MAY 14,
2014

Fr. Michael Amaladoss SJ under investigation by Rome

Vatican investigating Indian Jesuit’s work, but has not silenced him

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1401979.htm

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service, May 14, 2014
VATICAN CITY – A leading Indian Jesuit theologian specializing in mission, dialogue and inculturation, has been engaged in a dialogue with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but has not been censured or silenced by the Vatican.
Jesuit Father Michael Amaladoss, 77, is director of the Institute for Dialogue with Cultures and Religions at the Jesuit-run Loyola College in Chennai, India.
Jesuit Father Joe Antony, acting provincial of the Madurai province to which Father Amaladoss belongs, told Catholic News Service May 14: “There has been no condemnation or censure, but for nearly two years there has been a dialogue between Father Amaladoss and the doctrinal congregation.”
In April, Father Amaladoss was scheduled to lecture at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Advising people that the lecture was canceled, the seminary’s website said, “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican has forbidden Dr. Amaladoss from speaking and publishing until a process of examining his thought has been successfully completed.” However, Father Antony told CNS by telephone from India, Father Amaladoss “himself wants to be quiet in order to reflect during this period. But he was not ordered to do so.”
The unique and essential role of Christ in salvation and approaches to interreligious dialogue are at the center of the congregation’s discussions with Father Amaladoss, Father Antony confirmed.
From 1983 to 1995, Father Amaladoss served in Rome as a special assistant to the then-superior general of the Jesuits, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach. Father Amaladoss has special responsibility for matters dealing with evangelization, inculturation and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
Since 1999, he has been at the institute in Chennai. Previously Father Amaladoss studied under and then worked with Belgian Jesuit Father Jacques Dupuis, whose book, “Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism,” had been the subject of a doctrinal congregation investigation.
Father Dupuis died in 2004. After three years of investigation, in 2001 the congregation backed away from its initial finding of “serious doctrinal error” in the book, but said there were “ambiguities and difficulties on important points which could lead a reader to erroneous or harmful opinions.”
Father Amaladoss is author of more than 20 books, the best known being “The Asian Jesus,” which uses traditional images from Asian religions and culture — including from Hinduism and Buddhism — to look at aspects of Jesus’ identity from an Asian perspective.

His mentor, “Fr. Jacques Dupuis SJ, a (Belgian) Jesuit who worked and taught in India for 35 years, had imbibed Indian concepts to an extent that his Christian basics were seen as shaky by authorities when he returned to Rome. His belief that the relationship between Christianity and other religions can’t be viewed in terms of opposition and much less as ‘absoluteness on one side (Christianity) and only potentialities on the other’ was found offensive, for it went against the belief of Christ as the only saviour.
Dupuis was suspended from teaching at the Gregorian in 1997
and died in 2004, but he cherished his Indian experience. In one of his last interviews, he said: ‘I consider my exposure to Hindu reality as the greatest grace I have received from God in my vocation as a theologian.’ The Vatican won’t officially comment on the special grace Indians bring, or their blending of Hindu practices into Catholic rituals, for to acknowledge would be to concede. And Rome resists dilution—practical or philosophical.“ Source: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?233563
January 1, 2007

Dupuis subscribed to the heretical and New Age “Catholic Ashrams” spirituality,
see
http://ephesians-511.net/docs/CATHOLIC_ASHRAMS.doc

Source:
http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/19632?eng=y
June 2003

See
http://ephesians-511.net/docs/FR_ANTHONY_DE_MELLO-WRITINGS_BANNED_BY_THE_CHURCH.doc

Source:
http://mattersindia.com/vatican-dialogues-with-indian-jesuit-on-unorthodox-views/

In 2001, the National Catholic Reporter wrote a piece about Fr. Amaladoss’ controversial invitation to speak at the Catholic Theological Society of America. The article stated:

Amaladoss upheld the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, but rejected the notion that other religions must be seen as simply leading up to the fulfillment of Catholicism. This idea does not match the Asian experience, he said. Rather, Amaladoss argued that the divine-human dialogue has led to the emergence of many religions. It is the task of believers, he said, to work for reconciliation finally leaving it to God to gather up all things… “Noting that many Asians, including Gandhi, have been deeply influenced by Jesus yet reject the Church and its creeds, Amaladoss said evangelization does not necessarily require teaching Church dogma . . .”“

Source: http://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org/CatholicEducationDaily/DetailsPage/tabid/102/ArticleID/3282/Jesuit-Theologian-Investigated-by-Vatican-Reportedly-Agrees-to-Endorse-Church-Teaching.aspx

Conservative Catholics like me have been observing Pope Francis’ unique style of functioning with trepidation. See the QUO VADIS PAPA FRANCISCO series of reports at this ministry’s web site. But the apparent censure of Fr. Amaladoss, a Jesuit like the Pope, is now
“raising new questions about whether Pope Francis — the first Jesuit pope — is in fact moving the Catholic Church in a new direction. Müeller’s hard line also seemed out of step with the new style of openness and flexibility that has marked Francis’ young papacy. For decades, that level of severe sanction was a hallmark of the hard-line treatment of theologians under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.” Source:
http://goodjesuitbadjesuit.blogspot.in/2014/05/fr-michael-amaladoss-sj-under-scrutiny.html

This can be evidenced from the Facebook post “This story about Michael Amaladoss, SJ” by Jesuit Fr. James Martin on May 14, 2014 at https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/posts/10152034794816496:

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1401979.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1401979.htm)

Here is David Gibson’s take at RNS:

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/05/12/vatican-threatens-jesuit-theologian-india-censure/

Here is the response from the head of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia, Edward Mudavaserry, SJ, in New Delhi:
http://www.ucanews.com/news/indian-jesuits-downplay-reports-of-vatican-censure/70926

Please do keep in your prayers Fr. Amaladoss, who is a distinguished theologian and was one of the assistants to Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, during his time as Superior General of the Society of Jesus.”

The great majority of the sharing on the post of Fr. James Martin is critical of Rome and in solidarity with Fr. Amaladoss and other liberal theologians who have been disciplined by the CDF.

One post even elevates the leading (according to the 2003 Pontifical Document on the New Age) New Ager Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit, to sainthood! The same post lauds feminist theologian and women’s ordination activist Sr. Elizabeth Johnson of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) which is also under investigation by the CDF under Cardinal Gerhard Müeller.

To appreciate even more thoroughly the theology and spirituality of those who bat for Fr. Amaladoss, let us examine Fr. James Martin since he figures already in a dozen of my reports.

Fr. Martin
has criticized Pope Benedict XVI for equating abortion and same-sex marriage and mentioned that a gay friend of his had recently left his position at the U.S. Conference of Bishops for the reason that “‘abortionsamesexmarriage’ had become one polysyllabic word among some of his bosses.” He was “the culture editor of the infamous America Magazine, a Jesuit publication not known for its faithfulness to Church teaching.”

Source: http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=162

At the blog
http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=DE2868B4-3048-887F-8F92F2808CD479AB
of Fr.
Francis X. Clooney, SJ, he wrote, “I look forward especially to your reflections on what it means to be Christian in today’s multi-religious world.” Fr. Clooney is a rabid yoga enthusiast. I have just succeeding in getting Fr. Clooney’s yoga articles pulled from a Catholic magazine. See http://ephesians-511.net/docs/VISHAL_JAGRITI_MAGAZINE_PULLS_YOGA_SERIES_OF_FR_FRANCIS_CLOONEY.doc.

A column for the Jesuit magazine America, in which Rev. James Martin, S.J. criticized Pope Benedict XVI’s pro-life and pro-family message in Portugal as “bizarre,” and implied it was contrary to the Gospel, has been revised to omit the strongest language…- May 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Read the irreverent Rev James Martin tells us why he should be pope at
http://www.ucanews.com/news/rev-james-martin-tells-us-why-he-should-be-pope/67481.

Source: http://ncronline.org/news/global/indian-theologian-deserves-support-not-cdf-censure

Fr. Peter C. Phan who wrote that letter to Pope Francis is himself under investigation by Rome!!!

Vatican investigating Georgetown theologian
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=53490

Rome, September 13, 2007 (CWNews.com) – The Vatican is investigating the work of an American Catholic theologian, according to John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter. Father Peter Phan, a professor at Georgetown University and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, is being questioned by both the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
and the
US bishops’ conference, Allen reports.
The focus of the investigation is a book published in 2004 by the Vietnamese-born theologian, entitled Being Religious Interreligiously. Doctrinal officials in Rome and at the US bishops’ conference are reportedly questioning Phan’s views on religious pluralism, and his apparent belief that the Catholic Church is not essential to salvation.
For several years, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has shown a special concern for the work of theologians who seem to question the unique role of the Catholic Church in the economy of salvation.

That topic was the subject of a recent statement from the Congregation, released in July, re-affirming the teaching of Vatican II that the Church founded by Christ “subsists” in the Catholic Church and offers the only sure hope of salvation.

Father Peter Phan was the president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Also see http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/167881?eng=y.

The reader has seen the type of priests who support and defend Fr. Michael Amaladoss. The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) which has been called a “rag” and named the National Catholic Fishwrap by conservative Catholics (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704586504574654282563939764.html?mod=googlenews_wsj and
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/03/liberals-will-soon-turn-on-pope-francis/) is the voice of all dissident-liberal-leftwing priests. Fr. Peter Phan’s letter to the Pope was published in — where else — the NCR. The following is also from the NCR:

Fr. Michael Amaladoss: NCR appearances across 20 years

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/fr-michael-amaladoss-ncr-appearances-across-20-years

By Mick Forgey, May 14, 2014

Fr. Michael Amaladoss, the revered Indian Jesuit theologian currently under Vatican investigation, has been featured in several stories by National Catholic Reporter throughout the last 20 years.

NCR‘s John L. Allen Jr. reported on Amaladoss and four others whose views were widely believed to be addressed by Dominus Iesus, the Vatican’s document assailing religious pluralism. In a September 2000 cover story, “Five Catholic experts in world religions,” Allen reported:

Indian Jesuit Fr. Michael Amaladoss believes the most pressing religious challenge today is defending the oppressed. He supports development of countercultural communities as alternatives to values and assumptions of global capitalism. “Such countercultural communities may not always carry the label ‘Christian,’ ” Amaladoss has written. “In the past our mission has often targeted the followers of other religions. The supposition then was that ours was the only true religion. Our evaluation of other religions and at least of some of their followers is more positive today. Besides, faced with the threat of global disaster brought about by radical modernity, we see in all those committed to an alternate world allies rather than enemies.”

This tendency to see collaboration on behalf of justice as more important than religious affiliation has alarmed Vatican officials. Amaladoss is the author of Making All Things New: Dialogue, Pluralism, and Evangelization in Asia (Orbis, 1990).

Thomas C. Fox, NCR publisher, wrote about Amaladoss in his book Pentecost in Asia: A New Way of Being Church. Fox included an excerpt from Amaladoss about “the call to be countercultural”:

We realize that the only effective way of witnessing to and promoting the Reign of God in this situation is to adopt a two-pronged strategy. On the one hand we have to show in practice that people can meet their needs through alternative technologies and alternative economic and commercial practices. On the other hand the people must progressively gain participative control of the systems that govern their lives and, in this manner, humanize and socialize them. This strategy has to be pioneered by small groups of people who link themselves into networks, nationally and internationally, to put pressure on the powers that be so as to bring about progressive change. I would like to suggest that such a strategy will not be effective unless it is accompanied by a cultural transformation, namely a change in people’s world-views and systems of values. The roots of such a cultural transformation will be a spirituality that motivates, inspires and enables people to search for a fuller life for all. Any spirituality today, in a world of religious pluralism, can only be human and global, cutting across religious frontiers. The mission of the Good News in such a context requires counter-cultural communities who do not believe in the power of money or numbers or even of truth, perceived in the abstract, but in the power of the Spirit and in their own call to serve.

Here are excerpts of some previous NCR coverage featuring Amaladoss:

Oct. 11, 2012: “The controversies of post-conciliar theology,” by Bradford E. Hinze:

In Asia, theologians have given special attention to the reality of God’s activity amid the diversity of religions, represented in the works of Jacques Dupuis (who taught for more than 36 years in India), Peter Phan and Michael Amaladoss. These attempts to wrestle with the complexity of historical reality — personal, social, cultural and religious — were officially criticized by Ratzinger during his career as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. To Ratzinger, they represented the negative repercussions of modernity’s embrace of secularity, liberation, cultural relativity and religious pluralism.

Nov. 25, 2009: “India is a rising Catholic power too,” by John L. Allen Jr. Allen’s NCR Today post discusses the importance of India for Catholicism. He writes that “Indian Catholicism also faces three major headaches,” saying that “India has acquired a reputation for some of the most adventurous theology in Catholicism today, especially in ‘religious pluralism.'” He continues:

Thinkers such as Michael Amaladoss, Felix Wilfred, Raimon Panikkar, Aloysius Pieris and Jacques Dupuis, all of whom are either Indian or influenced by India, have been controversial because of the various ways in which they try to give positive theological value to non-Christian religions. That’s a logical development given India’s religious diversity, but it has raised alarms in quarters of the Church identified with evangelical Catholicism. Catholic leaders will want to encourage theological exploration that can open up dialogue, but without transgressing doctrinal limits.

Oct. 19, 2007: In a cover story from Allen titled “China & India: The emerging Asian superpower,” Allen wrote about the significance of the rise of India and China for Catholicism. Allen referenced Amaladoss in a section titled “Doubts about dialogue”:

Yet at precisely this moment, identity pressures within Catholicism itself are driving the world’s most influential Christian body toward new doubts about dialogue. (See related story on Page 14.) For example, virtually all of the Catholic theologians targeted by the Vatican for recent investigations of their work are concerned with how Catholicism should understand and relate to non-Christian religions, many significantly influenced by the Asian context. These include the late Belgian Jesuit Fr. Jacques Dupuis, who lived in India for 36 years; Indian Jesuit Fr. Michael Amaladoss; and Vietnamese-American theologian Fr. Peter Phan. In various ways, all these writers argue that religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism are part of the divine plan — in other words, that God doesn’t necessarily intend for everybody to be Christian.

June 29, 2001: “Perspective: U.S. theology meeting signals broader vision,” by Fox. Fox wrote a perspective piece on the appointment of Fr. Peter Phan as the new president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and Phan’s invitation to Amaladoss to serve as a keynote speaker at the 2001 Catholic Theological Society of America:

It was within this Catholic debate over mission thinking that Phan invited Indian Jesuit Fr. Michael Amaladoss, a former assistant to the superior general of the Society of Jesus and one of Asia’s most respected theologians, to be a keynote speaker at this year’s gathering of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Phan calls Amaladoss a “bridge builder.”

Speaking before the society, Amaladoss echoed the thinking of the Asian Catholic leadership. He embraced mission theology and the building of inculturated churches in dialogue with other Asians. “Our starting point is that salvation is now understood not merely in terms of individuals being saved but in cosmic terms made familiar to us by Paul,” he said.

Amaladoss upheld the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, but rejected the notion that other religions must be seen as simply leading up to the fulfillment of Catholicism. This idea does not match the Asian experience, he said. Rather, Amaladoss argued that the divine-human dialogue has led to the emergence of many religions. It is the task of believers, he said, to work for reconciliation finally leaving it to God to gather up all things.

Again echoing ideas widely held by the Catholic Asian bishops, Amaladoss said the Spirit and Word have been present throughout history in all religions. Asian evangelization begins, he said, with contemplating this reality and then attempting to learn from other religions. This approach opens the church to true dialogue, he said.

While other religions have the Word, the Christian gift is to know the Incarnate Word. Sharing our knowledge of Jesus’ message becomes the Christian task. “We do not proclaim and prove Jesus is the Son of God. We do not preach a creed. We announce the good news that the kingdom of God is here,” Amaladoss said.

Through dialogue Christians can finally live in harmony in Asia with the other religions. Asian bishops continue to form a vision of life based on harmony, a value deeply treasured in Asia, he said.

Noting that many Asians, including Gandhi, have been deeply influenced by Jesus yet reject the church and its creeds, Amaladoss said evangelization does not necessarily require teaching church dogma.

By several accounts, Amaladoss’ talk was well received. Furthermore, his appearance represented another step in the call for a truly universal Catholicism, with local churches networked together, learning from and inspiring each other. Although under attack, the Asian theologians seem to speak out with greater confidence, stressing their unique gifts.

Could it be that their experiences contain lessons for the West? And perhaps for all local churches struggling to secure better footing in the shifting, multi-ethnic soils of the 21st century?

Dec. 3, 1999: “Proclamation vs. dialogue: Mixed reactions to pope’s call for conversion of Asia,” by Fox, NCR staff and UCA News. NCR covered a variety of reactions to Pope John Paul II’s call for the conversion of Asia in the third millennium:

The pope made a 62-hour stop in New Delhi where on Nov. 6 he unveiled his long-awaited response to the April 1998 Synod for Asia. He boldly proclaimed Jesus Christ as humanity’s “only savior” and called upon the church to bring Christianity to Asia during the third millennium. “There can be no true evangelization without the explicit proclamation of Jesus as Lord,” the pope emphasized. …

Jesuit Fr. Michael Amaladoss, an Indian, called Ecclesia in Asia “a document for Asia but not from Asia.” He said its tone and style “are very un-Asian.” The method, he said, “is a priori and from above.” The former Jesuit assistant general, who now teaches at the Jesuit-run Vidyajyoti College of Theology in New Delhi, said that the document is broad enough, however, that “one can pick up encouraging quotes to support any activity in which the church is engaged.”

Oct. 1, 1999:
NCR ran a world brief, “Theologians welcome guidelines on de Mello,” on how “Jesuit theologians have welcomed Indian bishops’ guidelines for taking a ‘balanced’ view on the writings of Fr. Anthony de Mello, their Vatican-censured confrere, who died 12 years ago.” The brief included a quote from Amaladoss:

Pastoral guidelines from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India ‘nowhere condemn [de Mello] nor discourage people from reading his books,’ said Jesuit Fr. Michael Amaladoss, a Delhi theologate lecturer.

Feb. 19, 1993: “Religious Orders: A close look at Jesuit order uncovers a rich history and challenging future,” by Arthur Jones and NCR staff. In a story featuring Jesuit general assistants, Jones mentions Amaladoss:

Periodically, the four general assistants (the others are Fathers Michael Amaladoss, Simon Decloux and Joao MacDowell) meet to discuss the health and actions of their boss, Jesuit Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, but otherwise their work comprises administration and travel, meetings and projects.

More on Fr. Michael Amaladoss extracted from my previous reports

He is a leader of the heretical and New Age Catholic Ashrams movement:

Ashram Aikiya (AA) is the Federation of Ashrams of Catholic Initiative in India formed in 1978.

From the 24-page AA News Letter 45 of Christmas 2004:

Fr. Michael Amaladoss
SJ, a theologian who has denied the existence of devils and received regular coverage for his erroneous views in The New Leader writes, “I am glad to learn that my talk does touch a few hearts… Hope it will keep the ashram people open. Otherwise they may get lost in structures“
[he means the structures of organized religion].

Fr. Amaladoss’ contribution to Vandana Mataji‘s highly occult work (ed.) Shabda Shakti Sangam is ‘My walking together with Hindus‘ in which he relates the influences on his life of ashram figures Fr. Ignatius Hirudayam, Fr. Bede Griffiths, Le Saux, Jyoti Sahi and Raimundo Panikkar. He was a frequent visitor to Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam. He contributed to the occult book at the time when he was Assistant in Rome to the Superior-General.

Fr. Amaladoss was the ‘theological consultant’ to Swami Sachidananda Bharathi’s Dharma Bharathi movement which is New Age. See DHARMA BHARATHI-NEW AGE IN CATHOLIC EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DHARMA_BHARATHI-NEW_AGE_IN_CATHOLIC_EDUCATIONAL_INSTITUTIONS.doc

Extracts from my Dharma Bharathi report:

Fr. Michael Amaladoss “is one of the best known Indian theologians at the international level.”

To the question, “what are the lessons life has taught you?”, his reply is:

“Almost a Buddhist sense of accepting life in its flow… an experience of the relativity of everything: there is only one Absolute that pervades everything.” Jivan, July 2000, page 30

“Jesus’ saving us from sin consists in showing* us how to turn away from sin.”

‘Jesus and Sin’, The New Leader, August 1-15, 2003.
*Only ‘showing‘? The error is subtle!

In the ‘Theology and Life’ column in The New Leader, September 1-15, 2000, one of his numerous articles titled ‘Spirits and Ancestors‘ was published. Some extracts:

“Death is not the end of human beings. They continue to live in a different way… It is not helpful to imagine them in bizarre ways when we do not know how they are! That is why it is more helpful to think of them as ancestors, people who have gone before us, but who are related to us…

“(At the time of death they) do not simply disappear. They are somehow with us, interested in how we are and what we are doing. They want to guide and protect us in some way. They communicate with us through dreams…

“They do not disappear to some far away place. The idea that our ancestors do not simply disappear, but are near their loved ones need not shock us. We can take it for granted…

“Some spirits are more threatening. If we have seen people who are possessed, they are often possessed by people who are dead. People who die an untimely death through accident or disease are said to be wandering around the place of their death and possess people who pass that way…

“Once dead, they do not look at life and at other people in the same way as they did when they were alive…

“A popular exorcist… said that he had no reason to believe that any spirits were involved…

“How many of us pray to a parent… or even to a child who is alive… I know some people who do.”

Fr. Amaladoss believes that there are no spirits, only ‘ancestors’. But the Bible (Hebrews 9:27) and the Catechism teach clearly that people who are dead do not wander around and cannot possess anybody. They teach that there ARE spirits. There is no such thing as “an untimely death”.

And Christians certainly DO NOT pray TO the living on earth.

In an earlier issue, The New Leader, August 1-15, 2000, asking us ‘Do devils exist?’ he explains:

“Is it not strange that a loving God (may have) created… a category of beings to whom repentance and forgiveness do not seem to be available ?…It is (the) conflict between a loving God and devils who remain evil and unforgiven forever that makes me wonder whether devils are simply playing a role in our own worldview. We should not then rush to conclusions about their existence…

“Humans are given a chance to repent and be saved but devils do not seem to have such a chance. The Bible
seems to indicate that God almost ‘needs’ such evil spirits…

“Why is God condemning a group of God’s creatures, namely the devils, to hell fire forever without any hope of redemption? Does not this fact tarnish somehow the image of a loving God? I wonder whether devils are necessary projections of our concerns? …

“The devils are objects on which we can project all the evil… in ourselves… Do we not… hurt the image of God as loving and good, if God needs unredeemed spirits to ‘run’ the universe and eventually hell as the place for punishment? Perhaps we need to explore other answers.”

Fr. Amaladoss believes that the Bible teaches that God created devils and that he seemed to have a ‘need’ to ‘create’ them into existence. He teaches that devils are ‘objects’, a figment of our own imaginations and concerns. If there are no evil ‘spirits’, obviously there can be no devils. Like many other liberal theologians he projects the love and mercy of God to the exclusion of his righteousness and justice and our inevitable judgement by a holy God. Responding to Fr. Amaladoss‘
article, two readers wrote in The New Leader, September 1-15, Letters to the Editor:

‘Christians believe that devils
exist because it is taught by Scripture and formulated as dogma by the Church.’ – H. R. T. Roberts

‘(The article by Amaladoss) proves to what extent Satan has succeeded on making even theologians of such repute doubt, or even deny, his existence.’ – Sr. M. Johanna, Goa

Are we spirits?, his sequel to the first article (above), in The New Leader, October 1-15, 2000,
is nothing less than
a manifesto on the paranormal, the occult, holistic health and New Age Alternative Medicine.

“Reiki and Pranic Healing speak about energy fields that surround our bodies… Sickness and health are reflected in these energy fields, and one can act on and heal the body through them. This seems possible even at a distance. Our ancient yogis mapped such energy fields also, in relation to our human bodies. Contemporary science and medicine are quite materialistic. They are not bothered about energy fields because they are normally not visible and they cannot be measured in the usual way. Their point of view is limited and need not be accepted as the whole truth. Some religious leaders, especially the charismatics, say that such healing practices are superstitious. They themselves deal with many para-normal phenomena but claiming what they do is right and what others do is wrong. Such narrow judgements can be ignored. In Reiki or in charismatic phenomena it is significant that the energy, in order to heal, must be directed by someone. There is an element of human will here which transcends physical or energy forces.” (The priest then writes about
extra-sensory perception (ESP), clairvoyance, mind-reading, telepathy, etc.) “Such powers can be used by people consciously or unconsciously to do good or evil. In Vipassana meditation for instance, people are asked to send good vibrations to others and to the world. In the same way evil vibrations can be sent too.’ In the same way, evil vibrations can be sent too… I think that the phenomenon of the so-called ‘evil-eye’ belongs to this order…“

In keeping with the basic premises of the ‘New Science’ and New Age Alternative Therapies, Fr. Amaladoss denies the reality of the ‘spirit’ and of spirits, and asserts “the ‘spirits’ in phenomena of possession are ‘thought forms’ constructed by the mind…“

In unity with all New Age theory, Fr. Amaladoss agrees with the existence of “energy fields that surround our bodies… as in Alternative Healing practices like Reiki and Pranic Healing… Our ancient yogis mapped such energy fields.” He criticizes “some religious leaders, especially the charismatics who say that such healing practices are superstitious… Such narrow judgements can be ignored.”

Amaladoss expresses his belief in
“many paranormal phenomena like Extra-Sensory Perception, Clairvoyance, Mind-reading, Telepathy… prediction of the future by genuine clairvoyants etc.”

Such are the heretical, occult and New Age theological beliefs of Fr. Michael Amaladoss, the ‘Theological Consultant’ to the ‘Disciples of Christ for Peace’ of Swami Sachidananda and Dharma Bharathi.

Remember that he is one of the Indian Church’s leading theologians.

Korean-born Maryknoll priest Father Kim Alfonso Hak-boum and the congregation’s Vocations Director credits Fr. Michael Amaladoss with helping him to learn Kundalini yoga:

“Thanks to the great help and support of Indian Jesuit Father Michael Amaladoss, I went to India and practiced yoga in Chennai 2000-2001. Though the Indian government did not extend my visa, fortunately I could finish studying Kundalini (energy) Yoga and healing yoga, two different kinds of yoga, and got certification to teach yoga.

Source:
Jesus Was a Grand Zen Master, http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=11050

Source: “Faith meets faith”. Living with cross-cultural experiences – Interview with Michael Amaladoss SJ, Delhi,
www.franziskanerinnenheute.de/Mission/Interview_Amaladoss_mwi.doc

Source: Release of PAVAZHA MALLI audiocassette
http://www.fmmindia.org/viewmoreweshare.php?action=wes&id=64

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/DANCING_AND_BHARATANATYAM_IN_THE_MASS.doc

BHARATANATYAM-I

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/BHARATANATYAM-I.doc

THE TWELVE POINTS OF ADAPTATION FOR THE INDIAN RITE MASS-WAS A FRAUD PERPETRATED ON INDIAN CATHOLICS?

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/THE_TWELVE_POINTS_OF_ADAPTATION_FOR_THE_INDIAN_RITE_MASS-WAS_A_FRAUD_PERPETRATED_ON_INDIAN_CATHOLICS.doc

In the CATHOLIC ASHRAMS report http://ephesians-511.net/docs/CATHOLIC_ASHRAMS.doc, one may note the aberrations and sacrileges of the Indian Rite Mass at the ashrams.

http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/globalpers/gp071603.htm
EXTRACT

National Catholic Reporter Online (USA), Global Perspective 1/16, July 16, 2003, by
Francis Gonsalves, S.J.

The Church in Asia has been a trailblazer in interreligious dialogue. However, Indian religious, laity and clergy whose work involves interreligious dialogue say stagnancy has swamped Church efforts to effectively encounter other religions.

In India, some say we have not progressed beyond the “institutional model” or “ashram/dialogue center model” of dialogue. The people of India expect more. And they want more.

The period after Vatican II, roughly 1967 to 1987, was a golden era of
dialogue with a proliferation of kaleidoscopic forms of worship, ashrams and dialogue centers, and saffron swamis chanting naamjaps laced with Om incantations. Raimundo Panikkar and Jesuit Tony de Mello were revered gurus of the time. […]

To be effective, dialogue must cut institutional binders.

Feminist theologian Dr. Astrid Lobo
and her Hindu husband, Dr. Kalpesh Gajiwala of Mumbai point out that
“the greatest obstacle to interreligious dialogue is religious conditioning which does not allow one to see beyond what is taught by the religious hierarchy.” “People are afraid to think for themselves, to trust their own God-experiences, to define their own perception of Truth,”
they added. […]

Sebastian Painadath, a Jesuit theologian, hopes to see the church change its language. “The Indian psyche resonates with mystical and exploratory language,” he said, but
“Our theological language is too dogmatic, not exploratory, too conceptual, not mystical, too analytical, not symbolic.”

Bananas in Liturgy

Our meeting in Bangalore showed how much we have progressed in religious dialogue, but it also showed how far we have to go. At the meeting,
Jesuit theologian Michael Amaladoss
stressed the need for a deeper understanding of dialogue and the openness to encounter the other(s) unconditionally. We all agreed. But something strange happened.

I was surprised when we had a Eucharist on the very first morning of the meeting. We invited all the participants for the Eucharist. We spoke about all of us being brothers and sisters of one united India. Then at the offertory, the participants offered up the bread and wine, together with a plate of bananas. At communion, the sacred species and the plate of bananas were passed around. Catholics, obviously, consumed the host and wine. But, the people of other faiths were made to feel part of the “eating bit” by giving each a banana! END

At this interfaith Indian Rite “Mass”, the Hindu participants munched on a prasada of bananas
during the Holy Communion service probably laced with incantations of OM!

Jesuit Fr. Francis Gonsalves, the author of the report, is another deviant theologian.

See pages 69 to 75 THEOLOGIANS LAMBAST THE VATICAN DOCUMENT ON THE NEW AGE

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/THEOLOGIANS_LAMBAST_THE_VATICAN_DOCUMENT_ON_THE_NEW_AGE.doc

Fr. Michael Amaladoss along with other theologians has also
slammed the landmark Vatican document Dominus Iesus on the unicity of Jesus in his article “Stop judging, that you will not be judged“.

Source: Jeevadhara: A Journal of Christian Interpretation, Vol. XXXI, No. 83, May 2001, pages 179-182.

Fr. Amaladoss favours the cause of women priests. I have analysed this on pages 13, 14 of my report NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 15-DEMAND FOR ORDINATION OF WOMEN PRIESTS-FR SUBHASH ANAND AND OTHERS

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_15-DEMAND_FOR_ORDINATION_OF_WOMEN_PRIESTS-FR_SUBHASH_ANAND_AND_OTHERS.doc.

In his article “The ministerial priest” in the New Leader issue of March 1-15, 2010 he concludes with “This needs to be rethought.” By “this” I understand that he means the traditional role of the cultic priesthood or presbyterate in the Roman Catholic Church.

Asian Church Speaks of Pluralism out of Experience

http://www.ucanews.com/search/show.php?q=yoga&page=archives/english/1997/03/w5/thu/ia7253ww.txt
EXTRACT

NEW DELHI (UCAN) April 3, 1997

Jesuit Father Michael Amaladoss, 60, is secretary of the Jesuit Secretariat for Theology and coordinator for new formation policy for South Asian Jesuits. Father Amaladoss has written many books and articles on spirituality, interreligious dialogue, and inculturation and has been a consultant to the Pontifical Councils for Inter-religious Dialogue and for Christian Unity. He spoke on an Asian perspective of Christian theology in an interview that appeared in the March 28 issue of ASIA FOCUS. […]

AF: What are the contributions of the Asian Church to the universal Church?

Fr. MA: Much of the contemporary rethinking in the Church on interreligious dialogue, pluralism and inculturation are part of the Asian contribution. When the Asian Church speaks of pluralism, it is born out of lived experience.

The Asian Church has contributed to a whole new view of spirituality with the usage of Asian methods of prayer such as yoga and zen.
We are also proposing a new way of mission: Church should not be seen, as in the past, as an extension of but as service for God’s kingdom. This is a new view of evangelization.

Like many other Indian theologians, Fr. Amaladoss looks forward to the rising of an autonomous Indian “local” Church (below) independent of Rome. I will not go into the details here; they can be accessed in my other reports.

From the UCAN report that follows, one gets another perspective of his theology and spirituality:

Hindu-Christian Dialogue
Requires Sensitivity to Others

http://www.ucanews.com/search/show.php?q=yoga&page=archives/english/2003/01/w5/thu/AS3232DA.txt

BANGKOK (UCAN) January 30, 2003

An Indian theologian recommends that the Church in India outgrow its
colonial Church image
by becoming a
“local church”
with its own identity, for only in that way can Christians resolve tensions with Hindus.
Jesuit Father Michael Amaladoss
recently offered this counsel at
a symposium organized by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate
to discuss “Searching for Deeper Relationships among Believers.”

About 70 participants, mostly Oblates from Asia and Oceania, attended the January 19-21 conference in Sam Phran, some 30 kilometers west of Bangkok. Father Amaladoss, who works with the
Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions in Chennai, 2,095 kilometers south of New Delhi,
asserted in his symposium talk that Church authorities block serious efforts at inculturation.

…The refusal of Christianity to become fully Indian culturally and administratively, in spite of all the talk about inculturation, plays into the hands of the Hindutva forces. In recent years some Hindu groups have indulged in violence against Christians and their churches in different parts of the country. The Hindu-Christian encounter in such a context is more violent than dialogical.
Dialogue becomes difficult, if not impossible…

The riches of the Upanishadic reflection or of the Bhakti tradition or of the Yogic techniques…
is the dimension of interiority and concentration that seems to attract many Western Christians to oriental methods of prayer like yoga and Zen.
It would be a mistake to equate these oriental methods with the Western methods of prayer and contemplation. Because in the oriental traditions there is an effort to integrate the world and the body with the spirit. Yoga is a good example. There is an effort to live in harmony with nature and the cosmos. Through breathing and posture there is an attempt to integrate the body with the spirit. When the person concentrates on a visual or aural or verbal image it is the whole person that is involved, not merely the intelligence. The experience looked for is one of total integration. The Absolute itself is experienced not as an “Other” but as the deepest centre of oneself. Hence the Upanishadic phrase: the Atman is Brahman: the centre of my self is the centre of the universe. One realizes one’s rootedness in the Absolute. One loses one self, one’s ego. It is an advaitic relationship… Yogic: Pertaining to yoga, a Hindu system of contemplation for effecting the union of the human soul with the Supreme Being. END

My reports provide ample evidence that the Indian Church is already fairly Hinduised. But theologians like Fr. Amaladoss are far from satisfied (see below). He and his cohorts will not rest until a church is virtually indistinguishable from a temple from its outward appearance to its rituals. After all, don’t they believe that Jesus Christ never intended that all peoples be baptized, and haven’t they rejected Ecclesia in Asia and jettisoned the Great Commission with its mandate for evangelization for indifferentism and religious pluralism?

On the previous page, we have seen that the ‘new evangelization’ as envisaged by the leftist theologians and the Ashramites is with “Asian methods of prayer such as yoga and
Zen“.

God cannot be ‘imported,’ God must be ‘incarnated’

http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/globalpers/gp050604.htm
EXTRACT

By Janina Gomes, May 6, 2004

According to Fr. Michael Amaladoss, a leading Indian theologian and an expert on inculturation, though the official church in the name of liturgical reform has cleared away accretions that accumulated over history, substantial creativity has not been encouraged apart from some local external decorative elements permitted in India and the Congo.

Amaladoss makes a case for a church presence in public festivals and for a more conscious exploration of the possibility of using scriptures and symbols of other religions and interpreting them in the Christian/Catholic faith context. Amaladoss says: “For me, Hinduism is not another religion. It is part of my own heritage. It is the religion of my ancestors. God has reached out to my ancestors through it. So I do not look at its scriptures, symbols and methods as something foreign to me. I have the right and the liberty to integrate them as part of my spiritual tradition.”

Again, this is from the “Fishwrap”.

Also see The Eucharist and the Christian Community
by Michael Amaladoss, S.J. East Asian Pastoral Review 2005, Volume 42 (2005) Number 3, http://eapi.admu.edu.ph/content/eucharist-and-christian-community

The investigation of Fr. Michael Amaladoss apparently commenced after the following visit of a Vatican delegation to India in January 2011 which occurred during the tenure of Pope Benedict XVI.

Vatican group looks at role of Indian theologians

http://www.ucanews.com/2011/01/20/responsible-role-for-indian-theologians-discussed/

Francis Rodrigues, Mangalore, January 20, 2011
A Vatican delegation is in India to discuss the role of Indian theologians in the context of global theology.
Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on January 16 began a seven-day closed door colloquium in Bangalore with 28 bishops and 26 leading theologians from India.
“We are discussing the role of the Indian theologians as responsible theologians,” said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
The basis for the discussion is Donum Veritatis, the 1990 Vatican instruction on the role of theologians in the Church, the cardinal explained. He said their discussions included topics such as inculturation and pluralism.
All bishop participants have theological backgrounds, said Bishop Thomas Dabre of Poona, a participant and head of the commission of doctrine and theology of India’s Latin rite bishops. The program ends on January 22.
A theology professor said the Vatican delegation would first meet with bishops and theologians and later discuss the outcome with the bishops alone.

Another theology professor, who is not attending the colloquium, says globalization of culture in the modern world has led to the emergence of a global theology. “The pluralistic theologians have begun to dilute Christianity as one of the many religions to go to God. In this context, such a colloquium could become an alerting occasion,” he told
ucanews.com
on condition of anonymity.

Another theologian says the colloquium also is to discuss Agendi Ratio Doctrinarum Examine (regulation for doctrinal examination), another document from Cardinal Levada’s congregation. This document aims to protect “true doctrine from the deviated theologians,” the priest told

Categories: False Mystics, Hinduisation of the Catholic Church in India, new age, Ordination of Women Priests Movement in India