The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic
Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily
Meditations with Matthew Fox
|
Pope Benedict XVI’s Legacy, continued 01/03/2023 |
History will remember Pope John Paul II as the person who brought back the Inquisition and who handpicked Cardinal Ratzinger to be its chief Inquisitor as head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, CDF, formerly known as the
Office of the Sacred Inquisition. |
The name was changed after the Second Vatican Council under Pope Paul VI. Though the Council had called for freedom of expression and opinions among theologians,
all that came to an abrupt halt under JPII and Benedict XVI who as head of CDF and then as Pope Benedict XVI, managed to silence, | Before Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy, CBC reporter Terence McKenna looked back on his life and controversies.
CBC News: The National |
suppress, or expel 107 theologians from countries all around the world, myself included. I list the names of these persons in my book on Ratzinger, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the
Church and How It Can Be Saved. As I know from my experience with him, Cardinal Ratzinger was a bully of the first order. His brother, who was a priest in Germany, admitted to physically abusing boys in his choir though
denied he was part of the sexual abuse of the boys that also occurred in that same choir. |
NBC News’ Joshua Johnson and Boston Globe former Spotlight editor Walter Robinson discuss Benedict’s admission of presence at a 1980 meeting on priestly pedophilia. | Yale psychology professor Young Shin Kim, an expert on bullying, says 85% of bullying cases happen for the benefit of an audience. That is clearly a big part of the raison d’etre for Benedict’s actions against Leonardo Boff in Brazil, Eugene Drewermann
in |
Germany, and myself in North America. This same psychologist observes that “bullying is often used to maintain the social pecking order” and there was plenty of that going on in JP II and Benedict’s
Vatican. Criminologist William Black tells us that Bullies play a well known game. Their strategy is to intimidate…They must be confronted…. Bullies are cowards…Giving in to bullies guarantees that they will act ever more
abusively…An adult who repeatedly gives in to a bully is a coward. |
When it comes to Ratzinger and myself, a big synchronicity occurred for me last Friday.
On the exact day that Cardinal Ratzinger died, I finished a major task of sorting my papers and loaded them up in a U Haul for shipping to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where they will be digitized and made available for future generations to study. A relative of mine who is a practicing Catholic pointed out the special synchronicity of that day because a chunk of my papers (two boxes of 36) | Containers of Matthew Fox’s archival papers, packed up to go to the University of Colorado. Photo by Matthew
Fox. |
holds correspondence twixt Rome, my provincial and myself. Also, thousands of letters of support written to the Vatican or to Dominican headquarters by Catholics and people of other and no faith
traditions supporting my work. That that journey happened on the same day that Pope Benedict’s soul took its journey is, well, surprisingly synchronistic. |
| To view today's video, please click the image. You will be taken to today's post on the Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox website, where you can see the meditation in a larger version and also view and post your Comments. In the sharing that follows, a kind of community is developing around the DM.
If you can't reach today's post on the website directly, click HERE.
If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his Vimeo channel HERE. |
See Matthew Fox, The Pope’s War: Why Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved, pp. 164-169, 238-241.
Also see Matthew Fox, Confessions: The Making of a
Post-Denominational Priest. Banner Image: “Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, April 2 , 1995” Public Domain photo by Levan Ramishvili on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you recognize a relationship between bullying and maintaining a pecking order? Between intimidation and being cowardly? Have you learned to stand up to bullies, is it part of your spiritual path? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
The Pope's War: Why Ratzinger's Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How
It Can Be Saved
The Pope’s War offers a provocative look at three decades of corruption in the Catholic Church, focusing on Josef Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI. The final section in the book focuses on birthing a truly catholic christianity. Matthew Fox presents insights from his 12-year, up-close-and-personal battle with Ratzinger, tracing the historical roots of degradation in the Church and offering a new way to understand why
Benedict XVI is now mired in crisis as Pope. Fox then outlines his vision for a new Catholicism-one that is not Vatican-based but truly universal, celebrating critical thinking, diversity, and justice.
"This book should be read by everybody, not only for its ferocious courage, but also for its vision for what needs to be saved from the destructive
forces that threaten authentic Christianity." ~ Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope.
“In the gripping The Pope’s War, Matthew Fox takes an unwavering look at the layers of corruption in the Catholic Church, holding moral
truth against power.” — Jason Berry, author of Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II | |
Confessions: The Making of a
Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition) Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the
Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
"The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone
interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
| |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as the Center for Contemporary Mysticism hosts him in a Conversation on “Creation Spirituality: Birthing a New World.” Sunday, January 8, 2023, 11 am PT
(UTC/GMT-7). Register HERE. Creation Spirituality Conversations |
In a podcast episode with the Earth and Spirit Center, Matthew Fox reflects on how creation-centered spirituality, and the marriage of the divine feminine and sacred masculine, can help us respond with hope
to the troubles of our apocalyptic times. Listen HERE. | |
Please share this post! Just click the buttons below.
OR share your insights on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox
|
|
|
|
