Is the catholic church on the way out? Are they capable of making the changes necessary to move out of the 4th century and join the rest of the world (most of whom are living in the 10th century)? What would they need to change? I do like the outfits and would hate to see the loss of all the ritual and pomp but lets face it do flowing gold lame gowns on the priesthood really work now? In the past I am sure they denoted power and wealth, but today? I don't know. It is more like something you would see in a transvestite bar. Forgive me here, that was harsh, but sometimes the obvious truth needs to be written. Is lightening going to strike me now?
There is a lot of hubbub over the Da Vinci code but really that is all so minor in the face of all the charges of pedophiliac priests and the ensuing grand medieval coverups. Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce, one of those seers, made a prophesy about the end of the papacy. Apparently, according to one of them. This is the last pope. Seer's aside I think the catholic church is in trouble and the Da Vinci Code just points that out in glaring detail. It really doesn't matter if it is 'true' or not that is not the point. The point is is that the world wearies over blatant abuses of power in the hands of our holy men. It is one thing to cause wars and lead crusades and bloody inquisitions as church did in the past it is quite another to abuse the weakest among their flock and suffer no consequences. They are as protected as our sports "heros". That for another time.
There is a lot of hubbub over the Da Vinci code but really that is all so minor in the face of all the charges of pedophiliac priests and the ensuing grand medieval coverups. Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce, one of those seers, made a prophesy about the end of the papacy. Apparently, according to one of them. This is the last pope. Seer's aside I think the catholic church is in trouble and the Da Vinci Code just points that out in glaring detail. It really doesn't matter if it is 'true' or not that is not the point. The point is is that the world wearies over blatant abuses of power in the hands of our holy men. It is one thing to cause wars and lead crusades and bloody inquisitions as church did in the past it is quite another to abuse the weakest among their flock and suffer no consequences. They are as protected as our sports "heros". That for another time.
posted by Anne Coe | 7:05 AM
3 Comments:
Maybe lightening won't strike you, but my reply might. Could you be more clear about how you feel the church needs to change? I think everyone would agree that pedophile priests need to go. That this has been a massive abuse of power. However, surely it is not a mere coincidence that these abuses arose during a period of self-indulgence and in a country that raised self-indulgence to an art form (art being a word used intentionally here). It is not clear that these abuses occurred all over the world. So, given that these problems seem to be confined pretty much to one country, how else does the church need to change? You say that they need to change their clothing. Then, as they are using robles that link them historically to the historical period of the beginning of the church, surely you need to write a blog saying that Jews need to immediately stop using anything that is made to look like items used by Abraham. Isn't the next step to argue that all of us should throw history out the door? I wonder if only an American would write such a thing. These robes were around long before tranvestites, a trendy and socially protected category of people--meaning you would not write a blog about the absurdity of transvestites. You can attach the church and look like an intellectual, but don't touch any of our protected categories.
If we have to experience an attack on the Catholic church, I would prefer Luther nailing his boldfaced ideas to the front door of a church, over a popular novel, written at an 8th grade level by a money grabbing author, who subtly but intentionally moves the argument away from what is important, the fact that power is easy to abuse, to what is unimportant, at least to me, debates on the veracity of the sacred stories. Why attack the metaphors, when there is something real to grapple with?
Does it occur to no one, that the structure of the church was designed, much like our governmental checks and balances system, to try to prevent abuses of power? An important part of that structure is the tie to ancestors, early church leaders, Christ, God, who all sacrified for their children. The message here, to me, is not that the stories, metaphors, and rituals of the church need to change, but that it is very hard to prevent men from abusing power.
Apparently the checks and balances are not working out very well, in churches or in governments. Some churches, the mormons come to mind have built in systems to move the church forward while still protecting the sacred past. In my opinion, Vatican II was a big mistake in that it changed only the things that bound people together and little of what the church fails at. Conservative inaction isn't always the best course. Reasoned and thoughtful change can bring enlightenment. I am sure you have an opinion on enlightenment.
I agree with you about Vatican II, through rational and reasoned discourse the church created a new church, based on a few, almost arbitrarily chosen traditions, thus destroying many traditions that had for thousands of years helped build and maintain community. That is perhaps always the the problem with logical and rational thinking. It is not based on a precedent that worked; it can destroy or build, one never knows. One thing about traditions, meaning those that lasted thousands of years (meaning, not just since the Renaissance), is that they worked, in the sense that they our ancestors survived and reproduced and many generations later we are here. There is no guarantee with new and reasoned inventions. In fact, in this time and place, given over population and indulgence (with transvestites being perhaps the greatest art form of overindulgence), there may be no guarantees at all.
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