My guest tonight
is Matthew Fox. He's the author of
thirty [30] books on culture and spirituality, and he's co-directing a
three-year workshop series on The Cosmic Christ with Andrew Harvey. He's got a book that he published last year
called The Pope's War; and we're talking about Pope Ratzinger, and Pope
John Paul II, and Liberation Theology, and the idea that the Catholic Church is
going through some major changes. Now,
Matthew, you talk about some big changes, but are they really possible with the
powerful hierarchy that exists right now that is used so effectively to silence
anybody that speaks out?
Matthew Fox:
Well, that's why I have very, very little optimism about the next Pope,
because they've sacked the Cardinals, the people who vote for Popes. All the men they've appointed the last forty
[40] years think like themselves, which means they'll do nothing new
there. So that's why I think the Holy
Spirit has asked us to step beyond the structure that we know as the Catholic
Church. I think that it's run it's
course.
And I'm not alone
in this at all. A very great Saint, a
Father Bede Griffiths was a monk in Southern India for fifty years, a
Benedictine monk, and he said to me shortly before he died a few years ago,
"Don't worry about the Vatican, don't look over your shoulder, don't even think
about them." He said, "Continue to 'plant
shoots' for the new Christianity, because one day it's all going to come
tumbling down, just like the Berlin Wall."
And I think we're living through that day.
Every day these
revelations - just this week they finally printed the documents from the L.A.
Diocese. Of course, Mahony sat on them,
got high priced lawyers to sit on these documents for seven years (I believe it
was). And the documents just absolutely
reveal that Benedict XVI knew about this, Cardinal Mahony knew about it, they
did nothing about the pedophile Priests; they passed them from parish to
parish, diocese to diocese, even country to country, instead of protecting the
young people. The credibility is gone,
and the structure has run out of steam.
So I just don't think we should be putting a lot of energy into electing
Popes and all the rest, I think we have to, like your program says, start at
the grass roots. There are a lot of
wonderful grass roots Christians and Catholics, and Priests and Sisters, who
know about the essential teachings of Jesus.
It's about justice
and compassion, as of course is the essence of any religion, when you get it
down to it's essence. So let's move on
that. There's plenty of beauty and
richness to bring along. As I say, "What
to take from the burning building?"
There's a lot there in the Christian tradition and in the Catholic
tradition, and I've honored that. That's
why I've written thirty [30] books.
One book I wrote
recently is on Christian Mystics.
There's just great stuff in the teachings over the centuries, and we
bring that along. But as I say, in a
backpack, not as a basilica. Let them
have the basilicas and the big buildings.
Religion is renewed at the grass roots; small communities, there are
more and more of these springing up now, and they're ordaining women and all
the rest, they're not waiting for permission from, what can I say, from an
institution that's proven it's immorality from the way it's mishandled the
horrible cases of priestly pedophilia.
You know, in
Ireland fifteen years ago, ninety percent [90%] of Irish went to church on
Sunday. Today it's down to about four
percent [4%]. In ten years, it's dropped
from 90 to 4, and they're not coming back, the young are not coming back,
because they've been so put off by the revelations of the cover-up by the
hierarchy of these horrible sexual abuse situations.
Rob Kall: There's an article today in the Wall Street
Journal that has a graph, "Empty pews."
It looks like Poland has the highest weekly Mass attendance with the
least drop-off, but Italy dropped from forty-eight to thirty six percent [48% -
36%], Germany from twenty-seven to twenty-two [27% - 22%], Spain from thirty to
nineteen [30% - 19%], Switzerland from twenty-three to seventeen [23% - 17%],
France stayed steady at twelve percent [12%], and the Netherlands dropped from
nineteen to seven percent [19% - 7%].
Big drops all around!
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
