Order Expels Priest Over His New Age Sympathies

An Oakland priest whose espousal of New Age philosophies clashed with traditional Catholic dogmas was expelled by his Dominican order in the culmination of a long-running philosophical battle.

Father Matthew Fox, who gained notoriety by hiring a witch to teach at his Catholic college, said in a statement recently that he has been informed of his dismissal by the head of the order.

The action follows a five-year fight between Fox and Catholic authorities that included a one-year sentence of silence imposed by the Vatican in October, 1988. The expulsion requires action by the Vatican.

Fox, 52, who heads the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College, technically remains a priest. But his dismissal bars him from performing the sacraments, said Dan Turner, editor of Creation Spirituality Magazine and a friend of Fox.

Fox, an internationally known author and lecturer, issued a statement about his dismissal and declined to be interviewed.

A Dominican for 33 years, Fox was expelled after refusing a provincial superior’s demand that he go to the order’s headquarters in Chicago “to establish a minimum level of accountability,” according to his statement.

Moving to Chicago, Fox said, “would silence my work with the creation spirituality movement a second time, and definitively so. I cannot acquiesce to this request. It is against my conscience.”

As head of the institute he founded in 1977, Fox was known for his exploration of “creation spirituality,” a controversial branch of theology that combines insights of Christian mysticism, environmentalism, feminism and American Indians.

Over the years, he angered conservative Catholics by hiring faculty members who include a certified masseuse, a Zen Buddhist, a yoga teacher and a self-described witch named Starhawk.

In 1988, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith ordered Fox to maintain a year of public silence, a move that barred him from preaching, lecturing or teaching.