von meinem Freund aus USA:
Thank you so much for your letter - it was wonderful to hear from you.
We are all worried about the present Pope. He has been a dictator in the Curia but in his first homily after his election he said that he wanted to get back to the renewal of the Church according to the Vatican Council, that he wanted to get back to collegiality (everyone working together, Bishops, Priests nd People) and that he wanted to foster dialogue with other religions. These are all wonderful words but what will he do??? -- I too am dedicated to Christ, not the insitution of the Church. -- I too did a Vipassna meditation for 10 days some years ago. I go wherever I need to be fed spiritually.
If I can attach an item from one of our priests, it might give you some idea of the concern we have here in the United States about this Popel.
Much love and appreciation.
Justin
Matthew will be on NPR's Morning Show on Monday morning, April 25th. Check your local listings for the time in your area.
22 Questions for Cardinal Ratzinger and the Silver Lining in the
Election of this first Grand Inquisitor as Pope
19. Are you the first Grand Inquisitor to be elected pope? What does that tell us about the state of the Roman Catholic Church at this time in history? How does that feel to be treading such fresh ground?
20. A Native American woman who is also a Roman Catholic went to Rome a few years ago for the beatification of Blessed Tekekwitha. It was her first visit to the Vatican and she was looking forward to it. However, she came back shaking her head saying, "there are evil spirits in that place." Was she correct? Have evil spirits taken over the Vatican at this time in history?
21. Why do you denounce Buddhists as "atheists"
and "autoerotocists?" Why do you condemn Hindus? Protestant
churches? Pagans? Goddess worshippers? Native American believers? Feminists? The practice of Yoga? (You write that it gets you "too much in touch with your body"). Is your church--mother of Inquisitions and Crusades and anti-Semitism--without sin and the holder of all spiritual wisdom? Why did your church never
excommunicate Hitler?
22. Why do you forbid Catholics to talk about God as Mother? Godas
Child? Original Blessing instead of Original Sin (which is not in
the Bible)? God as female as well as male?
Now the good news. The silver lining in the election of this, the
first Grand Inquisitor as Pope, is this: Now people of conscience
the world over have a clear choice between Religion and Spirituality; Fundamentalism and Wisdom; A Punitive Father God and the Mother-Father Creator of Justice and Compassion; Fascism and Control vs. Letting the Spirit Work; between a preferential option for the rich and powerful (cf. Opus Dei) and a preferential option for the poor (as in liberation theology).
Now all people--and Catholics in particular--are called to find their consciences and take a stand about the Punitive Father God of
Fundamentalism and the Divine Wisdom of Justice and Compassion and
against idolatry including religious idolatry and papalolatry and the television cult of personality, and between lies and truth.
This is already happening. I received an e mail this morning from a life-long Catholic who says she is now leaving the Ratzinger Church. Ratzinger and his German entourage have been running the Vatican for the last twenty-five years while Pope John Paul II traveled about the world. From that point of view, nothing has changed. Only that their head man is now the man out front. ALL bishops and cardinals have been appointed through Ratzinger already. This is how he got so many votes so swiftly in the conclave. It is his church. It is a schismatic church. They are out of touch with the spirit and letter of Vatican II as well as the person and teachings of Jesus.
A New Reformation can happen swiftly. It is already underway. The
Internet can help feed it. The myths that have kept the Roman
Catholic Church afloat for 1800 years have been washed away. (The
historical Jesus never said: "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I
will build my church." That came later.)
Maybe the new version of
Christianity need not be Peter based (Roman Catholicism) or Paul
based (the Protestant option) but Mary Magdalene based. Any takers?
Auszug aus einem Fragebogen von Mathew Fox
exkomunizierter Dominikaner in USA und Autor des Buches:
"The coming of the cosmic Christ"
Karuna