Bishop Morlino cracks down on Madison nuns for espousing 'New Ageism' and 'indifferentism'

Two longtime Madison nuns who lead an interfaith spirituality center have been banned by Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino from holding workshops or providing spiritual direction or guidance at any Catholic churches in the 11-county diocese.

Sisters Maureen McDonnell and Lynn Lisbeth, both Sinsinawa Dominicans, have diverged too far from Catholic teaching, according to a confidential memo sent Nov. 27 to priests on behalf of Morlino. A copy of the memo was leaked to the State Journal.

Two other women connected to the interfaith center, called Wisdom's Well, also have been banned as part of the same action.

The memo says Morlino has "grave concerns" about the women's teachings, specifically that they "espouse certain views" flowing from such movements as "New Ageism" and "indifferentism." The latter, according to the memo, is "the belief that no one religion or philosophy is superior to another."

The women "may not share an authentic view of the Catholic Church's approach to interreligious dialogue," the memo said.

Brent King, a spokesman for the diocese, said three other potential parish guest speakers, all male, have been banned "in recent years." The women are not prohibited from attending Mass or, if Catholic, from receiving communion, King said. Asked whether they could contribute to parish life in other ways, such as reading Bible passages from the pulpit or chairing a church committee, King said that would be up to individual priests.

After all you can't spell Sinsinawa without Sin. 


I love Bishop Morlino. With all the good things going on, I'm tempted to move there just to be part of it.

8 comments:

Terry Nelson said...

God bless Bishop Morlino.

Anonymous said...

After all you can't spell Sininawa without Sin.

An apparently you can't spell Sinsinawa!

Badger Catholic said...

Oye!

M.K. Schumacher said...

My grandmother has a very strong devotion to Ven. Samuel Mazzuchelli. Her sister studied at Sinsinawa back when they actually wore Dominican habits and ran a girls' school. She planned to enter the Order, but died as a teenager. I like to think that the Lord was protecting her from His wrath that was about to come upon the increasingly progressive sisters.

It's incredible what has happened to the Sinsinawa convent that that very holy man founded. Fr Mazzuchelli understood that authentic ecumenism cannot compromise the Truths of the Catholic Faith. He drew people from all different cultures to the one true Church through his holiness of life and missionary zeal for Christ. He literally gave up everything he had ever known and traveled halfway around the world to a land where he could not speak the language at all just to spread the Faith handed down by the Apostles. Indifferentism is tantamount to mocking Fr Mazzuchelli's mission and declaring it utterly pointless.

By his intercession, may the sisters return to the Christ-centered Dominican mission for which they were founded, and abandon their modernist, human-centered errors.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you need to meet some of these Sinsinawan Dominicans. They live out their mission in the tradition of St. Dominic, St. Catherine and the Blessed Samuel. Perhaps what is need is more Christian love, rather than sectarian hate.

Badger Catholic said...

... 'New Ageism' and 'indifferentism' were not championed by St. Dominic, St. Catherine or Fr. Mazzuchelli. Just because I disagree with the sisters doesn't mean I "sectarian hate" them. Au contraire, mon ami.

M.K. Schumacher said...

Msgr Bartylla, the Vicar General, has now released the documentation of heterodoxy as well. These ladies are really really out there. A couple samples:

"My spiritual practice includes an Earthling’s contemplative way of BE-ing in the NOW,
continuing lively work in quantum awareness and honoring the Oneness of the diversity of all life."

"WHO IS SOPHIA? - In the West, divine wisdom is known as Sophia. In the East she is Mother Tao and Prajnaparamita. Sometimes she is recognized as incarnate in Mary and Kuan Yin. Indigenous peoples and others of Earth based spiritualities know her by many names, from Spider Woman to Danu to Tonantzin. She is celebrated as the Soul of the World. She is the wisdom of Earth as Gaia. The wisdom of evolution calling to us from the future is seen as a manifestation of Sophia."

Al said...

It will be interesting to see what kind of a response I get from a letter to the editor I just sent off to the DBQ paper about them. In it I applauded Bishop Morlino for his actions & called on the Sinsinawa Dominicans to correct them in charity.
As for what anonymous said, her comments remind me of the call I got from 1 of the Sinsinawa Dominicans after I exposed in a letter to the TH that 1 of their members, Sr. Donna, was an escort at an abortion clinic.
Some of the older sisters in wheelchairs may still be faithful Catholics in the steps of Ss Dominc & Catherine & Ven Mazzuchelli, but for the most part, the Mound (as it is refered to locally) is a hotbed of New Age heresy & dissent from the teachings of the Catholic Church's magesterium.
That sound you hear coming from Benton WI is Fr. Mazzuchelli who is turning over in his grave by what they are doing, including trying to remake him into something he wasn't, a supporter of what they are doing.