Vassula
Ryden conference canceled
Ms. Ryden's
'revelations' were merely the result of private meditations and contained
doctrinal errors. It also advised bishops not to provide any opportunity in
their dioceses for the dissemination of her ideas
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-visionary10jan10,1,4003585.story
By
Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer
The
Roman Catholic cathedral of Los Angeles on Monday rescinded its invitation to
hold a Christian unity conference later this month after concluding that the
principal speaker was to be a controversial self-proclaimed mystic who claimed
to speak directly with God, Jesus and Mary.
In
a letter to the sponsors, Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik, pastor of the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels, said that what had been represented by sponsors as a
Christian unity conference had turned out to be largely a forum for Vassula
Ryden, a Greek Orthodox laywoman who has attracted worldwide attention with her
reports of sacred conversations.
At
the same time, a leading Greek Orthodox priest said Monday he previously had
also pulled out of the Jan. 28 conference. "Everything is very suspect.
That's all I'm going to say," said the Very Rev. John Bakas, dean of St.
Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles.
A
publicist for the conference said a second Greek Orthodox priest, from
Brooklyn, had also decided not to attend.
Kostelnik
said the decision to withdraw the cathedral's invitation to play host to the
conference was "final and not subject to change." He said that the
meeting was turning into something different than originally proposed. Cardinal
Roger M. Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, had earlier
agreed to offer welcoming remarks at the conference but now approved the
withdrawal, Kostelnik said.
Kostelnik
also returned a $3,000 donation to the cathedral and a $200 deposit for food
service.
His
letter, faxed to event sponsors Monday, caught them and their public relations
firm by surprise. Claire Mansour, one of the sponsors, said she did not know if
she and her husband, Antoine Y. Mansour, a general surgeon, could find another
location to hold the conference in time. A full-page advertisement had already
appeared in Tidings, the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Los Angeles. Press releases were also distributed, saying that Catholic,
Orthodox and Protestant leaders would discuss "a new era of
relations" among them.
"To
me this is a betrayal by my church," she said, referring to the withdrawal
of the invitation by the Roman Catholic cathedral.
The
meeting was to have been under the auspices of Ryden's "True Life in
God" organization and sponsored by the New Jerusalem Foundation, headed by
the Mansours, who live in Beverly Hills. They have long supported Ryden and
were associated with her Los Angeles appearance in 1995.
Antoine
Mansour, in a handwritten Oct. 7 letter to Kostelnik, assured the pastor that
Ryden's writings "have been cleared by the Vatican."
But
Kostelnik wrote Monday that Mansour's assurance was "a serious
misrepresentation of the current Vatican view of Ms. Ryden's speeches and
writings." He said 1995 and 1996 Vatican statements cautioning Catholics
against following Ryden remained "in full force."
"The
1995 statement cautioned Catholics that Ms. Ryden's 'revelations' were merely
the result of private meditations and contained doctrinal errors. It also advised
bishops not to provide any opportunity in their dioceses for the dissemination
of her ideas," Kostelnik wrote.
"In
short, it is my belief and that of Cardinal Mahony that instead of a Christian
unity conference where all participants have an equal opportunity to share and
speak, what is now taking its place is a Vassula Ryden conference,"
Kostelnik wrote.
During
an appearance in Los Angeles in 1995, Ryden told an audience at the Los Angeles
Convention Center that Jesus joked with her as she ate ravenously.
"Finally,"
she told the audience, "he asked, 'Is it good?' And I said, "Yes,
Jesus. Thank you.' There was nothing wrong, so I continued eating. After a
while he said, 'Don't you want me to bless it?' "
Her
current website, http://www.tlig.org
, quotes Jesus as addressing her as "My Vassula" and tells her he was
giving her his lamp to remove spiritual darkness from the world.
Critics
have challenged the authenticity of Vassula's supposed messages from God
because she has changed some of them over time. Vassula, who was in Washington,
D.C., and could not be reached for comment Monday, told The Times in a 1995
interview that God gave her permission to make such changes. She said it was
possible for a perfect God to regret something he said, just as he regretted
creating a race that would fall from grace.
Claire
Mansour said Monday that the Los Angeles archdiocese "had all the
information" about the conference for months, including Ryden's
appearance.
"It
was very clear. We didn't hide anything," she said, adding that she had
expected a full house at the 3,000-seat cathedral.
But she said God had the
"final word" on the matter.
From
the Los Angeles Times
By K. Connie Kang Times Staff Writer
January 24, 2006
A Christian conference that was
disinvited from the Roman Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles because it was to
feature a self-proclaimed mystic will be held Saturday at the Alex Theater in
Glendale, organizers said.
Two weeks ago, Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik,
pastor of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, withdrew the invitation to
hold the event at the cathedral.
In a letter, he said that what had been
portrayed as a Christian unity conference had turned out to be largely a venue
for Vassula Ryden, a Greek Orthodox laywoman who has attracted worldwide
attention with her reports of conversations with God, Jesus and Mary.
In his letter, Kostelnik said that 1995
and 1996 Vatican statements cautioning Catholics against following Ryden
because of her doctrinal errors remained in "full force" and his
decision to rescind the invitation was "final and not subject to change."
But, sponsors of the event countered
that Pope Benedict XVI, while a cardinal and a top Vatican doctrinal official,
had said in 2004 that it was up to diocesan bishops to decide whether to permit
participation in the ecumenical prayer groups organized by Ryden.
The conference, called "Key to
Christian Unity," is scheduled to be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the
theater at 216 N. Brand Blvd. Admission is free.
"When the door was closed on us, we
didn't know where to go," said Claire Mansour, a conference organizer. But
the new venue was found on short notice.
Mansour and her husband, Dr. Antoine
Mansour, a general surgeon of Beverly Hills, lead the New Jerusalem Foundation,
a group that supports Ryden"s "True Life in God" organization.
They invited Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, Kostelnik and other Catholic leaders to
attend the conference.
Spokesman Tod Tamberg said that the Los Angeles Archdiocese stands by Kostelnik's letter but declined to comment further.