We here at CMR are huge fans Fr. Barron. In the past we have called him a modern day Fulton Sheen. So from now on we will post a Fr. Barron video from WordOnFire.org every Tuesday. Kinda like Tuesdays with Morrie, except not like that at all.
Anyway, here is Fr. Barron on Anne Rice leaving Christianity.
August 17, 2010 at 5:41 pm
I think this is fantastic. But being in Nashville, I listened to this with the "Fr. Breen Saga" on my mind, moreso than Ann Rice. Both of them seem to be focusing on the Church as a group of individuals pitted against various other groups of individuals rather than One Body.
That's why I am sad to see Ann Rice leave, and why I'm sad to see both Fr. Breen's comments and the heat of the comments by his supporters and detractors.
August 17, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Beautiful! Bravo, yet again, Fr. Barron on this work (treatise).
I know there's been a lot of turmoil in what should be an issue laid to rest through Prop 8, and that a lot of Catholics are using this political opportunity to re-examine where they stand on homosexual relations, and how far they should be able to go to be licit and/or moral. I would say that this time in the Church is one of contemplative decision. Not just for great figureheads like Ann Rice and Fr. Barron to wrestle with and debate but for every Catholic. Many Catholics I've heard are dissenting Church teachings on this – homosexuals were made by God, therefore they should be able to join in a union akin to what God intended between one man and one woman. They simply cannot accept that the Church would teach otherwise. Doesn't it hearken back to "many found this teaching too difficult, and turned away."? But it is pretty relevant to bring in Saul too, for instead of turning away, many Catholics are staying put, and persecuting the Church, namely those faithful to Her, in the name of "fairness".
It's a tough (and glorious!) time to be a Catholic!
August 17, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I recently listened to an Anne Rice interview on CBC, a Canadian radio, and it's interesting that nowhere does she say she is leaving "the Church", or even use that phrase. All she talks about is "organised religion", "the churches", "churches and church groups" and "their group". She seems to have made up her mind about all of "organised religion" (whatever that means) and all churches (the Catholic Church being one of them) based on her opinion of the actions of some Catholics and/or the Church Magisterium (she says she never expected "a church would try to influence an election", which means she had never heard of "the Catholic vote"; on the other hand, she sees nothing wrong on her own attempt to influence the last presidential elections in favor of Obama.)
Rice's apostasy looks to me more like that of a heresiarch, since she does not intend to follow anyone or join any existing denomination, but expects many to "follow" her, if only in the modern Internet sense of following her Tweets and Facebook updates. She sees herself as giving a voice to a discontented minority (or majority?) in the Church, which she probably hopes to mobilise to further damage the Church from within.
Anybody who takes Rice's apostasy as a purely spiritual phenomenon should inquire about two things: first, the amount of money she used to make with her vampire books(she sold the rights to "Interview with a Vampire" for $500,000) and probably hoped to make with the sales of the rights of "Christ the Lord", a series she failed to sell to Hollywood despite the success of "The Passion of the Christ", and which she does not believe she will continue despite her describing herself as a "follower of Christ"; and second, the "Beauty" trilogy, a graphic S&M porn series involving, among dozens of descriptions of sexual torture and humiliation, many homosexual scenes between men. She wrote that series in the 1980s under a pseudonym and, to my knowledge, never repudiated it after her "conversion" (she refused to repudiate any of her previous work, presenting it as part of her spiritual quest), which sheds some light on her defense of "gay rights", the Democratic Party and President Obama.
August 17, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Fr. Barron is so insightful, and a wonderful homilist. But, I wonder why in the world she would want back in the Church anyway… she's a grown-up intelligent lady who knows about the Church's position on contraception, abortion, and homosexuality. Was it just a longing for the childhood "smells and bells?" Such a fuss is being made over this lady who has done souls such damage through her writing, and fostered so many perverted proclivities in the culture at large. Better for her to do her damage out of the fold, rather than be just another dissident Catholic, festering from within.
Mea culpa, but I am thinking, "don't let the door hit you on the way out."
August 17, 2010 at 9:02 pm
@ J-F Virey's comment on Rice as a heresiarch, seeking to gain followers to damage the Church from within–what a fascinating take on this. It makes one wonder if her days with the vampires have left Ms. Rice with a little demonic spiritual baggage? Perhaps an exorcism would be the appropriate remedy here?
August 18, 2010 at 3:05 am
Minor question. If Rice really has left Christianity, why haven't her religious views on facebook changed?
http://www.facebook.com/anneobrienrice?ref=ts
Stop making a big deal about an emo facebook status update.
August 19, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I posted this video in my blog as well, wherein Anne Rice posts a comment by saying "…Fr. Barron's gentle and generous message..". The rest of her comments..frankly I couldn't quite understand.
http://randomthoughtsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/08/anne-rice-out-of-egypt-and-out-of.html