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Remembering My Mother and Brother
Nat 09/19/2024 |
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days ticking down to 11/5, learn the deeper stakes in this year's election. Get your copy of Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election today! Choose your format in the book block below. |
Last week I shared stories of my oldest brother Tom who passed on and a little bit about my brother Nat who passed on four days later. I thank all those who sent prayers and condolences. |
It seems fitting here to tell some more about Nat but also about my mother who died at 89 and in a very creative way as I tell in my Creativity book. Her energy was amazing and so was her common sense. Even though she had seven children in ten years, she was not a “super mom” but made
room for her own development. She took two hours to herself every day whether to read or meet with a friend or play tennis, swim, bicycle, etc. I remember her taking us all to the park with a zoo several miles from our home when we were young. We did not have a car, but we had a big wagon and we would take turns
pulling it with the younger ones inside. |
Matthew’s mother with baby Nat. From Matthew Fox’s family photos. |
She would
often have us kids babysit one another. When Tom was about three years old he was changing Nat’s diapers and one day Nat was fussy all day long. Near the end of the day, they discovered that Tom had pinned Nat’s diaper to his flesh. Mom read up a storm, and despite having lost an eye in a car accident at 42 years
of age, she still read voraciously right up to the time of her death. When television came along—we were the last in the neighborhood to get a TV set—she insisted it go in the basement because she felt TV would 1) interfere with meaningful living room conversations and 2) compete with kids’ reading. We once
counted 12 magazines that the family subscribed to, ranging from Popular Mechanics to Boy’s Life (a Boy Scout magazine) to Time, Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal. |
Beatrice Fox with her grown children, c. 1990. Standing, L-R: Mike, Tim (Matt), Tom, Terry, Nat. Sitting, L-R: Tricia, Beatrice, Roberta. From Matthew Fox's personal collection. | Friendship meant a lot to my mother. She belonged to a book club, sewing club, bridge club, etc. and had friends of many diverse interests and backgrounds. It was she who proposed that we rent out a room in our home for a foreign
graduate student attending the University of Wisconsin. Thus, I spent my teen age years living next door to a Singh from India; an atheist from Yugoslavia; a former bull fighter from Venezuela, etc. |
I learned early that the world is not all white or Christian or Catholic or the same. In fact, it was rich and alive and interesting and varied. An adventure, therefore. Regarding my brother Nat, let me share a letter we received from Nat’s mentor, a renowned engineer who was his
professor at Iowa State University. He wrote this letter to my brother Mike when he heard of Nat’s death last week. |
Dear
Michael, Thanks so much for your kind letter. Nat indeed was special. He came to Ames a week early because he had heard good things about R.L. Handy and wanted me for his major professor. He said that one of his goals was to someday invent something, which he certainly did. |
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He formed his own business and started research in his own back yard. His invention, called Geopiers, soon became the fastest growing new foundation method in the world. How is that for realizing a goal? There are Geopier foundations in Ames. Nat was briefly employed as a
geotechnical engineer, then formed his own business. He then started research in his own back yard and came up with a novel foundation design called Geopiers. They consist of rammed aggregate piers that are less expensive and more effective than concrete, and soon became the fastest growing foundation method in the world. He kept me informed and arranged for me to visit installations in Africa and China. I had some really good students, but the best was Nat Fox. He
really did invent something. Thanks so much for your very kind letter. With best personal regards, R.L Handy |
See Matthew Fox, Confessions of a Post-denominational Priest, pp. 23-25, 49-69.
And Fox, Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet, pp. 218-220.
Banner Image: Matthew Fox's family. Top L-R: siblings Nat and Terry, father George and mother Beatrice, Tim (Matt), and
Tom. Bottom, L-R: Roberta, Mike, Tricia. Photo from the Fox family collection. |
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Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, or read other comments and enter into dialog, please click HERE
to go to our website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Queries for Contemplation |
What are you most grateful for from your parents and siblings? How often do we call that up and share it with others? |
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 |
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Creativity: Where the Divine and Human Meet
Because creativity is the key to both our genius and beauty as a species but also to our capacity for evil, we need to teach creativity and to teach ways of steering this God-like power in
directions that promote love of life (biophilia) and not love of death (necrophilia). Pushing well beyond the bounds of conventional Christian doctrine, Fox’s focus on creativity attempts nothing less than to shape a new ethic.
“Matt Fox is a pilgrim who seeks a path into the church of tomorrow. Countless numbers will be happy to follow his lead.” –Bishop John Shelby Spong, author, Rescuing
the Bible from Fundamentalism, Living in Sin |
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Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s
rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color
prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black
& white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download. |
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In the Beginning There Was Joy: A Cosmic Celebration for Kids of All Ages
The first book in the Father Fox’s Fantastical Fables series tells the story of the big bang and how humans fit into the awesome, fantastical,
cosmic picture! With artwork curated from illustrators around the world, this book expresses the joy and wonder of all peoples and cultures, planting seeds of respect, cooperation and hope to work together for the healing of our planet. "Matthew Fox does it again, here for our young ones, who so need a positive, cosmic vision
to thrive, or even survive, in a sad time." - Father Richard Rohr, Author of The Universal Christ "Matthew Fox offers a resounding affirmation of what our souls have always suspected: we are made for joy." - Mirabai Starr, Author of God of Love and Wild Mercy |
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UPCOMING EVENTS See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
MONTHLY: Join Matthew Fox, Mariko Middleton, and Skylar Wilson of the Order of the Sacred Earth in a free virtual meeting for connection and networking with other mystic warriors. Last Tuesday of every month, 4:00-5:00pm PT.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88665302478
Meeting ID: 886 6530 2478 Learn more at www.orderofthesacredearth.org |
Matthew Fox will make a guest appearance during the Creation Spirituality
Communities course, Creation Spirituality in a Time of Apocalypse. He will talk about his new book on the antichrist, which is an apocalyptic archetype. Join Theodore Richards, founder of the Chicago Wisdom Project and editor of the online Magazine/Podcast ReImagining as he takes us through 4 sessions exploring how Creation Spirituality can give birth to
new stories during times of upheaval. Dates: Sept 9, 16, 23, 30 from 7-9 PM ET. Cost: $150 per student. Register HERE. |
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Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his book Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, September 19, 4:00-5:30 pm PT.
Register HERE. |
ConvergenceCoLab hosts Matthew Fox, Margaret Wheatley, and Brian McLaren in an online conversation on “Post-Doom Spirituality," Wednesday, October 16, 6-8:30 PM ET. Register now with an EARLY BIRD rate of $30, HERE. |
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Join Matthew Fox as he discusses his two books, In the Beginning There was Joy and The Return of Father Sky, in an Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat, Thursday, October 17, 4:00-5:30 pm
PT.
Register HERE. |
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Opus Dei, American Cardinal Burke, and Steve Bannon, former Trump advisor and former Executive Chairman at Breitbart News. He explains how Cardinal Burke and other neofascists in the Catholic Church opposed the Second Vatican Council, which sought to update the Catholic Church. He then explains how both Leonard Leo (co-chairman of the Federalist Society board of directors, who drew up lists of potential conservative judges who were then appointed to the Supreme Court)
and Kevin Roberts from the Heritage Foundation, share a right-wing Catholic ideology. |
Inspired by this post? Share your insights on Universeodon, Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #RevDrMatthewFox and tag Matt with @RevDrMatthewFox FOLLOW MATTHEW FOX: |
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