Years in the past, once I was combating with the fascist forces of the Roman Catholic Church that have been bringing again the Inquisition in our time, silencing theologians and expelling many people, I sat down with a hero of mine, Father Albert Nolan.
A Dutch Dominican working with Bishop Tutu and others to finish apartheid in South Africa, Nolan had been elected Grasp Basic of the Dominican Order however turned it down—the one one in 800 years to take action. The South African authorities had sought to arrest him, and for years he was on the lam in that nation.
Nolan is the creator of Jesus Earlier than Christianity, which was a required textual content at our Institute of Tradition and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names School in Oakland, California. I used to be informed by an insider within the Catholic diocese that I used to be now “radioactive” and no Catholic bishop within the nation would sponsor me.
I confided to Nolan that, having been expelled from the Order after 34 years in good standing, I used to be giving severe consideration to changing into an Episcopal priest so as to work with younger individuals from Sheffield, England, to reinvent types of Liturgy by bringing rave into the Liturgy.
Nolan’s response was electrical: “Do it! Good! What Rome needs to do is isolate you and that you must discover a Christian group that can help you.” Then he added, “The rationale the American Dominicans haven’t supported you is that North Individuals don’t know a goddamn factor about solidarity.”
What’s solidarity? In line with Webster’s Dictionary, “solidarity” comes from the French phrase for “stable” and the Latin phrase, solidum,” which means “entire sum.” Its synonym is: “Unity.” Thus, “a bunch or class that produces or is predicated on a group of pursuits, goals, and requirements.”
Is the present resistance in Minneapolis to the fascism within the streets, aided and abetted by the current “large, stunning invoice” voted unanimously by each Republican congressperson and senator, which guarantees $74 billion for such actions, a fantastic occasion of solidarity?
Two Americans have died up to now ten days by the hands of presidency staff. Each the pinnacle of Homeland Safety and the vice chairman of the US have lied about their deaths.
There have been many witnesses to the newest homicide of Alex Pretti, who was shot quite a few instances, despite the fact that he had been pepper-sprayed and was not resisting. He was a nurse in a veterans hospital who beloved the outside and using his bicycle in it, and was against Trump’s destruction of the EPA in addition to to the invasion of his metropolis.
DHS head Noem lied when she informed the nation that he approached ICE members with a gun in his hand. Individuals who have been there say he was carrying a cellphone in his hand (a gun, which he legally owned, was discovered beneath layers of his garments, however he by no means pulled it out).
Following is a sworn affidavit from a girl who filmed his homicide and was 5 toes from him.
The brokers pulled the person on the bottom. I didn’t see him contact any of them—he wasn’t even turned towards them. It didn’t appear to be he was attempting to withstand, simply attempting to assist the girl up. I didn’t see him with a gun. They threw him to the bottom. 4 or 5 brokers had him on the bottom they usually simply began taking pictures him. They shot him so many instances. I don’t know why they shot him. He was solely serving to. I used to be 5 toes from him they usually simply shot him.*
Individuals have to study the which means of “solidarity.” It has to do with community-building in spite of everything. It cuts on the coronary heart of the “rugged individualism” and egoism so central to capitalism and a John Wayne model of America. It’s one other phrase for interdependence, which lies on the middle of what compassion means.
Jesus taught: “Be you compassionate as your Creator in heaven is compassionate.” At the moment’s science is rediscovering the knowledge of the mystics who educate the precedence of compassion and interdependence. Hildegard: “The whole lot that’s within the heavens, on the earth, and beneath the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness.”
* Mitch Smith, “In Courtroom Filings, Witnesses Describe Deadly Minneapolis Capturing of Alex Pretti,” New York Occasions, January 24, 2026.
Banner Picture: “Solidarity: The Motion Is For Us All.” Portray by Terrance Osborne, on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Do you give credit score to the residents of Minnesota and past who’re standing as much as ICE for witnessing to and instructing Individuals about solidarity? How essential is solidarity to constructing group?
Associated Readings by Matthew Fox
Confessions: The Making of a Submit-denominational Priest, pp. 238f., 276
Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Remodeling Evil in Soul & Society
Trump & The MAGA Motion as Anti-Christ
Creativity: The place the Divine and the Human Meet
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Items for the Peoples of the Earth
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Consciousness with Social Justice
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Imaginative and prescient For a New Technology by Adam Bucko and Matthew Fox
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