March 31, 2017
Bishop Michael Sheridan
Diocese of Colorado Springs
228 N. Cascade Ave
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Re: Frannie Rose
One Simple Voice
Your Excellency:
I. Personal Note
Since our last
correspondence it has heavily weighed upon me that the manner of my
discourse with you personally as well as the manner of my
presentation throughout my research had been less than ideal and may
have served as a hindrance to the very purpose for which I set out to
accomplish. For this I deeply apologize and ask for your patience in
this matter and ask that you allow the truth of what I wish to convey
to win over any manner in which it is presented.
My desire for the last
few years has been to study and present the teachings of Frannie Rose
in her own words so that there would be no confusion concerning its
meaning. And often this has created impassioned moments of
ill-temper, impatience, and arrogance. My intent, however, was and
continues to be the catechesis of Catholics about the dangers of New
Age Spirituality and its most recent expression through the teachings
of Frannie Rose. Many, many hours has been poured into this project
in the evaluation of her teachings for the purpose of presenting it
to you in her own words, a task which has not been simple nor
expedient to say the least.
When I first announced
that I would be reviewing and explaining the teachings of Frannie
Rose I received immediate opposition from some of her students. This
initial response revealed to me just how pervasive her teachings had
become within the area. When I engaged each and every one of them not
one of them spoke from a factual basis but rather spoke of their
relationship to Frannie Rose and spoke of their personal experiences.
I was personally attacked and was not able to reason with any of them
because none of them were willing to evaluate what I had documented.
I care very much for the
revelation of Christ and His Church, and I take personal issue with
those who attempt to lead people away from that fullness and into the
incredible dangers that exist and I myself have experienced. When some of the Catholic faithful in the Diocese of Colorado Springs first explained their frustrations to me I did not put
too much thought into it, but as the problem persisted I felt a
personal call to unravel the teachings of Frannie and to explain to
others in no uncertain terms that she is not presenting the gospel of
Jesus Christ, nor is she presenting a Christian form of prayer, nor
is she echoing the voice of the saints in own day, nor is what she
teaches couched in the theology of the Church, rather, what and how
she teaches is directly influenced by and firmly based upon basic
fundamental philosophical assumptions which are in stark opposition
to the Christian revelation.
II. Historical
Background
A. Religious
Formation and Influence
Prior to Frannie's
entrance into the Catholic Church her religious formation came
primarily through New Age teachers such as Deepak Chopra,
Eckhart Tolle,
James Redfield,
and Gary Zukav.
She did not enter the Catholic Church in order to be in full
communion, that is to be fully convinced of the dogmas of the
Catholic Church as revealed by God. Rather, she claims that a spirit,
which refers to itself as 'I Am', directed her to Buddhist and Sufi
texts and she came to conclude that they contained the same essential
teachings as Scripture, though she was admittedly partial to Buddhist
writings. She entered the Church in order to promulgate New Age
Spirituality under the guidance of this spirit who came to her, which
she now identifies with her True Self, the voice of her heart. She
was not drawn to the Church by its truth, rather she was told to go
to the Catholic Church in order to draw it into this spirit's
teachings.
To the contrary,
Scripture tells us not to “believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God...”
We are also told that “The Spirit clearly says that in later times
some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things
taught by demons.”
Scripture also tells us that “every spirit that acknowledges that
Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that
does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the
antichrist...”
The spirit which she listens to is the foundation of her religious
experiences, and it is this same spirit who wants to use her to
infiltrate the Catholic Church.
B. The Present New
Age Infiltration
The spirit that
influenced her did not lead her to the unique and exclusive
incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ, nor did it draw her
into the Catholic Church by the fullness of truth.
To the contrary, this
spirit has told her: “I am pulling the nuns. And with My word, one
day the priests, too, will feel pulled. Slowly their faith will
become less covered by structure and will be the breath of essence as
which it began – a circle. War based upon dogma will end.... we
shall begin with the Catholic Church, as its structure is heavy, and
eyes fall upon it. Once its clergy hears My voice, I will give them
instructions for My way to peace.”
Earlier in her book, The Invitation, this spirit defines
structure as “Churches, temples, and religious traditions...”
This spirit also says that “many priests are lost in old
conditioning and thick structure.”
Frannie teaches that we need to question what the Church has taught
us and to abandon the dogmas of the Church, particularly the teaching
that God is distinct, and to listen to this spirit that has been
influencing her.
Likewise this spirit
spoke concerning the liturgy that “I am not in the space that is
filled with another's words... hearing another's words fills up one's
mind... I am elusive to your mind.”
Frannie therefore teaches and speaks of the liturgy as a “program
filled with words to say and repeat” and that this is “the
structure that is seen in religious practices today.” “From the
moment one enters a church or a sanctuary, the program is written for
him.”
To the contrary, the
liturgy on earth reflects the on-going heavenly liturgy of the saints
as depicted in the book of Revelation. God is present to us through
Word and Sacrament, and permeates the entire Mass with his presence
with those same words which he has given unto us. Any work of the
Holy Spirit will be in conformity with what God has already revealed
to us and which we already live out by the fullness of truth in the
Catholic Church. This is why this spirit wants to work within the
silence of one's mind apart from the scripture-saturated mass.
There is a clear
demarcation between those who merely live the form of religion
without a vibrant faith in Christ, and the idea that all religious
traditions, including the dogmas of the Catholic Church, need to be
abandoned so that a spirit can lead us into Panentheism. There is
also a clear distinction between gaining a deeper understanding of
the revelation of Christ, and the idea that New Age Spirituality can
enhance or enrich the teachings of the Catholic Church through
listening to a spirit that works in and through Frannie Rose, and
those she attempts to influence.
This spirit did not lead
her to the Catholic Church to embrace its fullness or to accept
Christ as the incarnation of God, she was being led to the Church to
undermine its dogmas, which is precisely what spirits attempt to do
through the New Age movement and their infiltration of the Church.
The only way for “the war upon dogma” to end is to eliminate the
dogmas of the Church, this would be to remove the 'structure that
weighs down the heart', which she claims to be part of God, and in
acknowledging this is how peace is brought about in the world.
She would have us to believe that this “war upon dogma”, that is
the contrary teachings in different world religions one from another,
will end when we all recognize that each of our respective religions
are mere vehicles to this same Panentheistic God, and through this
God-consciousness we will have peace and harmony. This is the core
doctrine of New Age Spirituality.
Near the end of her book
she states that “This is not about religion, structure, a specific
dogma, or words to follow. Each religion is only a vehicle to
God...”
“A religion is just a vehicle and to get it right is not the point,
to find God is."
To find God according to Frannie Rose means to obtain
God-consciousness, that is to realize that you are God in your True
Self, and no matter what path one takes to get there she claims that
this is what is found in the center, God. This is precisely New Age
teaching. Although Christianity may assist in higher levels of
consciousness, as used and interpreted within the paradigm of New Age
Spirituality, but essentially it is an obstacle to the highest state
of consciousness, the realization that God and man is not distinct.
To the contrary, finding
God through the incarnation of God the Son, the second person of the
Holy Trinity, through the inspired text, and through the Church,
which is the sacrament of salvation, is the right, true, proper, and
normative means which has been given unto us by God to find Him. That
there are small rays of truth mixed with error in other world
religions, and that God may at times work in the lives of people
exactly where they are at does not negate the fullness of the
Catholic Church, nor God's desire that we be led deeper into that
fullness, that is, to come to know and understand who it is who has
so graciously saved us through the blood of Jesus Christ. “Now this
is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent.”
C. Dangers of the New
Age Paradigm
According to Frannie all
exclusive claims to truth are a product of the egoic mind, a
structure of the false self, the mind prison that has been built
through conditioning by religion and what we have been told by the
Church. The New Age infiltrates all religions by first claiming that
they all lead to God, which they define according to Panentheism, the
True Self, and then condition them further to see their religion as a
mere vehicle to New Age Spirituality. The result is that the
religious paradigm shifts, and the New Age concept of God usurps
previously held beliefs, which are now discarded in as much as those
teachings conflict with what they have now found within the New Age.
In the end, the person comes to accept all the tenants of New Age
Spirituality, to a greater or lesser degree, and will perceive
anything contrary to it as a product of the egoic mind – a
structure and conditioning known as the false self.
Often people who have
been drawn into the New Age Movement retain their membership to
whichever religion they previously preferred in order to spread New
Age teachings further, and will at times encourage people in it as
long as they adopt New Age ideas. It is a slow, subtle, and deceptive
process of syncretism,
a blurring of distinctions, until ultimately the previously held
positions are either absorbed, subsumed, or abandoned according to
the New Age paradigm.
D. New Age
Mind-Conditioning Technique
Frannie continues to
dismiss the Church which Christ established with divine authority and
which the saints have defended with their blood. Frannie teaches that
we are to empty our mind of revelation and simply listen to this
spirit about who God is. “We miss seeing God because we think we
know about him... we have been told in Church...”
“...today we don't know anything about God, we are going to let God
tell us about him, or her...”
Frannie leads people away
from the scriptural teaching of testing the spirits by the revelation
of Christ and the teaching of the Church. “Even when people begin
to hear God's voice the first thing they do is they question whether
or not its God, because they allow their mind to analyze what their
hearing, if they let go of the analyzing of what their hearing and
allow their hearts to come into the situation, they know its God.”
During an interview on the Rocky Mountain Views, the host asked
Frannie: “How do you know you are talking to God, how do you know
you are not talking to the devil?” To which Frannie simply said:
“...somehow in your heart you know it is right.”
She has also stated: “...minds don't pretend, but if you are really
hearing the voice of God, God speaks in gentle, kind, and loving ways
and our minds don't do that, our minds are critical, they speak
negatively, they look for what's wrong in a situation... the mind is
always looking for the imperfection...”
When she was asked if
there was reincarnation she responded by choosing not to answer, but
rather said that we should be asking God these questions, and then
listen to what his answer is.
To the contrary, the New
Age uses mind conditioning techniques such as emptying the mind, or
creating space through unlearning, in order to circumvent the
discernment process which God told us to use in order to recognize if
a spirit is from God or not, that is, to test it against the
revelation of Christ and the teaching of his apostles through the
Catholic Church. It is a common experience within the New Age to
receive spirits that are accompanied by feelings of gentleness,
kindness, and contain words which are spoken in loving ways. There
are many, many documented cases of people who have experienced peace
and tranquility when encountered by a spirit through the New Age.
Additionally, Frannie continues to cast the mind in a negative light,
which is another tactic to lead people to question what they have
already learned in order to make people more receptive to this
spirit. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel
of light.”
“...there will be false
teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive
heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them... many
will follow... and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”
III. The
Panentheism Heresy and its Concomitants
A. Panentheism
Defined
Frannie's New Age world
view stems directly from her most basic philosophical assumption of
Panentheism. Panentheism comes from the Greek: ,
'everything'; , 'in'; ,
'God'. “Everything in God”. Despite what the term denotes, the
teaching of Panentheism is not to be confused with the teaching of
the immanence of God in Christian Theism. Panentheism is defined as:
“The theory that the
world is part of God, though not the whole of his being. ...a part of
God is the universe and a part is simply God.”
“The belief that the
Being of God includes... the whole universe, so that every part of it
exists in Him, but... that His Being is more than, and is not
exhausted by, the universe.”
Frannie Rose rejects the
Catholic teaching that all extra-Divine things were created ex
nihilo and remain distinct from God in all respects, but rather
teaches that “God was in everything around me, inside me, and
greater than what was around me and inside me. God was all and
more.”
She has also written that we are all “a piece of God-self”, and
that “We are a spark of God-Self. God is... the very essence of our
spirit.”
This spirit who refers to itself as 'I Am' has told her that “...you
have always known Me. You are united with Me through all eternity.”
In the context of encouraging people to empty their minds in order to
listen to the voice of this spirit she states: “...we’re not
going to become ‘a mind,’ we’re going to be God, unlimited
mind.”
“God-consciousness is infinite, it’s eternal, unlimited by
thought and perception – ‘I AM,’ unrefined by the ego.”
Such teachings are
indistinguishable from the New Age teachings of Mark and Elizabeth
Clare Prophet:
“...Jesus knows his
True Self to be the Light-emanation of this Christ that always was,
is, and ever shall be. And he wants you to know that your Real Self
is also that selfsame Light.”
“Jesus' I AM Presence
looks just like yours. This is the common denominator. This is the
co-equality of the sons and daughters of God. He created you equal in
the sense that he gave you an I AM Presence – he gave you a Divine
Self.”
Likewise, the teaching of
deceiving spirits who work through mediums,
an occult practice, also teach that we are God. In fact, Frannie
herself serves as a medium when she publicizes the teachings of the
spirit that refers to itself as 'I AM' in her book The Invitation.
A spirit that referred to
itself as 'Ramtha' working through the medium J. Z. Knight taught:
“God, the principal, is all things.”
Another spirit that referred to itself as 'Jesus' working through the
medium Helen Schucman taught: “The recognition of God is the
recognition of yourself. There is no separation of God and His
creation.”
Another spirit that referred to itself as 'Seth' working through the
medium Jane Roberts taught: “...there is nothing else but God –
only God exists... All is God.”
This is a very common experience within the New Age.
To the contrary:
“All that exists
outside God was, in its whole substance, produced out of nothing by
God.”
“... although He is
one, singular, altogether simple and unchangeable spiritual
substance, must be proclaimed distinct in reality and essence from
the world... from the beginning of time created each creature from
nothing...”
Therefore, there is an
absolute distinction between the transcendent God, who is Wholly
Other, and what we are. No aspect of ourselves were nor will ever be
God in any way, to any degree, and any language that suggests
otherwise is irresponsible, dangerous, and heretical.
Even the incarnation of
Christ, a union of two natures which maintained each nature
“...without mingling, without change... the distinction of the
natures nowhere removed on account of the union...”
Every one of Frannie's
teachings are permeated with this basic, fundamental philosophical
assumption. Her teachings concerning the True Self, of our inner
Perfection, and the use of the term “God-consciousness” are all
deeply rooted in Panentheism. Her teachings of the mind/heart
conflict and listening to an inner voice all stem from a denial of
Christian Theism.
B. The True Self
For example, the New Age
teaching of the True Self is directly rooted in the Panentheistic
world view. The following quotation from Thomas Keating
puts this into perspective: “God and our true Self are not
separate. Though we are not God, God and our true Self are the same
thing.”
Likewise Frannie Rose defines the True Self as “God +The Seeds of
the Spirit”.
This language concerning the True Self can be confusing outside of a
Panentheistic world view. Since Panentheism maintains that a part of
God is the universe and a part is simply God, then the True Self can
be said to be the same as that part of God that is the universe, and
yet at the same time we are not God, in that we are not also that
part of God that is simply God. The centering prayer movement, like
the teachings of Frannie Rose, are “understood to be an
infiltration of New Age/Hindu/Buddhist thought into traditional
Catholic mysticism”.
C. Perfection and the
New Age Version of Original Sin
Likewise, she rejects the
Church's understanding of original sin but rather believes that we
are perfect the moment we are born. Because she rejects the Catholic
doctrine of a transcendent God who created all of us from nothing,
she therefore believes that we are part of God and as such this part
of us is perfect. “God pulls us back to the union that
we were born to. The truth is that your heart and God are together as
One... Your awareness when you came out of the birth canal was of the
present moment. I was of the “I AM.”
“You are originally unlimited and perfect.
Later, you take on limitations.”
“This is perfection. It is the only part of you that is
perfect.”
“...what happens is that we were always 'we' from the time of birth
and what we did through our conditioning is that we walked away from
that...kind of like the original sin... the way its taught is
sometimes distorted...”
“This is who you were and what you sought until the
mind complicated things.”
According to Frannie Rose, we are included in the being of God, and
at some point we 'walked away from the voice of God' by entering into
the delusion of duality. In other words, the 'original sin' of New
Age Spirituality is that we lost sight of God-consciousness and began
to take on a false self that we perceived as distinct from God, and
therefore began to live out of the egoic mind. 'Salvation' within the
New Age paradigm is seen as the journey of self-realization, of
awakening, or of enlightenment, coming back to that original
God-consciousness, that we are God.
IV. The Church's
Ultimate Trial
“Before Christ's second
coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the
faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her
pilgrimage on earth will unveil the 'mystery of iniquity' in the form
of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their
problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme
religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by
which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his messiah come
in the flesh.”
New Age Spirituality
rejects and leads people away from the unique and exclusive
incarnation of God and the Church which He established. This is the
manner in which one denies “his messiah come in the flesh” “This
is the spirit of antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even
now is already in the world.”
VI. Request for
Ecclesiastical Censure
We formally request
immediate and public censure of One Simple Voice and those involved
on account of the heresies contained therein. As an “obstinate
post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with
divine and catholic faith...”,
it is clear that Frannie Rose has not only adopted material heresy
but has been actively promoting it within the diocese despite being
confronted with Catholic teaching. Thus far she is properly defined
as a material heretic.
If she rejects any
Catholic teaching but yet continues to pretend that she doesn't is a
grave offense and is a blatant lie and is scandalous when done within
the context of the public liturgy. If she recites the Nicene Creed
but yet believes in Panentheism, or partakes of the Eucharist knowing
that she is not in full communion with the teachings of the Roman
Catholic Church, or hypocritically pretends to be a Catholic by being
a member but yet rejects the unique incarnation of God and the
fullness of truth within the Catholic Church, but instead believes in
New Age Spirituality, especially Panentheism, then she incurs
automatic excommunication for her heresy.
“An apostate from the
faith, a heretic or a schismatic incurs a latae sententiae
excommunication...”
“A person who
deliberately denies even one of the doctrines of the Church cannot be
a Catholic.”
While I leave her moral
culpability in the hands of God, it can not be denied that Frannie
Rose is not excused by invincible ignorance, for the knowledge of her
error must be apparent to her through our writings and any
conversations which have taken place concerning the matter. Through
these efforts Frannie Rose has been given sufficient time to recant
her positions, gain a properly formed conscience under the teaching
authority of the Catholic Church, and repair the damage that has been
caused by the introduction of these destructive heresies.
To the contrary, she has
obstinately continued in her heresy and remains actively engaged in
promulgating the same despite being notified of her error.
I prefer that her de
facto state of excommunication be recognized and enforced within
the Church according to Canon Law. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church likewise indicates that such a state of excommunication
“...impedes the reception of the sacraments...”
In my opinion, the continual allowance of participation within the
Church is a scandal and should cease immediately. All necessary
action should be taken to ensure that Bishop Hanifen, Frannie Rose,
and any other Catholics involved in One Simple Voice are censured
from all Church involvement, the reception of the sacraments, and
association with the diocese, until which time they recant their
errors, repent of their heresy, and cease the promulgation of the
same. Above all, the Catholic faithful need to be properly warned of
these heresies in order that they may not be led astray from their
sincere and pure devotion to Christ, and the fullness of his
revelation which subsists within the Catholic Church.
I know that I have
written strongly concerning the matter and as I stated before do not
intent to disrespect you or anyone else. In this research I have done
my best to remain objective and to report my findings as they are and
to assess the consequences of the situation as it is. Despite myself,
I hope that the truthfulness and seriousness of the continuance of
Frannie's participation in the Catholic Church will be recognized for
the sake of the faithful everywhere.
Thank you for your
careful and compassionate consideration of this letter and these
circumstances.
Sincerely,
Corey L. Chambers
