Fwd: [DailyMeditations] 11/20/19: Prophetic Questions for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, Part I
If you are not already on this list serve, I highly recommend it. Marianna Bailey
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From: "Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox" <Team@DailyMeditationsWithMatthewFox.Org> Subject: [DailyMeditations] 11/20/19: Prophetic Questions for the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, Part I Date: November 20, 2019 at 3:36:42 AM EST To: "Marianna Bailey" <wmbailey@charter.net>
View this post on our website <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3202>
The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers
Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox
Some Prophetic Questions for the American Catholic Bishops Conference, Part I By Matthew Fox Meditation #193, November 20, 2019 Living CS, Via Transformativa <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3203>We are considering the role of the prophet—and we are all called to be prophetic from time to time. It is integral to the spiritual life of adults. We have remarked how, as Audre Lorde showed us this week, we cannot be silent. Thomas Aquinas says the same thing, that the prophets spoke out even when it was inconvenient or disturbing. Which brings me to some ecclesial news of this past week <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3227>. Something we ought not be silent about—and by "we" I mean everyone with a conscience–Roman Catholics for sure but everyone else as well.
Last week we were told that the National Conference of Bishops in the United States declared their number one issue is…abortion! <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3204> Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, left, of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and Jose Gomez, archbishop of Los Angeles, meet the press at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2019 spring meetings, June 11, 2019. (Photo from National Catholic Reporter <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3227> by RNS/AP/Jose Luis Magana) Really? Are they aware how many entire species are being exterminated and extinguished by Climate Change alone? That’s a lot of abortions. And human extermination and vast migrations will follow in their wake. That is a lot of homicides as well.
Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva. Photo: Oficina de Información de la Prelatura del Opus Dei en España <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3228> And the droughts and floods and loss of farm land suggests many will die and hunger will explode. Wouldn’t it seem that Climate Change ought to be the number one moral issue of our time? Isn’t this what Pope Francis taught in his encyclical hailed by scientists and activists alike, Laudato Si <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3229>– not to mention his plans to include a definition of ecological sins <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3230> in the church’s official teaching?
In related news, the same group of religious leaders elected Los Angeles archbishop Jose H. Gomez as head of their organization. I do not know Bishop Gomez personally but I DO know something of the institute to which he has belonged for years, namely the Opus Dei. I have studied it and written about it at some length in my book The Pope’s War: How Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved. It should give one pause that an Opus Dei member now watches over the entire episcopal conference. Following are a few choice items about Opus Dei with some questions for Bishop Gomez. The founder of Opus Dei, Jose Escriva was a card-carrying fascist priest and members of his institute happily ruled Spain with dictator Generalissimo Franco serving for many years on his cabinet. <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3231>
Question for Bishop Gomez:
"Change of Franco government increased the power of Opus Dei July 15, 1965" Archival photo of General Franco’s cabinet on La Hemeroteca del Buitre <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3232>. Photographer unknown. Do you believe fascism is compatible with the teachings of Jesus?
Escriva was a rabid sexist who treated women with contempt and tirades of abuse. His female secretary of seven years who wrote a book about him was forbidden to speak at his canonization process and tell the stories she experienced and observed.
Question for Bishop Gomez:
Have you distanced yourself from the sexism of your founder? If so, what proof do American Catholics have of that distancing? Adapted from Matthew Fox, The Pope’s War: How Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved, p. 106-124.
Banner image: "Bishops at a Papal Funeral" Photo by zeekslider on Wikimedia Commons <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3235> <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3208>
<https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3209> To view Matthew'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 Comments from meditation participants and answers to questions that are posed. In this way a kind of community is developing around the DM. If you can't reach Matthew's video on the website, try his YouTube channel here. <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3210> Queries for Contemplation
It is not always easy to "pray the news" or to meditate on it. But it is a serious responsibility from time to time. Clearly Jesus took on religious leaders in his day with very strong language. We sometimes have to do the same even while toning down the language some. Be with the silence of not knowing. Let this silence feed your caring. Recommended Reading
The Pope's War: Why Ratzinger's Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved <https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.acemlna.com/lt.php?s=2e2280795897875748e3ae9aec307c33&i=249A259A1A3236>
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.
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Marianna Bailey