A Dangerous Practice: Catholic interest in the Enneagram persists

A Dangerous Practice | Anna Abbott | Catholic World Report

Catholic interest in the Enneagram persists

The Enneagram is a nine-sided figure that looks like a theorem straight from Euclid's Elements. Instead of teaching basic mathematical facts, however, the Enneagram purports to teach a path to enlightenment, a path that Church leaders find worrisome.

In 2000, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops prepared a draft statement, "A Brief Report on the Origins of the Enneagram," cautioning against its use. It was never published, but it can be found on the website of the National Catholic Reporter. In 2003, the Vatican's document "Jesus Christ, Bearer of the Water of Life" discussed the dangers of New Age spirituality, and mentioned the Enneagram in its glossary. In 2004, the USCCB Committee on Doctrine released "Report on the Use of the Enneagram: Can It Serve as a True Instrument of Christian Spiritual Growth?" for the conference's internal use. Father Thomas Weinandy of the USCCB's Secretariat of Doctrine provided that report for this article.

Last February, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami explained Catholic teaching on the Enneagram and related subjects in an online column titled, "New Age is Old Gnosticism." He wrote that the Enneagram is a "pseudo-psychological exercise supposedly based on Eastern mysticism, [which] introduces ambiguity into the doctrine and life of the Christian faith and therefore cannot be happily used to promote growth in an authentic Christian spirituality." The archbishop's column is the clearest available teaching for the laity on this topic, and a neat summary of the bishops' reports.

The Enneagram redefines sin, among other fundamental concepts, by simply associating faults with personality types, which is particularly tempting in a cultural climate of irresponsibility and narcissism. It encourages an unhealthy self-absorption about one's own "type," so that the type is at fault rather than the person. This gives rise to a deterministic mindset at odds with Christian freedom.

Read the entire article at www.CatholicWorldReport.com...