Jose Tolentino de Mendonça, Retreat Master of the Lenten
Exercises in 2018 for Pope Francis and the Roman Curia, with the feminist
theologian Sr. Teresa Forcades, who calls for a queer revolution in the
Church.
(Rome)
Yesterday, the Roman Curia's Lenten retreat, in which Pope Francis also took
part, came to an end in Ariccia, near Rome.This year's retreat master raises some questions. For the
retreat this year, Pope Francis summoned the Portuguese priestly poet José
Tolentino de Mendonça. He is known as
"a fan of Sr. Teresa Forcades," says Corrispondenza Romana.The Catalan theologian,
born in 1966, is considered by her followers to be a representative of
"feminist theology," "critical theology," and Liberation Theology.
Teresa Forcades i Vila Teresa Forcades i Vila
Forcades: For a queer theology
In 1990, she began a
medical degree in Barcelona, which
she completed with a specialization in internal medicine in New York.In Harvard in 1997 she earned a degree in Protestant theology and
entered the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat in Barcelona in the same
year. In Catalonia, she graduated in Catholic Theology and graduated in 2009
with a PhD in Fundamental Theology.In 2013
she received a lectureship in theology and gender studies at the Berlin Humboldt University.Since 2013, she has also
appeared as an activist for the independence of Catalonia.
In 2015, she was
exclaustrated with the approval of the Vatican and left her monastery to run
in the Catalan parliamentary elections. She continues to be considered a nun,
is subject to her obligations and can at any time return to her monastery, as
Spanish media reported.
Among other things,
Forcades campaigns internationally for the recognition of aberrosexuality by
the Church in the course of her feminist theology.Whether coincidence or not, while Tolentino was giving the
pope and the curial retreat, Forcades is promoting the Italian edition of her
book, "We are all different!For a queer theology" in Italy.
Tolentino,
her "fan", is Deputy Rector of the Catholic University of Lisbon and Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture. For
Pope Francis and the management of the Vatican dicastery he chose as theme:
"Praise of thirst".
New
climate for aberrosexuality since Francis
While giving the retreat, or shortly before, Forcades
toured Italy to promote the recognition of homosexuality by the Church,
although the official theme of her lectures was mostly Women's Theology.
On the website Gionata, a
circle of "Christian LGBT" it says:
"In the context
of the book launch, Forcades emphasized that the Church's relationship to
homosexuality had finally changed with the election of Pope Francis. He tries
to do the utmost, including through the Family Synod, to change the Church's
attitude toward homosexuality."
Nota bene: Forcades does not
speak of the Church's attitude toward homosexuals, but of homosexuality.
Forcades reveals even
more:
"At the Family
Synod, he has not been able to move forward, but the atmosphere is not the
same as before Pope Francis came."
For
example, Sr. Jeannine Gramick [self-confessed lesbian], who for many years in
the US is fighting for not only accepting that someone is aberrosexual, but
also the aberrosexual acts that are recognized as physical love. She has said
that since Francis Pope, she is no longer exposed to any pressure she has
experienced before. "
"Renewal"
of the church is "queer"
Feminist theology in history
According to Forcades,
the Church is making "big steps forward," especially in Oceana and
South America in dialogue with homosexuals: "much faster than in
Europe."
The
"renewal" of the Church is gay for Forcades, or to put it in their
words: "queer." She speaks literally of a
"queer revolution".
In 2015, in an
interview with Corriere della Sera on "gay
marriage", she said that she is in favor of "sexual identities
being no drawers, but God wanting them to complement one another, one and the
other." And anyway: "What's wrong with that?They seem happy. Why should not they be blessed? Why not in the church?Do
not we have to rejoice over love, no matter what form and expression it
has?"
A few months later, in
February 2016, she told La Repubblica : "Love is
always a sacrament of God." She was also in favor of adoption for
aberrosexuals:
"What children
need is an adult, mature and responsible love from parents who sacrifice
their needs for the children. Whether they are growing up with two women or two
men is not a problem."
Tolentino's
"model" for the future of Christianity
Tolentino
at the Lenten retreat in Ariccia
The appointment of
Jose Tolentino as retreat master to Ariccia, a man who prides himself on making
contact with a dubious theologian such as Forcades, would be of dubious
quality to any Catholic group. His call to retreat for the Roman
Curia "seems to be an expression of a political plan," says Corrispondenza Romana. "The friendship" between Tolentino and Forcades
"is based on an obvious equality of thought." Forcade's book,"The Feminist Theology of History," features a foreword by Tolentino. In it he dreams of a "different history."
"The history of
the West (and of the Church) might have been different if a symbolic, open
and sensitive way had been chosen as an approach to the real, rather than
creating the clear, triumphalist grammar we know.I repeat: maybe the story would be different. This is where the extraordinary work of Teresa Forcades i
Vila, the feminist theology of history which the reader holds in her hand,
comes to our aid."
Tolentino presents
Forcade's teachings as a model to "liberate" Christianity from
dogmatic constraints.Forcade's approach, says the priest
poet:
"is in any case
courageous: to show the contradictions and seek alternative interpretations
that support a break of meaning and civilization. One conviction left by the
book is that the future of Christianity depends especially on the purification
process that succeeds us in its past and present. "
It is Forcade's merit,
according to Tolentino, to have emphasized the importance of a relationship
ethic that is free from strict and codified norms:
"Teresa Forcades
i Vila reminds us of the essentials: that Jesus of Nazareth neither codified
nor regulated. That is, he has created an ethic of relationship;he transformed the poetry of his message into the
visibility of his flesh; he showed his body as a premise."
Corrispondenza Romana then wondered:
"What spiritual
fruits can the participants of the fasting exercises of Ariccia get from
it?"
No comments:
Post a Comment