On March 20th, 2016, the Gazette, a newspaper of Colorado Springs, Colorado, published an article by Debbie Kelley on the topic of One Simple Voice. Entitled ‘Ministry teaches how to listen for God's voice’, the article labels those who participate in this ministry as ‘converts’ and ‘followers’. Both which are probably the most adept descriptions of those drawn into its way of thinking.
http://gazette.com/ministry-teaches-how-to-listen-for-gods-voice/article/1572566
(An earlier article on January 16th, 2015, in the Colorado Catholic Herald by Theresa Ward can be read here: http://www.signatureflip.com/cocath/herald/2015-01-16eEdition.pub/index.html#16/z )
While the ministry has grown and influenced many people within the Diocese of Colorado Springs there are those who are greatly concerned over the content of its teachings, and rightly so.
Bishop Emeritus Richard Hanifen explains his initial response to Frannie’s ideas, and how it took over two months for him to come to accept her proposal. While a bishop ought to follow their more educated sensibilities and strive to preserve that faith which was once and for all given unto the saints, we have an unfortunate example here of how people are drawn into new movements attempting to improve upon the faith, either by additional teaching, or in the use of words that are not rooted in the Christian tradition. A bishop who would require ‘convincing’ that they were hearing God’s voice is more than disconcerting and reveals the process of one being drawn into occultism, especially when led by someone who has functionally taken the role of a guru.
That one who has been influenced by false teaching, yet unable to detect it, is the very heart of deception. They become those who deceive and are being deceived. The way out of these deceptions is to take to heart the concerns of those we know to be fully knowledgeable in Church Teaching, and understand the history of Occultism. We must come to trust in these individuals to draw us back to the light of reason from the subjective naivety they now find themselves. All the more difficult when their reputation has been placed into question within the public. All the more difficult when they have also participated in the on-going deception of the new movement, and how their influence with people as a spiritual leader has allowed the movement to spread among those who have come to trust in them.
Frannie Rose, the co-founder and champion of this new movement, has perhaps revealed the underlying motive of her approach: "That's not to say the old ways are wrong," Rose said. "It's pushing things aside to make more room for what God is going to teach you, and when you take them back, they're richer." This statement, no matter how one attempts to interpret it in a favorable manner, reveals several striking ideas which ought to give pause to any honest reader.
1) What is being characterized as ‘old’ refers directly to the teachings of the Catholic Church, particularly how they relate to interacting with God. The term ‘old’ is not here used to refer to that original deposit of faith, once and for all given unto the saints during the days of Christ and his apostles, rather, it is used to denote ‘out-dated’. Neither are we discussing doctrinal development where an implied meaning is made explicit which is consistent with its intrinsic meaning, but rather, new ideas are being interpolated into a framework that is diametrically opposed to them, giving a new shape to the whole.
2) Divine Revelation ought never to be pushed aside for any reason whatsoever. Anything that God teaches us will conform to what He has already taught us. In fact, God teaches us within the context of what He has already taught us, not to its exclusion.
3) The process of bringing the ‘old ways’ back once the person has been indoctrinated by this new method is precisely how occultism infiltrates Christian groups. Once the new language is adopted, it becomes the locus of control upon other thoughts and in the end, the ‘old ways’ are now ‘enriched’ with new meaning which was not intrinsically subsisting in the original concept. Like bringing a new connotation to a term that does not denote it at all, at least from a Christian perspective.
Frannie continually uses the language of New Age thought to share her ideas. And it has been divisive in the Diocese of Colorado Springs precisely because her teachings have blurred the distinction between Christian Theology and New Age Spirituality. Those who are not properly versed in both perspectives are much more vulnerable to accept the new amalgamation as true Christian thought.
The language of theology is rooted in the expression of divine revelation. Taking a language that may have been best to describe new age techniques is not the best language to describe Christian theology. The Reading list from Frannie's book ‘Fixing Frannie’, reveals New Age influences from authors who are very much considered as teaching New Age concepts. People who first read her book and then ventures into her reading list will expose them to Occultism further and further. Unfortunately, there is a mass of people who cannot tell you the difference between the one system of thought verses another. Some simply assume that when the divine is considered that it all bleeds together. Not being fully catechized, a Catholic, may not be able to detect fraudulent attempts at describing how we relate with God having never fully grasped the Catholic perspective in its fullness.
There is no prescribed method that can influence God to speak or interact with us. There is nothing that we can do to raise ourselves to contemplation in this manner. Such an experience will always be infused by God when he determines to interact with us in this regard. Sure, entering into prayer is helpful, and even listening in some manner similar to emptying the mind, if of course this means to push aside distractions so that we can focus on Christ. It is this Christ that is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his being, the image of the invisible God, the fullness of deity in bodily form, the definitive Word of God! This is very different than what is proposed by Frannie and her followers. When one ventures away from a meditation upon Christ and begins to construct a language around experiences we have when emptying the mind, as Frannie suggests, we begin to give credibility to spirits that ought to be tested, rather than merely trusted. “…looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2
Sometimes I will stare into the sky, or at a blade of grass, just allowing itself to press upon me in that moment but this activity never empties my mind. God created the mind and engages all of us with all that He is. Never will God engage us in such a way that the mind is unfruitful. Leaving our minds open to the impressions of anything that may come our way leaves us vulnerable to deception and is precisely how New Age Occultism influences people. God gave us revelation for many reasons, one of which is so that it is always before our mind. And it is upon this basis that we approach God for it is the very method He uses to approach us.
To use one of my favorite lines from the movie, Luther, “You, Frannie Rose, will not draw into doubt those things which the Catholic Church has judged already, things that have passed into usage, rite, and observance... the faith that Christ, the most perfect Lawgiver, ordained, the faith the martyrs strengthened with their blood."
For an examination of her teachings on emptying the mind: Exposing Frannie: A Critique of her Teaching on Emptying the Mind
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