Two and a half years ago, a book by Matthew Kelly (Rediscover Catholicism) appeared in our parish lobby for sale. In fact, it appeared in many local church lobbies. I bought a copy, read the prologue and immediately recognized the spiritual poison contained therein. I blogged about it then and will not rehash what I wrote; read it here. What I will do is link to the problematic pages in the prologue, since many friends thought "it's not that bad" (making me wonder just how "bad" it has to be for them to recognize real problems). Note: my use of these pages for commentary is fully permissible under the "fair use" doctrine. For those of you who are wondering, I did pose my questions and objections to Mr. Kelly on his website comment area; I never received a reply.
Here are bulletin announcements as they appear in St John Neumann's and St Paul's. Notice in the St John Neumann bulletin the purpose is to "help us become the best version of ourselves". That's new age psycho-babble. Any Catholic speaker worthy of that title will give us food for thought to become holy. There IS a difference!
I googled Kelly. Here's a wikipedia piece. According to that, he's a motivational speaker and management consultant. I can see how these things would dovetail with his "best version of self" talks. I cannot tell if there's a deliberate connection, but the possibility exists. He also had "apparitions" in the 1990s, ones that did not pass the muster of his bishop. To his credit he complied with the bishop's direction not to promulgate the rather odd content of these "apparitions". See #180 in this website. That webmaster says he/she wouldn't trust Kelly's talks or books. I concur. The same mind that produced wacky "messages from God" is the same mind that produced the heresy in the prologue to Rediscover Catholicism. That mind will be the source of words spoken at St Peter's on April 17th.
As you might have noticed in the parish bulletins, Kelly will be appearing with musician Eliot Morris. I googled Morris and found his website. Please notice that there is no mention of "God", "faith", "Jesus Christ", etc. For any "run-of-the-mill" musician or entertainer, that lack wouldn't be so remarkable. However, he allegedly "prepared a unique message inspired by God". So just what are his qualifications for imparting this message? For that matter, what are Kelly's?
For the awesome (?) privilege of having these two fellows help you to "discover God's voice" in two weeks, you will have to cough up $39.00. In the Neumann bulletin we're urged to do so quickly because "the show is expected to be a sellout". "Show"??? Freudian slip, much? I would expect an authentic Catholic talk to be called a "talk" or "address" or "event" - but "show"? That smacks of a performance of entertainment, to me. I hope I'm wrong, but I smell a racket.
I learned of this through an announcement in the parish bulletin. It makes me wonder how - or if - the parish offices take any care to vet these announcement requests before they actually publish them. Moreover, I wonder how the parishes discern what books are allowed to be peddled in their church lobbies. "Rediscover Catholicism" should have been rejected by the parishes.
Before folks waste $39 of their hard-earned money, I'm providing some "food for thought"; and I'm not charging one red penny for it!
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Hmmm. This book keeps showing up in my parish's book rack.
ReplyDeleteLike kudzu!
DeleteJanet, the guy who you give a link to when you say, "see #180 in this website" is Ron Conte. He studied under Peter Kreeft at Boston College, but he was condemned by B16 when B16 was head of the CDF. We are not allowed to read any of his writings. Many of the stuff he says is total bunk, and he spews his garbage on Catholic Planet. One of the things he says is that Mary was "miraculously conceived," not Immaculately Conceived. He also wrote his own version of the bible, totally unapproved by the Church, which he sells on his own. I did not like what you said about the promotion for Matthew Kelly proclaiming that his advice will help you "become the best version of yourself." Both parishes that I attend pretty heavily promote Kelly, and that phasing stood out to me, too, but I brushed it off, and figured I was just being too particular. However, now that you pointed this out also, it does make me at least somewhat suspect that this guy may be New Age. However, Ron Conte is a huge danger that is deceiving a lot of folks. He is way worse than Kelly could ever be, because he is flagrantly disobedient, but is cloaked under the guise of orthodoxy. He is not an accurate source in the least, and I would take down the link to Catholic Planet if I were you, because of the warning of dear B16. http://www.catholicplanetfalsehoods.com/
ReplyDelete-Dawn
Dawn, be that as it may (and I'm not sure of this "catholicplanetfalsehood" site), he seems to be the only one that will give details regarding Kelly's problematic "apparitions". I don't have to buy Conte "lock, stock and barrel" to appreciate the facts about Kelly. I thank you for your input and remind my readers that they should be evaluating everything they read and subjecting it to scrutiny based on truth.
Deletehttp://www.catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=3892&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=1515659
DeleteJust the above link alone is enough to let one know that, truly, this guy is in the "quack" category. His publications are against Canon Law, because one has to have the permission of the local ordinary (Bishop) to publish such materials (that is, a bible and catechism). He claims that he is a theologian, but only has a BA. He was also censored by then Cardinal Ratzinger. http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=215229&page=2 (And this link is not the only place I read that, but I cannot seem to find the original site.) Thus, I would not link to him, because doing so could possibly constitute an act of disobedience (excommunication). Wanting to speak against Kelly is another matter, but there are much better ways to do it. I hope you are not offended, but I just wanted to warn you for the sake of the truth and for your soul.
-Dawn
In my eyes, the opinios of Catholic Culture are NOT binding on one's conscience. Several years ago I tried to get their review on my old site. They wouldn't. When I asked why not, they simply replied they weren't interested. They can be rather arbitrary. Needless to say, I'm not unduly impressed by them. They certainly are entitled to their opinions, but their opinions bind no one.
ReplyDeleteThis is such heresy. This book was promoted in my church.. On page 161 he says "What God wants for you is what you want for yourself". Ridiculous..
ReplyDeleteBeware and pray the holy Rosary