[Oe List ...] Matthew Fox history

[LAURELCG at aol.com]

Thought you might be interested in this background on Matt and the new pope.  
Fox was scheduled to be on "Cross Fire Tuesday night to talk about he new 
pope, but he was evidently again, "silenced."  Told at air time he was not going 
to be on.

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/creation_spirituality.html  
    


Matthew Fox and his development of Creation Spirituality have caused much 
controversy and confusion among Catholics and New-Agers alike.  Fox's 
problems with 
the Catholic hierarchy began in 1984, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the 
Vatican's watchdog on orthodoxy, asked the Dominican order to investigate 
Fox's 
writings.Three Dominican theologians examined his books in 1985 and concluded 
that they were not heretical. The Vatican however continued to object to 
Fox's 
teachings, such as hislack of emphasis on original sin, endorsing homosexual 
unions, identifying humans as "mothers of God," and calling God "our Mother." 
The presence of the witch, Starhawk, on the ICCS staff caused uneasiness 
among 
church members. For these and other reasons, the Vatican in 1986 asked the 
Dominican Master General to stop Fox from teaching. However, the Chicago 
Dominican superior, Fr. Donald Goergen, defended Fox and let him continue his 
practices 1 . In September, 1987 Ratzinger's Vatican office began it's own 
investigation of Fox and his teachings. Fr. Goergen received charges against 
Fox in April 
1988, but claimed that Fox's teachings had not been discredited. At this 
point, the Vaticaninsisted that the Dominicans prevent Fox from teaching and 
writing. Thus the Dominican order asked Fox to take a year sabbatical to calm 
the 
controversy surrounding his teachings. Fox responded to this by publicly 
calling the Catholic church a dysfunctional family because "power, not 
theology, is 
the real issue" 1 . Despite his claims, Fox began a year-long silence on 
December 15, 1988. 

On December 15, 1989, after a trip to South America, Fox resumed his 
teaching, lecturing, and writing schedule. In 1991 Fr. Goergen ordered Fox to 
leave 
the ICCS in California and return to Chicago or face dismissal from the 
Dominican order.Fox refused, thus the Vatican formally announced his 
dismissal from 
the order in 1993; Fox would remain a priest but would be forbidden to 
perform 
the sacraments 1 . Fox was also ordered to distance himselffrom wicca, a 
practice associated with goddess worship and sometimes witchcraft. He was 
also 
advised to cease disseminating his ideas about human imperfection and sin. 
Then in 
1994, it seemed as if Fox's troubles were over when he joined the Episcopal 
Church. However, Fox's move was seen as the last straw for many followers of 
his 
career, "The Episcopal Church is being used to give Matthew Fox credibility," 
says Reverend Guy Fitch Lytle, who taught at Berkeley and knew Fox. "He 
wantsthe authority of the priesthood without the accountability" 9 . Matthew 
Fox 
continues to be associated with the Episcopal church; his university and 
techings of Creation Spirituality are flourishing as well.