Sunday, April 15, 2012

A Post Modern Jesuit that the Catholic Church doesn't want you to listen to.



Anthony "Tony" de Mello (4 September 1931, Bombay, British India – 2 June 1987, New York City) was a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist who became widely known for his books on spirituality. An internationally acclaimed spiritual guide, writer and public speaker, de Mello hosted many spiritual conferences. He traveled to many countries to study and later to teach, most notably Spain and the United States.

The few talks which he allowed to be filmed, such as "A Rediscovery of Life" and "A Way to God for Today," have inspired many viewers and audiences since being released; and have been viewed by hundreds of thousands of TV watchers throughout the United States, Canada, and Central America; in colleges, universities, Newman centers, and communities. De Mello established a prayer center in India. He died suddenly of a heart attack in 1987, at age 56. His works are readily available and additional writings were published after his death.


Tony spoke the truth and was unrelenting in following the truth. It is unfortunate that organized religion and the power structure always attacks those who speak the truth as accessible to all beings. I have learned much from his wisdom, as well as from a few other Jesuits that I have been privileged to have actually met in my life.

The Catholic Church has taken a hard stance against his words and I find this very sad. They have officially said:

Clearly, there is an internal connection between these different positions: if one questions the existence of a personal God, it does not make sense that God would address himself to us with his word. Sacred Scripture, therefore, does not have definitive value. Jesus is a teacher like others; only in the author's early books does he appear as the Son of God, an affirmation which would have little meaning in the context of such an understanding of God. As a consequence one cannot attribute value to the Church's teaching. Our personal survival after death is problematic if God is not personal. Thus it becomes clear that such conceptions of God, Christ and man are not compatible with the Christian faith.


For this reason, those responsible for safeguarding the doctrine of the faith have been obliged to illustrate the dangers in the texts written by Father Anthony de Mello or attributed to him, and to warn the faithful about them.


When we are attached to theology, ideas, opinions we negate the simple truth that the Sage's have taught. Sakyamuni Buddha admitted that he was selling water by the river. Let us celebrate in those who have no fear of going against the stream of theology and politics.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I watched all 4 hours of this. More ways to try to get at the truth through words. His teaching style was wonderful and I really tried to learn from how he worked to teach the truth to the folks who are already invested in their dogma.

April 19, 2012 at 3:59 PM  

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