Another day, another outrage

More ridiculousness in the DOR. This parish is inviting a loud, proud dissenter priest, Charles Curran, to give a presentation on "social teachings." He was banned by the Vatican, courtesy of then-Cdl. Ratzinger, from teaching Catholic Theology. He was fired by Catholic University, and unsuccessfully sued the school for discrimination and wrongful termination. He has publicly stated his opinions on such things as the Real Presence being a "medieval" superstitious belief, he denies the Ascension, and supports gay marriage, abortion, and artificial birth control, among other things. He now teaches something called "Perspectives in Catholic Moral Theology" at SMU, where he is a "Professor of Human Values." He wears a suit and tie.

While it is VERY unlike me to cold-cock someone via email, I've written to the pastor, stated my concerns in that "way" I have when I'm politely annoyed, and asked him to reconsider, and got the following response:

Dear K[it],

Fr. Curran is visiting Transfiguration Parish as part of our 25th Anniversary year of celebration and at the invitation our Peace and JusticeCoordinating Committee to address the Social Teachings of our Church; this invitation was extended with my support.

As you may know Fr. Curran is recognized as one of the leading theologians in our Church relative to our Social Teachings. As you may or may not know Fr. Curran is a priest in good standing in ourUniversal Church and our local Church of Rochester.

You are correct in the fact that he, at this time, does not have theVatican permission to teach at any approved Catholic college or university.

Thank you for your interest in this matter. Enjoy life and let us continue to pray for peace in 2008!

In peace and courage,

Fr. Mike [Bausch]


Office:Church of the Transfiguration
50 West Bloomfield Road
Pittsford, NY 14534-9733
585-248-2427

[NB: I chose red font to honor the blood of the martyred St. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester (England) - someone has to!]

I wrote back and asked who within the Church recognizes this man as any sort of authority or "leading theologian" on "our" Social Teachings, among other things, and asked him again to reconsider exposing his parishioners, (most of whom are probably very poorly catechised and will not recognize this man's heresy for what it is), to this crap.

On the contrary, someone who purports to stand in persona Christi, yet spouts his own feel-good, culture of death-friendly views on "our" social teachings will probably receive raves from the audience. I'd imagine it'll go something like this: "Okay [this] is what the Church teaches. This is why, in our day and age, the Church is wrong." That's his "perspective" from what I have read about him and how he teaches.

So in my first email, I asked Fr. Bausch if he would have an orthodox priest give a follow-up presentation - no response - so I asked again if he would at least properly disclose Charles Curran's status as a banned "theologian" when introducing him to the parishioners. I doubt I will hear back on that point, but I'll update as warranted.

Need I say it again? Spiritually speaking, I hate it here.

H/T to Rich at Ten Reasons for bringing this mess to our attention.

P.S. I did NOT link to any Curran bio or other info because I don't want to link to a heretic from this blog - feel free to Google him, though, if you'd like to see what I'm so annoyed about.