On March 16, 2018, the opening day of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, journalist and former First Lady of California will be featured in a “Conversation with Maria Shriver.” Shriver, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, is a life-long Catholic, but she has publicly departed from official Church teachings on several issues.
In 2008, Shriver was interviewed by The Washington Post about her Catholicism; Shriver referred to herself as a “cafeteria Catholic.” She said:
Even though I consider myself a Catholic in good standing, I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church. But I believe in the compassion and the justice of Jesus Christ; I believe in the social justice of the Catholic Church. But I don’t believe in, you know, that if someone’s divorced they shouldn’t get Communion. I don’t believe that people who are gay shouldn’t be accepted into the Church. There are a lot of things like that.
Concerning abortion Shriver said:
I’m pro-choice, I believe that a woman should have that right. I often talk to my daughters at my dinner table about the difference between pro-abortion versus pro-choice. I think a lot of people don’t make that distinction in life — they think everybody’s who’s pro-choice is like, ‘Yeah, let’s have an abortion.’ And I believe that choice should be left to a woman.
In 2015, Shriver co-authored a letter to Pope Francis, along with pro-women’s ordination advocate Sister Joan Chittister. They praised the Pope because “…you gave us hope when you said the Church has become too ‘obsessed’ with gay marriage, abortion, and contraception.” Shriver then cites a poll conducted by her own “Shriver Media” which found that the majority of Catholics perceive the Church as “out of touch and far to the right.” Shriver writes:
Fully 86% of them agree with you that, yes, the Church should be less “obsessed” with the culture wars and more focused on income inequality and the environment. But most of the Catholics we polled go even further — calling themselves “good Catholics” while holding positions that contradict Church doctrine. They insist one can be a good Catholic and use birth control (94%), be pro-choice (71%), get divorced (94%), have pre-marital sex (88%), or marry someone of the same sex (72%). Welcome to America! And while most of us agree with your call for a serious and more potent role for women in the Church, we Americans would do even more — a whopping 88% of us calling for women priests.
They continued:
You’ve proclaimed an upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy. Might that mercy ever be extended to divorced Catholics who want to remarry in the Church and take Communion, without getting an annulment? Might that mercy ever be extended to gay couples who want to be married in the eyes of God? Might that mercy be extended to those who choose birth control over having another child they can’t afford? Might that mercy be extended to women who feel called to celebrate the Eucharist?
Full story at Joseph Sciambra’s blog.
Another reason to oppose this awful spectacle of Catholic “education”. Like Ms. Shriver, the REC is Catholic in name only. If Archbishop Gomez had guts like Bishop Paprocki, he would refuse Holy Communion to Maria and those prominent “cafeteria Catholics” who cause scandal to the faithful.
Agreed
I wasn’t going to attend the REC anyway. But this news doesn’t surprise me. Who would be interested in hearing anything Shriver has to say? Born into wealth and connections, she’s achieved nothing on her own. She’s done nothing notable for the Church either.
The REC is one giant farce.
A bit of an.oxymoron having her at the religious education conference. As a self described “cafeteria Catholic” and pro-abortion, she is not qualified either spiritually, educationally or catacetically to provide any informed dialogue on the Catholic Church’s Magesterium. This would be like having Martin Luther conduct RCIA or CCD instruction.
As an outspoken pro-abortion person, has her diocese directed that receiving the Holy Eucharist be withheld from her, much on the same was it is being withheld from Senator Durbin?
Like so many of the Kennedy clan, she sees the label “Catholic” useful only for garnering votes and public attention. It has ZERO impact on their moral values and how they lead their lives. They are moral COUNTER-examples. What the hell is she doing as a speaker at the LA Religious Education Conference?? What “religion” will she be “educating” her listeners in? It won’t be Catholicism. Her parents, both staunch Catholics, should disown her. And why is the LA Archdiocese hosting her? Wake up, Archbishop Gomez, whoever and wherever you are!!! You have proven to be useless in turning the Archdiocese back to real Catholicism after the gentle ministrations of your predecessor. Or for you is being a bishop only about “Viva la…
What is social justice, Maria Shriver? Just what is it? Was it social justice that St. Thomas More’s head was cut off because he was faithful to his first wife who died and faithful to the second one and wanted not to be involved in King Henry the Eighth”s unfaithfulness to his? Just what is so-called social justice? Please tell me!!!!!!
Are you so much better than He?
Talk about out of touch…….remember Miss Shriver, one day you will meet your maker…….
this is where “toleration” gets toxic
This is a pastoral problem. The leadership of the Church is weak. They may be more concerned with revenue and balance sheets than with fidelity.
The Church is being secularized, and its culture confused about civil rights versus the teachings of the Church.
Show some compassion for Ms. Shriver. After all, she was married to the philandering “Terminator” for many years. Her attempts to keep that marriage afloat while he was cheating on her right under her nose must have made her crazy.
We all know many of the Kennedy women are “messed up” because of so many cheating men in the family, but do they have to put in laws that force the rest of us to pay for abortion, sex-change operations that do not work and on and on and on. She is advocating every sin in the Book, like her Uncle Ted, and wants the rest of us to pay for it.
My sentence about Shriver “advocating every sin in the Book'” was hyperbole, of course, but she certainly advocated a whole lot of them.
I do not pay any attention to polls as most questions on polls are skewered to get the results the pollsters want and are take from like-minded people. Often people with opposing views are not even polled.
I will pray for Maria Shriver for I do not know what sin she has committed to make her loose faith in the Churches moral teachings nor what ill advice or example she has gotten from other people. As a nun once prayed for my conversion, I will pray for hers.
This has nothing to do with Maria being allowed to speak at the Religious Education Conference. She herself clearly states that she is total opposition to Church moral teachings. She openly promotes this. That is her right,but she should never be given a platform for her lies at any Church sponsored event. She is taking advantage of opportunity to spread her venom. The one who allows her to do it is the culpable one.
This is another example of a Shriver that has their own vision of Catholicism in contrast to their parents, Eunice and Sargent Shriver, who were daily communicants and were leaders of “Democrats for Life” prior to their deaths and Sargent Shriver’s battle with Alzheimer’s. While I can’t say what her parents believed about all Catholic teachings, I have a reasonable sense that they disagreed with their children on a host of religious topics. It’s always striking to think that Eunice Kennedy Shriver was overtly opposed to her family’s chosen course (with Jesuit assistance over the course of several private meetings with the Kennedys) to decide that they could be personally against abortion while saying that they could vote in ways…
Maria Schriver does not represent orthodox Catholic teaching on many issues, some noted in the article. Those who write screeds about her speaking engagement at the REC have good points. I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m willing to bet that she represents the views of about 90% of Catholic women in the US and most of Europe – for good or bad. Recent catholic polls show that women are leaving the church because of the issues she raises. I know too many catholics who have left the church because of its dogma about gays, abortion, male-only-priests. These are good people who simply attend other liturgical denominations or none at all. We can keep the faith, but we will not keep the people. Some say a smaller church is better.
Bob One, don’t let the door hit them in the backside as they depart.
The Catholic Church must preserve the Truth of Divine Revelation. People have the right to reject it. The consequences for them are severe and eternal.
Bob One how many people departed from Christ when they found what he said too difficult the follow. ?????. You are right Bob One smaller but holier is better, the Church will continue to shrink in the coming decades, but it will be purified. NOT seeing rainbow flags in my local parish will be wonderful. And no those people who you know who left the Church ARE NOT good people. Should we abandon the Faith to stay in “style” Bob One
The major problem is that divorced men and women often go out and break up other families by having affairs with other peoples’ spouses and “marry” or live with them, and the cycle of broken homes just repeats itself,
I heard one woman who had broken up her marriage by having an affair, tell her daughter by her first marriage, “If someone steals your husband, steal one back.” With that kind of thinking, no children will have a solid moral foundation and society collapses as it is now.
In the future we will.see a smaller but a more faithful and stronger church. We are not a political organization that change a every election. Read the catechism of catholic church. It does not change it’s dogma or morals
I think people leave because our leaders do not demand faithfulness
It should be no communion period.
Like many Kennedy Klanswomyn, ‘st’ Maria is a vicious bigot, who condemns the Church and Faithful while covering her own travesties with a cloak of virtue shaming hypocrisy, albeit a Very Expensive Cloak, as befits ‘post weimar amerikan royalty’.
Remember – Maria only confronted ‘Der Arnold’ the Day After they left the Governot Office, although she knew full well Arnold was being Blackmailed While In Office over his allegedly ‘Secret’ Extra Son
william roberts,
i’d bet maria shriver is less crazy than your post suggests you might be. and if her husband “was cheating right under her nose” it’s far more likely that she was either blind or in denial, not crazy.
Required to attend the REC for over a decade (as most Catholic teachers were/are required to do), I’ll bet Shriver will pack the auditorium – which says a lot about how teachers (who know what a “good Catholic” she is) really feel and what they probably teach, too.
Another guest speaker appropriate to the venue mentioned here:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/naples-archdiocese-rocked-by-scandal-drugs-gay-prostitution-blackmail
Add this one to the list of speakets, since he eas an educator in the Catholic school system before being ordained at the ahe of 53:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/nj-priest-accused-of-gay-abuse
To be clear, these are NOT speakers at the REC.
I never said they were, Anonymous. The l8nks wete posted as “rehetorical” comments. Please read the posts. They convey sarcasm reaative to the REC.
If Mrs. Shriver is a Catholic Christian as she claims, she should recognize what HOLY SCRIPTURE says about abortion. In Cor. we are told that our bodies are not our own; they were purchased at a price. To be truly Catholic and for killing babies in the womb, is simply not possible. You cannot be Catholic and for the slaughter of God’s precious creations.
You are not a good Catholic if you use contraception. You cannot receive Communion if you use contraception, because it is grave sin. Same with pre-marital sex.
You are not a good Catholic if you have an abortion. You incur excommunication by doing that.
You are not a good Catholic if you get married civilly. You cannot take Communion if you do that.
One of the flaws in her study is that they did not ask about other sins like adultery or on Catholic beliefs and discipline such as believing in the Real Presence or obey Church teaching. They did not establish what makes someone a good Catholic.
With what you mentionand agree, when is the last and how often do Catholics ever hear any mention of these sins from the pulpit ? There lies the problem. Homosexualist Priests would rather form ones mind that DACA, same sex blessings, gun control ect. are of more concern for ones soul.
You are not a good Catholic if you get married civilly. You cannot take Communion if you do that… If you are living chastely with your spouse you may receive communion.
I wouldn’t.
Contracting a civil marriage is a mortal sin. Marrying in another Church without a dispensation is a mortal sin. You can’t give yourself a dispensation. I think if you approached a priest, he would ask if you were willing to convalidate the marriage (if possible). If you were willing and it was not possible, I don’t know what he would say. You have to talk to a priest. You can’t just decide for yourself that you can take communion.
As Archbishop Fulton Sheen had observed…..Satan has entered the Church. Bishop Gomez has no shame.
Can someone add a link to contact Archbishop Gomez?
His position should not be immune from criticism, and he needs to hear from the laity who are trying to adhere to toctrine, especially regarding the sin of abortion.
I have written at least 5 times to Cardinal Cupich about publicly chastising so called “catholic” politicians and taking them to task, but never get an acknowledgment. I was happy that Bishop Paprocki from Springfield, Il denied communion to our own CINO senator Dick Durbin, but more needs to be done. Why is Maria Shriver even allowed at a Catholic Event like theArchdiocese of Los Angeles Religious Education Congress?
He has Twitter and Facebook.
https://archbishopgomez.org/priorities
This link is to his 5 pastoral priorities if it might help you.
Why is she there?
She is promoting a book. She is famous. She is a Kennedy- definitely not for her conformity to the bishop priorities.
Join us for a lively conversation with Maria Shriver, mother of four, award-winning journalist and producer. Congress speaker Brandi Milloy will engage Ms. Shriver in a discussion about her new book, “I’ve Been Thinking…: Refl ections, Prayers,and Meditations for a Meaningful Life.” This first come, first-served event will inspire all to become“architects for change.” A book signing will follow the conclusion of this engaging conversation.
From the program
It is clear that Maria Shriver is campaigning to be a Cardinal. She is likely to make it to the top of the list.
“But I don’t believe in, you know, that if someone’s divorced they shouldn’t get Communion. I don’t believe that people who are gay shouldn’t be accepted into the Church. There are a lot of things like that.”
Maybe someone at the REC will clue her in that you can take communion if you are divorced and that gays are accepted into the Church if they profess the Catholic Faith.
“I’m pro-choice, I believe that a woman should have that right. I often talk to my daughters at my dinner table about the difference between pro-abortion versus pro-choice. I think a lot of people don’t make that distinction in life — they think everybody’s who’s pro-choice is like, ‘Yeah, let’s have an abortion.’ And I believe that choice should be left to a woman.”
The choice is to kill a person, a baby.
Is Maria pro-choice about stealing? lying? embezzlement? adultery? murdering outside the womb?
Didn’t think so.
Democrats have incoherent sets of beliefs. Is that due to ignorance or stupidity or willful intellectual dishonesty? Who knows?
What Shriver can not grasp is what any rational person can grasp. You can not be “pro-choice” any more than you can be pro-eyeball or pro-earlobe. To presume to be for what is already innate is to presume to be superior to the Supreme Being who created the innate qualities of being.