New Age Salvation at Catholic "Wellness" Centers
from the September-October1998 issue

Instead of providing health care for the poor, the Sisters of Mercy, a once-proud religious order of nuns is now providing body-worship enhancement for the "salvation through wellness" crowd of the city’s affluent. One of the paths by which they promote "wellness" is via practices sometimes associated with the New Age movement.

From facelifts to tai chi, from breast augmentation to biofeedback, the Sisters of Mercy in Cincinnati are searching deep to redefine the traditional concepts of Catholic medical care. At once looking to the Gnostic philosophies of Eastern religions and to progressive techniques of cosmetic surgery, the Mercy Regional Health System of Greater Cincinnati has taken to promoting the trendy concept of "holistic wellness" to affluent suburbanites.

The popular New Age fusion of Christian elements with Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism have crept into Catholic religious education programs over the past twenty years. It now appears that Catholic medical institutions are the latest Church conduit for what Pope John Paul II calls "illusory ideologies."

The Holy Father, in fact, is preparing an encyclical on the failings of New Age philosophies and the dangers posed to Catholics who dabble in such anti-Christian practices. The encyclical, tentatively entitled "Faith and Reason," is due to be released in October. It is sure to be a blow to the Sisters of Mercy.

The totem of salvation
On July 24 the Sisters, who operate the Mercy Regional Health System of Greater Cincinnati, held a blessing ceremony to inaugurate their newest project, the Mercy Holistic Health and Wellness Center in Cincinnati.

The artistic focal point of the new $20 million, 240,000-square-foot building is a prominent totem pole that rises from a pool on the lower level into the atrium lobby. The "Totem of Salvation," as it is called in Mercy’s literature, represents the "salvific" elements of earth, wind, water and fire. Christ (and traditional Catholic imagery) is conspicuously absent throughout the entire complex.

The totem pole is, according to the hospital’s house publication MERCYtoday, a work of art paying tribute to "the elements of life, the foundation of a spirit." Designed by local artist William Schickel, the totem of salvation is a 38-foot, 28-ton limestone obelisk, sandblasted with images that are alleged to be scenes from the Old Testament—the story of salvation.

The totem pole sits in a pool amid the whirl of exercise machines. "This new building symbolizes our holistic approach," stated Sister Kathy Green, RSM, chief proselytizer for the project. "Some think holistic means ‘fringe’ or ‘new-age,’" she told a small audience gathered for the blessing, "but really, it is just the natural approach which recognizes that we are more than just our bodies. We are body, mind and spirit."

The Mercy Holistic Health & Wellness Center in Cincinnati is the second to open this year. The first opened in April in Fairfield, thirty miles north of Cincinnati. It too is a $20 million, 240,000-square foot building with a 38-foot, 28-ton totem pole. According to Cincinnati Magazine these two centers are among the largest such facilities in the country. Sr. Green, known to friends as "The Wellness Queen" told Cincinnati Magazine her brainchild projects are "surpassed in size only by RDV Sportsplex, co-sponsored by The Florida Hospital in Orlando."

The New Age path to "wellness"
The explicit goal of the Mercy Holistic Health and Wellness Centers is to provide an environment which aims at keeping people healthy rather than simply treating an illness, a place which promotes "wellness"—emotional support, spiritual health and caring for the body.

While few Cincinnati Catholics will object to any truly "holistic" approach to medicine (treating mind, body and soul), many do object to certain methods employed to arrive at a "wellness" that just might not be so well for the spiritual and faith life of the unwitting Catholic.

Whereas one would expect the Sisters of Mercy to look primarily to Christ and the Christian tradition for a concept of "wellness," they are now taking their cues rather from a neo-Gnostic movement that has been growing steadily for the past two decades in American society. At the heart of this neo-Gnostic mindset lies a superficial understanding of and an emphatic embrace of Native American and Eastern spirituality and practices. The heart of these spiritualities and philosophies is not a personal God interested in each soul’s eternal outcome: it is rather a "life force," an impersonal energy.

For example, Mercy Holistic offers healing "services" such as Reiki, biofeedback, acupuncture, therapeutic touch and hypnotherapy. Most of these healing practices are rooted in Eastern philosophies which are at odds with the Catholic understanding of the Incarnation, grace, and the sacraments—not to mention suffering and authentic Christian prayer.

Reiki (pronounced ray-kee), Japanese for "spirit life force," is a healing "energy" which is channeled by a practitioner to help himself, others, plants and animals. Reiki masters also allege that their Reiki energy can be used in distant healings to anyone in the world and into the past, present and future. They believe ultimately that Reiki energy is the salvation of mankind and the planet.

According to Mercy’s "Health and Wellness Calendar 98," Reiki is offered as a $50 per hour service to Mercy members by practitioner Joseph Hayden, Jr. The Reiki description states, "All living things including the human body are surrounded and suffused with energy. Research in physics and other sciences have demonstrated this again and again. Reiki is an oriental system of energy work by which a trained Reiki practitioner works with a client to unblock the flow of energy. Light touch is used to promote well-being and the natural flow of the life force."

Hypnotherapy is used at Mercy Holistic to "quiet the conscious mind and allow access to the unconscious mind" to rid patients of unwanted habits, to ease their pain, to help them lose weight. Mercy Holistic assures its members that "you do not relinquish self-control in hypnosis, nor will you do anything against your will. You remain aware and can leave this relaxed state whenever you choose."

Biofeedback, another method of tapping into the unconscious, is promoted as a "mind-body approach to health and stress management." It uses a specially-designed monitor to help patients control their unconscious functions such as heart-rate, skin temperature, etc. Some biofeedback enthusiasts, such as Dr. Elmer Green, the chief developer of the method, claim that this type of mind-training sometimes leads the patient to develop psychic abilities. According to the Donning International Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, "dangers of biofeedback training sessions occur if the doctor or therapist who is monitoring the readouts and session is not familiar with parapsychological principles."

Mercy also offers "complementary care" courses on topics such as self-awareness meditation, acupressure, capacitar, guided imagery, and fitness courses in qigong (crane flying), tai chi ch’uan, tai chi chih, and various forms of yoga.

These fitness courses offered at Mercy Holistic have become so mainstream in American society that few will balk anymore at the mention of yoga or tai chi. Most have not heard of qigong. Catholics who raise objections to the use of these Eastern methods are summarily dismissed as fundamentalists for their belief that there is a binding and valid truth in the personal figure of Jesus Christ.

Nonetheless, both yoga and tai chi—in their many and various forms—are rooted in agnostic philosophies. Mercy Holistic markets yoga as "easy and effective poses; relaxation and breathing techniques" designed to "increase strength and flexibility, relieve tension and bring relaxation." Tai chi is described as "an ancient, slow-moving exercise using self control to improve body balance and strength, enhance energy and stamina and promote relaxation and well-being."

Although these fitness offerings appear innocuous, they embrace a tradition that is wholly incompatible with Christianity. These practices center on one’s own consciousness rather than a relationship with a personal God; their goal is "self-realization." One of the explicit goals of yoga, for instance, is to unbind oneself to experience one’s own divinity by uniting with the "infinite" or "universal spirit." It is difficult to separate the fitness exercises from the philosophy that created them.

What they’re not saying
In the context of a secular health care system (where profit often carries the day), superficial presentations of exotic philosophies and practices may be excused as "telling the people what they want to hear." But the Catholic Church has a far greater responsibility: the care of immortal souls.

Further, wellness of body, mind and spirit is found nowhere if not in the Catholic tradition: from St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law to Pope John Paul II and his "theology of the body."

What is most decisive in analyzing how Mercy Holistic is misleading its consumers (souls) is what they are not saying. Much unwellness of body, mind and spirit has resulted from the Catholic American’s ignorance of, or dissent from, Catholic moral teachings and the Natural Law. One must search hard, indeed, to find a seminar warning consumers against the hazards of contraception and the empty promises of the sexual revolution.

The wisdom of Christ’s Church—as witnessed in documents such as Humanae vitae, Casti Connubi, or John Paul II’s On the Dignity and Vocation of Women—is dismissed in favor of superficial religion-shopping, another sign of a spiritually depraved culture.

Vanity, all is vanity
In sharp contrast with Mercy’s alleged "natural" and "holistic" path to wellness, it promotes plastic and cosmetic surgery as another path. Mercy’s bi-monthly newsletter Mercy Health carried an article in their Jan-Feb 98 issue encouraging patients to consider this expensive, invasive and unnecessary method of achieving self-satisfaction.

The article stated, "if you’ve been talking to your mirror about cosmetic surgery, you aren’t alone. Nearly 700,000 Americans a year have face-lifts, nose jobs, chemical peels or other medical procedures to make them feel better about their looks.

"If you decide to go ahead, it’s a good bet you’ll end up with what you want; 97 percent of patients report satisfaction with their results. Refinements have made outcomes very precise. Surgeons use carbon dioxide lasers, once used for removing skin cancers, to resurface facial skin, removing wrinkles and acne scars. Endoscopes, miniature instruments equipped with tiny cameras, are making facelifts and breast augmentation virtually scar-free. And new techniques in liposuction—the most popular cosmetic procedure in the country—are giving surgeons greater control over results, with less bruising and swelling for patients. Cosmetic surgery is safer, too. Complication rates from bleeding or infection are at a very low 1 to 3 percent."

In March, two Mercy surgeons presented free "health lectures" about the most recent advances in cosmetic surgery. Huai C. Pan, MD, presented "Taking Cosmetic Surgery Into the 21^st Century." According to the newsletter, Pan’s lecture discussed "the most contemporary, innovative and advanced techniques of facial rejuvenation and skin restoration with laser technology; breast enhancement and reconstruction; body contouring and liposuction."

Huaw T. Han, MD, discussed state of the art advancements in cosmetic surgery, "including face-lifts, breast enlargements, liposuction and laser resurfacing." Using an enhanced computer photo imaging procedure, Dr. Han is able to show potential clients the possibilities that await them should they enlist his plastic and cosmetic surgery expertise.—Michael S. Rose

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