Letters

New Age spirituality (letter)

Frances Grundy

Contents - Feb 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: New religion texts for Melbourne schools - Michael Gilchrist Tasmanian priest to be Lismore's new bishop - AD2000 Report Bishop Wilson of Wollongong to be the future Archbishop of Adelaide - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World New RE texts launched in Melbourne's Catholic schools - Michael Gilchrist The finest RE texts produced to date - Anthony Cappello Liturgy: when will the 'Statement of Conclusions' make an impact? - Michael Gilchrist Religious persecution continues in Vietnam - AD2000 Report The "priest shortage": natural or artificial? - Larry A. Carstens Successful Thomas More Spring School in Wagga - Paul Sheehan A former heroin addict's personal testimony Archbishop Pell opens drug rehabilitation centre - Dr Joseph Santamaria Letters: Feminist book (letter) Letters: Church in China (letter) - Angela Martello Letters: Limbo (letter) - John Young Letters: Waste of resources (letter) - Shane Dore Letters: Vocations (letter) - Mrs Irena Nagy Letters: G.K. Chesterton (letter) - Tony Evans Letters: 'Creating Our Future' (letter) - Mrs Jeanette Joseph Letters: Consecrated life (letter) - Sr Mary Augustine Lane OP Letters: New Age spirituality (letter) - Frances Grundy Letters: Recipe for decline (letter) - K. Logan Letters: Sermons (letter) - Bernie Lewis Letters: Anti-Catholicism (letter) - Kevin Tighe Letters: Christian art (letter) - Kim Portelli Letters: Science and Christianity (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Books: 'The Essence Of Feminism' by Kirsten Birkett - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: 'The Sacred Liturgy', 'Discovering the Mass', by a Benedictine monk - Christopher Quinn (reviewer) Books: 'Pope Pius XII: Architect For Peace' by Margherita Marchione - Michael Daniel (reviewer) New patterns of religious vocations in France Reflection: The essential role of the Catholic priest - Fr John A. Hardon SJ

The Toowoomba CEO and other diocesan authorities have conducted workshops and courses on "Celtic Spirituality," "Coming to Our senses" - concepts from the Lomi Workshop of the Esalen Institute in California (this being an integration of Western psychological and bodywork perspectives with Eastern spiritual disciplines), Christian Meditation through Yoga and the Enneagram.

I wrote a five-page letter to Bishop Morris detailing concerns about the Enneagram. I enclosed an article by Father Mitchell Pacwa outlining the Enneagram's occultic roots, Gnostic theology and its lack of scientific support for the psychology it promotes. I also expressed to the Bishop my doubts about the theology of Sister Delphine O'Shea who runs the Enneagram workshop. While Jesus tells us "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, Sister Delphine is advocating we develop "an at-homeness with our compulsions."

The Bishop's response was to tell me he had "noted its contents."

I wrote again to ask him for his views on the Enneagram and in his reply, the Bishop said that if "used correctly, " the Enneagram "can be a helpful tool," but if "abused ... it can be destructive."

Following a third letter, the Bishop advised me to write to Sister Delphine O'Shea for further enlightenment.

FRANCES GRUNDY
Toowoomba, Qld

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 1 (February 2001), p. 14