Winter
Books Religion dying as spiritual hunger grows
RECLAIMING
SPIRITUALITY: A NEW SPIRITUAL FRAMEWORK FOR TODAYS WORLD By
Diarmuid OMurchu Crossroad, 197 pages, $15.95 paper To
order: 1-800-462-6420 |
By RUTH McDONOUGH
FITZPATRICK
Diarmuid OMurchu tells stories of peoples spiritual
hunger and how they search for resolution. He takes us beyond our narrow
boundaries of religious rules, leading us to the expanded horizons of a
trans-patriarchial spirituality (he prefers the word trans to
post). He writes: We yearn to reclaim the deep, primal sacred
story of our evolving universe; of planet Earth as our cosmic home; in the
diverse and magnificent array of life-forms around us; in the largely untold
story of the evolution of spiritual consciousness within humanity itself and,
finally, in the contemporary desire to create a one-world family characterized
by love, justice, peace and liberation.
OMurchu, a member of the Sacred Heart Missionaries, is
obviously influenced by Celtic spirituality. A counselor and social
psychologist, he has his fingers on the pulse of the church and world today.
Religion is dying in the midst of great spiritual hunger.
I found this book to be a good example of the paradigm shift going
on today, a transformation from religion to spirituality. The author shows how
spirituality, especially thanks to feminism and liberation theology, is being
reclaimed for the good of all, including mother Earth, which is being ravaged
and killed by the attitude that dominator man is in control.
OMurchu prophetically announces that sexuality is the erotic
power of spirituality. However, he comes out of a Jungian background and speaks
of complimentarity between the sexes rather than mutuality. Objecting to
dualism, he falls into the either/or trap himself, contrasting the
earthly kings way [I would have said the institutional
churchs way] with the way suggested by Jesus. But it is refreshing
to see the contrasts listed: power from on high versus power from the center,
for example, or rule by law when Jesus calls us to relate by value. Also
influenced by feminist scholars such as Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza,
OMurchu delights that the basileia (royalty) of the kin(g)dom of
God is now being reclaimed.
I asked Michele Stimac, a professor at Pepperdine University, why
she had recommended this book. We are both on the Loretto Communitys
Disarmament and Economic Conversion Committee. Her answer: He has sound
vision and through it astutely warns humankind that we are on the way to
extinction as a species if we do not change our ethnocentric and patriarchal
mindset.
I went to amazon.com to see the reviews and received a
shock: two reviews, both negative. One accused OMurchu of baiting the
Vatican to censure him. The other bashed the book as trivial, dreary and almost
fundamentalist in predicting the end-time of civilization as we know it. This
suggests we should write our own on-line reviews and not leave reviewing to
those who see the world through narrow patriarchal lenses.
The primary task of spirituality, writes
OMurchu, is to enable and empower people to reclaim the fundamental
raison dêtre of all religion: the engagement with, and practical
living out of, those deep values which alone can assuage the spiritual hunger
in the heart of every human being.
Holistic living, reawakening the power of ritual in key moments of
our lives, and rediscovering ritual space are some ways of grounding our vision
for the future. An example would be Women-Church feminist liturgies and rituals
that are helping some of us reclaim spirituality. But the author cautions that
they are still too much underground and unable to be found by those in search
of them.
With threats of excommunication by a bishop in California and
condemnation by Cardinal Law of Boston, it is no wonder many in Women-Church
feel the need to be below the surface, especially innovators who depend on the
institutional church for their jobs.
This is one book I do not want to lend to someone and then forget
who has it. Twice I lost Reclaiming Spirituality to borrowers who
assumed I had finished reading it. But read this book and be filled with hope
where there is no hope.
Ruth McDonough Fitzpatrick is a freelance writer living in
Fairfax, Va.
National Catholic Reporter, November 5,
1999
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