Thursday, November 10, 2005
BRO. WAYNE TEASDALE AND COMMON GROUND
The website for InterSpiritual Dialogue Calendar and Events Reports includes an entry for September 9-11, 2005. This event will honor Bro. Wayne Teasdale, and will be held at Omega at the Crossings in Austin Texas, an outgrowth of the Omega Institute.
Father Thomas Ryan is also on the calendar for December 1-4, 2005.
The Common Ground website is offering "The Wayne Teasdale Memorial Lectures". The description for this series says:
CG regulars miss Wayne Teasdale, whose untimely death a year ago cost us one of our dearest friends and most beloved resource persons.
The About page in the Common Ground website says that
Our primary concern is the human quest for understanding and the human pursuit of significance. While our endeavor began with the study of world religions and the commitment to inter-faith dialogue, our range of programs offerings has been greatly expanded over the past several years.
That is something of a understatement if this is an organization following the leadership of a Catholic monk. One of the programs is titled "Biblical Errancy: Why the Gospels aren't the Gospel Truth." It's a six part series. The description for session one reads in part:
The gospels are not "gospel truth". If they are understood as giving us actual transcripts of Jesus's teachings, then there is no way to move beyond a "Jesus" who is patriarchal and anti-Semitic. The issue of errancy vs. inerrancy lies at the heart of virtually every serious theological discussion taking place in our world today.
Common Ground has eight locations spread around the country. The Chicago center offers a lecture titled "Sex and Spirituality." This is the description:
Most of our major sacred traditions arose in a time of patriarchy when women and sexuality were relegated to procreational roles. Males were the desired offspring and female infanticide was not uncommon. Homosexuality played no useful role in this reproductive model. All of our religions are undergoing profound change today and a re-visioning of the role of sex, gender, and reproduction is in order. Brian McNaught worked for some fifteen years with a program integrating sex and spirituality and his novel, Sex Camp, provides a distillation of the wisdom of that experience. These insights will guide us in our discussion of issues that lie at the heart of some very heated religious conversations in our contemporary world.
The People of Common Ground include:
Sr. Georgene Wilson - Regular CG faculty; D.Min., St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein; a Franciscan sister living as a neighborhood anchoress (a contemplative solitude minister); author of several books on spirituality and service.
Mr. Robert McClory - MA, Journalism, Northwestern; STL, Theology, St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein; Professor Emeritus, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern; author of several books, including Faithful Dissenters: Men and Women Who Loved and Changed the Church.
On the webpage titled "Common Ground Is..." they state that they are a "non-proselytizing community", "A place to explore one's own spirituality", and a place for "Discovering the genius of each of the world's religions."
Their commitment to non-prosetylization is explained further in an article by Jim Kenney titled "The Sacred Wheel" in which he explains that the world's religions are like the multiple spokes on a wheel. "As we move deeper into our respective traditions--as we move down our spokes--suddenly, it's clear that our paths are convergent; they share a common center."
This is the trend in interreligious dialogue represented by the interreligious dialogue of the Catholic monks. Where does Jesus Christ fit into this picture?
Wayne Teasdale has authored a chapter of Dave Fleming's book THE SEEKER'S WAY: CULTIVATING THE LONGINGS OF A SPIRITUAL LIFE. The other authors include Alan Jones, Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco (where the labyrinth project originated); Marcus Borg of the Jesus Seminar; and Joan Chittister, dissident Benedictine nun. Fr. Richard Rohr has endorsed the book.
Many websites--most of them Protestant--place Dave Fleming in the category of post-modern religion and the emerging church concept. This is just one of them.
Another page in the website discusses the emerging church and contemplative spirituality.
