Week of 6/24-29/2024: Sr. Dot, Orvieto Art & Reinventing Education

June 24, 2024: Sister Dorothy Stang to Be Formally Recognized as a Modern-Day Martyr
Matthew was recently informed that Sister Dorothy Stang will be the first American woman included in The Sanctuary of New Martyrs at the Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isolaon in Rome, Italy.* Other modern-day martyrs to be included will be Saint Archbishop Oscar Romero, St. Charles de Foucauld, and Blessed Franz Jagerstatter who was executed for refusing to fight with the Nazis.** A young Brazilian Franciscan priest, who met Sister Dot two years before she died, said: She is a North American who became a martyr in the Amazon to defend us, and we are profoundly grateful for her sacrifice. 

June 25, 2024: Creation Spirituality Teachings at the Medieval Cathedral in Orvieto
Before leaving California for Orvieto, Italy, Matthew was told by a friend that her “favorite cathedral in all of Europe” was the Cathedral in Orvieto. Once Matthew visited it, he understood why. The cathedral is full of Creation Spirituality. Matthew says that next to Chartres Cathedral, it is the most creation-centered ecclesial place of worship he has ever visited. Not only are various stories from the Bible depicted, but also humanity in all its diversity and glory. The human body is celebrated, depicted nude, and there are couples both straight and gay. The late Yale historian John Boswell in his iconic book, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century tells us that in the early years of the university movement there was a 125-year window of acceptance of homosexuality in culture and church. 

June 26, 2024: Anti-Christ Image in Orvieto Cathedral: Archetype For Our Times?
The magnificent Orvieto Cathedral is filled with art. One fresco had Matthew riveted. In a chapel depicting “The Final Times” was a fresco called “Sermon and Deeds of the Antichrist.” The narrative that accompanied it said: While he will seem to bring salvation to the world by promoting himself as an enlightened leader and guide, in reality he is simply the animated puppet used by Satan to carry out his plan. The main figure resembles Christ “but his gaze appears sinister and disturbing.” The devil is whispering in his left ear. As Matthew stared at the large painting he thought, “It reminds me of Trump.” There is violence in the crowd and menacing forces slinking about in the background. Sigmund Freud was so taken by this painting that he actually moved to Orvieto to study it more closely.

June 27, 2024: Educating for Character and Chakra Development
Recently, the state of Louisiana passed a law demanding that the Ten Commandments be posted in ALL public classrooms in the state. Matthew proposes that instead of such a silly and provocative law, the “10 C’s” be considered. Matthew initiated a two-year experiment espousing these values in an inner city public high school in Oakland to very great benefit. [FROM THE ARCHIVE: 8/3/2020] In his book on evil, Matthew contrasts the seven chakras with the seven capital sins to arrive at a new language for talking about evil. Modern education has focused exclusively on the head chakra, and specifically the left hemisphere of the brain. Rationality abounds. Interestingly, the pre-modern age did not restrict education to the head alone. Monastic education, for example, incorporated working the fields, chanting, and meditating, along with intellectual studies. Native American children learned from being outside with the animals, the plants, and the elements.  Sitting in desks is not the only way to learn. We need to make room for all the chakras in our educational system. 

June 28, 2024: Building Character, continued
Instead of putting the 10 Commandments in every classroom—a silly and unconstitutional idea—we are proposing the “10 C’s” as a shared value system. We are currently addressing the “C” called Character. Character is about committing to values, values that count. [FROM THE ARCHIVE: 8/4/2020] “Value-free” education leaves young people unprepared to question society and its economic, racial, or gender values. It operates under the premise that our society is not to be questioned. Ernest Becker talked about a “great abyss at the heart of modern life.”  He goes on: This is the heart of man [and woman], the heart of education, the heart of the social problem, Morality. David Korten suggests an Earth Community with all that entails, including true democracy and an economic system that works for everyone and all creatures, not just a chosen few. Justice is beautiful. Isn’t that one reason we were moved by the story of John Lewis’s life? It was a beautiful life. Character does that, it makes manifest the beauty and nobility in us all.

June 29, 2024: Contemplation, Another “C” toward Becoming Human
We are proposing an alternative to the unconstitutional law of the state of Louisiana to put the ten commandments in all public schools. We call it the “10 c’s.” [FROM THE ARCHIVE: 8/5/202] One of the “C’s” is Contemplation. Maria Montessori teaches children how they can “make silence.” All humans are capable of “making silence.” Many methods of calming the busy mind are available from wisdom traditions all over the world. Kaleo Ching, a faculty member at the UCS also taught at prisons. After his classes, often an inmate would approach him to say “This is the first time in my life I have experienced quiet.” Another example is yoga. Yoga was brought to inner city kids in San Francisco. One fourth grader reported: “I feel really grumpy in the morning. Yoga makes me feel ungrumpy.” Charles Burack reports that getting students to simply focus on one’s breath produces powerful results.  Such exercises provide a nonideological, nonauthoritarian, and non-consumerist means of self-empowerment because it puts individuals in touch with their own deep, vital self, which is the living source of strength, wisdom, and kindness. 

*Based on the article below, from The Catholic Telegraph, this DM originally said that it was a Vatican memorial. However, a letter from Teresa Phillips of the Office of Justice, Peace, and Care of Creation from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Ohio Province, apologized for “the confusion and incorrect information that was sent out” and informed us that it was actually a memorial at the Basilica of San Bartolomeo all’Isola.

**“Ohio’s Dorothy Stang to be the First American Woman included in Vatican Memorial for Modern Martyrs.” The Catholic Telegraph, June 7, 2024

Banner image: “Marble bas-relief ‘The Arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium : Naomi teaches reading; Jubal, father of music,’ cathedral of Orvieto, Italy.” Wikimedia Commons.

Recommended Reading

The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human

The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Selected with an Introduction by Charles Burack

To encapsulate the life and work of Matthew Fox would be a daunting task for any save his colleague Dr. Charles Burack, who had the full cooperation of his subject. Fox has devoted 50 years to developing and teaching the tradition of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of education and worship.  His more than 40 books, translated into 78 languages, are inclusive of today’s science and world spiritual traditions and have awakened millions to the much neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. Essential Writings begins by exploring the influences on Fox’s life and spirituality, then presents selections from all Fox’s major works in 10 sections.
“The critical insights, the creative connections, the centrality of Matthew Fox’s writings and teaching are second to none for the radical renewal of Christianity.” ~~ Richard Rohr, OFM.