Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest

A great book on the effect big government in the church has on people that speak their mind. As far as the reviewer that said - that this work was "too self involved"..... It's a memoir! Read the book.. It's worth it.

The following is more a suggestion to the author and to the publisher, should they consider a new edition, than a review of the first one (1996). Yet I trust that its content may motivate some undecided Catholics to dare to read this amazing book.After living such a committed and dedicated life as a Dominican priest for 34 years, the author Matthew Fox could not but come through it more tempered, more mature, and more clear minded than he has proved himself to be in this revealing autobiography. I salute his rare courage and his generosity and honesty in allowing us, his readers, to share in not only his joyous moments but also in his most trying ones. Given the value to me of the genuine gift I have received from reading this book, I am moved to dare suggest that should the publisher ever consider reprinting it, the author should consider relocating to its chronological position the material of the first chapter having to do with his becoming an Episcopal priest. In my view, there are many undecided readers who in the end would be most thankful to the author for presenting the events leading to his heart-wrenching decision but that upon learning so early in the book that a former Catholic priest has in their view turned his back to the Church to join another Christian denomination, they would not be willing to proceed any further in order to discover why he came to do so. I can appreciate the genuine scruple the author might have had at the idea of `leading' readers that otherwise `would have never wanted to know' to the discovery that indeed "the Emperor has no cloths!". In this respect, the author should accept the fact that any Catholic reader picking up a book with that specific title will be expecting the author to deliver on his implied promise `to unravel the truth before God'. In short, that becomes where the author's sole responsibility lies, instead of in the use of "at your own risks" preliminaries to shoo away hesitant readers, and Matthew Fox has risen to that challenge most honestly. In my view, by choosing to start his book the way he did, Matthew Fox has unwittingly voiced a "sorry but it's my fault"-type of response too often heard from victims of `psychological abuse', the latter being too valid a literal statement with regards to the behavior of his former ecclesiastical family. (May 2004)

Of course anyone claiming to be a "devout Catholic" will not like Matthew Fox and his view of the Vatican! Fox is an amazing theologian who thoughtfully and decisively rips Christianity free of patriarchy. Of course he would be ex-communicated, he was too threatening to the mysogonistic powers that be in the Roman church. People who understand and appreciate Fox's liberating theology will enjoy this insight into his life as a priest. Status quo Roman Catholics shouldn't bother.

Perhaps the best line in the book is the quote by a lawyer advising Fox, who tells him not to worry because "One day the Vatican will come tumbling down like the Berlin Wall."For that line alone the book is worth the price of admission, but there's much much more.