I mentioned the other day that we had the Live2BHoly Concert on Salem Common presented by proud2bCatholic.com. it was a great event made even better by the presence of a lot of great Catholic organizations, whether they were selling music or t-shirts or books, or representing their religious order or lay group.
A funny thing happened with that last week, before the concert. The volunteer coordinator for the vendor tables received an email from sone who said they were with Voice of the Faithful and they wanted a table. Now, this woman is a very orthodox Catholic and didn’t want to give VOTF any type of platform at an event designed to be a strong statement in support of the Catholic faith. So she asked me and my brother-in-law (the organizer of the event) what she thought she should do. In the end, she just told them that it was too late and that all the tables were rented out (which was true.)
But what I suggested was that they send her an Oath of Fidelity to the Church’s teachings and ask them to sign and send it back and they’d be allowed to have a table. Well, this person from VOTF emailed back with the weirdest email (basically telling the organizers that they had to bend their rules for her) and that gave my brother-in-law the opening to send the Oath of Fidelity. We never heard back from them. Why am I not surprised?
Jesuits don’t have to take any oaths that others don’t have to take. Except their vows, of course.
John,
I think you’re getting confused by the Oath of Fidelity that theologians are required to take as part of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Of course, many of them haven’t bothered and the bishops of the dioceses where they teach haven’t forced the issue. Glad to see so many shepherds taking care of the big thing that is central to their vocation: safeguarding the deposit of Truth and seeing that it is passed on in a trustworthy manner.
It’s not exactly optional. Over the centuries, it has marked off different ‘classes’ of Jesuits, although nowadays most men are invited to pronounce it. Jesuits (unlike members of other orders) take perpetual vows twice: once after the two-year novitiate, and again at the end of their formal training, marked off by a ‘third year’ (tertianship) of novitiate, usually 15-20 years after their first vows. At that time, the Jesuit is fully incorporated into the Society of Jesus. The ‘fourth vow’ (special obedience to the Pope in matters of mission) is taken, but not before.
It wasn’t a picnic. It was a Proud2BCatholic event in which we celebrated our faith and those of us who worked hard for a year organizing it didn’t want some group with an agenda at odds with the Church’s teachings to come in an use it for their own purposes. Since Voice of the Faithful has refused to make any public statements of adherence to the Church’s teachings, we wanted them to either be on record as being fully Catholic or not be there.
By your criteria we may as well have granted space to the local Wiccans to promote their agenda too. Of course, you don’t see anything wrong with VOTF or its agenda or its lack of adherence to Church teaching so I would expect you to make such a snide remark.
Isn’t it interesting the way Todd says “Peace” just before expressing contempt for the Oath of Fidelity?
Can you say “passive-aggressive”? Sure you can.
No one else at the event was asked to sign an oath of fidelity since all the other vendors/presenters are clear about their fidelity to the Church’s teachings.
I didn’t formulate the oath because I wasn’t directly involved, but my brother-in-law Pete grabbed something he found on the Catholicity site.
The fact that someone would find funny the desire to make sure that every presenter at a Proud2bCatholic concert is faithful to the Church’s teachings is illustrative.
Sorry to rain on YOUR parade, Todd, but you have no idea what you’re talking about so you may as well pipe down. you obviously don’t understand what the concert was about and who was there at the vending tables: religious orders, Catholic booksellers, groups selling Catholic-related services. There was no expectation that the guy selling sausages was a particularly good Catholic (or even Catholic at all).
But when a group comes, billing itself as Voice of the Faithful and handing out literature, then there is some expectation that they will be Catholic in more than just name. They weren’t there to run the rubber-ducky booth.
And if you think VOTF was formed just to give people a place to vent, then you’re more naive and ill informed than I thought. their connections to older dissident groups like Call to Action are well documented.
I don’t know if this blog would be anywhere near as fun without Todd to get under your skin!
I can see the blood pressure raising!
In reference to the same… I’m reminded about last year, when someone (VJ, a faithful Protestant) in the Alpha tent asked the EWTN people if they “were saved”. Oooohhhh, to be a fly on the tent to see their faces!!
Todd,
You must be kidding. Are you trying to claim that VOTF isn’t claiming to be Catholic? If you’re going to insult my intelligence, then there’s no point in continuing this conversation.
Joe,
Under my skin? Nah, you haven’t seen anything yet. As for the EWTN guys, they almost didn’t come back because of that incident. The Alpha people didn’t follow the guidelines and sent a Protestant rep instead of a Catholic one.
Blessing Domenico:
I’m very familiar with the Victoria/Alpha issue. I spoke with Peter Campbell.
Too bad. We were going to have 100% Catholic representation in the booth this year.
JOE
P.S. Did the EWTN people ever give her an answer?