--- "Teotonio R. de Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It is the duty of the Church magisterium to ensure the orthodoxy of its > beliefs and practices. > Once that is clear to the believers, one can expect some Church authorities, > depending upon their > individual background, to be more or less conservative in exercising this > magisterium. > > I have known Anthony de Mello personally during some years at De Nobili > College, Pune. That was > the time he was "inventing" new ways of training the religious men and women > to meet the > challenges of the modern world after Vatican II.
All, This so-called church magisterium has changed over time and there is no guarantee it will not change in the future (there was a time when married priests were allowed, now they are not except in some places in the UK today where there are CATHOLIC married priests who were former Anglican married ministers). The infallibility of the Pope is also a fairly recent change, so also Vatican II. The point I am making is that Ratzinger's views should not necessarily be considered the fixed, immutable views of the Church, it changes and has changed over time. The church is one billion Catholics, not a small group of European curia sitting in the Vatican. Historically and continuing today, the Vatican has been suspicious and nervous about Eastern spirituality. I feel it is intimidated and threatened by the East. Hence, when the first cause of Blessed Vaz came up in the 18th century, one of the reasons it was rejected by the Pope was Vaz was "a Eastern mystic" and Europeans saints at the time (Montfort, Vincent de Paul) were approved as they posed no such "Eastern" threat. That fear (racist?) continues today and was manifested in the Anthony de Mello case. Infact on this forum (not Teotonio but others) have made a number of bigoted statements against Hinduism no doubt mindlessly reflecting European prejudices against Hinduism/Buddhism/Sikhism. There is no doubt some Catholic Goans feel "superior" to Goan Hindus based on their religious background, a trait shown by some on this forum over the years. A trait which also arises from wanting to closely identify with their colonial masters. They accept most saints should be Europeans. Another colonial structure - no non-European Pope, perhaps that will change in 10 days. Regards, George