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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
My Parish and New Age	Susan	Saturday, May 24, 2008
Question: Dear Bro Ignatious, I have addressed this question to two priests via email, with no answer. You are my last hope. We recently moved and joined a cathedral parish in FL. I went to a nite of healing past hurts service advertised in our bulletin given by a jesuit priest. It reeked of new age, i was literally trembling inside and felt uncomfortable. He began with what he called an Indian prayer, we were to close our eyes and move our arms around while he referred to the moon and stars etc. I just sat there, it was so ridiculous that some of the woman around me were giggling. It was so not holy and one of the giggling women was a nun from a centacle in lantana who introduced him and he inturn gave accolades to her and her cenacle. I looked up the cenacle and this priest, not good, his books which he was selling, are all listed in the new age category and the cenacle has reiki and all kinds of new age stuff. So i didn't stick around and i called the parish about it and was told the jesuit priest was a friend of the rector priests at the cathedral. Now what do i do, should i contact the bishop? And since then, we've had a labrynth prayer, it was for our youngsters in C.C.D. class, and all were welcome as well as a centering prayer nite. All give by our deacon under the direction of the rector priest. Isn't this all new agey stuff? And would the bishop have to give his conscent prior to these kinds of things? Please advise on what to do? And should we seek another church? There are several priest there who are so wonderful i would hate to leave. But, i will not be sending my children to any religious activities there. Thank you for your answer and also for all of your very wise answers.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Susan: You are correct, all that you describe is new age occultism and other nonsense and these priest ought to know better. Reiki, Enneagram, and Centering Prayer are particularly egregious. See the articles: The Danger of Centering Prayer and Enneagram and a Q&A on Reiki. You may want to take a look at our "Resources" page. If the pastor will not deal with this, then yes, you ought to contact the bishop. Write him a letter but be sure to write it in a professional, business-like manner. Express your concerns and why you are concerned. Quote pertinent passages from these documents I posted or others that are useful in our Resources page or elsewhere that you find. And give him the URLs to the actual documents as a reference. Hopefully he will not give you the brush-off. If things do not change, I certainly would not send my children to this parish to be indoctrinated into Eastern occultism. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

My Parish and New Age

Susan

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Question:

Dear Bro Ignatious,

I have addressed this question to two priests via email, with no answer. You are my last hope.

We recently moved and joined a cathedral parish in FL. I went to a nite of healing past hurts service advertised in our bulletin given by a jesuit priest. It reeked of new age, i was literally trembling inside and felt uncomfortable.

He began with what he called an Indian prayer, we were to close our eyes and move our arms around while he referred to the moon and stars etc. I just sat there, it was so ridiculous that some of the woman around me were giggling. It was so not holy and one of the giggling women was a nun from a centacle in lantana who introduced him and he inturn gave accolades to her and her cenacle. I looked up the cenacle and this priest, not good, his books which he was selling, are all listed in the new age category and the cenacle has reiki and all kinds of new age stuff. So i didn't stick around and i called the parish about it and was told the jesuit priest was a friend of the rector priests at the cathedral.

Now what do i do, should i contact the bishop? And since then, we've had a labrynth prayer, it was for our youngsters in C.C.D. class, and all were welcome as well as a centering prayer nite. All give by our deacon under the direction of the rector priest. Isn't this all new agey stuff?

And would the bishop have to give his conscent prior to these kinds of things? Please advise on what to do? And should we seek another church? There are several priest there who are so wonderful i would hate to leave. But, i will not be sending my children to any religious activities there. Thank you for your answer and also for all of your very wise answers.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Susan:

You are correct, all that you describe is new age occultism and other nonsense and these priest ought to know better.

Reiki, Enneagram, and Centering Prayer are particularly egregious. See the articles: The Danger of Centering Prayer and Enneagram and a Q&A on Reiki. You may want to take a look at our "Resources" page.

If the pastor will not deal with this, then yes, you ought to contact the bishop. Write him a letter but be sure to write it in a professional, business-like manner. Express your concerns and why you are concerned. Quote pertinent passages from these documents I posted or others that are useful in our Resources page or elsewhere that you find. And give him the URLs to the actual documents as a reference.

Hopefully he will not give you the brush-off.

If things do not change, I certainly would not send my children to this parish to be indoctrinated into Eastern occultism.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.