The election of Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy opens a major
opportunity for a discussion about the direction Christianity
should take as the twenty first century unfolds.
In his first mass after his inauguration on April 24, the Pope
said he would take time to Â"listenÂ" to the Â"wholeÂ" Church. No one
is better placed to participate in this dialogue than Matthew Fox
who, as a prominent Dominican priest, spent ten years in intense
struggle with Ratzinger during the 1980s before Fox was silenced
and then expelled in 1993 from the Dominican Order. Ratzinger did
this in his capacity as Head of the Congregation of Doctrine and
the Faith, formally known as the Holy Inquisition, founded in the
sixteenth century to counter the Protestant Reformation.
Besides Fox, roughly one hundred other leading theologians and
pastoral ministers were expelled from their work by Ratzinger in
the squelching of debate during the papacy of Pope John Paul II,
including Swiss theologian Hans Kung, German theologian Eugen
Drewermann, Brazilian Franciscan Leonardo Boff and American
theologian Charles Curran.
In Fox's new book called "A New Reformation!" he proclaims that we
are in fact confronted with two churches: one expressed by the
image of the Punitive Father, personified by a rigidly
hierarchical church structure, repression of the feminine,
spreading of homophobia and the elimination of internal dissent;
and the other expressed by the feminine figure of Wisdom,
personified by a Mother/Father God of justice and compassion. It
is time for Christians to choose whom it will follow: an angry
exclusionary god or the loving open path of wisdom.
Matthew will be lecturing on Pentecost Sunday May 15 and on Monday
May 16 in Bad Herrenalb, Germany. He will proclaim
the need for a new reformation and expound the choices before the
church, while inviting the Pope to meet with him and others who
like him were silenced or expelled. He will then travel to
Wittenberg, where Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses at
the Cathedral in 1517, and nail his "95 Theses for a Christianity
for a New Millennium" at the same church.
"The traditional purpose of a Thesis is to open up constructive
debate in the search for truth," says Father Fox. "At this
critical time in human and planetary history, when the earth is
being ravaged by fundamentalist religions operating from a
punitive father theology the world over as well as by the violence
of war, poverty, sexism, homophobia and eco destruction, we need
to gather those who offer a future that is one of compassion,
creativity and justice to stand up and speak their conscience
together as never before. Religion ought to be part of the
solution, not the problem."
Wisdom University (formerly the University of Creation
Spirituality) will take an active role in supporting these events
and in developing the theological and public debate that will
ensue. The University will develop a campaign among religious
believers and justice activists around the world, concerned that
the election of Ratzinger marks an important opportunity to open a
critical dialogue about religion at a time when the human species
needs to unite around shared and deep spiritual values.
For further media information, please contact Jim Garrison at
jgarrison@WisdomUniversity.org or at 415- 259-7122. For
further information about Matthew FoxÂ's schedule or Wisdom
University, please contact
www.WisdomUniversity.org or 510-835-7931. The book "A New
Reformation!" is available from Wisdom University Press at
www.WisdomUniversity.org .
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