My favorite was the complaint that her website links to Opus Dei and Regnum Christi didn't come with a "warning."
Let's be fair. There are as many wacky commentors on "progressive" sites as there are on conservative ones, and a lot of progressive sites have no clue how to pressure them to behave.
Also, to be fair, people on Mark Shea's blog who were conservative also had a bad reaction. (Though Nixon's write-up sounds more attractive than the write-up Weddell did over there.)
I honestly think Weddell has a good idea here, but she explains stuff with so many buzzwords and comments which are _bound_ to set up people's backs -- or set off people's scruples (in the technical sense) -- that it's difficult to cheer her on without adding nitpicks. (The fact that the idea itself is a challenging one makes the presentation problems stand out more, of course.)
I just don't think there _are_ many unthinking Catholics (or members of other faith communities) out there. Quite frankly, there aren't many advantages in today's society to going to church or the fish fry. If you're showing up, you want to be there and have a good reason. If you're don't have the intention to be a disciple, you're not going to bother to show -- even on Christmas and Easter. Once you're an adult, nobody can make you go.
Now, people's intentions may be a little too inchoate and unfocused, and their state of religious education may not be all that great. But if they're at church of their own free will and desire, they're actively trying.
I think they've really stumbled upon something brilliant. By adopting totally unfamiliar language, they've managed to make people uncomfortable on the left and the right, and are forcing people to bring their unspoken assumptions to the surface. Some people on the left think that being a good Catholic means helping out at soup kitchens, and some people on the right think it means going to mass every week and going to confession once a year. But in either case, you can just be going through the motions without really having encountered Christ. And what's more, they've got "conservatives" and "liberals" commenting on each others' blogs. Nicely done.
I just don't think there _are_ many unthinking Catholics (or members of other faith communities) out there.
Depends on the parish you go to Maureen.
I thought it was pretty funny that this was what Commonweal readers would accuse someone else of Protestantation. It seems there is enough on Commonweal to find objections to.
I am ... astounded ... at the negative reactions Sherry and the Institute are drawing.
Apparently, it's "Catholic" to simply show up for Mass and trust that hocus-pocus to work. While following a "don't ask, don't tell" policy with everyone else regarding any actual relationship with Jesus.
Now I know where Jack Chick gets his material from.
There's also a certain amusement value in having a "me and Jesus" spirituality asserted as being a specifically "Catholic" thing and holding that up as opposed to how Protestants treat their relationships with God.
Lord have mercy.
You've got to love the repeated insinuation that Sherry, being a convert from evangelicalism, isn't a real Catholic, e.g., Jimmy Mac's sniff about 'altar calls.' She's an elitist member of illuminati all right.
Picking up on that particular comment:
Personally, I would hesitate to recommend a site that sends inquirers after further enlightenment without a word of warning to Opus Dei and Regnum Christi (Legionaries of Christ) sites. And their education links focus on the likes of Ave Maria and Franciscan U. in Steubenville. Surely there is richer, more stimulating and diverse fare out there for those who want to serve the Catholic Community in the lay state.
I get the point about Regnum Christi - there are real issues with the Legion, I'm afraid, and you don't have to be a progressive to think so. Even many of the most orthodox schools don't allow the Legion or RC on campus. The Institute may wish to rethink keeping that link on their site.
As for those schools, by the way, the comment itself reveals more about the author than it does about the handful of schools who bother to require a mandatum for their theology professors instead of hiring the Drinans and Maguires of the world.
Zach: All the "Jesus and me" comments I noticed were calling "Jesus and me"-ness a Protestant thing.
With regard to the Siena Institute as she and Keith and the other defenders on that thread portray it, I can't get past their choice of words. As per Orwell, impoverished language=impoverished thinking. They obviously mean well, and seem innocuous at worst, so best of luck to 'em and all that, but the skeptics do have a point.
We're having our own special little experience in the Diocese of Boise these days. It's amazing that one of the most conservative states in the country could also be a haven for progressive Catholics.
You're right. It's not enough to breast the current of the mainstream, struggling to do what is right _and_ get out of bed on Sunday morning. Unless we mouthe the proper buzzwords and have all the exact right _intentions_, it's all in vain.
*roll eyes*
Look, I'm very happy for everyone who enjoys this program. But y'all are creeping me out with the _way_ you're praising this. Any moment now, the old horrible evangelical scruples will hit, and I'll be hollowing out my soul with a soup spoon trying to be a good enough disciple. Which I had more than enough of back in college, thank you, and which went a darn sight closer to making me kill myself and/or lose my faith than I care to remember closely.
And if that doesn't make you fear, please remember that I would be haunting all of y'all's comboxes in that state. Trust me, you would not enjoy the experience.
Hmmmm. Interesting thoughts there, Maureen and I totally get your point about the "good enough disciple" scruples. I felt far more guilt and scruples etc when I was hanging around with evangelical protestants than I ever have as just a "practising Catholic."
For a bunch of people who profess not to believe in "works" they sure do know how to make people feel they're not *doing* enough!
The thing I just love about the Siena Institute, however, is the teaching on charisms. Really, *this* is the good stuff!
"...and which went a darn sight closer to making me kill myself and/or lose my faith than I care to remember closely.
And if that doesn't make you fear, please remember that I would be haunting all of y'all's comboxes in that state. Trust me, you would not enjoy the experience."
Which state? Suicide, or apostasy? 
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