Sunday, April 1, 2012

Immaculate Conception Parish in Chicago- Holy Week Yoga and Zumba

Above: Roadside sign announcing Yoga and Zumba and pointing to the church.



Above: Immaculate Conception Parish weekly schedule announcing Yoga, Zumba, and Ecumenical Way of the Cross during Holy Week.


Immaculate Conception Parish located at 7211 W. Talcott Ave. in Chicago, IL is offering Yoga and Zumba classes during Holy Week.

A roadside sign outside of the parish announces Yoga and Zumba classes this upcoming week (Holy Week!) Page 8 of the bulletin of the parish (http://icparish.net/bulletins/040112.pdf) and the parish calendar (http://www.mychurchevents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=G1H2I3I3K5K5O9L6I3) announce these events as well.

Fr. John Hardon, S.J. wrote an excellent article about why Yoga is incompatible with the Catholic faith: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0275.html

Oh and Zumba? Well here it is on youtube in case you have never heard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf0q6qtThF4 Appropriate exercises to hold at a Catholic parish?

Even if it could be argued (it can't) that these are appropriate exercise activities for Catholics to be participating in....aren't there better things to announce on a roadside sign outside of a Catholic Church during Holy Week?

20 comments:

Unknown said...

How come you never see fat people in Zumba classes or other aerobic dancing classes?

I sense that those people have neurotic weight obsessions and I'd bet that few of them would ever be caught dead in a church, believing that there is more value in being/looking fit.

Anonymous said...

You should worry more about the people using artificial birth control and addicted to pornography than worrying about exercise classes that all happen BEFORE the Triduum. I seriously doubt that the parish has the intention of being "yoked" to an Eastern religion. Also, there are more family-oriented Zumba classes that people teach. We have such classes at a YMCA in my area. Fat, old people shaking there hips. Ooooooh! Sounds down-right satanic (sarcasm). Are we becoming so Fundamentalist that we are sifting gnats and letting through the Camel? The title of the book by Karl Keating should be changed to "Catholic Fundamentalism and Protestant Fundamentalism - The Way We Whine Over Whose Rules Win." By the way, why aren't you crying about the Blood Drive on Friday when we are supposed to be fasting and you aren't supposed to donate blood on an empty stomach. That seems more problematic to me.

Tancred said...

False eirenicism is a graver crime than any of the sins you cited.

Anonymous said...

As a ex-New Age occultist and yoga devotee I can vouch that yoga is not purely exercise. Catholics are being duped bigtime. Do they really think Indian gurus set up an exercise class eons ago?? Yoga means union of body and mind. You cannot seperate them. What a blasphemy to God in Holy Week when we should be solely focussing on His Passion. He died for my sins and for yours. This is just re-crucifying Him.Where is the One True Faith? Not in establishments such as this( guarantee they have wrecked the high altars, no statues etc so looks like a Masonic Temple). Ecumenical Way of the Cross - Kyrie eleison. Chastisement cannot be far away. Kyrie eleison

David Collins said...

Tancred, what false irenicism do you see in Anon.'s comment?

Ex-New Ager, surely you are correct that yoga is not purely exercise. Yet why can we not use it to become better yoked to Jesus? Scrap the pagan pantheism but keep the method for union with the divine.

Tancred said...

Encouraging Catholics to participate in devilish practices and the worship of false gods is a kind of ecumenism that is false.

Yoga is not just exercise, it's prayer to false gods.

Anonymous said...

Vatican exorcist Father Amorth, has stated that yoga is satanic, since it leads to false eastern religions.

David Collins said...

I completely agree.

That said, I still don't see why yoga can't be made a prayer to the true God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

David Collins said...

For some people it does lead to false eastern religions; for them it is satanic. But it doesn't have to be that way. For most, it really is exercise and a time to socialize. Nevertheless, I maintain that, just as the Church took the pagan holiday of Saturnalia and made it a celebration of the nativity of our Lord, the Church can also take the meditative exercise of yoga and make it a way to draw us closer to Christ.

Tancred said...

Yoga is idolatry and is objectively a violation of the First Commandment.

anon said...

Just for the record, I do not think that Parish's should be hosting Yoga, Zumba, or ecumenical stations. Especially the latter.

For the sake of the truth about "Yoga". What we call Yoga, Yogis would call Asanas (poses). My understanding is the Asanas (poses) are used to get one into shape for Yoga which is the higher levels or branches of Yoga which is what everyone is freaked out about. They call a pose "Cobbler's Pose", and before the track meet call it "Butterfly Stretch" it is still stretching the groin which is it's primary purpose in both Yoga and Western stretching. I've been to "Yoga" classes and they have nothing to do with enlightenment and everything to do with physical fitness. Asanas taught at the YMCA, Church Parishes, or Yoga Studios have more to do with stretching your muscles and little to do with stretching your soul. Better off just calling it Pilates or Christian stretching or Physical Therapy for that matter. Better yet should not be done at a parish at all especially not Ecumenical Stations. What do they do leave out the Hail Mary prayers?

Anonymous said...

Seems that Good Friday would be ideal for the Reiki sessions! Who screwed up and left that out!!

Anonymous said...

SACRILEGE!!!

This is what this is, sacrilege. Yoga is offered in far too many Catholic Churches in North America, and many liberal priests are offering in their parishes. This is nothing more than Pagan SEX RITUAL, that is what Yoga is. Yoga is part of Hinduism an exercise from a pagan religion and utilized by the devil to deceive many into worshiping the body and indulging in sexual acts.

This has nothing to do with being a puritan or a religious fanatic but just think for a moment how many times we Catholics fall for the lies of the devil??
And how hard he is laughing when his deception is being practice in Catholic churches of all places and especially during HOLY WEEK.....come on people think.

Read this article:

Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
Published: February 27, 2012

Please Google it and take the time to read it then pass it on.
This is a little bit of the article right here:

"Yoga teachers and how-to books seldom mention that the discipline began as a SEX CULT — an omission that leaves many practitioners open to libidinal surprise.

Hatha yoga — the parent of the styles now practiced around the globe — began as a branch of Tantra. In medieval India, Tantra devotees sought to fuse the male and female aspects of the cosmos into a blissful state of consciousness.

The rites of Tantric cults, while often steeped in symbolism, could also include group and individual sex. One text advised devotees to revere the female sex organ and enjoy vigorous intercourse. Candidates for worship included actresses and prostitutes, as well as the sisters of practitioners.

Hatha originated as a way to speed the Tantric agenda. It used poses, deep breathing and stimulating acts — including intercourse — to hasten rapturous bliss. In time, Tantra and Hatha developed bad reputations. The main charge was that practitioners indulged in sexual debauchery under the pretext of spirituality."


Now tell me how can we accept that Yoga is being offered during Holy Week in a Catholic parish but not Catholic devotions ONLY???
Where do we see ANNOUNCE: come and join us for the Stations of the Cross during Holy Week??
Or come and pray the Rosary with us or come to Our Holy Hour during Holy Week???
Or how about the priest will be in the Confessionary if anyone wants to go to confession to prepare for Holy Week???
How about reminding the people in the parish to FAST AND ABSTAIN from something they enjoy???
Why not do Catholic devotions that actually enrich our relationship with Our Lord Jesus Christ during the Week that Change the World???
How can we practice such disgusting and foreign pagan rituals during such a Holy time???
Where has common sense gone that we risk our Eternal Salvation over a pagan ritual that has no place in a Catholic church???

Father Eric Meyer, C.P. of Pastor, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. needs to start asking himself how is he capable of calling himself a Catholic priest while he is allowing his parishoners to a worship of demons???
This priest needs to go to confession and start praying his Breviary that is, if he has one...

Lord have mercy on these poor souls!!!

Anonymous said...

David I'm sorry but you are WRONG.
Study a little more on Yoga and Buddhism and pray before you read anything about this two subjects then maybe you can see more clearly how wrong you are on using yoga as meditative exercise.

Everything we need to know has been revealed through the Church we don't need this evil tricks from the devil to enhance our spirituallity or physical wellbeing.

Anonymous said...

As a devoted Catholic, let me put it this way: baloney.
You mean to tell me that I cannot use the yoga exercises and separate any
type of reference to false gods, etc?
No chanting, no meditating, heck, I won't even hold my hands in "prayer" during yoga exercises...and you are going to make blanket statements? Just who do you think you are?

Anonymous said...

So now you're claiming that not being gluttonous is a sin?

Tancred said...

Devoted Catholics don't worship false gods.

Tancred said...

It's not as serious as outright maliciousness, but may be mitigated somewhat by stupidity, just as habit diminishes the seriousness of sin owing to the decreasing prominence of the will.

Anonymous said...

It's much worse than most Catholics can imagine. FatimaMovement.com has a breakdown of the Satanic theology instituted in the 1960's at Vatican II and there are photos of Chicago area parishes that are adopting its Jewish symbols.

As you may or may not know by now, the real Trinity was revealed to Sister Lucia of the Fatima Miracle, and "the lord" is not the God of Heaven. If you find it hard to win an apologetic argument, you may want to consider the harsh apocalyptic reality that Allah (the burning bush of Masonic Moses) does not belong in the Trinity or in the Rosary and spread the Truth that the Holy Ghost is the real Father, and yes, Our Lady is actually in the Trinity. Study and pray!

http://www.fatimamovement.com

Tancred said...

Now this is SPAM I like!