Bogart.:rolleyes:

Last night I was contemplating how big a role the Catholic church plays in modern life. Even today, many religions or belief-systems define themselves in relation to Rome. Anglicans? Not Catholic. Protestants? Not Catholic. It's success at maintaining a cohesive whole through the centuries makes it the default for Christianity. (Maybe not as much in the US, but certainly worldwide.) I don't want to minimize the contributions of other major faith groups, but by virtue of having a single global head, the Catholic Church becomes a sort of morality spokesperson.

And so then I was thinking -- there are gobs of things I wish the Catholic Church did differently. But at the same time I wonder -- part of their success has likely been consistency. And given their influence on so many other groups, I wonder what would happen if a Pope did suddenly make the changes some call for. Could actually be rather catastrophic.

I was expressing this much more eloquently in my head in the shower this morning. Sorry. :(

Vatican II proved to be less than successful.....

unlike

(This is a serious query)

A significant number of our family are practicing Catholics. Would it be appropriate to send a sympathy card? Is there a protocol for this?

*Gasp* What?! I love the Ataris! How stinking sad.

I'm sorry. I don't have much to say about the Pope. I don't know anything about him. I'm sorry that others are sad though.

I hope this isn't tasteless, as I just mean it as an observation, but I found it so odd that whenever they showed the Pope on TV he was surrounded by gold and silk and jewels and ornate lavishness. It seems so against everything Jesus stood for. I wonder how the Pope felt about it.

I know that seems odd, Trac. I am a Catholic (quasi-practicing, of the sort known as 'cafeteria Catholic': take the good message and drown out the rest) and have some trouble with that too. Knowing the history of gifts accepted (as passages into heaven, yes, buy your way in!) by the church, it doesn't seem contrary to expectation.

My favorite bishop, Ken Untner, had such trouble with such things that he sold the palacial bishop's rectory in Michigan and rotated from parish to parish throughout his time in the position. He also was the first bishop to grant little girls the position of altar server (I was part of the early years of that!) and deemed that the Saginaw song of blessing have two verses. They begin:

May God bless you and keep you, may he let his face shine upon you
and
May God bless you and keep you, may she let her face shine upon you

He'd have made such a great pope. Too bad he was blacklisted from becoming a cardinal. He passed away last year-- and his replacement promptly bought another palacial bishop's rectory. And did away with the second verse of the blessing.

As for John Paul II, he did some good things (aid for poverty, among them.) He did some things long-in-coming (acknowledging that the church should not have supported the Nazi party.) And he did some bad things (proclaiming that gay marriage is evidence of the evil in our world.) I don't begrudge him his flaws; he was only a man.

Must not launch into history lesson on medieval heresies, the typical characteristics of reformer heresies, and the socio-economic conditions that alternately supported and suppressed such heresies.

Anyone else think it's creepy showing him on TV all dead and displayed? Like he could just sit up at any minute and go about life.

I LOVE TA SINGA, ABOUT THE MOONA AND THE JUNA, I LOVE TO SWINGA!!