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This month's Goanet operations sponsored by Mrs. Daisy Faleiro ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Leo If you discover what had been banned by the Catholic Church re the writings of Fr. Tony De Mello, please let me know. Cornel DaCosta, London, UK. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Goanet" <goanet@goanet.org> Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 5:14 AM Subject: [Goanet] Fr Tony Demello > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > **** http://www.GOANET.org **** > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > This month's Goanet operations sponsored by Mrs. Daisy Faleiro > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Dear Dr Brian, > > Thanks for your very kind words re. Fr Tony. on goanet. > > He has been my guru and I cherish his message very dearly. I have > dedicated > my website www.fullerlife.in to him. He has had a profound influence on > my > life. I do continue to live and spread his message. > > I often get confronted by well meaning Catholic friends who say '....but > his > writings were banned by the Church....'. > > You mention in your letter that though the Church initially banned it but > later 'reinstated with caution..' I have been searching high and low for > references to that. Do you have any references which say precisely that ? > > Thanks and rgds, > Leo > Live a Fuller Life. > *********************************** > From: "brian mendonca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Goanet] Beyond Words: Language and Freedom in the Work of Fr > Anthony De Mello, S J > To: <goanet@goanet.org> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; > reply-type=original > > Beyond Words: Language and Freedom in the Work of Fr Anthony De Mello, S J > > > Condemned by the present Pope Benedict XVI - then Cardinal Ratzinger of > the > Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - in 1998, the work of Fr > Anthony > De Mello SJ (1931-1987) has been treated with wariness. Swept off the > Indian > shelves following the edict by the Curia, yet reinstated with a note of > caution later, 'Tony' the man, as he was called, continues to fascinate. > And > provoke. The reflections of Carlos Valles SJ on Tony are a case in point ( > Unencumbered by Baggage, 1987 & Diez Anos Despues, 1998). > > It appears, the muddy waters have yet to be still. Tony's often outspoken > criticism of the Catholic church; his deep immersion into numerous > faiths -- > Hasidic, Buddhist, Sufi, Hindu -- to name a few; and his self-empowering > Sadhana retreats at Pune and Lonavla may not have made him 'a prophet for > our times,' but it certainly gave lay people and religious a handle to > heal > their own often impoverished spiritual lives, and a path to peace -- > something which until then, for Catholics, was the exclusive office of the > Church. > > Tony looked at spirituality as process rather than practice. He urged the > faithful to see beyond rituals, to find renewal in the exuberance of life > around them. To see Divinity, like Blake, in a grain of sand, a tree, or > the > moon. Through contemplation he made people spiritually self-reliant. > > Tony had his own spin on who Jesus was. And what 'God' stood for (some of > his lines read like lyrics from Jim Morrison). He created stories to > embody > their lives and make them come alive in everyday situations which the > common > person understood. > > Was Tony a 'free-lance mystic' (TK Thomas)? What was his charisma which > made > his work in Pune, known in Rome, Spain and New York? Was he a godman or > guru > or Master? Why are people still tightlipped about his work and reluctant > to > acknowledge his contribution and his vast corpus of work, even when it is > so > liberating? > > The presentation explores some of these questions. Scion of Ignation > spiritual traditions, Tony nevertheless blazed his own trail. More left > than > right, his appeal lay in his often ellisive Foucauldian language - to go > beyond the literal and imply the unsaid. His dhvani approach to > communicating with his readers, led seekers to realize their own freedoms. > In an affirmation that 'words after speech reach into the silence' (TS > Eliot). > > Perhaps there can be greater acceptance today of Tony's work, with the > recent visits to Goa of the Black Pope and that of his eminence Cardinal > Poupard in November 2006. The Final Statement at Pilar Theological > College, > Goa called for Catholic Cultural Centres 'to find common meeting grounds > among peoples of various cultural, ethnic, religious and race groups' to > heal the rifts of society. > > Healing and commonality - Tony's work nurtured both. > > -- Dr Brian Mendon?a, > New Delhi, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >