes back to the interpretation of Vatican II. Eastern Catholics interpreted Vatican II in the context of historic Catholic tradition. They saw the reforms of Vatican II as naturally following those from the Council of Trent in 1545 and Vatican I in 1869. There was no sense of rupture in Catholic Tradition in the eastern Church. As a result, eastern Catholicism triumphed over the Marxist forces of Soviet communism. In the west, however, where historic traditions was cast aside in the "spirit of Vatican II," the Church easily succumbed to Marxist influences and other liberal ideologies.

There is only one way to rescue western Catholicism, and that is to return to the time-honored historic traditions that once made the western Church strong. This must be done to truly fulfill the "spirit of Vatican II" which never sought to disrupted the flow of historic Catholic tradition from one generation to the next. A return to historic Catholic tradition will bring about the ascetical discipline needed to restore the integrity of the Catholic priesthood in the western world.

CBS ADMITS: Public School Sex-Abuse and Cover-Up Dwarfs Catholic Church Scandal

Any institution that has allowed children to be harmed by predators deserves to be taken to task for it. No institution should get a pass. And no profession should get a pass. Not preachers, not priests — not even teachers.

Especially not teachers. And yet …

Consider the statistics: In accordance with a requirement of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, in 2002 the Department of Education carried out a study of sexual abuse in the school system.

Hofstra University researcher Charol Shakeshaft looked into the problem, and the first thing that came to her mind when Education Week reported on the study were the daily headlines about the Catholic Church.

“[T]hink the Catholic Church has a problem?” she said. “The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.”

So, in order to better protect children, did media outlets start hounding the worse menace of the school systems, with headlines about a “Nationwide Teacher Molestation Cover-up” and by asking “Are Ed Schools Producing Pedophiles?”

No, they didn’t. That treatment was reserved for the Catholic Church, while the greater problem in the schools was ignored altogether.

As the National Catholic Register’s reporter Wayne Laugesen points out, the federal report said 422,000 California public-school students would be victims before graduation — a number that dwarfs the state’s entire Catholic-school enrollment of 143,000.

Yet, during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran nearly 2,000 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, mostly concerning past allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about the federal government’s discovery of the much larger — and ongoing — abuse scandal in public schools....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A few opinion columnists are starting to see the light on this one, and their big media keepers are finally letting them speak freely on the subject. Catholic pundits have been warning about this anti-Catholic media bias for years, but their warnings have fallen on deaf ears, until now. The sex-abuse cover-up scandal in the public schools has just gotten too big. It's become the "elephant in the living room" that nobody wants to talk about, but it can no longer be ignored.

As I pointed out in a previous story, the problem in the Catholic Church was not pedophilia, but rather homosexual abuse of teenagers. This fact was also neglected by the mainstream media. Likewise, when we take into consideration the non-pedophilia cases of sex-abuse in the public schools the number of cases rises exponentially. As I've said on many occasions. The Catholic sex-abuse scandal of 2003 was not reflective of a Church problem, but rather a cultural problem. Western culture is decadent and corrupted by sexual deviancy. Sexual predators naturally gravitate toward positions that put them in close contact with their prey, and give them some level of authority over them. Naturally, the position of a priest would be desirable to a sexual predator, but the position of public school teacher would be far more accessible.