Episcopalians are nuts about anything "spiritual". Just look at all the labyrinths being built or proposed. It was just 6 months ago that an Episcopal church in Upper South Carolina offered a class on "enneagrams" during Lent. I have not heard any reports from the field on how that fared, but if you missed it six months ago, they are giving you a second crack at it.
Enneagram class to be held at St. Martin's, Columbia
A six-week, free series on the Enneagram will be offered on Wednesdays, starting Aug. 3 and ending Sept. 6. The class will run from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in All Saints' Hall and childcare is available at no charge in the Drop-In Nursery. The class will include DVD instruction with Loretta Brady about this ancient tool for self-discovery. Discussion and journaling also planned. Please email Galen McWilliams at gsmcw@aol.com or call her at 309.2341 if you would like to take part.
The last time this happened, I found the following description on the church's web page,
One idea underlying the Enneagram is that people have two important aspects - essence and personality. Each person has a unique "essential self" that can't be reduced to a category or a number. However, the Enneagram describes nine patterns or themes by which people form a personality, and a social persona, to meet the challenges of love and work. Ideally, personality is an effective way to express ourselves in the world. But problems arise when personality covers up the inner self, or our point of view becomes stuck and rigid.
Please join *** and *** as they show Richard Rohr's DVD. "The Discernment of Spirits," and help you discover your essence, your best self." *** and *** are strong advocates of the Enneagram and can attest to its profound effect on their own spiritual development, especially in forgiving others.
It is understandable that Episcopal priests who, in their pastoral roles engage in a lot of counseling of troubled souls, might find themselves looking for help from whatever is popular in the psychology circles of the day.
I repeat what I wrote back in February of this year,
Something about Episcopalians makes them susceptible to being attracted to these kinds of pop-psychology scams. I believe it has to do with our general lack of Biblical grounding and its resultant weakness of faith in Jesus as the rock of our salvation.If your Bishop is permitting classes such as this to be held in your diocese, recognize that he/she is not being a faithful pastor to his flock.
Write him/her a letter.
Start a blog.
Keep the faith.
Posts
I wonder. Is this pop-hokum to increase the spiritual richness of the sheeple, or to raise the self-esteem of the provider.
ReplyDeleteBoth, plus it is easier than sending them out to make disciples of the nations.
DeleteThanks for this. It is is depressing to see how low and far away the Episcopal Church is from the truth of the Bible.
ReplyDeleteIt would be so much more inspiring and helpful -- temporally and spiritually -- to run a series on people from the Old and New Testaments who struggled with sin and carnal appetites as well as self-doubt. God and the Holy Spirit gave all of those people the means of repentance and ability to carry out His holy will.
Well, I can see just by having typed that this is not what today's Episcopal Church is about. Therefore, enneagram studies for everyone. /s
By the way, Richard Rohr, mentioned in one of your quotes, was all the rage a few years ago in the emergent church movement. He is a Franciscan mystic who would like to inject some emergentcy (my word) into the Roman Catholic Church. That said, a lot of Protestant churches are pushing his work on the Enneagram. Sad.
Churchmouse
Thanks Churchmouse, keep an eye out for the next rage. It will surely be latched upon by church progressives.
Delete"If your Bishop is permitting classes such as this to be held in your diocese, recognize that he/she is not being a faithful pastor to his flock. Write him/her a letter."
ReplyDeleteCome on now, let's get real. You should leave your church. Your parish is hopeless, your diocese is hopeless, your denomination is hopeless.
Yeah, packing my bags.
Delete