This:
When Charlotte Church first became famous for her Traditional Catholic music I was thrilled that a modest, talented, Catholic young lady was setting a standard for the music industry. I happily bought 2 of her cds- Voice of An Angel and Dream a Dream. When her third CD came out with her posing nude on the cover I knew it was over. Well Lifesite breaks this story that Ignatius Press is discontinuing carrying her music because of her blasphemous and irreverent behavior on a television show. Disappointing but not terribly surprising. Let's hope she has a change of heart.
The problem:
The pilot for The Charlotte Church Show was recorded before a live audience on July 12 in London. During the show, the hostess Charlotte Church, dressed as drug-using nun, smashed open a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary revealing a hidden can of cider, and spoke about worshipping “St. Fortified Wine.” Along the same vein of comic blasphemy, the pop diva pretended to hallucinate while consuming communion wafers branded with Ecstasy smiley faces, and denigrated Pope Benedict XVI as a “Nazi”, even though she had performed for the late Holy Father, John Paul II, when she was a 12 year-old girl.
In an official statement, Ignatius Press stated, “It is with regret that we do this; Miss Church possesses a great gift from God, and in the past she has used her talent often to offer praise and glory to our Lord.” While Ignatius Press praised the sacred music Charlotte had done in the past, they said, “We cannot stand by a young woman who uses her stature in the media to mock the Eucharist, slander the Holy Father, and denigrate the vows of religious women. Therefore, our catalogs and website will immediately withdraw all compact discs, cassette tapes, DVDs and VHS tapes that feature Miss Church. Please join us in praying for this troubled young woman.”
20 comments:
Unfortunately, Miss Church seems to have fallen off the rails long before this.
I Googled her and it took very little time to come across photos of her with next to nothing on, and actually nothing at all in one or two cases, featured on what appeared to be pornography sites.
Now, granted in our times it is very difficult to tell the difference between a "respectable" celebrity and a porn star, but other, slightly less horrible photos of her show her caked with make-up, dressed in the usual tart-fashions of skin tight jeans and revealing tops.
Miss Church seems to be caught in the classic trap of nearly all child-celebrities who grow up in the care of marketing exploiters.
She was Catholic.
She should be excommunicated for such disgusting behavior.
I think the point is probably moot by now, Lucas. She doesn't strike me, upon appearances, as the churchgoin' type.
"churchgoin' type"
True, but people still think of her as "Catholic". Her behavior might lead other people (especially teenagers) to think that this behavior is appropriate.
She is a celebrity and has a lot of influence over what people think.
Unless she repents, excommunicate her.
(You don't have to be a church attender to be excommuniciated)
Lucas;
Are you serious?
There are only a handful of behaviors for which a lay-person incurs automatic excommunication. Those are: Apostasy, Heresy, Schism, Desecration of the Eucharist,
Physical force against the Pope,
and Procurement of a completed abortion.
While Charlotte Church has apparently behaved in a lewd and blasphemous manner; none of her actions (of which I am aware) are excommunicable. What would be the point?
"What would be the point?"
To prevent scandal.
Why?
""The right to excommunicate is an immediate and necessary consequence of the fact that the Church is a society. Every society has the right to exclude and deprive of their rights and social advantages its unworthy or grievously culpable members, either temporarily or permanently. This right is necessary to every society in order that it may be well administered and survive. The fundamental proof, therefore, of the Church's right to excommunicate is based on her status as a spiritual society, whose members, governed by legitimate authority, seek one and the same end through suitable means." (Catholic Encyclopedia)
In other words, any society has the right to exclude those members whose behavior is detrimental to themselves or others . "
PURPOSE
"... to correct him and bring him back to the path of righteousness." (him also can mean her in this case)
Madeline, isn't this part bad enough for you? " smashed open a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary"
Desecrating holy objects?
Lucas;
In my opinion (my opinion, only) the scandal is the behavior already exhibited by Ms. Church.
Anonymous;
I am not contesting the right of the Church to excommunicate; however, the Church has determined what offences are excommunicable. Since excommunication is the most severe action the Church can take, it is reserved for the most severe offences, enumerated by the Church and included in my previous post.
While I absolutely abhor, and am horrifed by Ms. Church's blasphemy, "desecrating Holy Objects" is not one of the offences for which (the Church has decided) one incurs excommunication.
It would be contrary to the order of the Church society, as discussed in your post, to excommunicate someone for an offense which was not determined to be excommunicable. It would be like applying the penalty for shop-lifting to someone who had been convicted of speeding. Doesn't make sense. (BTW, I am not comparing Ms. Church's offenses to either shop-lifting or speeding. I think her crimes are much more serious).
My point being; there are other means by which Charlotte Church may be "corrected and brought back to the path of righteousness."
"My point being; there are other means by which Charlotte Church may be "corrected and brought back to the path of righteousness.""
Such as? What means?
She no longer attends mass (I assume), so it's unlikely she'll listen to her local priest.
If she were excommunicated, it would be clear (to her fans and the public) that she is no longer Catholic. Otherwise, people would think that the Catholic Church condones this kind of behavior among its members. There must be a strong statement made against her (given her high-profile status).
Madeline, the reasons you list are for AUTOMATIC excommunication. That is, if you do them, you are thereby excommunicated.
However, these are not the only reasons for excommunication.
Ms. Church might be guilty of apostasy (it's hard to tell for sure from the short description), but if so, she is a already excommunicated by her actions.
(for those curious, the list of grounds for automatic excom. are: Apostasy,
Heresy,
Schism,
Desecration of the Eucharist,
Physical force against the Pope,
Attempted sacramental absolution of a partner in adultery,
Ordination of a bishop without a Papal mandate (e.g. all bishops in the government-run Chinese Patriotic Church; note that most of the Bishops in the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association are also secretly bishops in the underground Catholic Church and not subject to excommunication due to government oppression),
Violation of the sacramental seal of confession by a priest or bishop,
For non-electors present in the conclave, revelation of the details of the conclave,
Simoniacal provision of the Papal office, and
Procurement of a completed abortion.
Can't see what the fuss is about.
Her official webpage gallery is
http://www.charlottechurch.com/gallery.php?id=gallery&sub=off
She looks like a nice Catholic girl to me. Heck, she hasn't been married, divorced, sings about God. What more do you want?
Gotta love the video "Even God Can't Change The Past"
(end Sarcastic Tone)
"The singer performed a range of outrageous stunts for a pilot of her new Channel 4 talk show, such as smashing open a statue of the Virgin Mary to reveal a can of cider and eating a communion wafer emblazoned with a ecstasy smiley face and pretending to hallucinate."
Sounds like she excommunicated herself in terms of how she treated the (albeit fake) communion wafer!
Doesn't sound to me like she was actually raised as a faithful Catholic (or at least her mother wasn't actually catholic if she re-married)
From wikipedia
"Church was born in Llandaff, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales. She was raised Catholic by her Welsh-Maltese mother, Maria, separated from her natural father. She was legally adopted by her mother's second husband, James Church. "
So sad. Let's all pray that she'll have a change of heart and turn back to her roots.
I stopped buying Charlotte's stuff after her 9/11 comments and after her crack on the pope for not liking Harry Potter I was completely done.
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