tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38479691.post6956316390277584905..comments2023-11-05T01:35:10.419-06:00Comments on The Travis Monitor: No Faith in Austin InterfaithRandy Samuelsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05422806680210032661noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38479691.post-12247035749184958472008-10-27T16:12:00.000-05:002008-10-27T16:12:00.000-05:00Regarding Barbara's experience with her friend, I ...Regarding Barbara's experience with her friend, I had a similar experience at St Thomas More. I attended a new-members meeting of the Social Justice Ministry, at which an outline of the group was presented. The leader ask what issues we're interested in. I offered some of my concerns, and was never invited back, though I left an email and phone number. <BR/><BR/>Two months later I called them, and was told they already had new member training, and that I would have to wait until the next training session, in about a year. I took it upon myself to attend one of the Social Justice Ministry's committee meetings, and noticed the leader from the new-member meeting was clearly uncomfortable with my attendance. I casually mentioned that I was disappointed not to have been called back, and the reply was a bunch of excuses.<BR/><BR/>Note, most parishes have a Social Justice Ministry, which appears to be the parish arm of Austin Interfaith.<BR/><BR/>Also, since the AI candidate forum I've been in email contact with the leader of the Social Justice Ministry at STM, regarding an issue which is an AI issue, though an issue which the parish did not endorse. She explained that the parish reps to AI accepted this issue as an AI issue on behalf of the STM parish, during AI discussions to set their agenda. They clearly don't have that authority, proving AI and the Social Justivce Ministries do not speak for the parishes they claim to represent.<BR/><BR/>signed: Paul GelencserAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38479691.post-37471915150132831622008-10-26T21:45:00.000-05:002008-10-26T21:45:00.000-05:00Barbara, I have communicated my concerns to the pa...Barbara, I have communicated my concerns to the pastor and<BR/>I would like more of the materials that you describe. please follow up and communicate via email (patmcguinness AT austin.rr.com).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38479691.post-65437797593879033812008-10-25T16:01:00.000-05:002008-10-25T16:01:00.000-05:00I helped to prevent my church from becoming a meme...I helped to prevent my church from becoming a memeber of Austin Interfaith. I have resource material written by Catholics about the ways in which the Industrial Areas Foundation groups violate Catholic teaching. It isn't just about the life issue: they will tell you that the only things they put forward are those action items that are agreed to by the leaders from each member organization. Invariably the "leader" is the person recruited by AI to bring their church or school into the organization, and so is already "friendly" to the underlying agenda, which is extremely liberal, and extremely pro-union. The leader is supposedly representing his institution at the meetings taht set the agenda for the accountability sessions, but there is no representation in the real sense. This is one of the main reasons the Catholic Church objects to these organizations: they purport to be lobbying on behalf of the people in their churches, but if some of those represented object, there is a violation of conscience. This is doubly wrong since the fee to "join" AI is very high (our church was assessed $10,000)- that's money that could and should be going to charitable enterprises more directly.<BR/><BR/>There's a lot more to this, but suffice it to say, our fight was difficult and when the priest, who was all for AI realized that our case was too strong to be ignored, he put a stop to the "process" ( a word I've come to loathe), the protracted period of "reeducating" us and explaining how the Austin Interfaith method works. After a year of (secret) meetings, no one could explain it. Funny: I could explain it in 5 minutes. By the way the "ad hoc" committee to explore the possibility of joining was hand-picked by the leader. When one woman of good conscience asked if a (conservative) friend of hers could join, the leader said, sure- let me talk to her first. After he "interviewed" her for two hours, he suggested that she would be a good person to tap for Phase 2, after the church had joined AI.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38479691.post-48101640855120978872008-10-25T09:31:00.000-05:002008-10-25T09:31:00.000-05:00This is, unfortunately, the modus operandi of Inte...This is, unfortunately, the modus operandi of Interfaith rallies in the Valley and elsewhere. They recently tried to stage one in the Valley and every single confirmed elected official -- including Democratic U.S. Congressmen, Senator Hutchison, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and others -- canceled their attendance at the last minute. <BR/> You make particularly excellent points about Catholic Church participation in this farce. Shame on the church for allowing its facilities to be misused and abused by a group opposing the basic tenets of the Catholic Church.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com