A PARISH GONE ILL

St. Joan of Arc's open rebellion against the faith

By John Grasmeier
Angelqueen.org
August, 2005

Although the degree to which individual Catholics are catechized is diverse, and our personal knowledge of Church teachings may vary, it doesn't take a degree in theology or canon law to identify that which is distinctly outside the faith. Regarding heterodoxy, there is the insidious form which resides in that "grey area" of doctrine, then there's the literal and overt form. The former will go unnoticed by all but well formed and knowledgeable Catholics, while the latter can be identified by anyone who happens to witness it. Even those with limited catechesis know overt heterodoxy, heresy, scandal and liturgical abuse when encountered. Given the fact that the law of God is written in all of our hearts, all of us, even non-Catholics know distinct aberration when we see it.

One such aberration is the parish of St. Joan of Arc (SJA as it's known) in the archdiocese of Minneapolis - St. Paul. To anyone who visits the SJA website, it will quickly become obvious that SJA is at best a parish in open rebellion against the Church, at worst a hopelessly fallen congregation on an active mission to usurp the faith.

Be forewarned that if you harbor any degree of affinity for the Catholic faith and plan on browsing the this website, you may afterwards feel the need to shower. Better yet, call your local Homeland Security asset and ask if they would indulge you a full de-con scrub while you pray the Rosary.

The website, as of the time of this writing, is a bastion of Catholic mockery contains no church teaching or content directed towards proper Christian formation. Although you'll find a "flying Jesus", you will not come across any images of crucifixes or our Lady, or anything else that will remind you that the site is the property of a Catholic church. What you will find is unbridled left-wing social advocacy, promotion of hedonism, prayers to idols and lessons on socialist political activism.

What follows is some of what those who surf the SJA site are subjected to.

St. Joan's Healing Circle Ministry (Link)
If you're feeling afflicted and think it the perfect time to enrage your Lord and Savior, then St. Joan's Healing circle is for you. Here you'll find a crew of pleasant post-menopausal ladies dedicated to making your final judgment as horrific as possible. The ladies all have "credentials" in various forms of pagan healing, so the monthly theme of these sessions could be anything from Japanese Reiki to the "Crown Chakra", which was the theme of the July 19, 2005 session and subject of the linked article. Chakra is a Hindu practice where emphasis is placed on certain anatomical areas the body, while everyone stands around a cloth adorned with strange trinkets and statues. The information contained on the page doesn't indicate whether any of the nice ladies are credentialed in Voodoo, but it seems quite possible.

It's too bad women like these weren't around when Job was suffering, perhaps he would have gotten some relief from those pesky boils.

Reconciliation (Link)
If you're having second thoughts regarding the eternal consequences of your pagan healing session and would like to confess, be comforted in the fact that you'll only have to wait until next Lent to take part in the "Communal Reconciliation service". This is where twice a year, you get to sing joyous songs in a "communal setting" along with everyone else in the congregation. Of course you may have to overlook some minor details, such as being afforded the opportunity to make an actual confession and have your sins forgiven. As reported in Lumen Gentleman, SJA frowns upon penance, referring to the confessional as "the box". Here's what SJA had to say on the website regarding of these services:

Many of us might recall those times when we entered 'the box'....If you haven't attend this service in the past, you will have a second chance during Lent when the Prayer Partner Group will offer another Reconciliation service. Until then, you'll have to look for 'the box' in another church."

For those of you who simply don "get it" and absolutely insist on receiving this Catholic sacrament from a supposedly Catholic church, SJA will grudgingly accommodate you. If you call and make an appointment, you can be seen only on Saturdays and only before 5 PM.

GLBT Community (Link)
For those who are lagged in their modern lexicon, "GLBT" stands for "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender." For those who are really lagged in their lexicon, a transgender person is either a man who has had his penis chopped off and disposed of as medical waste, or a woman who has had a non-functional pseudo penis sewed on. Forgive the gory details, but some actually don't know what these terms mean, much less why they are given prominence on a Catholic church's website.

At the time when this article was written, there were two articles advocating legalization of adoption for gay "parents" and one article encouraging "adult role models" for gay youth.  SJA apparently does not advocate Christ for its "GLBT" members, as there is no mention of God or Christ to be found at the link. Plenty of homosexual advocacy, zero Christianity. None, nada, zip.

Peace Prayers (Link)
Here you'll find a wide variety of false gods to pray to, if you're not able to get over to SJA where they actually pray to them real-time during  Mass. No, the last statement was not an inappropriate joke. During the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, this congregation recites Muslim, Jewish, Native American, Shinto, Sikh and Hindu prayers in addition to the prayers of other religions that many reading this will have never heard of. There are more heathen prayers on this one page then there are Catholic prayers throughout the entire website.

After witnessing first hand the offense to God and His first commandment on the "peace prayers" page, one can only conclude that this parish has not only rejected Catholicism, but Christianity altogether. The only thing missing is a "peace prayer" to the golden calf. Perhaps

I shouldn't have wrote that last dig, as I fear that the webmaster from St. Joans may read it and decide to actually add golden calf peace prayers to the page.

SJA/WAMM Collaboration (Link)
SJA has teamed up with and linked to the website of the group known as "WAMM" (website), an acronym for "Women Against Military Madness". WAMM is a left wing feminist organization that is against violence, unless of course the violence happens to be perpetrated by left wing communist dictators. According to their website, WAMM has thrown their support behind Venezuela's violent communist strongman Hugo Chavez. Among other activities, SJA volunteers help WAMM distribute literature to encourage young people to become conscientious objectors. What does this have to do with Catholicism? It's hard to say. Then again what does a tin-pot South American dictator have to do with American anti-war feminists?

Christmas with the Gay Men's Chorus (Link)
One must wonder why a chorus - or any other organization - would limit its membership exclusively to men who have sex with other men. Further, one must wonder what is specific to men who unrepentantly have sex with other men that would cause a Catholic church to feel it necessary to have them perform during a celebration of Christ's birthday. In any case, if a church is to invite a chorus comprised exclusively of unrepentant homosexuals for the purpose of celebrating Christ's birthday, they would at the very least sing songs about Christ's birthday... wouldn't they? Wrong. The theme of the show was the most holy and reverent topic of "snow". The repertoire included such traditional sacred Catholic classics as "White Christmas", "Winter Wonderland", "The Christmas Waltz" and "Must the Winter Come so Soon", as well as some good ol' fashioned homosexual activism. From the advert:

In a departure from the snow theme, the Chorus will perform a new piece that speaks to the power of single individuals when they have the courage to take a stand and speak out against bigotry and hate.  Not In Our Town...

This isn't the half of it
In order to create an article that would comprehensively cover all of the heresy, sacrilege, strident leftism and other assorted wackiness at the SJA website, the size of the HTML file required to write such an article would consume more server space than the entire SJA site itself. The amount of error contained within it is literally voluminous enough to wear out any writer possessing the wherewithal to weed through this insufferable testament to the current state of the Church in America.

Don't forget, this parish is under the charge of Bishop Harry Flynn, so not much can be expected.  If you decide to go through the SJA site yourself, it is not recommended that you do so after eating.

Authors Note: Being that the nature of the internet is dynamic and some tend to abscond when light is shined upon them, the content that is the subject of this article will be preserved here for as long as is necessary.