In a letter to Holy Rosary Academy earlier this month, the Archdiocese said that unless Holy Rosary Academy agrees to nine new points of business and legal procedures, it will be decertified as a Catholic school.
A town hall meeting on Thursday will be followed by a second town hall meeting Friday, Oct. 22 at 5 pm to answer parents’ questions and discuss the implications of the situation for the school.
Holy Rosary Academy, a K-12 school in Anchorage, was founded in 1987. It is an independent catholic school that operates as a “lay apostolate.” On Monday, the archbishop plans to remove its Catholic designation.
According to the Holy Rosary Academy Board of Trustees and headmaster Dr. Mark Newcomb, in April of 2021, Father Patrick Travers, vicar general for the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau, sent a letter to the Holy Rosary Academy Board, signed by Archbishop Andrew Bellisario. The letter specified that the school would have to agree in writing to nine new points of “business and legal procedures” in order to maintain the recognition the academy has previously enjoyed.
“The letter also stated that our compliance with these points would be proof of our being sufficiently Catholic to be so designated within our archdiocese. None of these matters involved visiting the campus or meeting with any faculty, staff, alumni, benefactors, students, or families to assess how deep our Catholic identity runs at HRA,” the board wrote to parents.
“However, one of the required stipulations would have granted complete control over the curriculum of Holy Rosary Academy to the Archdiocese. Other points would necessitate strict conformity with all health and safety protocols promulgated by the Archdiocese, require approval of presentations and speakers on our campus, and involve creation of a hold-harmless indemnification between HRA and the Archdiocese,” the board explained.
The school acknowledged that the Archbishop is the undisputed head of the Church in the archdiocese, and has the authority to determine which institutions are officially considered Catholic.
“Since, in the past, HRA has been considered not only Catholic, but exemplary in the education and formation that we offer our students, we are mystified that the current Archbishop and Father Travers appear totally unwilling to recognize HRA’s existence as an independent and Catholic school. We do not understand why they would suddenly require complete compliance in academic, legal, and business matters that would necessitate altering the identity, mission, curriculum, and charter of the school. Holy Rosary Academy is doing everything it always has while not asking anything more than it ever did in the way of recognition. This sudden change on the part of the Archdiocese is therefore as disappointing as it is puzzling,” the group wrote.
The board says it requested a meeting with Bellisario in August to discuss how Holy Rosary Academy could maintain its status as an independent and Catholic school while also demonstrating its Catholic orthodoxy to the Chancery.
“We sought to collaborate with the Archbishop in honoring the spirit of the requirements sent to us under his signature. Alarmingly, one of the assertions of the Archbishop in that conversation was that all but day-to-day operations at Holy Rosary Academy would be under archdiocesan control–including personnel, curriculum, and business matters. Nevertheless, out of a desire to demonstrate obedience in all areas of legitimate archdiocesan authority and out of courtesy to the office, we made another attempt to stand with the Archbishop on our historic common ground. Following the meeting, we indicated in writing our concessions to many of the Chancery’s specifications and highlighted areas for further cooperation in an additional effort to bring mutual harmony,” the board wrote.
It was to no avail. In a letter of Oct. 4, 2021, the Archdiocese said the school must acquiesce in full or will no longer be officially designated a “Catholic school.”
This would mean, for example, that the school would be prohibited from having the sacraments celebrated on campus for any non-emergency circumstance, along with the removal of the reserved Real Presence of Jesus from the tabernacle in the chapel. Real Presence of Jesus in the tabernacle is, as a practical matter, consecrated host that is seen as bread and wine, and the Catholic understanding is that it contains body and soul of Jesus the Christ. When the students go into the chapel every day, they are in the presence of Christ in a real way. This would be removed by the Archdiocese.
“This is a bewildering and disheartening situation for all of us. As you are well aware, the Catholic identity of Holy Rosary Academy has been assessed and endorsed by the Cardinal Newman Society since 2004; by our accrediting body, the National Association of Private Catholic and Independent Schools, for over 15 years; and the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education. After long and prayerful consideration, the Board of Trustees is now seeking further understanding and clarification from the Archbishop,” the board wrote.
If the school is no longer recognized by the Catholic Church, the accreditation, curriculum, or the regular academic operations of the school will, however, be unchanged.
“Our mission, identity, and commitment to serving Catholic families and forming Catholic students will remain unchanged. We did not seek this conflict and are unsure why the current Archbishop would contemplate not extending the same privileges HRA has enjoyed under three previous Ordinaries while permitting us to continue to have control over our own hiring, curricular, legal, and business affairs,” the school wrote.
“Rest assured that the Board and leadership team of the school will work to preserve HRA’s distinct mission and identity every way that we can, including appeals under Canon Law, if necessary. We will have more information to share with the community as the situation unfolds, but wanted to ensure that all of you knew the essentials of this most unfortunate turn of events. We invite you to join us for regular Friday rosary devotions where we will be asking Our Lady to preserve the sacramental presence of Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the campus of Holy Rosary Academy and to give us the continued grace of having Mass celebrated here,” the school wrote.
The timeline of the impending separation, according to the school:
1. March 24, 2021, meeting with Father Patrick Travers, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, who demands to have control of HRA’s self-governance, pursuant to his understanding of canon law. Board Members’ concerns over self- governance were dismissed by Father Travers, on his assertion that Board Members are not canonists like himself.
2. April 20, 2021, Archbishop Bellisario sends a letter to HRA, demanding control over HRA’s self-governance and accusing HRA of incomplete Safe Environment audit demands.
3. April – June 2021, HRA consults with canonists, all of whom affirm that a local ordinary’s jurisdiction does not extend to health, hygiene, staffing, and curriculum in a lay-run, self-governing association.
4. June 30, 2021: HRA sends Archbishop Bellisario a letter, with opinions from canonists and requesting a meeting with his Excellency.
5. After several actions by the HRA Board and staff that moved us towards the Archbishop’s position, on July 1st, we were granted the temporary right to continue the public use of the term ‘Catholic’ in our presentations with the proviso that we agree to the remainder of the terms.
6. July 16, 2021: Archbishop Bellisario demands compliance with Safe Environment directives before “scheduling a meeting concerning” self- governance issues; HRA readily does so.
7. August 6, 2021, HRA schedules a meeting with the Archbishop for August 16, 2021. HRA tells Kim Bakic, Executive Assistant to the Archbishop, that it will have a canonist present.
8. August 15, 2021, HRA’s canonist flies to Anchorage.
9. August 16, 2021, Father Travers emails HRA six hours before the meeting, refusing to allow our canonist to be present, but making it clear that he, Father Travers, will be present. HRA responds, stating that 1) the canonist is here; 2) the request for a canonist was timely (10 days prior); 3) Father Travers is a canonist; 4) all the issues of Archbishop Bellisario’s authority stem from Father Travers’ interpretation of canon law. Father Travers emails three hours before the meeting, stating now that he will not be present at it. HRA Board meets with Archbishop Bellisario for 90 minutes, and our canonist is forced to wait outside. Archbishop Bellisario makes it clear that he believes he can and should control health, hygiene, curriculum, and hiring at Holy Rosary Academy.
10. September 20, 2021, HRA sends letter to Archbishop Bellisario, thanking him for meeting and offering him a memorandum of understanding that clearly defines, per canon law, the scope of Archbishop Bellisario’s authority, and HRA’s willingness—historically and in the future—to cooperate within the scope of the applicable canons.
11. October 4, 2021, Archbishop Bellisario sends a letter, demanding compliance with his April 20, 2021 letter or he will revoke the name “Catholic,” remove the Holy Eucharist, and forbid the celebration of the Sacraments on campus for any non-emergency circumstance if we had not returned the signed letter by Oct. 25th.
National Association of Private Catholic Independent Schools is the accrediting body for Holy Rosary Academy.
Holy Rosary is Alaska’s top private school in national ranking. I miss Archbishop Hurley.
Hurley enabled the pedophile priests throughout Alaska. An Alaskan Principal’s suicide was likely due to Hurley’s reticence…. Do Your own due diligence and You will be glad he’s history.
The archbishop has arrogated to himself power and authority over an independent Catholic school that is not his to take. His behavior is simply another example of the arrogance and tyranny of some of the American bishops … too many actually. They forget they are the servants of the people of God, not monarchs. St JPII called himself, the Pope, Servus Servorum Dei, the servant of the servants of God. Bishops take heed!
This is the most interesting thing published here in a while. Thank you.
As leftist radicals (Jesuits) take over the church and turn it to their warped theology (I even recall a Jesuit sermon advocating for abortion), perhaps it is time for traditionals to look back to the east. The schism of 1,000 years ago split between Byzantine and Roman beliefs. Maybe it is time for traditional believers to cross over to the Eastern Rite and take their churches with them.
The Byzantine Church is a legitimate Catholic Church and is not in schism but does fall under a different, more traditional, hierarchy. Any Catholic that wishes to go to the Byzantine Church in Anchorage is able to do so without any worries about being in schism. Good suggestion!
You are correct. I choose words poorly.
Thank you so much for this suggestion!
No. I am Roman. I won’t be frightened away by a bunch of heretics and poofs.
My children go to Holy Rosary Academy, and I would be lying if I said that when I received this email I was anything other than enraged. I fully admit that I am not a Catholic scholar, and I am only a recent convert, however I read this as a direct threat to the spiritual well-being of my children.
Jesus said “Let the children come to me, DO NOT prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” And “It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.”
I don’t believe that the removal of the Holy Eucharist would instantly turn HRA into lord of the flies or anything, but in the Catholic belief His presence is powerful, and for some His presence makes all the difference between a bad choice and a good one. To make any demand, and use a threat to the spiritual well-being of children does not seem to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. Setting Catholicism aside for a moment, Holy Rosary is by far the best school in the state. It has proven it year after year with just its test scores let alone the graduation and college admission rates. The archbishop wishes to modify the structure, curriculum and modus operandi of the school. What possible reason could someone have for wanting to take a complete success and change it?
Thank you for taking the time to write this article so that more attention is brought to this unfortunate situation.
Please pray for our children.
What possible reason for such action? Well, at least we know now it is not for anyone’s spiritual or academic growth – a couple things that we thought were a fairly high priority on anyone’s list of things to desire in a religious school.
The irony is it is not the government coming down with the iron fist. That’s why we oft choose to NOT use public schools. It is the very representative of the Catholic faith.
But at least we know the reasoning is not spiritual or academic. It’s better to know truth, even if we don’t like it.
No need to downplay that you are only a recent convert.
Sincere converts are the true fresh air of the Church. A bit of sincere education not washed in destructive, leftist ideals held by a heart that loves the Lord is apparently worth 100 times that of someone ‘well educated’ in some institute that filled his lungs and brains with the smoke of satan.
I realize that second sentence is very cumbersome, but I’m sure you get the meaning.
Third.
Oh well.
Holy Rosary Academy is “too Catholic” for the liberal Archbishop and his minion, Father Travers. They grab onto every liberal doctrine and idea that surfaces and gladly closed down churches when the former Anchorage dictator ordered it. They are always proud to be among those who “stand up for” whatever cause everyone else (media and other liberal influencers) is standing up for. They resist nothing that will reflect poorly in the press because they are cowards, as are the many priests and deacons who blindly follow.
While the current Pope is in the process of trying to establish an all-inclusive one world religion, old faithful institutions who hold that their purpose is to serve God and save immortal souls, have become obsolete and even impediments in “re-defining” what it is to be Catholic. In essence, Holy Rosary Academy is too Catholic.
True Catholics need to be ready to resist and suffer the coming persecution.
Too Catholic.
Amen.
“……True Catholics need to be ready to resist and suffer the coming persecution…….”
I believe it started quite some time ago. It’s only now getting noticed, and unlike what we thought years ago, it is active from within every bit as much as from without.
This is the kind of thing that one should expect to happen when a Marxist anti-pope occupies the seat of St. Peter in the Vatican.
Please join the parents of HRA students today at 5 pm at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral to pray the whole Rosary (20 decades) and ask the Blessed Virgin to intercede on our behalf. The presence of the Eucharist on campus, and access to mass and the sacraments on campus is tremendous to the spiritual formation of our children. To take that away and use it as a bargaining chip to gain power is truly despicable. I hope Abp. Bellisario recognizes the damage he could cause through this scandal.
Leave the diocese. The whole of Scripture is clear — Christ’s presence is found IN His people (the Ekklesia) and not in a wafer and wine. In John’s Gospel, chapter 6, Jesus’ teaching is that eating His flesh and drinking His blood is symbolized in the Lord’s Supper meal. Christ’s presence is Alive and well in His people the day before and the day after taking the bread and wine!!! What joy to Live out the reality that we aren’t required to participate in the Lord’s supper to have His presence!!! The Lord’s supper is the CELEBRATION of the reality of His constant presence in His people!!! May Holy Spirit speak to our hearts and minds.
Apparently you think you know better than 2,000 years of Catholic theology. Good for you. But this is not the point of the article, so please take your proselytizing elsewhere. It is more than just a little offensive to Catholics, but you knew that, didn’t you?
Do you not consider yourself a Christian? Just curious.
This right here Elizabeth. With numerous years of living in Alaska now, I have gone to Catholic and Protestant churches. Unfailingly, some protestant, like yourself, will accuse me of not being a Christian because I am Catholic but I do not care for my local Church as it is corrupt with wokeism. Yet when I go to a Protestant church I will be accused of not being a Christian. Yet you ape Catholic sacraments. The hipocrisy seems to escape you. I yearn for a good church but at this point, with creeping corruptness in many Alaskan Catholic churches and the intolerable holier than thou attitude in Alaskan Protestant churches, I just pray by myself.
Not at my Protestant church, and many other local ones that I know of. You’re just considered an imperfect Christian like the rest of us 🙂
If you ever want to be taught what the Sacred Scriptures mean in John chapter 6 and what the Church taught for 1500 years before Martin Luther started his traditions of men and tore a hole in the dam, let me know.
I’d be happy to help you to know the Truth that the Church has taught for 2000 years.
So very true. It is no longer a joke to ask if the Pope is Catholic!
Mooney, the clownish caricature the you protestants make out of the true Communion, with the little plastic cups of grape juice and butter cookies on napkins strewn about the floor after you guys are done having your “snack time” is utter sacrilege.
A fine point in sincerity; is it really a sacrilege if they don’t understand and aren’t really doing anything supernatural?
Fire and others, including Keymooney: We have deeply held beliefs But THIS poking fun and ridiculing each other is EXACTLY what the powers that be WANT us to do!
They do NOT want us to see we are all coming under attack from them, no matter how we celebrate communion or “ruin” communion. They want us to infight.
It is tragic right now that the reverentially held belief that the top leaders in the Catholic faith want to lead, serve, and grow their flock spiritually appears to have been betrayed.
Let the bad characters, even those with fancy vestments, reveal their loyalty. And if it isn’t to God, but the State and control, then we’ll know we can no longer adhere to mere men and their declarations.
But we cannot attack one another, as easy a target as it is.
We who have any religious background are in their sights. We will be shot at. We are being shot at. Let’s not help them by shooting each other.
Wow. That is quite a stereotype. I have never ever seen a butter cookie, ever, in communion. Albeit have seen a plastic cup. Bottom line is, who is Jesus Christ to you? When you participate in communion, what is in your head and heart? Regardless of the vessel, nor whether the juice inside is fermented or not. BTW I grew up Catholic. I think that is what Mr. Mooney was alluding to. Still, that is not the topic of the article and I pray every success for HRC as it is an excellent school.
So let’s get this straight. The people who put their money up for a Catholic education, are now put at risk at being on the outside of the Catholic Church. WAIT WHAT!
It is another sad example of the Juneau Catholic Bishop pushing his Uber liberal agenda on the faithful Catholics of Anchorage.
Recall this is the same Bishop who was in the minority when the question of politicians promotion of abortions and receiving communion. Bishop B is all for it anything goes.
These feckless so called leaders are a joke. Totally out of touch with People that they are supposed to SERVE.
It is obvious that the under their robes, are the Jack Boots of the Liberal Totalitarian.
No Mister Liberal go and shut down Holy Rosary, school of my Daughter, and see the how your empty pews grow.
You have lost your moral authority and are wandering in the Desert.
So what do you do attack a Catholic school, a school that has survived under three former Bishops.and deny young Catholics from receiving the Body and Blood of our Savior. Your only trump card.
Let’s talk about timing. So let’s say you prevail, where do all the students attend Catholic school? You dumb asses could not even have this occur in the off school period. Nope You Evil ——- are willing to throw our Catholics Students in the Gutter.
But that is understandable given the track record of the Catholic Church and young people.
May the Lord have Mercy on you because Evil is what Evil does.
I know myself will be praying for my sisters and brothers associated with Holy Rosary, they are the true Catholics.
Maybe the secrets of Fatima are coming to Fruition.
Keymooney, His Presence not found in the Holy Eucharist? Jesus must’ve been wrong in John chap. 6. Backed up by the seriousness about the Blessed Sacrament in Corinthians. Backed up by 2000 unbroken years of Christian practice.
The Holy Spirit contradicts none of this but does contradict your above statement.
The ripple effect of Pope Woke the First continues.
HRA is “guilty” of traditional Catholic teachings. Not the one world socialist crap of Pope Woke
Archbishop Bellisario’s demands and unflinching resolve is more confusing and scandalous when Holy Rosary Academy (currently a Catholic organization) is compared to Providence Hospital (a Catholic organization recognized by Archbishop Bellisario).
Holy Rosary Academy (HRA) has regular Mass on campus for all students. A Catholic Mass is the liturgy in which Catholics celebrate Christ’s sacrifice and eat the flesh of the Son of man (John 6:53, Luke 22:19, 1 Corinthians 11:24). HRA teaches Catholic theology using works from saints considered doctors of the Church by the Roman Catholic Church. In other words, HRA is spreading the Gospels and instilling Catholic theology into the next generation who in turn will be missionaries in the world through their workplaces and community interaction.
Providence has providers that perform surgical sterilizations, prescribe contraceptives, and proscribe abortifacient drugs to patients. The Catholic Church teaches that these actions are grave and mortal sins. In the case of abortifacient drugs such as Plan B, the Catholic Church declares that a person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sentential (automatic) excommunication. (Canon 1398). Some canonist argue that the latae sentential excommunication extends to those who facility the abortion (i.e. the hospital and doctors). In other words, Providence Hospital which facilitates an offense which results in automatic excommunication (placing ones self outside the Church) is considered Catholic, but HRA which brings people to the Church is not.
There are many other examples of organizations recognized by Archbishop Bellisario as Catholic but engage in activities contrary to Catholic teaching which cause further confusion and scandal to faithful Catholics.
Yes, this from the Archbishop who shut down churches and denied the Eucharist to his ‘flock’ while Walmart, Home Depot and the grocery store were considered ‘safe’. If he really believes in the True Presence, how could he deny it to the faithful?
Fr Travers is also slippery – he once preached a homily that the mask is akin to the Rosary.
And meanwhile, what is the Archdiocese doing about Providence Hospital? That has continually violated Catholic ethics for decades? And when questioned, Fr Travers claims to know nothing of it!
Bellisario is, unfortunately, one of those bishops who entered the Church as a dating service. He is not particularly Catholic, nor is he a respecter of history or Our Lord. He is a functionary of a dysfunctional Pope, ready to squelch anything that might look like his “people” are worshiping anything other than himself. This is not the first nor will it be the last attack on those who believe as Our Lord taught us to. He is most upset that the Dominicans provide Mass for the school, and they also celebrate the Dominican Rite in Latin. That undermines the “liberal” nonsense that watered-down poorly-translated Novus Ordo Masses promulgate. Love they neighbor has become confirm the people in their sins. You can tell them by their obnoxious use of their power which never builds up but only tears down.
Curious if this could be due to retribution from murkowski? I could see her doing her back room whispering on this.
Murkowski does not have power over the poofs in the Church. They hardly notice her at all.
In terms of the statement in the New Testament: Where two are three are gathered in My name, there I am with them; ergo, the tabernacle thing sounds superfluous at best, bogus at worst. But perhaps there’s some utility in it for Roman Catholics.
Assuming that the Roman Catholic flavor of Christianity is important to the parents, administration, and management of the school, perhaps there’s a local solution. Join the eastern tradition diocese under which St. Nicolas of Myra operates. It’s the closest Catholic Church to the school; it even recognizes the woke pope.
If I correctly read: “https://ephx.org/parishes/?addressInput=99501”, the bishop of the diocese under which St. Nicholas operates is in Phoenix. Further, since the Bible was translated into Slavic languages prior to it being translated into western European languages, the school might then claim an additional increment of legitimacy to those who dig that kind of thing.
Let the Anchorage and Phoenix heavyweights with their miters, vestments, and shepherd’s crooks duke it out and let the school continue its good work.
To an outsider and confirmed apostate, this looks like a naked power grab and has little to do with saving souls.
This is a blessing in disguise. The time is coming, even here, when Catholics are better off being separated from their bishop, at least in many dioceses.
This right here.
Wer’e praying for Archbishop Bellisario, as well as the families, faculty, and staff of HRA!
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!
Saint John Paul the Great, pray for us!
I have been a fervent supporter of Holy Rosary Academy for more than 30 years. It’s Catholic identity (not the identity the current archbishop seeks to impose) is why its supporters stand with the academy. Make no joke about it, this school teaches true Catholic theology, instills reverence and humility in their students and faculty and their families for the true presence of Christ, His Body, Blood and Dignity, which is what Catholic theology is centered upon and has been for more than 2000 years. Stop playing politics with eduction. This school demonstrates that its graduates are successful in their chosen vocations. They meaningfully contribute to their communities because stewardship is a hallmark of Catholic education, as is faith, hope and charity. I invite anyone who is interested to visit the campus. Observe the kids, their respect for their teachers and authority. Bottom line, Holy Rosary Academy builds strong character and we need more than a bucket load of that in our public education.
Sounds like the difference between being a 501c3 church or not. Most churches are, good ones are not, members of the gov’t mandated 501c3 programs as relates to taxes. 501c3 churches must follow gov’t mandates or lose tax free status. Regardless, HRA is far better off with no direct input or assistance from the “Catholic” church.
Another action by the church of hypocrisy. The same church that lets Joe Biden receive communion. This is why I have for some time considered myself a former catholic.
So you left Jesus because of Judas? Sad. The Church (started 2000 years ago by the Christ and His apostles) is the Mystical Body of Christ. That does not mean that there won’t occasionally be (or far more frequently, lately) horrible people in charge (Remember that 1/12th of what Jesus chose was Judas Iscariot and some of the others still screwed up a bit before they went to their eternal reward.) That doesn’t mean that the Truth of Christ in the Doctrines of the Church have reversed themselves in 2000 years. That’s still the same. And ‘The Church’ is not letting Fake Catholic Joe Biden receive Holy Communion. That is on all that personally commit that sacrilege by giving him Communion and on the Bishops that don’t excommunicate him. Excommunication is and has always been an act of mercy that seeks the repentance of the excommunicated (and the repentance of those that are warned by it). The Bible is also clear that receiving Holy Communion unworthily is eating and drinking damnation for themselves. Those that allow it are not compassionate towards Joe (or other fake Catholics) but are encouraging their damnation and are culpable in that damnation.
I understand and agree with some of your frustrations, but I won’t leave Jesus (and His Truth) because of Judas.
“Lord, to whom else shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.”
Did not leave Jesus, left a church that has been overrun by hypocrites and is now in the hands of satan.
I am sad to have witnessed this in my lifetime.
The leadership of the Catholic church have stood by Joe and say that he should be able to commit a sacrilege, this in itself tells me the church is now evil.
I hope and pray for you that Jesus will save the church but I feel it has gone far to downhill to ever recover.
The church must now prove itself to me.
Respectfully, you really need to learn a little Church history. Corruption in the Church has flowed and ebbed for about 20 centuries, but I don’t think that you really want to challenge your status quo. I think you like being your own pope and at least in some part your own god.
Just own it.
I have long realized that most often those who give positive reasons for why they follow the teachings of Christ in the Church are near invariably genuine. Those that give negative reasons for why they won’t follow are as nearly invariably lying to themselves.
We together with some other families came together several years ago to start a Catholic homeschool co-op that ran like a school. We had to be careful to not use the word “Catholic” in our title or description, or the bishop and the diocese would run in and try to control us or shut us down. It’s basically like they have control over the use of the word “Catholic.” We had to attend daily Mass and pray a Rosary at a local parish, then drive to the facility we rented. They could never touch us and destroy what we were doing.
HRA, don’t ever let the bishop or his minions in to stop the work you’re doing to save the souls of the youth. Too many bishops have become the enemies of Christ and His people. There is no mystery what a bishop like this is doing.
Apparently the level of thought control already exercised by the school is inadequate to satisfy the Archdiocese. Most of these kids will eventually reject their religious indoctrination when they grow up and realize that it is all just fantasy and gobbledygook.
Reject religion, and be set free from its guilt, oppression, judgements, and mind control.
Now, Nom DePlume, if only all the radical leftist extremists would similarly reject their secular and rigidly dogmatic religion of ‘woke’ism, Covidianism, and all-around nanny-state authoritarianism.
Wow, nom. Some depth and wisdom there.
Kidding.
You failed philosophy and logic in school?
Or perhaps your instructor did?
Joking aside. Get the book ‘Five Proofs for the Existence of God’ by Dr. Edward Fesser. Excellent book by one of the best philosophers on the planet.
(If you would actually read it, I would buy it for you.)
Irrefutable logic (that’s a thing).
That is, if you haven’t rejected logic and learning all together.
Thanks for the book offer. I actually do read, and so I would recommend in return that you read Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. They will open your mind to the fallacy of religion, its teachings, and its theology. Are you bold enough to do so? I wonder…
Nom de Plume, hey pard, let’s separate empirical Science from a Religious belief system. Dawkins and Hitchens don’t really do that, do they?. I know, why don’t you read some Behe? There ya go.
I’m pulling for you.
Sam Harris once said ” Dr Craig is the one Christian apologist to put the fear of God into my fellow athiests. ”
Richard Dawkins will not even debate Dr William Lane Craig.
Athiesm is not a reasonable explanation for the fine tuning of the physical constants in our Univserse.
Craig. Another excellent author, speaker, and debater.
Already have. Sad that you put Dawkins on the list. The other two don’t make convincing arguments, but Dawkins is an angry little troll and a joke.
He attempts to attack St. Thomas Aquinus, but straw just flies everywhere.
With Dawkins’s treatment of Aquinas, it is not only apparent that he has no grasp of logic or metaphysics, but that he has not even fully read the back flap on anything that mentions Aquinas. It’s truly embarrassing.
As for any of his arguments on any origins of anything, he merely kicks the can a little farther backwards on the road and then does a victory dance. Also embarrassing.
If you would read Dr. Fraser’s book, I’ll purchase it at St. Paul’s Corner (Cathedral book store) and leave it for Mr. Nom DePlume (or whatever prefix) for you to pick up at your leisure (or another store that could order it).
Also, if you don’t have a passable grasp of Aristotelian metaphysics, a primer on that would be necessary to even understand the language and ideas so as to understand and critique them.
At least you care enough to think about such things. That is growing increasingly rare. (Example? Dawkins. That’s not thought.)
The book The Cave And The Light is very eye opening on philosophical history and the conflict between Plato and Aristotle (and why
Plato was always wrong).
And you will never go wrong on any subject by reading Heinlein.
Well sir, I’m afraid that Dr. Fesser’s Five Proofs – the Aristotelian, the Neo-Platonic, the Augustinian, the Thomistic, and the Rationalist illustrate the inability of philosophy to explain God’s (or Man’s) existence by the very fact that there are five of them, none of which are in full agreement.
The fact of the matter is that no philosophy, religion, or science has ever been nor will ever be able to fully explain the ultimate nature of things. So studying philosophy, albeit intellectually challenging, stimulating, and interesting, is ultimately an exercise in futility. It never advances, and aways returns to the original point of unknowing. The same can be said for religion. None of it can be objectively proven, and so we argue endlessly about it.
For me, I choose to believe that science will bring us closer and closer to ultimate truth over time, as it has successfully peeled away many layers of the onion already. Religion, on the other hand, creates ever more contorted and implausible explanations and theologies as scientific knowledge exposes and challenges prior religious dogma.
I spent the majority of my life in the Church, but actually never believed any of the theology – even for a minute. So finally, I cast it all off, along with the concomitant guilt, and never looked back. There is really only one philosophy I need: “Do unto others as they would have them do unto you”. See, no Deity required.
BTW, it sounds like you have been accepting some of the leftist mind control.
Just sayin.
Nom,
“ do unto others… no Deity required.”
A moral code that you can support without a creator?
Thank you for proving my point so easily and eloquently (but not in the way that you think).
No wonder you don’t really like philosophy. No wonder you don’t see its value. You don’t grasp it at all.
You can do some google searches and throw out some bigger words in a slightly more cogent way, but you still have not a shred of a clue!
“… fact that there are five of them, none of which are in full agreement.”
Poppycock!
Did you just base this on a google review?
You no longer sound inebriated, but it is still a clueless statement. You are only digging your hole deeper.
If this is actually your idea, it shows that I was right and you have zero grasp of basic metaphysics and logic. You would need to first grasp those concepts before you could evaluate larger ideas written with those concepts. Same with logic.
I do wish you luck and I suppose that face to face we could have some enjoyable discussion (social media is an abhorrent arena for true discussion), but again, good luck looking at the shadows. I do actually hope the best for you, but I don’t think you’d ever truly engage it.
To be honest, you sound a bit like an arrogant philosophy type, all puffed with your impressive knowledge of Aristotelian metaphysics. Big deal. That and $3.50 will get you a coffee at Starbucks. If you laid all the philosophers in the world end-to-end, you would still not reach a conclusion.
There is no God, at least in the religious sense, and those who spend their lives living in His Holy Name, are wasting their time and intellect. The Holy books were written by a bunch of shepherds a few thousand years ago, and you base your life around it. Silliness.
Look, all I was saying is that it is apparent that you don’t have a solid grasp of metaphysics and logic which are the languages that the ideas of those you criticize are written in. How can you criticize or judge the validity of what they claim if you don’t even understand what they are saying? It’s not fair.
Speaking of fair, I didn’t start this. You come in here dumping all over my religion which is reasoned and you are proselytizing for your atheist religion. Then you get testy when you get a challenge? Especially one that is pointing out where you are ignorant (different than stupid) and offering to help?
Fine, but realize that when you go onto the comment section of a story like this to dump on the religion it is talking about and to proselytize for your own atheist religion, you might get some pushback.
Can you get coffee at Starbucks for $3.50 anymore?
Why all the hate? If you reject God and his promises, then so be it, but that’s on you. No reason why you need to spread your hate to those who have found Love in the person of Jesus Christ. Or is it important to you not to have any dissent? In which case, your position is simply untenable.
You mistake my factual comments for hatred, to wit:
1) The Archdiocese wants to fully control the school curriculum, and in doing so, it will control the thoughts of the students, as in any other type of learning. Fact.
2) Most kids today will eventually reject their parochial indoctrination, and leave organized religion. Look at the statistics the church attendance in the USA and worldwide – it has been falling for decades. Fact.
3) Catholicism teaches that we are all guilty of sin, will be judged some day, and may be subject to eternal punishment. The Ten Commandments and church doctrine are intended to control how people act, think and behave. So I think I’m pretty well justified in my comment. Fact.
There is a lot of good that can come out of religion, but the things I list here are not amongst them. Many church teachings and theologies are in fact nonsensical. Virgin birth? Limbo? Transubstantiation? Triune God? All really just made up out of thin air. The soul? Well, at which point in evolution did the soul enter the human lineage? Who was the first person to have one? What about Neanderthals? Did they? If so, will they also be in Heaven? If we are saved by Jesus, then what about the billions that existed before he was born? Are they ineligible and just plain out of luck as far as eternal life goes? Too bad for them! Yes, I know that they are said to be “saved” if they would have been receptive to accepting Christ, if they knew about him. Sure sounds like a made-up answer to me, that got some Catholic theologian out of a tight spot.
There is just so much that is illogical in religion – and Catholicism is amongst the worst – that it is just foolhardy to believe it. It’s entirely possible to live a respectable life full of good and compassionate acts without the threat of eternal damnation hanging over one’s head. As such, I have no need for religion, or the false hope that some ethereal deity will save me. Think about it. No, I mean REALLY think about it.
So you see, no hatred here. Just logical thought and factual statements.
Yup, trying to control people with those ten commandments. Stuff like thy shall not kill or steal for starters. I guess we should just be left to own devices and everything will be rainbows and unicorns.
So tell me which one of the ten commandments do you feel should not be adhered to?
Who decides what is “good”?
You know massively little about what you criticize.
A quick bite on a few of your points.
2) A compact packing of logical fallacies. You caricature your opponent’s teaching as indoctrination and ignore the indoctrination of popular media, government schools, and curricula that indoctrinate against religion and don’t recognize what you see as resultant? Really?
A fair evaluation of both sets of doctrines in light of natural law and coherent logic would show which side is truthful.
Your repeated use of the words ‘fact’ and ‘logic’ are so silly (especially given what you refer to with them) and the spaghetti soup vomit of words that is your point (sic.) 3 is so silly, scattered, and illogical that I can scarcely wade through it.
I started out to try. I really did.
I’m guessing that you are high school age?
Again, I applaud your passion and interest in the subject, but you need some focus and decent sources.
I was a little put off by the incoherence of this last bit, but the offer for the book still stands.
But I can now see that you would definitely need to start with a primer in both logic and metaphysics to get the most out of Fesser’s book.
There is also actually a top notch philosophy instructor in the Mat-Su. Is it a UAA branch? Not sure. But if he still teaches, Mr. Cubas is an excellent philosophy teacher. His philosophy chops are phenomenal (and phenomenological?).
Coming from someone who was probably much deeper in the world than you, since even I knew don’t bother arguing religion with Catholics, if ya ever wanna see the entirety of those pictures from which you are deriving the cropped images of your factual statements, I would be glad to go to the RCIA class with ya. I went a few years back and it was able to dissuade me of every hard held aversion I had. Mostly because like I said, all the stuff I believed were not facts, but snippets of larger ideas which were taken out of context and spread by people who despise the church, much like the news these days.
I ain’t sayin “change your ways sinner” or anything like that, you do you. I’m just sending an invite in case you had not heard of the class. Figured if nothing else, it would build your arsenal of “non hateful facts” to use in kindness on us poor misled folks. Yes, that was a jab, ain’t the internet fun.
Can someone from HRA please explain to a non-Catholic what this is all REALLY about?
What did HRA do or not do to irritate the Archbishop and cause him to threaten their affiliation?
Sounds to me like HRA was just going along like they always had been. I don’t get it.
Is it about being woke?
Might want to ask both parties in this dispute what the truth in. That way you can discern with full information.
The Archbishop constantly leaves alone and even gives cover to terrible liberals who are weaving paths of destruction (Providence anti-Catholic hospital and Sacred Heart in Wasilla to name two). Then he smashes those that hold on to tradition and Catholic orthodoxy. His aim is leftism and his tactics are kill or convert. If you are seen as conservative with any spine, you will be forced to convert away from the more traditional and orthodox, or he will do everything he can to kill your program.
It’s about being woke. And exerting power.
The Archbishop appears to be more interested in bringing HRA, a more traditional practicing Catholic institution than the Archbishop seems to like, to heel.
As Archbishop it’s his prerogative. It’s also bad stewardship of his flock. Historically there has always been room for difference of interpretation in the practice and interpretation of the faith.
Pope Woke is a Marxist first. His religious responsibilities come a distant second.
Who does this? “…the school would be prohibited from having the sacraments celebrated on campus for any non-emergency circumstance, along with the removal of the reserved Real Presence of Jesus from the tabernacle in the chapel.”
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Seriously? Catholic Inc got the planetary franchise on celebrating sacraments, Holy Rosary Academy better not muscle in on Catholic Inc’s territory?
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Same Catholic Inc. making headlines with: “Border Crossers Flying for Free into U.S. with Help from Catholic Charities”? (breitbart.com/politics/2021/05/08/border-crossers-flying-for-free-into-u-s-with-help-from-catholic-charities/)
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Same Catholic Inc. about whom one finds all sorts when plugging in internet search terms like child-sexual-abuse-Catholic-Alaska?
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Bad optics here Your Eminences Travers and Bellisario. Maybe Holy Rosary Academy parents having a word with Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States, is the next step?
It’s all about power and politics. Better the school and the archbishop go their own ways. Oh, and for those of you who keep bringing up pedophile priests, I would like to remind you that very few priests turned out to be pedophiles. I would say that the percentage is the same across the board including other religions (including other Christian religions). You just never hear about those other pedophile preachers because their churches don’t have the high visibility that the Catholic church does.
It is true that Protestant denominations also have problems. It is also true that this is almost completely a problem with homosexual predator priests and not pedophiles, but downplaying the Catholic Church’s recent past with all of this homosexual grooming and predation is not helpful. To anyone.
It all needs to be investigated (all instances and coverups) and the guilty need to pay. No matter what it takes.
Downplaying it and ignoring what it mostly is will not fix the problem. One single instance in one hundred years from any Catholic clergy is far too much. I used to love the Church. I still love the Church. However, if it takes the entire Church loosing every dime of money and property and loosing every bit of public trust and respect for a hundred years to repent and to become holy again? So be it.
When the Boston Globe and others started blowing open theses scandals, I hated them. I saw them as enemies. I didn’t really believe it could be that true or that entrenched. Now I see those that expose these horrible abuses and the cover ups as heroes. The more of the abusers and those that enabled them rot in jail, the better. Do I still believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and the fount of Grace and Truth? Yes. Do I believe that there were and are some priests and bishops that need to be handed over to the authorities for their crimes? Absolutely it is necessary. This can’t ever happen again. And those that are still living secret lifestyles (and not so secret like ‘nighty night, baby’ or the Grinder gangs) that are nowhere near chaste and are the epitome of unholy need to leave the Priesthood. Have they no supernatural faith? Do they not believe any of what they preach? Also, those institutions which give cover or retain theses unholy unrepentants need to be dismantled in favor of those that demand holiness and do not mock it.
It is no wonder so many are losing the Faith right now.
Respectfully Karen K, the Priests on kids is a horror no matter how it stacks up.
The untold story is the sex between Priests and Adults. In Rome it is not uncommon to see Priests in Gay bars Saturday night and saying Mass on Sunday morning. All acceptable behavior under the current Pope.
Yes the Holy Church is in crisis, as demonstrated by the Juneau Bishop.
It is OUR Church and OUR Church will survive.
“Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.” Mathew 19:14. They are applying the law and not the Gospel.
More evidence that liberals destroy everything they touch.
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