"Take Heed" Ministries

Cecil Andrews, 29 Edengrove Park, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AZ, Northern Ireland

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Maynooth Community Church:

Promoting the Jesuit Cause.

The web site of Maynooth Community Church is located on http://www.maynoothcc.org/home From their ‘How we got started’ section we learn the following –

‘MCC first began in September 2002 when a little group of nine people started meeting together to pray and study the bible here in Maynooth… A few years later, with the help of the wider Presbyterian church, the opportunity to try something new arose and it seemed that Maynooth was the obvious place for both of these hopes to be realised. Keith (McCrory) left his job as a Youth Development Officer to lead the team and as a first step we decided to start a new home group in the town and see what happened. When this group had grown in size to around 20 we then began to hold monthly services in the Post-Primary School on the Moyglare Rd in February 2003.  Since more people were coming along the decision was then taken to move to weekly services. It was thus in the autumn of that year that 'Maynooth Community Church' was officially launched, our first weekly service being on Sunday 7th September 2003. 

During our first four years we were still officially linked with the congregation in Lucan (Cecil - the minister in Lucan is TREVOR MORROW) but on November 25th 2007 we were formally constituted as a new independent congregation by the Dublin and Munster Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. On that occasion, Rev Dr Keith McCrory (to give him his full and seldom used title!) was installed as our inaugural Minister and we were up and running….

As a Presbyterian or Reformed church, we are part of a fellowship of churches in Ireland and throughout the world who are committed to the ongoing reformation (Cecil – this is most peculiar terminology as Presbyterianism recognises the Bible to be its supreme authority and the Westminster Confession of Faith to be its subordinate standard and so in reality there would be precious little if any scope for further “ongoing reformation”) and renewal of the one church of Jesus Christ, in accordance with the scriptures and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, as part of our ministry, we want to encourage and affirm every congregation and community, regardless of denomination, where the presence and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ is found (Cecil – such genuine ‘Biblical Ecumenism’ grounded on the truth of the presence of the TRUE Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ is welcome but is that what Maynooth actually practice? – this short article will attempt to answer that question).

We are however, the newest member of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.’

In those extracts from ‘How we got started’ I inserted a note to the effect that Trevor Morrow is the minister of the ‘Mother Church’ from which this Maynooth Community Church sprang,. I did so because I have in times past highlighted the unscriptural ecumenical track record of Trevor Morrow – you can read about it on this link - http://www.takeheed.net/Assorted_Articles/Ecumenism/TrevorMorrow.htm From that article it will be clear that Trevor Morrow is fully immersed in the modern unscriptural ecumenical movement that seeks to portray the Roman Catholic Church as a ‘sister Christian church’ and Roman Catholics as genuine brothers and sisters in Christ.

In the light of this Lucan/Morrow influence it should come as no surprise then to find that Maynooth Community Church is likewise embroiled in unscriptural practices that promote Roman Catholicism as an authentic form of Christianity.

What however is particularly alarming is that they have recently been publicly promoting the ‘Spiritual Exercises’ of Ignatius Loyola – the following was downloaded from their web site on 18^th October 2012 –

Loyolan Prayer: An Introduction For Presbyterians

On Saturday October 1st, (in Maynooth Post-Primary School, from 10.30am to 1.30pm) MCC will be led by Rev. Tom Wilson of Kilmakee Presbyterian Church in Lisburn to begin learning the deep and rich Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and key influence on the Catholic Reformation. All are welcome. It will be a great event.

From the Maynooth Community Church ‘Prayer Team’ web site page I then downloaded the following –

Ignatius Loyola founded the Jesuits and this is what he is primarily known for- being the father of the Catholic Reformation. In the heat of the Reformation polemics, those of us in the Reformed stream of Christianity missed out on the splendid and rich tradition of prayer that Ignatius developed.

Helped by Rev. Tom Wilson of Kilmakee Presbyterian Church, on Saturday October 1st MCC is going to be introduced to the spiritual exercises of Ignatius. We'd love for you to come along to this "Loyolan Prayer: An Introduction For Presbyterians"!

In some senses, this is a follow on event from last year's Calvin and Loyola Conference that we helped to host in Maynooth College. 

Tom will introduce us to Ignatius' life and the impact of his ministry on the church as well as tell us his own story of how he was drawn to the Spiritual Exercises and the difference they have made for his life. In the second talk he will give us a hands-on guide to the Examen, the night-time prayer of Loyola that serves as a kind of gateway into Ignatian spirituality. 

The event is on in Maynooth Post-Primary School, where we usually meet on Sundays. Our layout for the day will look like this:

10.30-10.45: Welcome
10.45-11.30: "An Introduction To Loyola"
11.30-12.00: Tea and Coffee
12.00-13.15: "Examen Workshop"
13.15-13.30: Closing prayer and wrap up

All are welcome. There is no cost. Tea and coffee will be provided. Contact the MCC Office at office@maynoothcc.org or give us a ring at 01-5054990 for more information.

You will note that I have highlighted in red the reference to a ‘Calvin and Loyola Conference’ held last year and they credit that conference for being the forerunner of the meetings they are now hosting.

I wrote a warning article about that conference and it can be viewed in its entirety on http://www.takeheed.net/Take_Heed_2010/Current_Concerns/Oct_2010/Maynooth_conference_on_Calvin_and_Loyola.htm

Also in the extract from the ‘Prayer Team’ web page they wrote ‘In the heat of the Reformation polemics, those of us in the Reformed stream of Christianity missed out on the splendid and rich tradition of prayer that Ignatius developed.’

In my previous article I detail the spurious nature of the claimed ‘conversion’ of Ignatius Loyola and then I cite examples of the doctrinal poison contained in his ‘Spiritual Exercises’ – ‘exercises’ that are claimed by Maynooth Community Church to be a ‘rich tradition of prayer’. I think it will be helpful for me now to reproduce the analysis I gave of some of those ‘exercises’. I wrote –

“The Excercises are the fountain of your spirituality and the matrix of your Constitutions, but they are also a gift that the Spirit of the Lord has made to the entire Church: it is for you to continue to make it a precious and efficacious instrument for spiritual growth of souls…..”

- (Pope) Benedict XVI to GC35, 21 February 2008

So, according to the present Pope, what Loyola wrote was ‘a gift that the Spirit of the Lord has made to the entire Church’. On the following web site http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/seil/index.htm we read

St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was the founder of the Jesuits, and was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. He published the Spiritual Exercises in 1548. The Exercises were intended for use during a retreat; and are a central part of the first year training of Jesuit novitiates. However, one does not have to be a Jesuit-in-training to take advantage of the Exercises: Increasingly, lay people and even non-Catholics follow this path.

Let’s just look at a few excerpts from this, according to the pope, supposed ‘gift to the entire Church’ from ‘the Spirit of the Lord’, noting in particular the portion that I have highlighted in red. In his ‘Spiritual Exercises’ Loyola wrote –

Third Exercise: First Colloquy. ‘The first Colloquy to Our Lady, that she may get me grace from Her Son and Lord… And with that a HAIL MARY’ [Cecil’s comment – ‘There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus 1^st Timothy 2:5]

Fifth Exercise: Additions. ‘Tenth Addition. The tenth Addition is penance… First Way. The first is as to eating… Second Way. The second, as to the manner of sleeping… Third Way. The third, to chastise the flesh, that is, giving it sensible pain, which is given by wearing haircloth or cords or iron chains next to the flesh, by scourging or wounding oneself, and by other kinds of austerity. [Cecil’s comment – whilst copying these quotes some lines from a well known hymn came to mind – “what can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus?’]

Rules to have the true sentiment in the (Roman Catholic) Church –

‘First Rule. The first: All judgment laid aside, we ought to have our mind ready and prompt to obey, in all, the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, which is our holy Mother the Church Hierarchical…

Second Rule. The second: To praise confession to a Priest, and the reception of the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar once in the year, and much more each month, and much better from week to week…

Third Rule. The third: To praise the hearing of Mass often…

Fourth Rule. The fourth: To praise much Religious Orders, virginity and continence, and not so much marriage as any of these…

Sixth Rule. To praise relics of the Saints, giving veneration to them and praying to the Saints; and to praise Stations, pilgrimages, Indulgences, pardons, Cruzadas, and candles lighted in the churches… [Cecil’s comments – The many former Roman Catholics, now Christians, that I have been blessed over the years to meet and to work with now know, by the Spirit of God, the utter worthlessness of such pagan and vain observances]

Seventh Rule. To praise Constitutions about fasts and abstinence, as of Lent, Ember Days, Vigils, Friday and Saturday; likewise penances…

Eighth Rule. To praise the ornaments and the buildings of churches; likewise images, and to venerate them according to what they represent… [Cecil’s comment - Aaron found out in Exodus 32:3-7 & 19-28 that such misguided behaviour in ‘worship’ merits only God’s anger and judgment]

Ninth Rule. Finally, to praise all precepts of the Church, keeping the mind prompt to find reasons in their defence and in no manner against them… [Cecil’s comment – ‘The Church’ rules and not Christ!]

Thirteenth Rule. To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it, believing that between Christ our Lord, the Bridegroom, and the Church, His Bride, there is the same Spirit which governs and directs us for the salvation of our souls. Because by the same Spirit and our Lord Who gave the ten Commandments, our holy Mother the Church is directed and governed. [Cecil’s comment – Slavish and dishonest obedience to ‘The Church’ commanded]

At this point I am ‘exercised’ to say that on this evidence Loyola was a through and through Roman Catholic who was clearly fully committed to his [RC] ‘Church’ and its ‘Christ. The aim of these ‘Exercises’ seeks to ensure that he and others who follow the ‘Exercises’ are likewise completely ‘in union’ with these at the expense of ‘union’ with the true Christ and His true Church.

Those then were my comments on Loyola’s ‘Spiritual Exercises’ and from them it is evident that in no way do they constitute a ‘rich tradition of prayer’ that would be in accord with the truth and teachings of God’s Word, the Bible.

A report of the first of these meetings has been posted on the Maynooth Community Church blog page and this is how it reads

Learning to Pray from Catholics

Two Saturdays ago, while most sane people were still in bed or at a push watching the rugby world cup over a dozen MCC members showed up at the Post-Primary school to pray. Our guide on that morning was Rev Tom Wilson the minister of Kilmakee Presbyterian Church in Lisburn. He came to give us an introduction to the spirituality devised by St Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits and key leader in the Catholic reformation of the 1500s (Cecil – pray tell me just exactly what ‘Catholic reformation’ that would be – the main ‘Catholic’ event of the 1500s was of course the Council of Trent and that certainly did not herald any ‘reformation’ of Roman Catholicism but rather was an ’enshrinement in writing’ of all the then Roman Catholic heresies [additional heresies have been added since then] and it also included of course many ‘anathemas’ against all those who reject Roman Catholicism and its heresies and these anathemas are still in force to this day having been ratified afresh by the Vatican II council).

It was a pretty awe-inspiring session for those of us who were there. In the first part of the morning Tom told us his own story and how he ended up being a Northern Irish Presbyterian Minister who found deep spiritual nourishment and guidance from the Jesuits. He also revealed how deeply Scriptural the approach developed by Loyola actually is.

In the second half of the morning he led us into the Examen, the night time prayer of Ignatius. He laid out a number of different ways this prayer of recollection could be approached. We all got it. For many, this structured approach to daily prayer was deeply rewarding and deeply attractive. You might well hear much more about the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises in the coming months at MCC was take up the Examen as a discipline.

If you missed the day and wanted to learn more about the Examen, there are two web sites that I think are really helpful. The first is run by the Jesuits in Ireland and it is called Sacred Space. It is a daily reflection and prayer web site that allows you to draw on the Ignatian spiritual disciplines, including study of scripture, (Cecil – provided of course that ‘study of scripture’ lines up with Roman Catholic heresy as taught by the Magisterium) to connect with God. The second is a more general Ignatian resource called The Daily Examen. This is run by the Jesuits in America and it is full of great resources and videos to get you started.

As a Christian, when I read something like that blog entry, I really have to pinch myself to assure myself that I’m not dreaming or perhaps more appropriately to confirm that I’m not having a nightmare. How anyone can write this and claim to be from a ‘Reformed’ church is totally beyond my comprehension.

It is abundantly clear from what is happening in Maynooth that leaders like Keith McCrory (minister of Maynooth Community Church) and Tom Wilson (minister of Kilmakee Presbyterian Church in Lisburn) who is the speaker at these meetings in Maynooth, are assisting the devilish work of the Jesuits who ever seek to overturn and obscure, with the dark and soul-damning blanket of Roman Catholicism, the liberating truths that were graciously revealed again by Almighty God at the time of the Reformation.

Truly we are living in “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1)

Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – 18 October 2011