Kendra Tierney: A Martyr for Catholicism All Year

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

They are Opus Dei. Kendra has mentioned it on her Blog and FB. She mentioned on FB that Jack gets to live on campus but only if if he follows all these rules they've laid out for him -- including continuing his weekly sessions with an accountability counselor (I think that what they're called) that all Opus Dei men have to go to.

They attend an Opus Dei parish and the kids go to an Opus Dei school. Somewhere (Blog or FB) a while back she mentions that Hubby was Opus Dei and that's what got her into it. 

She was raised Catholic, but not like she practices.  Both of her parents worked; she only has one sibling and until Kendra married she was a flight instructor and planned to be a pilot. Then she got pregnant on the honeymoon, quit working right before Jack was born and stayed home to develop what she calls the Tierney Family Culture.  All those feast days etc. on FB are part of the "culture"

[SassyPants]

4 hours ago, anachronistic said:

For some reason I thought that they were Opus Dei but I guess not as I can’t find any evidence.

They’re the kind of Catholics who appear really nice and probably are really nice in the outside. Their children are always perfectly turned out and well behaved. This is because they hurt the children if they step out of line. It’s horrible and she is repugnant.

Damn, that last line...I read it too fast and thought it said “she is pregnant.” Repugnant is much better.

[wendy-sparkles]

1 hour ago, Red Hair, Black Dress said:

They attend an Opus Dei parish and the kids go to an Opus Dei school. 

They don't attend an 'Opus Dei parish'. Opus Dei doesn't really have parishes, it is a personal prelature. I looked up her parish (she tags it on instagram, so not that stalkery) and it is run by Discalced Carmelite Friars. I looked up the school the kids go to (slightly more stalkery, sorry Kendra) and it was founded by some random Catholic parents 20 years ago, who I guess may or may not be Opus Dei, but is not officially or directly administered by Opus Dei, who appear to only run schools in the Philippines (although they do appear to have a university in america, so I guess it might be surprising the kids aren't going to that.)

Edited October 7, 2020 by wendy-sparkles

[Carrots]

18 hours ago, wendy-sparkles said:

they're Catholics doing a whole bunch of the things you'd normally associate with pentecostalism ie speaking in tongues. People of Praise is technically ecumenical even though it is mostly Roman Catholics. I have seen other Catholics claim that groups like that were formed/encouraged by protestants in the hopes of converting/ encouraging people towards pentecostalism or protestantism, but I have no idea where that falls on the truth-conspiracy theory scale.

My impression of Kendra is that she's much more Trad (does anyone know if she goes to Latin Mass? I know her parish is conservative and they don't appear to have altar girls/ Kendra has spoken against them) which has some crossover in terms of conservatism and weirdness but is the opposite liturgically (and aesthetically lbr). I'm actually surprised Kendra doesn't do any head covering but again, I guess that doesn't fit the aesthetic.

See this is what has confused me a little about her...she could totally kick the Catholicism up another notch by becoming a Trad Catholic. Veil wearing, Latin mass hearing, suspicious of Francis Catholic. But she has followed this weird ultra conservative/modernist pathway. How many Catholics are really like that?

Her and Jennifer Fulwiler are just odd to me. It is like they are trying to mash trendy and conservative together. 

[anachronistic]

She wants it all. She wants to be trendy and up to date and fit in with Southern California cool moms and she wants to be guaranteed the best spot in Heaven and has the idea that the only way to do it is to be super, super Catholic. It’s like High School Musical mashed up with the Amish with a bit of Westboro Baptist Church. She is free to do it, it just comes across as a really, really weird way to live.....and I admit, an interesting thing to observe.

[Red Hair, Black Dress]

Kendra does not like Pope Francis.  At. All. On Feb 22, 2016 she wrote a blog post urging people to write Pope Francis and tell him he was wrong on several issues.

Because that's what a good, faithful Catholic does. Tell the Pope he's wrong.

That's what Kendra did. She literally wrote a letter to the Pope telling him he was wrong and she disagreed with all the wrong things he said so he could "fix the situation."

And she wanted all her readers to do the same.

The hubris of this woman is maddening.

[wendy-sparkles]

I do think Kendra is very conscious of her image and wants to appeal to as many ordinary Catholics as possible. Veiling is probably too niche.

I think she was pretty explicitly like, Frankie was born before Francis' election. Maybe that's why she hates him, who knows.

brb writing an email to Kendra about how any good catholic would submit to the authority of the Pope

Edited October 7, 2020 by wendy-sparkles

[ADoyle90815]

From what I get, she hates Pope Francis because he's too "liberal" for her. After all, he's said that the pandemic was nature's way of handling climate change, and criticized the way it's been handled by leaders. I'm assuming Kendra is a big Trump supporter, so she probably hates that Pope Francis has criticized him.

[Carrots]

15 hours ago, ADoyle90815 said:

From what I get, she hates Pope Francis because he's too "liberal" for her. After all, he's said that the pandemic was nature's way of handling climate change, and criticized the way it's been handled by leaders. I'm assuming Kendra is a big Trump supporter, so she probably hates that Pope Francis has criticized him.

Actually she wasn't. She openly said she wasn't voting for him and then seemed to get talked into it by husband because "Supreme Court nominations".* Her Facebook blew up over the issue, I remember the crazy Catholic bubble lady (Leila Miller??) laying into her and then being relieved that she was seeing "sense".

*I always pictured her husband being the more laid back of the two but after that I realised he is even more conservative than her.

Edited October 8, 2020 by Carrots

[Caroline]

I love how the extreme religion followers are sure that everyone else is contributing  to the downfall of the US (and possibly the rest of the world) when it's really the other way around.   And always has been IMO.

[AnglicanSnufkin]

Hi there! Long time lurker, first time poster. I actually joined to comment on the charismatic thing (though I myself am not a charismatic, but this area is an academic interest of mine) - charismatic Catholics aren't unusual and it's not an indicator of being conservative or liberal as such. At least where I am in the UK, it's not uncommon for a Catholic parish to have a regular charismatic prayer meeting and they might have eg a monthly charismatic service. It's not a statement about church politics but a preference in the same way some churches have folk masses. You also get charismatic Anglo-Catholics, again both conservative and liberal. It's just about preferring a more exuberant style of worship with contemporary worship music, usually (I say usually because I'm sure there are cases where it's not).

 

Pentecostals are all charismatic but not all charismatics are Pentecostal - like how all Presbyterians are Reformed but not all Reformed Christians are Presbyterian. You get charismatic influences/streams in lots of denominations, especially via music from Hillsong and Bethel etc and events like Soul Survivor. I'm not surprised someone with links to Carmelite orders would be amenable to it - it's not unreasonable to see a connection between historic Catholic mysticism in contemplative orders, and charismatic worship. One is just a more extroverted form. I am a little surprised by Kendra doing this - I feel like if she wasn't a Catholic wannabe-hipster she would be a Reformed one, and they tend to be cessationist (ie they believe that speaking in tongues etc ceased with the first Apostles). But maybe that's because here charismatic churches and especially Pentecostal churches are often Black-majority or at least super diverse churches and I can't imagine these uptight white women letting loose in church like that! Women in leadership is also very normal in charismatic churches so I do wonder how that works for charismatic Catholics. The emphasis on personal experience means you get a lot of doctrinal variation.

[Marmion]

On 10/11/2020 at 1:26 PM, AnglicanSnufkin said:

Hi there! Long time lurker, first time poster. I actually joined to comment on the charismatic thing (though I myself am not a charismatic, but this area is an academic interest of mine) - charismatic Catholics aren't unusual and it's not an indicator of being conservative or liberal as such. At least where I am in the UK, it's not uncommon for a Catholic parish to have a regular charismatic prayer meeting and they might have eg a monthly charismatic service. It's not a statement about church politics but a preference in the same way some churches have folk masses. You also get charismatic Anglo-Catholics, again both conservative and liberal. It's just about preferring a more exuberant style of worship with contemporary worship music, usually (I say usually because I'm sure there are cases where it's not).

 

Pentecostals are all charismatic but not all charismatics are Pentecostal - like how all Presbyterians are Reformed but not all Reformed Christians are Presbyterian. You get charismatic influences/streams in lots of denominations, especially via music from Hillsong and Bethel etc and events like Soul Survivor. I'm not surprised someone with links to Carmelite orders would be amenable to it - it's not unreasonable to see a connection between historic Catholic mysticism in contemplative orders, and charismatic worship. One is just a more extroverted form. I am a little surprised by Kendra doing this - I feel like if she wasn't a Catholic wannabe-hipster she would be a Reformed one, and they tend to be cessationist (ie they believe that speaking in tongues etc ceased with the first Apostles). But maybe that's because here charismatic churches and especially Pentecostal churches are often Black-majority or at least super diverse churches and I can't imagine these uptight white women letting loose in church like that! Women in leadership is also very normal in charismatic churches so I do wonder how that works for charismatic Catholics. The emphasis on personal experience means you get a lot of doctrinal variation.

In regards to Anglicanism , this tendency is what is known as the Low Church .  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Low-Church   Charismaticism , from the the standpoint of Roman Catholic dogma , is actually tantamount to what is known as Montanism , in my view .   {  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanism ,  https://www.gotquestions.org/montanism.html  , http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/currenterrors/Charism.htm  } 

[Cults-r-us]

21 minutes ago, Marmion said:

In regards to Anglicanism , this tendency is what is known as the Low Church .  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Low-Church   Charismaticism , from the the standpoint of Roman Catholic dogma , is actually tantamount to what is known as Montanism , in my view .   {  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanism ,  https://www.gotquestions.org/montanism.html  , http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/currenterrors/Charism.htm  } 

I think the Catholic charismatic movement became popular in the 1970's-80's. I remember reading the Vatican had an office for it way back when. Long ago, there was a big catholic charismatic convention in a stadium where I live. My friend's uncle was into it and drug his brother (the purse-lipped colonel)  SIL and 8 kids ( one of whom was my friend) to it. What a memory for my friend! I can't describe how funny his story is about this experience.

[Cults-r-us]

My cousin has gone off the rails on this conservative catholic business. They are Old Latin Mass Catholics. There son is betrohed or in courtship with an Old Latin Mass homeschooled girl. Perhaps they are unaware of the head-covering thing  (oh memories of wearing a kleenex pinned to your head).

They personally attack friends/family who disagree with them on facebook. Their sole moral imperative is no abortion. My cousin told his former friend on Facebook he "was not a real Catholic" because he questioned or disagreed with who knows what. His wife told their niece she was a "fly on a piece if shit" for same.

I told my other cousin this is the way of fundamentalism. It leaves no room for dialog or discourse. They alienate friends and family, listening to only like-minded crazy people, becoming impervious to interacting with anybody in any normal way.

Body of Christ? I think not.

[SassyPants]

The RC Church attended in the 90s had one woman who was Charismatic. Until the Pastor put a stop to it, she used to fall on the floor in the communion line after she received the sacrament. The first time I saw it, I rushed to her side as I thought she was having a medical emergency.

[THERetroGamerNY]

18 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

The first time I saw it, I rushed to her side as I thought she was having a medical emergency.

That’s because it’s what a normal person is going to think. I mean, it’s simple logic: You walked up normally. Ya drank the wine normally. Ate the bread. Then you suddenly collapsed.

Medical emergency.

Normal peeps in a Catholic church who see this wouldn’t think “Oh. Slain by the spirit. Best let this work itself out.” And just let her be.

[Hane]

Back in the ‘80s, there was a charismatic-lite Catholic movement called “Renew.” We had small-group scriptural discussion and prayer at people’s homes. I moderated one group in mine.

[ophelia]

4 hours ago, Cults-r-us said:

My cousin has gone off the rails on this conservative catholic business. They are Old Latin Mass Catholics. There son is betrohed or in courtship with an Old Latin Mass homeschooled girl. Perhaps they are unaware of the head-covering thing  (oh memories of wearing a kleenex pinned to your head).

They personally attack friends/family who disagree with them on facebook. Their sole moral imperative is no abortion. My cousin told his former friend on Facebook he "was not a real Catholic" because he questioned or disagreed with who knows what. His wife told their niece she was a "fly on a piece if shit" for same.

I told my other cousin this is the way of fundamentalism. It leaves no room for dialog or discourse. They alienate friends and family, listening to only like-minded crazy people, becoming impervious to interacting with anybody in any normal way.

Body of Christ? I think not.

Sounds cult-ish to me and I feel really sorry for you and your family.

[AnglicanSnufkin]

On 10/14/2020 at 2:30 AM, Marmion said:

In regards to Anglicanism , this tendency is what is known as the Low Church .  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Low-Church   Charismaticism , from the the standpoint of Roman Catholic dogma , is actually tantamount to what is known as Montanism , in my view .   {  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montanism ,  https://www.gotquestions.org/montanism.html  , http://www.catholicapologetics.info/modernproblems/currenterrors/Charism.htm  } 

This is actually not true with regards to Anglicanism. Historically, Anglicanism prior to the Oxford Movement was all Low Church and very 'Prayer Book Evangelical' with north end celebration, choir dress but no chasuble or stole etc - and most definitely not approving of Enthusiasm, as early Protestant charismaticism was known. This is partly what caused Methodism to break away from Anglicanism. Protestant charismatics were definitely Nonconformist in nature. Even now self-identified Low Church Anglicans tend to be suspicious of charismatic worship at best.

Also, as I said, there are plenty of charismatic Anglo-Catholics and they are High Church by default lol. It might be a language thing - in the Church of England, Anglo-Catholics and High Church Anglicans are the same thing and includes the whole spectrum of High Church beliefs, but in the US it tends to mean the Ordinariate or ACNA members I think? I'm not including them here. But in any case, being a charismatic Anglican is definitely not limited to evangelicals.

[AnglicanSnufkin]

On 10/14/2020 at 3:09 AM, Cults-r-us said:

My cousin has gone off the rails on this conservative catholic business. They are Old Latin Mass Catholics. There son is betrohed or in courtship with an Old Latin Mass homeschooled girl. Perhaps they are unaware of the head-covering thing  (oh memories of wearing a kleenex pinned to your head).

They personally attack friends/family who disagree with them on facebook. Their sole moral imperative is no abortion. My cousin told his former friend on Facebook he "was not a real Catholic" because he questioned or disagreed with who knows what. His wife told their niece she was a "fly on a piece if shit" for same.

I told my other cousin this is the way of fundamentalism. It leaves no room for dialog or discourse. They alienate friends and family, listening to only like-minded crazy people, becoming impervious to interacting with anybody in any normal way.

Body of Christ? I think not.

Are they Traditional Latin Mass supporters or Old Catholic Church members? The latter is a separate denomination, a tiny but fascinating one. Not all TLM fans are crazy (my grandma likes it just because it reminds her of her childhood but has no theological issue with NO/vernacular mass) but it can definitely bring out the crazy in some people. Sorry your cousin and his family have gone off the deep end.

There's definitely a difference between the people who go to 'regular', Vatican-approved Latin masses held at a church that also holds vernacular masses, and the Crazypants TLM-Only churches. The former are mostly just grandmas and liturgy nerds (a lot of older people who don't speak much English prefer a Latin mass if there's not one in their language available), the latter are weirdos who often want a monarchy in the US and usually suuuuper far right. Lots of big Franco fans.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

The main fundies I know in real life are Catholics who got into the Charismatic Catholic movement during the 70s and 80s.

[closetcagebaby]

I can’t wait to hear what Mrs Opus Dei herself thinks about the Pope’s new declaration about same sex couples. ?

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, closetcagebaby said:

I can’t wait to hear what Mrs Opus Dei herself thinks about the Pope’s new declaration about same sex couples. ?

I’m wondering if there will be a real split in the Catholic Church. If the people like her decide to go out on their own so they can cling to their righteous bigotry. 

[Caroline]

We went back to Catholicism twenty years ago because I really believed the split was coming.  My husband wasn't as optimistic.  We gave up about ten years into our return, and organized religion of any kind is of no interest to me.  I'm a rule-follower when the rules make sense, but the man-made rules of any religion are so ridiculous.  If I can't believe in and buy into all of it I want none of it.  I don't understand when people say that some things are just ok to ignore for the sake of remaining in a faith.  (For example, when the Church says no to abortion and homosexuality in its platform, but most people don't abide by those things.)  I can't belong to a church that discriminates that way, and I can't just ignore the platform.  Maybe there's something wrong with me.

 To me church looks like a big social thing, and that's ok if that's what people need.  I just don't need that kind of social group.  

[hoipolloi]

Pope Francis' statement today has no doubt caused more than few conservative RC heads to explode, including those in my family.