Matthew Fox's Book, "The Pope's War"

I recently read the book, The Pope's War: Why Ratzinger's Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved , by the theologian Matthew Fox.

Fox was a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the Dominicans and a prolific author and theologian who mostly covered the topic of spirituality. He was widely read and widely admired and was one of the favorites of many of us while attending the seminary.

When John Paul II was the Pope he revived a critical view of theological teachings and appointed Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current Pope, to be in charge. In the mid 1980's seminary faculties were purged of professors and dozens of theologians had their work condemned and many of them were silenced. Fox ended up being one of them. Ratzinger ordered the Dominicans to review Fox’s work and they cleared the theologian. Ratzinger dismissed their work and ordered a new review and then, instead of allowing the new review to take place, banned Fox’s writings and eventually forced the Dominicans to oust Fox.

Matthew Fox was invited to join the Episcopal Church where he serves as a priest and continues his theological writing.

Fox’s book is essentially a chronicle of what happened to him and many others and how the traditional scholarly religious orders of the Jesuits and Dominicans were largely marginalized, and groups such as Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, were thrust into prominence. Fox makes the argument, and I believe validates the argument, that John Paul and Ratzinger, in tandem, narrowed the diversity of Roman Catholicism, silenced talk of real ecumenism, and, with their leadership selections, assured that such Popes as John XXIII and Paul VI never appear again.

Fox, in my mind, makes some very compelling points. The Roman Catholic Church has lost a great deal of theological credibility by silencing, in many cases, its most brilliant theological minds, and has very much lost its moral credibility in terms of sexuality. Their silence, John Paul’s and Ratzinger’s ignoring of the many sexual abuses coming to them for a very long time, and ‘rescue’ of Bernard Law from Boston authorities when it was becoming painfully obvious that Law would be justifiably charged with a criminal cover up, are, in and of themselves criminal. Additionally, groups like Opus Dei and the Legion of Christ, raising money for the ‘poor’ and using it for political influence is obscene.

I had several thoughts.

One, while Matthew Fox is an Episcopal priest right now, and is grateful for the freedom he has now, in his heart, one has a sense he is still a Dominican friar who laments the loss of a lover who dumped him. I have seen this in a number of estranged Roman Catholic clergy who long to be clergy in Roman Catholic churches and no longer can be because they committed the unforgivable crimes of falling in love with women or men and chose to be honest about it.

Secondly, it is sad, tragic really, how these theologians have been silenced. While God is perfect, people are not, and our views of God are not. It really does not matter if we are a learned theologian, a member of the clergy, a random person, or the Pope, we all have imperfect views of God. It strikes me as impossible to condemn people for their points of view. Difference is not deficience, it is more about creativity and learning. Thomas Aquinas opened his mind to EVERYTHING that was written in his era. We should be able to do the same.

Thirdly, it reminds me that when I left the Roman Catholic Church, I left it. There are things about it I still love and cherish, but I am, at heart, a United Church of Christ minister. It was reminded, reading Matthew Fox’s book, how appreciative I am of m own denomination.

Ultimately, having said all this, there are many Roman Catholic people who are very happy with their denominational family and tradition. While many view the prospect of early sainthood for John Paul II as a travesty, others view it as wonderful. The Roman Catholic Church and Roman Catholic people have a right to who they are and what they choose to believe. Some of us are long gone. Matthew Fox reminds us that there are many people, standing on the outside looking in, and wishing it could be very different. While my heart ultimately breaks for Fox in reading this, down deep, I would invite him to embrace the people who have embraced him and not look back.