Dear Ada:

It can be really dangerous to meditate or relax with these Buddhist chants. There is no reason to do this in the first place since we Catholics have monks in Gregorian Chant that we can listen to.

But, with Buddhist chants does you friend know what she is listening to?

Consider the following example of the lyrics of a typical Buddhist chant:

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammaasambuddhassa Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammaasambuddhassa Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammaasambuddhassa	Homage to the Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One. Homage to the Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One. Homage to the Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One.
Buddha"m sara.na"m gacchaami Dhamma"m sara.na"m gacchaami Sa"ngha"m sara.na"m gacchaami Dutiyampi buddha"m sara.na"m gacchaami Dutiyampi dhamma"m sara.na"m gacchaami Dutiyampi sa"ngha"m sara.na"m gacchaami Tatiyampi buddha"m sara.na"m gacchaami Tatiyampi dhamma"m sara.na"m gacchaami Tatiyampi sa"ngha"m sara.na"m gacchaami	To the Buddha I go for refuge. To the Dhamma I go for refuge. To the Sangha I go for refuge. For the second time, to the Buddha I go for refuge. For the second time, to the Dhamma I go for refuge. For the second time, to the Sangha I go for refuge. For the third time, to the Buddha I go for refuge. For the third time, to the Dhamma 1 go for refuge. For the third time, to the Sangha I go for refuge.
Leader: Tisara.na-gamana"m ni.t.thita"m Response: -- Aama bhante	Leader: This completes the going to the Three Refuges. Response: -- Yes, Venerable Sir

"Blessed One, the Noble One, the Perfectly Enlightened One" is Buddha not Christ.

This prayer chant is offering oneself to Buddha, to Dhamma (which are the teachings of Buddha), and to Sangha (which is the community of Buddha).

As Christians we are to be offering ourselves to Christ, to the teachings of Christ, and to the Church.

There is no excuse for a Christian to be listening to Buddhist chants for relaxation. They are putting into their minds things that are hostile to Christianity, an idolatry and an abomination before God.

As for your second question, the Church herself is perfect and Holy because Christ makes her holy as His bride. The members of the Church, however, are flawed and sinful, as all human beings are.

The mistakes made by individual Catholics does not tarnish the Church. Those mistakes are sins against the Church, the Church does not condone them.

But, also remember, non-Catholics had a flawed understanding of Church history. What they "think" the Church did wrong in the past is often not true at all buy is actually anti-catholic propaganda.

Even then a pope, bishop, or priest did something wrong, it is their personal sin, and not that of the Church. Even if a bishop does something wrong in the name of the Church, such as the bishop who conspired to put Joan of Arc to death, it is still his personal sin, and not that of the Church.

We do not have to trust that the Pope and Magisterium is infallible when they make an infallible declaration, we KNOW it is infallible because the Pope and Magisterium made it so by God's authority. The Church has this authority or God is a liar and I do not think God is a liar.

Remember, however, that infallible declarations are extremely rare. Not everything the Pope says is infallible. Only issues of faith and morals that apply to the whole Church and that have been taught since the beginning are even eligible for infallible status.

As for Medjugorje the problem there is not the Vatican, it is the rebelliousness of priests and others at Medjugorje. Even if the Church's assessment is wrong, we must obey anyway. Pride seeks to rebel and dissent. Padre Pio was under a gag order for many years. He did not dissent or gripe about it, rather he obeyed.

Jesus said to St. Faustina, "Your obedience pleases me more than your sacrifice."

When it comes to private revelations the Church alone has the authority to assess and determine legitimacy. It the Church rules that a private revelation is not of supernatural origin, then we are to concede that. When we don't offer this respect and obedience then we can see something like what happened at Bayside, New York. The Bayside visionary was formally condemned. People refused to accept this and to this day follow this fake visionary.

When the apparitions were not approved by the local bishop, the visionary started saying that Mary was bad-mouthing the bishop. I think not.

There are four levels of teaching in the Church. Level 1 is defined dogma. If we disagree with that we are heretics. Level 2 is definitive doctrine. If we disagree with that we are not formal heretics, but we are like heretic junior -- we are barred from the Sacraments. Level 3 is authoritative teaching. While this level of teaching may contain errors, we must give assent to it unless there is compelling evidence, not feeling or opinion, that the Church is wrong. Level 4 is the realm of pastoral opinions and disciple. We may disagree, but we must still obey.

Such things as those doctrines in the Nicene Creed are defined dogma. Things like teachings on abortion, contraception, sexual morality and such are Level 2 teaching and cannot be disagreed with.

Whether or not we have altar girls, married priests, communion in the hand, and such are disciplinary and can change anytime the Church wishes. But we must obey the current law until it is actually changed.

I hope this helps.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary