Chris, love the *Raised Catholic(tm)*! Gives me something with which to describe those insufferable femrad broads (but I repeat myself LOL) who make a point of using the *Mary* they would otherwise drop (Mary Kate, Mary Helen, etc) so they can, when someone makes the mistake of saying “Are you Catholic?”, then unload on the Church, the nuns, and sometimes the Lord Himself, all over again. Thanks!

“when I chant the holy names of God in my own practice as a bhakti-yogi”

When I was going through parochial school, the nuns would have ended the fantasy before he got to “bhakti-yogi”, or whatever. No need for the Holy Spirit.

Is Huffingtonpost is the Jerry Springer of the internet?

It’s fitting that he’s turned fake Hindu since his whole life is an illusion. He’s so tripped out he doesn’t know where he is.

I think a lot of people who are searching, searching, searching…cannot accept Christ, because they would then have to confess to being a sinner, and they want to get to heaven (if there is one) ON THEIR OWN MERiITS. I know people who tell me so.

Chris Fici is in the material world.

You know, it wasn’t all that long ago that folks like Chris were sent off to insane asylums. Oh, for the good old days.

How simply precious! But since honesty and integrity are not part of his narcissistic manner of being, he will continue on, get his degree and go out into the world to mislead others.

I guess Union has the attitude that “we don’t ordain them, we merely train them,” so they have no responsibility here at all.

What a crock!

I weep for all the deluded fools involved in this sham!

Steve L., you have nailed it. And HuffPo is to disaffected former Catholics as Springer is to flying folding chairs. They seem inextricably linked.

This guy is the prototypical episcopalian;narcissistic psychobabler.I have no particular knowledge of Union Theological Seminary but I would run away if I was on the same street it was on.Where do they find these people?Maybe this seminary is desperate for money.

I do hope Mr. Fici hasn’t been staring at the sun.

If the Raised CatholicTM fellah is receiving “communion” at Union Theo, then he’s not receiving it at all. He’s just getting a dry flour wafer. It’s not Jesus Christ.

I used to work near there, I know the place.

I am immediately wary when anyone uses the word “upwelling.” The phrase “fabric of our diversity” also sets off my loon alert. And the reference to Communion as a “meal” is another clue.

A ton of gibberish heavily spiked with emotions and feelings and sprinkled with endless “I’s” and “me’s.”

I wonder if he sucks his thumb and rocks back and forth while he is chanting all them there names.

William F. Buckley once said that if it were conclusively proven that Christ did not rise from the dead, he would embrace Judaism. In such a situation, I would go for Hinduism because I really like their iconography and incense. But I ain’t gonna worship no rats or monkeys and cows are for eatin’.

Poor Chris missed out on the fun, actually. A couple of decades ago, he could have had a ball navel gazing and what all with the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh’s groupies in their Oregon commune.

This “Raised Catholic, but”….is merely practising the Pan Religion that comes with those who embark on worship shopping. A little bit of this and a little bit of that, never mind the inconsistencies. ,

He is not affirming a belief one way or the other but rather demonstrating his utter confusion.So Holy Communion is not the Sacrament that Jesus Christ himself established: his personal gift of his very own Sacred Body and Blood given to each one of us as an occasion of real and intimate spiritual and physical union with Him to strengthen us through his healing grace on our path to our salvation i.e.”unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of his blood, you will not have life within you” but if you do “even if you die you shall live forever” (John: 6). This poor man defines communion (note the consistent use of the small letter “c” and never the adjective “Holy”) simply in terms of one of the dictionary meanings, as a way to enable us to have a close encounter each other. Even the intimacy of “for you” is redefined. “In this community, these words “for you” are very personal, but we say it surrounded by everyone else,” May the God,the Holy Spirit God have mercy on him and inspire him out of his spiritual confusion.

Great comments on this thread! Very insightful! LaVallette’s suggestion of prayer for this poor man is a good one.

May I wish you all a Blessed All Saints Day!

I hope this guy doesn’t reproduce. What a farce! And so far from my former neighbor, a truly devout Hindu, who prays regularly and teaches her children true virtue. I’ll go with C.S. Lewis…everything good goes to Aslan.

“Prof. Lundblad” is, I suppose, Barbara Lundblad, an ultra-liberal “partnered lesbian” ELCA clergyperson:

http://day1.org/216-the_rev_dr_barbara_k_lundblad

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2010/08/church-divided/new-welcome.shtml

Barbara Lundblad
New York, N.Y.

“What we teach and proclaim matters. Indeed, it’s a matter of life and death.”

Barbara Lundblad is a pastorat Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a partnered lesbian. She reflects on the impact of the vote.

“We have never had any intention of leaving. Personally, I feel more totally welcomed and affirmed as a partnered lesbian clergy woman. While that has always been true at Advent and at Union Theological Seminary where I teach, this affirmation is now true in the wider church. Gay and lesbian members of our congregation were thrilled with the decision and now feel more fully a part of the ELCA.

“One of our congregation’s leaders and his partner will have their wedding at Advent Lutheran Church (in New York City) in December. I didn’t realize how much of a weight it has been to be quite open about myself yet never removed from the clergy roster.

“My partner and I lived in the parsonage together when I was a pastor uptown; our son Sam was born during those years. Yet in wider church circles I was considered rather dangerous — which always surprised me because I grew up in a Lutheran family in the Midwest and was always taught to be ‘nice.’

“The ELCA decisions of last August have been truly freeing, gifts of grace and the outpouring of the Spirit. Members of the congregation I served for 16 years also rejoiced, as did members of Advent. The public witness has been very positive for GLBT people.

“Just today my dentist expressed her delight in hearing this good news last summer. (She grew up in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod but left long ago after her Sunday School teacher said her Jewish father would go to hell.) What we teach and proclaim matters. Indeed, it’s a matter of life and death. If one young person hears this news and believes God accepts her or him that is enough of a reason for last year’s vote.”

So whatever kind of “Communion Service” this guy is participating in at Union Seminary, it is likely no more Christian than he is himself. I am, however, sad to learn of her association with Advent Lutheran Church in Manhattan, where a good Lutheran pastor friend of mine was its pastor from 1964 to 1978, when he left to become a Catholic (he is now a retired Catholic priest of the NY archdiocese): it was then a very sound and orthodox place, with a strong Swedish Lutheran heritage.

I hope he gets his shit back in one bag, actually.

I am not inclined to knock Chris Fici all that much. Mr. Fici is miles ahead of the others at Union in at least two important respects. He understands that he is not a Christian, and he is upfront and honest about it. Sadly the others there haven’t reached that level of self-awareness and or honesty.

I me mine.

If he understands that he is not a Christian, then he should get out of the Communion line. Stop sneaking around and then writing about it as a publicity stunt. Why can’t these people grow up?

“A couple of decades ago, he could have had a ball navel gazing and what all with the Baghwan Shree Rajneesh’s groupies in their Oregon commune.” Omphaloskepsis was not the activity of choice for that jolly crew, the object of their attention being a few chakras south of the navel!

““My partner and I lived in the parsonage together when I was a pastor uptown; our son Sam was born during those years.”

Ok who is guilty of adultery or at least broke the principles of faithfulness and exclusiveness. Consent of the other party does not ameliorate the situation even in the gay world!!

Sorry: Could not resist.

When folks say they were “raised Catholicc” or “went to 12 years of Catholic school” to give some sort of authority to the stream of complete BS that is going to come out of their mouth in short order about the Church, they just as well could have said they were raised Evangelical Rastafarian. Actually, I’d probably take them more seriously.

“our son Sam.”

Biologically IMpossible. Ridiculous.

Its funny about the Raised Catholic crowd: they have nothing but scorn for the Catholic Church and the Catholic Faith. I was Raised Baptist and disagree with a fair bit of the theology, and firmly object to idealizing Baptist life. They are prone to the same foibles as all of us. But there is so much there that’s valuable – respect for the scriptures, often a heart for reaching out, a friendly, out-going spirit, a real generosity of spirit. All of them? Every congregation? No, but its built into the culture and ethos of Baptist life, and they should be honored for what’s good there.

The Raised Catholic crowd seems cut off and dedicated to rejection.

I assume this guy’s name is pronounced like “feces” without the “s”. And that gives a big clue to the value of what he writes.