Yawn-- It's the New (Old) Apostasy Movement

First of all, I apologize if this photo causes you nightmares. I just couldn't resist. Now, on to the post--

Not content to apostatize, we moderns must celebrate ourselves while we do it!

My comments in green:

From the National Post:

Apostasy move stirs emotions in Quebec

Church Questioned

Graeme Hamilton, National Post

Like most Quebecers of her generation, Sylvie Drouin was born into a Catholic family but stopped practising her religion years ago. "I was neither for nor against the Catholic Church," said the interior designer, now in her 50s. Matthew 12:30 "He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth."

That was until a few weeks ago, when she and her husband were driving to the ski hills and heard a report on the Pope's comments discouraging condom use in Africa.

"It was the final straw," Ms. Drouin said, and in a letter to Le Devoir yesterday, she and her husband joined 24 others in seeking to be declared apostate by the Church. They are part of a nascent movement among Quebec Catholics to formally break off from the province's dominant religion. "Dominant religion?" Apparently not.

The letter's signatories were mostly from Montreal, but Church officials are reporting a similar push in the Quebec City region. The diocese there reported 50 requests for apostasy -- the renunciation of one's faith -- in the past month; usually it receives about 20 such requests in an entire year. So, each member of Call to Action wrote a letter, then?

Two issues appear to have spurred the reaction. Let me guess-- pride and lust?

The first was the excommunication last month of the family of a nine-year-old Brazilian girl who had an abortion after being raped by her stepfather. A high-ranking Vatican official initially supported the ex-communications -- which also covered the doctors who performed the abortion, but not the stepfather. The Vatican's top bioethics official later criticized the excommunications. The excommunications were misreported by the press, were proper, and were perfectly well explained by the Diocesan Bishops in the matter. The only "high-ranking" Vatican official whose criticism would mean anything would be the Holy Father, and he issued no such criticism.

The second spur was Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Africa last month, when he said abstinence was the answer to the AIDS epidemic ravaging the continent. Condoms, he said, "can even increase the problem," adding that traditional Catholic teachings were "the only failsafe way" to prevent the disease's spread. See how the truth angers people who cling to sin?

"These types of dogmatic attitudes anger and disgust us, and we no longer wish to have anything to do with positions that reflect a tendency toward fundamentalism and contempt for human rights," the signatories of the letter to Le Devoir wrote. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

The actions in Quebec follow recent campaigns in Argentina and Spain to encourage Roman Catholics to renounce their faith. Actually, it encourages Catholics-in-name-only to come clean. In Argentina, the "Not in My Name" Internet campaign attracted 700 signatories when it was launched in early March. Organizers there said they hoped to reduce the Church's political clout by reducing its membership. You know, St. Pius X in Pascendi wisely noted that the bigger danger from modernists comes when they seek to remain hidden inside the bosom of the Church while trying to destroy her from within. See Mr. Bozek as an example. The departure of her enemies strengthens the Church. Yes, the optimal solution is that they convert and be actually Catholic. But given a choice between apostates "in" or "out" of the formal Church structure, out is better.

Michel Foti, Ms. Drouin's husband, said he hopes his small group's action will catch on among other Quebecers. But he acknowledged that a number of people contacted to sign the letter refused even though they are not practising Catholics.

Ms. Drouin said it is time for Quebecers to question their almost automatic identification as Catholics. "Religion in Quebec is cultural. We are Catholic by culture," she said. "The Catholic religion has led our society. We don't question it. It's like having white skin." Ooh-- another bad thing.

Bill Steinburg, spokesman for the Catholic archdiocese of Toronto, said officials there have seen no noticeable increase in the number of calls inquiring about apostasy. Records of official requests are maintained at individual parishes in Ontario, he said. Wait-- its a movement!!

[...]

Douglas Farrow, associate professor of Christian thought at McGill University, said one can become apostate simply by denying Catholic faith and morals, he said. A formal request for ex-communication is not necessary. But it doesn't draw attention to me! Me! Me! Me!!

"Frankly this strikes me as very gimmicky," he said. "Most people don't bother [writing a letter]. They just go away."

He also questioned whether any movement of the type could have an impact on the Vatican.

"Popes don't resign like CEOs because their customers or creditors are unhappy with them. They're not there to make people happy," he said. This guy's honesty could cost him an University job.

Ms. Drouin, however, said she no longer wishes to be counted as a Roman Catholic. Yeah, we got that. Now go away.

"We are not trying to turn the planet upside down (aha! a flat-earther!), just to say loud and clear what we think," she said. "[The Church] does not respond to our aspirations at all, and what's more it is embarrassing. Currently we are ashamed to be part of that." Cue tiny violins...