Reflection on the Papacy by Matthew Fox (defrocked by Ratzinger)

[Mrs. Overall]

In the 1980s, Fr. Matthew Fox, a Dominican liberation theologian, was told by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the successor to the Holy Inquisition) to renounce his views about God, about the Catholic Church, about sexuality, the status of women in the Church, and married priests. He refused, and that refusal meant that he could no longer teach or seek tenure in a Catholic university or school. He was also defrocked by the Dominican Order(at Ratzinger's insistence), but the Episcopal Church took him in.

Some Reflections on the Recent Papacy of JPII (and what Ratzinger will continue)

by Matthew Fox, Ph.D.

While the media responds profusely to the telegenic pope who has just passed, and while he accomplished some good things such as taking a stand against the Iraq war and against capital punishment and against the idolatry of consumerism, I really do believe that history will not be kind to this papacy. This pope and his self-appointed German mafia headed by CARDINAL RATZINGER will have to face the judgment of history (and very likely God also) over issues that include but are not limited to the following:

A pre-occupation with morality as sexual issues even when this morality is deeply flawed. I include the following examples:


The forbidding of one billion Catholics world wide to practice birth control even while the human population explodes at the seams.

The forbidding of the use of condoms even in a time when AIDS is killing individuals and whole populations the world over.

The head-long pursuit of Augustine's theology of sexuality (all sex must be legitimized by having children)

Ugly attacks in the pope's name against homosexuals and the complete ignoring of what science and professional psychological associations have learned about homosexuality (for example, that it is a natural phenomenon for 8-10% of any given human population as well as over 460 non-human species).

Other attacks include documents against yoga (yes!); against Buddhism (calling it "atheism"); against Thich Naht Hahn (calling him the "anti-Christ"); against feminist philosophers; against women (girls cannot serve at the altar; nor can women be priests); against theologians in general. Priests are forbidden to use the pronoun "she" for God at the altar.

A prolonged effort to render fascism fashionable. This includes the rushing into canonization of the card-carrying fascist priest who founded the Opus Dei movement even though this man actually praised Adolf Hitler and also denounced women and has been accused of sexual abuse of six young men who are alive today.

The taking of Opus Dei under the hand of the papacy granting it legitimacy and power within and without the Catholic structure.

The conscious destruction and systemic dismantling of the Liberation Theology movement and the very vital base communities it spawned in Latin America in particular--a move which has opened up Latin America to an onslaught of Pentecostal and right wing religious huckstering. The demise of the Catholic Church in Latin America is now well underway--pentecostals are sweeping away the population--now that this papacy (with the encouragment and support of the CIA) has destroyed liberation theology and replaced it with opus dei bishops and cardinals.

The effort to eliminate theology and replace it with ideology by spreading fear among theologians. The expulsion from the priesthood of three prominent theologians on three continents in the 1990's sent fear into the ranks of theological thinkers since. Those 3 theologians are Leonardo Boff from Latin America; Father Eugene Dreuermann from Germany; and myself in North America.

Even more curious, is the elevation of one key American churchman, CARDINAL LAW, head of the Boston archdiocese where the U.S. pedophile scandal first went public, to a plum parish assignment in Rome this past year.

The rigid sticking to celibacy as a requisite for being a priest (as well as the requisite of having exclusively male genitals) means fewer and fewer Catholics have access to the sacraments and fewer and fewer persons are drawn to study for the priesthood. The attendance at Mass on Sundays in San Francisco alone has plummeted 70% during this pope's reign.

As a result of his policies the demise of the number of practicing Catholics in the Northern countries including Ireland and United States continues unabated. In a few years 2/3 of parishes in Germany will have no pastors and no Eucharistic celebration. Already, 1400 priests in Germany are from outside the country and the number of new priests ordained there has dropped from 366 in 1990 to 161 today. The average priest world wide is over 60 years of age.

The raising of the papacy to a 'cult of personality' aided and abetted by the fawning media.

Speaking of the fawning media, this papacy granted a "man of conscience" award to Rupert Murdoch (who, the year after he got the award, divorced his wife of many years to marry a young woman).

more at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/4/5/22241/48006

[glitch]

1. Excellent! And a nice bite at the end

"Now that this pope has passed, let readers reflect on the seriousness of these matters. And pray for this pope. I for one would hate to have to face my Creator with a track record like this one."

[saltpoint]

2. I have had personal correspondence with Matt Fox.

He is a thorough scholar and a wonderful human being.

Cardinal Ratzinger's inquisitorial actions against him are shameful.

[jbnow]

11. Nice pen pal!

I met him at a book signing about a decade ago and still am warmed by the meeting. I got there early and he called me over when he saw me. We talked a long time. He had a lot of questions since I had all his books and they were clearly well read...so we talked about God and God in life until I had to leave. I was surprised other people hadn't shown up, but when I turned to leave there was a long line that had built behind me. He was just intent on the conversation...and I was touched by that too.

But you can tell his spirituality is a part of him...not just an intellectual pursuit. He is real and spirit is real in him.

[saltpoint]

14. "Original Blessing" and "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ" --

-- are both masterpieces, at least to me.

I think your experience with Matt Fox exemplifies the humane and inclusive spirit he projects.

He's a peach & I wish HE were the new Pope!

[myrna minx]

3. Nominated.

:kick:

[tsuki]

4. Also, this regime granted an annulment to Newt Gingrich from his

ill #2 wife so that he could marry #3 in the church.

[acmavm]

5. These are the reservations that I have with the church, not what a boy

of 14 had to do to probably stay alive. At 14 I don't know what I would have done, I seriously doubt any of us do unless put to the test.

But THIS ARTICLE is describes my problems with Cardinal Ratzinger. As long as the church maintains it unforgiving, mysoginistic, and hateful attitude toward so many people on this earth (which is exactly the opposite of what Jesus taught us. Judge not lest ye be judged.)then I'm afraid that I'll be what is known as a 'lapsed' Catholic forever.

[suziedemocrat]

8. According to St. Malarchy in 1139 - this is the second to last Pope.

http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp

Supposedly - this Pope will be called the Glory of the Olives - and he was supposed to be from the Benedictine Order.

Anyway - I think the Catholic Church is dying. For several reasons listed below:

1) Serious Money Problems. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1113357327695_17/?hub=World

snip - "But in the last years of his papacy the Holy See was back in the red. In presenting the latest accounting, the chief of the Holy See's economic affairs office cited Europe's sluggish economic recovery, poor investment climate and the rising strength of the euro against the dollar."

2) In Europe and the U.S.A. - cradle Catholics are ignoring the Church.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woeuro174221977apr17,0,1963921.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines


3) Gnostic Gospels are gaining popularity - and they seem much more progressive than the Catholic Church. If they are able to decipher even more gospels - and they are as progressive as the Gnostic Gospels - that will be even more damaging.

http://www.legendgames.net/showstory.asp?page=blognews/stories/ST0000030.txt

4) People are ready for a more intellectual type of spirituality. With Scientists making so much progress with String Theory, M-Theory, etc - Science is already talking about multiple realities and multiple dimensions - moving slowly into the realm of spirituality. Look at the popular (IMO lightweight) movie "What The Bleep Do We Know."

The BBC did a great show on this: Parallel Universes from BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/paralleluni.shtml

Also- The Elegant Universe from PBS- NOVA.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/

entire show available to watch online:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

And - my favorite books on spirituality:

Michael Newton's Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls. These books (IMO) are amazing!!!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567184995/qid=1113946152/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/103-6522888-9079806

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Sufis and Matthew Fox

Matthew Fox was teaching at a college in CA in the late 80s, early 90s with a Sufi brother, Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz, who has done much work with ancient texts, translating them directly to English. Saadi is also co-founder of the Center for the Dances of Universal Peace, moving meditation honoring all the world's spiritual traditions. I know that there are some priests still within the Church who do the Dances....wonder if anything will happen to them? I hope not.

[aneerkoinos]

13. Not much hope

Seems like there is new serious Schism coming. And no question which side sufis, christian mystics, buddhists etc. etc. won't to work with.

Ratsinger will take Catholicism down to a rat hole with him, first making it hollow shelf without any inner reality, except money and power and hatred and bigotry. That agenda don't really sell anymore.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. the interesting thing about Sufis

is that they work with those who come to them. Sufis don't seek out 'converts'-in fact, the very opposite is true.

There is a Sufi story about a man who wished to become a student of a spiritual teacher. He was given directions to the teacher's house, which was at the end of a narrow alley. At the head of the alley sat an old woman. When she saw the man, she cried, "Surely you aren't going to see Shaykh Karim! He is a false teacher! He sleeps with his students! He's a crook!" The man waved the old woman aside and went to the teacher's house. He was welcomed and invited for tea. He offered the shaykh the traditional gift of honey, which was accepted.

"Do you know, Murshid, that there is an awful old lady sitting at the head of your alley, saying terrible things about you?" the man asked.

The shaykh smiled. "Yes. I pay her to do this. I don't want students who believe whatever they hear over the calling of their own heart."

[toddaa]

7. Thich Naht Hahn

Far closer to Christ than the new pope.

[saltpoint]

15. Hahn is wonderful. And a gifted writer, too.

[LibraLiz1973]

9. Thank you for posting that

It was really interesting

[ananda]

10. hmm

Pope Torquemada II

[aneerkoinos]

12. Theology

"The effort to eliminate theology and replace it with ideology by spreading fear among theologians. The expulsion from the priesthood of three prominent theologians on three continents in the 1990's sent fear into the ranks of theological thinkers since. Those 3 theologians are Leonardo Boff from Latin America; Father Eugene Dreuermann from Germany; and myself in North America."

Academic theology or rather exegetics (instead of dogmatics) is real philological science. No wonder much if not most of the intellectually honest academic theologians are turning into gnostics/christian buddhists.

Orthodox dogmatics is sooooo 4th century.

Hey but for what it's worth, Benny "sweet" Sixteen can only engege in willfull lying to defend his church and its destortions and crimes. And the truth is out there, for anyone to read. Starting from Gospel of Thomas.

[starroute]

17. Do you have any links on the gnostic/Christian Buddhist part?

It sounds fascinating. And it makes sense that serious theologians would be eager to rediscover the mystical truths concealed within the all-too-often fossilized and literalized parables and mysteries of their own religion.

But I do keep an ear out for things like that, so I have to confess that I'm just a bit skeptical that something like Christian Buddhism could be as widespread as you say it is without my having heard of it. I'd love it if you could provide details and examples.

[aneerkoinos]

20. OK

"Christian Buddhism" gave perhaps the wrong meaning. What I meant was that the teaching in Gospel of Thomas is not different from Buddhist teaching. There is wide pro-Buddhist sentiment in the West, and I don't think I'm wrong estimating that Dalai Lama is much more respected than the Pope among the general population.

There is widening ecumenical dialogue between non-fundie Christianity and Buddhism, and various polls show that the religious sentiments or the and ideas of the public are in many ways closer to Buddhism (and generally mysticism) than dogmatic & scholastic Christianity.

I just saw a thread where Ratzinger was quoted saying that Buddhism is replacing Marxism as the worst enemy of Catholicism, which IMO is quite telling.

[OneBlueSky]

16. Matt Fox is my favorite theologian . . .

his "Original Blessing" was the first book I ever read that actually put Christianity into a framework that made sense to me . . . Creation Spirituality is precisely the kind of spirituality that Jesus taught and that the Bible celebrates . . . right wing fundamentalism is so far removed from authentic Christianity as to be almost heretical . . . same goes for the Vatican and the new Pope . . . all could learn much from Matt Fox if they'd only listen without letting the 12th century baggage of Church dogma and right radical polical agendas get in the way . . .

[Disturbed]

19. The Vatican is a RW Corporate State.

Answer this question, please. Would Jesus reside in the spleandor of this place, wear silly hats and garish grabs and have people bow and kiss is ring?

[loudestchick]

21. No.

[dryan]

22. With all due respect....

How many of the people reading this have ever attended one of Matthew Fox's seminars or speeches? About 15 years ago I attended one of his speeches here in Orlando. I liked his book "Blessings" and was enthusiastic about going. The speech (really a workshop) started on Friday night. It started out by us going out side and praying to the Moon, the stars, and the horizon. That was a little disconcerting because this is (was) a Catholic priest and there was no mention of God or Jesus. It was very pantheistic. The next day he did a slide show on Hildegard of Begin. He showed one slide (and this was when I left) of Hildegard at a table writing with these abstract drawings on each side of the tapestry. He said he didn't know what the abstract figures were until he showed the slide to a Najavo Indian friend of his and (and forgive the spelling) but they were Najavo "chacinga" (the dolls the Navajos make that are primarily black and beaded -- forgive the spelling) dolls. Fox went off on a tangent after that statement about how did these figures get over to Europe in the Middle Ages.