All those people speculating on whether the new pope, whoever he may be, will change the church's teachings on contraception, abortion, and the ordination of women. I heard it TWICE this morning on the way back from taking McKid to preschool.
It will only get worse from here.
It is kinda funny, though, when you tell people that you are GLAD the Church stands in contradiction to the modern world. I have had people shake their heads sadly and walk away from me. I'm sure they are thinking, "Poor, deluded, sheep-like woman." Anti-modernism is unfathomable.
Pray for us JPII, especially me, who is becoming more uncharitable by the moment.
Yeah the lobbying and politic-ing reminds me of a bit of the time before the '00 or '04 U.S. presidential elections.
The beautiful thing about this is we don't have to do a thing to counteract it. We don't have a vote, and the Cardinals aren't going to be swayed by all the pressure in the world. Other than praying for the College of Cardinals, we are on ez street. No need to knock on doors, donate money to a compaign, write letters to the editor, or any of that stuff. The Holy Spirit will take care of it all. It feels so....restful.
Amen! It is really driving me nuts, all this treating the Church like a secular political structure instead of like what it is, the Body of Christ under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit. But TSO is right; we don't have to worry about it. How restful. Personally, I'm just praying that the decision will be made quickly, so that the media will cut it with the theorizing.
I experienced the same sense of peace once I jettisoned the notion from my life that I needed to be politically involved.
Being a monarchist living in a judicial tyranny which masquerades as a federal republic has it's advantages, particularly for my blood pressure and temper.
you ain't just whistlin' dixie there, flam.
Hi mamas
I dont' think JP II was anti-modern as much as he was pointing the way to a better future. We have choices and he showed the alternative to 'business as usual." Probably not expressing myself very well. He was God's man and his own man, not swayed by opinion polls or what the public demanded. His writings were well reasoned and persuasive. People who do the litany - abortion, contraception, (aren't there three????) do not understand his theology of the body. Catholics particularly have not been taught, have failed to learn, Catholic teaching in this regard. This is a failure of the seminaries and education ministry in your church. I'm a life long Lutheran. Lutherans have no well reasoned theology of the body so find themselves a bit adrift regarding lots of issues of human sexuality.
I know I've written before how we grieve JPII.
He was ours too, at least in my family.
# 3 would be woman priests or maybe married priests - I start humming loudly to myself at that point!
That is why I am fundamentally un-democratic. People really want to think that they are heard, they don't really want a say. Once the leadership figures that out, peace will reign the land. Here'smy new bumber sticker for you:
IF the leaders will lead and nod politely, the people will follow.
Dear MamaT,
What Ellana said! In spades. John Paul was the ultimate Modern but not modernist Pope. He saw the world as it was and saw what needed to change in order for it to be a good place to live for all people. It is due to him that we are able to recognize the culture of death and the culture of life.
But what you said is soooooo true. I tire of the endless speculation, the endless questioning as though the matter were up for debate in any way.
shalom,
Steven
I would have thought the third one was gay marriage, but probably women priests is the right guess.
It's been driving me crazy hearing the people "hope" the next Pope will be more "enlightened."
I once heard a Greek Orthodox priest talk about the election of the Patriarch and how, a long time ago, the Turkish government rigged the election to get THEIR guy in there so they could control the church. As soon as the man assumed the role, the Holy Spirit kicked in and he immediately turned against the government and upheld what the church always taught.
This story reminds me that the Holy Spirit will keep us (the Church) where we should be.
Discussion on MSNBC last night turned to these "American complaints." A priest pointed out how most Catholics in the world were concerned with life and death issues (disease, starvation, revolution). He did a good job of pointing out just how spoiled and pampered concerns about gay marriage, women priests and abortion appear to the vast majority of Catholics.