**Alert** Lenten Quest Program Leading Faithful Astray....

Dear Advocates for Life, Thank you to Oregon Catholic Citizens for this important reminder. The Archdpdx has many programs that, under the guise of helping Catholics, actually leads them away from the Good Shepherd. We need to keep our spiritual "radar" up in these times..not take things given to us in Church as "gospel" and remember the four last things this Lent: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. God Bless you and thanks again to Oregon Catholic Citizens, oregoncatholiccitizens@gmail.com Carolyn ******************************************************************************************8 Dear Friends, We understand a parish in this archdiocese will be using the QUEST study program again this Lent. This program encourages small faith communities to replace the Church and break down the relationship between the laity and true Church leadership from Rome. QUEST is listed as a 'Catholic' dissenting group. See Human Life International's just released report "Exposing Church Dissenters!"; the list exposes over 180 'Catholic' dissenting groups. http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/090201 Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son. If any one comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into the house or give him any greeting; for he who greets him shares his wicked work. 2 John 1:9-11 __________________________________________________________________________ What is QUEST and What are Small Christian Communities? Excerpts from the book "Creating Small Church Communities" by Arthur R. Baranowski Pastoring the 'Pastors' The Small Church Community is really a church. Therefore, that church needs a pastor! The term carefully chosen at St. Elizabeth Seton to designate the pastoral leader of the small community is pastoral facilitator. The "PF" is often a couple, especially if the small community is mostly couples. The word facilitator in this title refers to the PF's being at the service of the other members of the group, helping them relate to each other, keeping the group true to its purpose. The critical presumption is that the Holy Spirit speaks in each person in the small community and through each person for the others. Thus the small community's PF (like the parish's pastoral staff) need not necessarily be the wisest, holiest or most articulate. The leader, in fact, works at not being the expert - the person everyone else addresses comments toward, the one giving approval. The facilitator is also not the problem-solver, not the counselor, not the teacher. Rather, the facilitator insures an environment where all members of the group can contribute to each other and where each person takes responsibility for the rest. The church always fails when only one person tries to take care of the community. The very term facilitate means to bring out the best already present in people through a process of interaction. Thus the small community's leader facilitates communication. The pastor of the Catholic Small Church Community does what the parish's canonical pastor or the bishop does: enable each person to bring his or her gifts to the entire group, help people in the church listen to each other, keep the vision of church before the members, connect this level of church to the other levels of church. READ MORE: http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=6520&repos=1&subrepos=&searchid=172969 Call to Action board member boasted, "We are beginning to create a new church instead of fixing the old one" - and Small Christian Communities are major building blocks of this new construct of apostasy. Creating Small Church Communities: A Plan for Restructing the Parish and Renewing Catholic Life by Art Baranowski. St. Anthony Press Called to Be Church Workshop Shortly, we will be scheduling the Called to Be Church workshop for four core teams that have been in the process of basic formation for some time now. Fr. Art Baranowski will once again be on hand to conduct this workshop. Parishes whose core teams have previously done this workshop are welcome to send members who have joined their core teams since the original team participated to be a part of this workshop. Call the office for more information if interested. Source: Small Christian Communities (SCC) Quest web site: http://www.sccquest.org Further reading: Source: Catholic Culture http://www.catholicculture.org/ Compilation on Small Christian Communities Catholic Culture Staff (June 30, 2005) Description: This compilation includes links about Small Christian Communities and excerpts from the book Creating Small Church Communities by Arthur R. Baranowski. Publisher & Date: Catholic Culture, June 30, 2005 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=6520 A New Experience of the Church? Stephanie Block (Catholic World News, July 2004) Description: Stephanie Block writes about the burgeoning interest in Small Christian Communities and whether or not this is good for the Church. She traces their origin back to the Call to Action Conference held in Detroit in 1976. Larger Work: Catholic World News Publisher & Date: Catholic World News, July 2004 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=6519 What to Think of 'Small Faith Communities' James Likoudis (CUF NEWS, May/June/July 1996) Description: James Likoudis discusses the pros and cons of "Small Faith Communities". He says there is nothing wrong with gatherings of Catholics who meet in small groups regularly, ostensibly to study the truths of the Catholic Faith, to deepen their spiritual life, or to engage in the Church's mission for social justice. The problem is that in the United States they have developed a different agenda focusing on the leftest-liberal struggle for "social justice". Larger Work: CUF NEWS Publisher & Date: Catholics United for the Faith, May/June/July 1996 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=6590 Liberationism for North America Stephanie Block (Forum Focus, Spring 2002) Description: Liberation Theology was addressed and denounced by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in its 1984 Instruction on Certain Aspects of the "Theology of Liberation". The Instruction insists that while the "issues provoking liberationism are genuine," the expanding theological movement is "a perversion of the Christian message as God entrusted it to His Church" (IX.1). In this 2002 commentary Stephanie Block examines the Marxist roots of liberation theology and exposes some of the most significant and influential organizations which share the liberationist philosophy. Larger Work: Forum Focus Pages: 4 – 22 Publisher & Date: Wanderer Forum Foundation, Inc., Hudson, WI, Spring 2002 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=7756 Structures For a New Church Model Stephanie Block (The Wanderer, August 17 2000) Description: In this article, Stephanie Block writes, "Truth by consensus, see-judge-act methodology to achieve that "truth," small base communities, conscientization, and faith-based Alinskyian organizing are the five pillars on which a new "model of church" (to use the terminology of a prior Encuentro document) is being built. These elements, while not blatantly designed into the Encuentro 2000 Conference, were nevertheless a very real part of its activities, as evidenced by at least one speaker, one sponsoring organization, by the documents of the past Encuentros, and by a number of Encuentro workshops, providing a clue as to what has deeply disturbed conference critics, namely that the laudable conference goal of ethnic harmony -- at least within the Church herself -- will be swallowed by a darker goal, the destruction of the essential elements that are Catholicism. Larger Work: The Wanderer Publisher & Date: The Wanderer Printing Company, August 17, 2000 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=3127 The Underground Call to Action Stephanie Block (Forum Focus., Winter 1999) Description: An analysis of Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) activities relative to Call to Action initiatives. Larger Work: Forum Focus Pages: 7 -16 Publisher & Date: Wanderer Forum Foundation, Inc., Winter 1999 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?recnum=1318 A Commentary on the Industrial Areas Foundation Unknown (Forum Focus, December 1998) Descriptive Title: The Industrial Areas Foundation Description: This commentary was prepared in response to proposed changes in the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) guidelines. It provides information about the Industrial Areas Foundation, which receives the largest percentage of CHD grants of any CHD grantee Larger Work: Forum Focus Pages: 7-21 Publisher & Date: The Wanderer Forum Foundation, Inc., December 1998 http://www.catholicculture.org/library/view.cfm?id=2885