Thursday, May 15, 2008

Why It's a Good Thing To Ask If He's a CATHOLIC Priest

I almost don't have words for what I just discovered.

Sometimes, while I'm investigating something on the internet, I'll bump into something interesting and follow a rabbit trail before realizing I'm wasting time. One of the pitfalls of the immediacy of the internet.

I was looking at sites devoted to Mary as the Mystical Rose. One site was a MeetUp group dedicated to meditation and one of the meditation meetings focused on Mary as the Mystical Rose.

Except she was referred to as Mary Sophia. And the organizer was a woman. Wearing the Roman collar. With a big Cross hanging from her neck.

What the....heck?!!

So is this what some women want? To look like men? I was tempted to include the photo but I found it so irritating that I thought it best to just not include it. The link to the site is below.

I am a mix of emotions right now. Mostly anger. I found out that this woman was ordained through a group who call themselves the Order of Christ Sophia. This may be old news to some of you. It's almost laughable if these people weren't so earnest. They seem to focus on attracting wounded people so they can sweet-talk them into heresy. It is just staggering what this group proclaims.

The tip-off was when I viewed the front page of the site and immediately saw a woman wearing a Roman clerical collar. Here is how it opened:

The Order of Christ Sophia is a non-denominational Order of women and men who strive to live by the Mystical Christian teachings.

Notice that "women" are placed before "men." I think that is very telling.

Here are a few of their twelve purposes. My comments are added:

  • To continue the Apostolic work of Christ Jesus and Mother Mary by giving form to the Reality of the Father/Mother God through the Priesthood of Jesus Christ, under the Order of the Golden Cross.
  • To empower and ordain Priests and Deacons after the Order of Melchizedek under the mantles of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, the Sovereigns of Earth. Mary was never involved in the priesthood.
  • To let the power, force and energy of God move through the Sacraments of Baptism, Confession, Communion, Illumination (what the heck? No confirmation? Do they pray over a group of candles and hand them out or what?), Marriage, Holy Orders and Last Rites so that all people may be transformed and made whole. The whole "sacrament" claim is directly from the Catholic church. It's unbelievable that these people think they can slap a collar on themselves and suddenly be valid as priests and ministers of the Holy Eucharist.
  • To speak the Word of life to all people so that all may know the love of their Creator and the reality of their divinity.
  • To preserve and disseminate the Christian Mysteries and the ancient Wisdom Teachings as embodied by Jesus Christ and Mary, thereby demonstrating to humanity the Christ Consciousness and the Way of Return to the Creator. They deny being "New Age" but brothers and sisters, this is straight outta the New Age how-to manual. "Sophia" is the Greek word for wisdom and many Christian women in some of the mainline denominations had a conference years ago to "re-imagine" Christianity. Using the Greek word for wisdom was their way of foisting the feminine into a goddess. They had prayers to "Sophia." It's Goddess theology, plain and simple.


And of course, the $64,000 question...
Why do you wear robes and clerics (the collars)?

We wear robes on Sundays and some other occasions to remind ourselves that, as Jesus’ and Mary’s ministers and priests, we are standing in for Them as we serve at the altar. It is humbling and inspiring to keep in mind Whom we serve in this way. Ignorant bowls of mush! The Mass (at least they had the decency to not refer to their church service as a Mass.) is a sacrifice. The priest stands in as an icon of Christ. Not Mary. Mary wasn't the one being nailed to a cross. The Mass is a re-presentation of the Sacrifice. And newsflash - since Jesus is male, a priest can only be a male. He called twelve men to be His disciples. If He had wanted a woman to be one, there were plenty to choose from. Women have another role to play but not as priest.

The ministers of OCS also wear clerics (black clothes, clerical collars and crosses) to allow themselves to be identified by those who would like to speak with a minister. (or confuse the heck out of someone who may think they're either talking to a Roman Catholic priest or that the Pope finally dictated that women should be ordained.) It is much like a cop wearing a uniform: you know they are on the job and you can ask them for help. Our ministers consider themselves on-the-job all the time, so they usually wear clerics, except when working at their site of employment, or in other situations in which clerics would be inappropriate. (If someone is working at another site of employment, then where are the Holy Orders to sustain them in their vocation? Oh, that's right. There aren't any because this is a renegade group.)

So in other words, whoever started this group was ticked off because women weren't being ordained. So they started their own heretical group and are trying to paint a Catholic image on top of it.

Which just goes to show you that when you see a young man with a Roman collar, don't assume he's a Roman Catholic priest. I'm going to start asking straight out anymore this question if I happen to see a priest in a social setting. If you see a woman wearing it, well...it's a safe bet she's not in communion with Rome.

3 comments:

Motherhen said...

It's just so ridiculous! I have to laugh, if anyone's "worshiping Mary" it's this group!

X said...

..." So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being..." (From Romans Chapter One)

St. Paul dealt with the same sort of yahoos two centuries ago. Human nature doesn't change, does it?!

*Linda Pinda* said...

Mary Rose:
I'm sorry if it's annoying that I comment on these old posts, but as a new reader of your blog, I am discovering new little gems every day!

I too have followed internet rabbit trails that led right up to the gates of hell!!! Ick...

Great insight, and once again I thank you for being so founded in the truth and consistency of church teaching.

A friend of mine once reflected on women in the priesthood through scripture, which is of course, the "sole foundation" of so many denominations theology.

In scripture...
Mary was recorded as present at:
The incarnation
The nativity
The presentation in the temple
Jesus' first miracle
Jesus' suffering
Jesus' death
Jesus' burial
Pentacost

Where is she markedly absent?
The institution of the holy priesthood during The Last Supper.

No Mary.

What a clear indication of God's will.

Blessings... *Linda*