I don't see what was so wrong about what the Catholic Church did here. I disagree with most Catholic doctrine, as is my right. But, I also don't try to disagree with their doctrine while also taking part in their sacraments. Each church has the right to define its doctrines and which ones are important enough to require excommunication for refusal to submit to. Some churches are very loosey-goosey with their doctrines to the point where they probably wouldn't claim to have much doctrine at all other than a general belief in a higher power. That's fine, too. I just don't understand criticizing a church for choosing to "kick out" people who don't believe what the church teaches is the truth. If you don't believe, and you are unable to successfully use the processes the church has, if any, to bring about a change, then it seems perfectly reasonable for that church to say that you don't belong.

Now, there can be all sorts of practical reasons why it's not a good idea for a church to do that type of thing, but that is for the individual church to decide.

JEBUS! I am a dirty f'n atheist but I know that the Catholics should be free to interpret their own religion the way they want to. And if they want to say it is heresy that the virgin mary has possessed a person, seems reasonable to me.

WTF? Feminist Lloyd now wants to tell teh Vatican what is okay Catholic Theology?

Lady Godiva was a freedom rider

She didnt' care if the whole world looked.

Joan of Arc with the Lord to guide her

She was a sister who really cooked.

Isadora was the first bra burner

And you're glad she showed up. (Oh yeah)

And when the country was falling apart

Betsy Ross got it all sewed up.

And then there's Lloyd.

And then there's Lloyd.

And then there's Lloyd.

And then there's Lloyd.

And then there's Lloyd.

That never compromisin', never enterprisin', anything but enlightenin' wrongo Lloyd.

...cause the church would sell it out from under them to pay the child rape charges anyway.

What a fuckin world!

With respect to church history, I thought that cults of Mary were almost always suppressed. But to my point, why pick on Mother Theresa? I don't know whether her "miracles" are more phony the the Army of Mary "miracle" but it seems like a low blow to pick on someone who is being exalted to the ranks of sainthood through no action of her own (aside from her incredible charity work which is independent of the miracle criteria for sainthood).

What a smarmy collection of cheap shots. If the Church had professed belief that Mary was alive inside an elderly Canadian, let's guess how long it would have taken the superior Carol to mock them; when they say not to worship the old lady because she's nutty, Carol rushes to condemn them. Nothing's going to rain on HER bigotry.

the pope has a penis therefore he is just patriarchy hating on these proud brave empowerful nuns.

ooh, that patriarchy! we hatz them!

It's their church. They decide what doctrine is. Creed is what they say it is. They get to do that. That's how it works.

If these women are espousing a belief that the senior members of the church have decided is against doctrine and violates the official creed, the church is wholly justified in excommunicating them.

It's their club, they decide who gets to join. Why should anyone who is not a member of the club, who is not interested in being a member of the club, give a damn?

Was she a phony because she struggled with her faith while selflessly doing good work?

I'm genuinely interested in what's behind that remark.

So, the Catholic church kicked out some people who were by no accounts following the rules of the Catholic church.

Churches do this a lot, it's not even just the Catholics. When I was little a woman was removed from her position as a Sunday school teacher when she moved in with her boyfriend. Theological difference. She was still a good person. She just wasn't following the arbitrary rules of that particular church.

The only reason this is in the news at all is that the beliefs of the Army of Mary are unorthodox and people are gawking over them. The excommunication itself is not news.

How about the fact that any woman who gets an abortion is by definition automatically excommunicated from the Catholic church, even though a mass-murderer would not be? There we have something which is most definitely being visited upon women in a way that men with very similar sins are not affected. Men, meanwhile, have repeatedly been excommunicated for following schismatic groups which are not supported by the Catholic church (remember the married guys awhile back?), so this isn't a gender issue at all.

If the Army of Mary actually believes that the spirit of the Virgin possesses their founder, I'm not surprised they were excommunicated; it runs directly counter to Catholic and, indeed, Christian doctrine to believe that the soul of any saint would possess a living human being, or be reincarnated as one, however benign the results.

I was surprised to see the term "phony" attached to Mother Teresa. I assume it has something to do with her private letters confessing that for the last 40 years of her life, though she ardently prayed for it, she could no longer hear God speaking to her. But this hardly makes her a "phony"; because she continued to pray and to do what she believed God wanted her to do, even though she no longer had the comfort of the mystical experiences that had sustained her when she was young. This makes her, if anything, a woman of even greater faith than she was earlier in her life.

As for the miracles ascribed to her since then (I've only heard of one), they aren't any phonier than the miracles ascribed to any other recent saints; I mean there's no point singling out the canonization process for Mother Teresa alone.

We should all be such "phonies" as Mother Teresa; the world would be a far better place.