Well a new pope has been elected, another 'conservative'. Whether he'll be different from John Paul II, the activists around the world don't think so. I still think the church will be as oppressive and they will still have the opinion that the world's problems are 'black and white'. We shall see in the next 6 months if he’s going to let the Spirit work or box it up again.
I think that the word conservative has been overused in practically everything in this world. And it has come to a point where the world means being narrow-minded. If I recall correctly, being conservative used to be someone who favours traditional views and values but not a person who discounts change. When did being conservative mean being a bigot and discriminating?
*sigh* well, we do live in the world where money and power is everything, what makes me think that a church will be any different.
20 April 2005
18 April 2005
The Church - good, bad and ugly
I read this in the Sunday Times today and was really impressed with Ignatius’ view. He just hit the nail on the head. The parts I have bolded are the good things the pope John Paul II has done. The red/bold parts are the ones that are so ugly about the church and as you can see, the ugly seems to outweigh the good. What good is being part of a Church where you are oppressed? I wonder if the Vatican ever wonder why people are leaving the Church, or even if they really care.
Sometimes people ask why I'm still in a Church that is so oppressive? I have given it alot of thought and I thing Ignatius stated it in a great way some of us reject the teachings outwardly and other inwardly. I'm the ones that reject the Church inwardly. I love my God and I know God loves me. I go and worship him with my community but I do reject some of the Church teachings. As Cannon law has stated, that a person can reject a teaching of the Church if he, guided by the Spirit, learns the truth about something (very badly parapharsed).
#######################
A Plea to the next pope
By Ignatius Low
(Taken from The Sunday Times April 17, 2005)
Someone remarked to me that other day that with a name like mine I should be “eminently qualified” to write about Pope John Paul II.
Well, if being qualified simply means being Catholic, then she is probably right.
I know if only a handful of other guys name “Ignatius” and they are all, without exception, Catholics born and bred. Who else would name themselves after the Spanish saint Ignatius de Loyola, who found the Jesuit order of priests in the 1500s?
Indeed, to the outside world, the name is obscure and extremely difficult to pronounce and spell. To this day, when asked for my name by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cashiers, I agonise for a moment before muttering “David”, so as not to hold up the queue behind me.
Despite life’s little inconveniences, I am still proud of the name my parents gave me in the zeal of their conversion to Catholicism in the 1960s.
But I have also stopped practising my religion for almost a decade now. So, I think my name is just about the only thing left that’s “Catholic” about me.
Until the Pope died, that is.
I was holidaying in Tokyo when it happened and rationally speaking, I really shouldn’t have cared.
Yet in the days and hours reading up to the Pope’s death, I found myself glued to the television set in my service apartment, never tiring of the endless updates about this health on CNN and BBC.
My Catholic upbringing came back to me in a flash of nostalgia.
I remembered, for example, kneeling to pray the rosary twice a week and constantly wishing that I could sit down instead. I remembered singing hymns with my younger sister as my dad played the guitar, and feeling rather intimidated by a group of bash girls at my weekly Sunday school class.
I found I could still recall enough of the meanings of strange words like “catechism”, “Eucharist” and “transubstantiation” to explain them excitedly to my Buddhist travelling companion. And I could expertly answer his questions about the difference between “mortal” and “venial” sins, and the significance of the Virgin Mary to the Church.
Buried somewhere deep within me, I realised, is a good Catholic boy. It’s just the on a day-to-day level, most people don’t see it – net even me.
This is arguable the most serious problem Pope John Paul II left the Catholic Church to deal with after his death.
Like me, millions of Catholics around the world have quietly fallen away from the faith. And like me, they seem perfectly comfortable with what they have done.
Of course, religion is a very personal issue and everyone has his own reasons for turning his back on it.
But if there is a general root cause to be found, I would point to the growing disconnect between the Catholic dogma and today’s realities.
For those who don’t already know, the Catholic Church is strongly against divorce, abortion and contraception.
It still refuses to ordain women as priests and regards homosexuality as a “new ideology of evil”.
And it sees all these issues in stark black and white.
Two years ago, a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl became pregnant after she was raped. Fearing that she would not survive childbirth, her parents sent her for an abortion.
The Catholic Church intervened and nearly stopped the procedure, but the girl’s parents insisted. After the abortion, the whole family was promptly excommunicated from the Church.
There are many mare such moral dilemmas that the Church seems to take an unreasonably hard stand on. It won’t, for example, allow a HIV-positive husband to use condoms to protect his HIV-negative wife. Nor will it grant an abused wife a divorce from a violent husband.
As a result, you will often find that Catholics tend to harbour two views on life’s moral dilemmas.
There is the “Catholic” view which they are suppose to hold, and then there is their own view – which is softer and will admit to exceptions and special circumstances.
Okay, this probably doesn’t stop the average churchgoer from going to Mass every Sunday.
But it deducts from a sense of belonging to a religion whose structure and rituals already make it seem so far away.
The principle does not just apply to religion. If someone does not quite agree with the fundamental ethos of his club, company or even country, can he truly identify himself with it?
And so when push comes to shove, is there something stronger than habit, obligation or sheer inertia that makes him stay?
In his 26 years as Pope, John Paul II did many great things. He helped to bridge the gap between the Church and Islam, and speed up the fall of communism. He also used the mass media in a very effective way to get the Church’s message out globally.
But John Paul II also chose to harden the Church’s conservative stance in livewire moral issues, and throughout this reign, the Church has shown a refusal to engage the population on them.
This is something which this generation of young Catholics have become used to as we grew up. Sadly, it’s also something many of us have come to reject – whether inwardly or outwardly.
The world waits in bated breath is the Catholic Church chooses John Paul II’s successor this week.
Whoever he is, he need to talk to the silent millions around the world, who like me are Catholic, but only really in name.
Sometimes people ask why I'm still in a Church that is so oppressive? I have given it alot of thought and I thing Ignatius stated it in a great way some of us reject the teachings outwardly and other inwardly. I'm the ones that reject the Church inwardly. I love my God and I know God loves me. I go and worship him with my community but I do reject some of the Church teachings. As Cannon law has stated, that a person can reject a teaching of the Church if he, guided by the Spirit, learns the truth about something (very badly parapharsed).
#######################
A Plea to the next pope
By Ignatius Low
(Taken from The Sunday Times April 17, 2005)
Someone remarked to me that other day that with a name like mine I should be “eminently qualified” to write about Pope John Paul II.
Well, if being qualified simply means being Catholic, then she is probably right.
I know if only a handful of other guys name “Ignatius” and they are all, without exception, Catholics born and bred. Who else would name themselves after the Spanish saint Ignatius de Loyola, who found the Jesuit order of priests in the 1500s?
Indeed, to the outside world, the name is obscure and extremely difficult to pronounce and spell. To this day, when asked for my name by Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cashiers, I agonise for a moment before muttering “David”, so as not to hold up the queue behind me.
Despite life’s little inconveniences, I am still proud of the name my parents gave me in the zeal of their conversion to Catholicism in the 1960s.
But I have also stopped practising my religion for almost a decade now. So, I think my name is just about the only thing left that’s “Catholic” about me.
Until the Pope died, that is.
I was holidaying in Tokyo when it happened and rationally speaking, I really shouldn’t have cared.
Yet in the days and hours reading up to the Pope’s death, I found myself glued to the television set in my service apartment, never tiring of the endless updates about this health on CNN and BBC.
My Catholic upbringing came back to me in a flash of nostalgia.
I remembered, for example, kneeling to pray the rosary twice a week and constantly wishing that I could sit down instead. I remembered singing hymns with my younger sister as my dad played the guitar, and feeling rather intimidated by a group of bash girls at my weekly Sunday school class.
I found I could still recall enough of the meanings of strange words like “catechism”, “Eucharist” and “transubstantiation” to explain them excitedly to my Buddhist travelling companion. And I could expertly answer his questions about the difference between “mortal” and “venial” sins, and the significance of the Virgin Mary to the Church.
Buried somewhere deep within me, I realised, is a good Catholic boy. It’s just the on a day-to-day level, most people don’t see it – net even me.
This is arguable the most serious problem Pope John Paul II left the Catholic Church to deal with after his death.
Like me, millions of Catholics around the world have quietly fallen away from the faith. And like me, they seem perfectly comfortable with what they have done.
Of course, religion is a very personal issue and everyone has his own reasons for turning his back on it.
But if there is a general root cause to be found, I would point to the growing disconnect between the Catholic dogma and today’s realities.
For those who don’t already know, the Catholic Church is strongly against divorce, abortion and contraception.
It still refuses to ordain women as priests and regards homosexuality as a “new ideology of evil”.
And it sees all these issues in stark black and white.
Two years ago, a nine-year-old Nicaraguan girl became pregnant after she was raped. Fearing that she would not survive childbirth, her parents sent her for an abortion.
The Catholic Church intervened and nearly stopped the procedure, but the girl’s parents insisted. After the abortion, the whole family was promptly excommunicated from the Church.
There are many mare such moral dilemmas that the Church seems to take an unreasonably hard stand on. It won’t, for example, allow a HIV-positive husband to use condoms to protect his HIV-negative wife. Nor will it grant an abused wife a divorce from a violent husband.
As a result, you will often find that Catholics tend to harbour two views on life’s moral dilemmas.
There is the “Catholic” view which they are suppose to hold, and then there is their own view – which is softer and will admit to exceptions and special circumstances.
Okay, this probably doesn’t stop the average churchgoer from going to Mass every Sunday.
But it deducts from a sense of belonging to a religion whose structure and rituals already make it seem so far away.
The principle does not just apply to religion. If someone does not quite agree with the fundamental ethos of his club, company or even country, can he truly identify himself with it?
And so when push comes to shove, is there something stronger than habit, obligation or sheer inertia that makes him stay?
In his 26 years as Pope, John Paul II did many great things. He helped to bridge the gap between the Church and Islam, and speed up the fall of communism. He also used the mass media in a very effective way to get the Church’s message out globally.
But John Paul II also chose to harden the Church’s conservative stance in livewire moral issues, and throughout this reign, the Church has shown a refusal to engage the population on them.
This is something which this generation of young Catholics have become used to as we grew up. Sadly, it’s also something many of us have come to reject – whether inwardly or outwardly.
The world waits in bated breath is the Catholic Church chooses John Paul II’s successor this week.
Whoever he is, he need to talk to the silent millions around the world, who like me are Catholic, but only really in name.
11 April 2005
Heterosexism - viewpoint of a father and grandfather
It is very heartening to read e-mails like this about the heterosexism that is so prevalent in ‘loving Christians’.
------------
As a 75 year old man and father of 8 children - 2 whom are gay - I find this all to be very disturbing. Since when did we allow Preachers - deacons & ministers to tell us what GOD wants?
MY children are all grown and range from mid 30's to 50 - they are ALL law abiding citizens and tax payers......do not my gay
children deserve the same rights and the other 6 ?
This whole Right Wing Agenda has gotten way out of control from their original concept of Concern for peoples well-being - to Hate Mongering & Bigotry ... trying to use "God's word" as scare tactics to get people to vote their way.
I'd like to know.... when is this country going to wise up and practice what it preaches. America is constantly telling other countries about Freedoms and Liberty, and the ever famous Justice for All.....All?
Does America mean - only Heterosexuals??? This is the 21st century.....the sky won't be falling. I think heterosexuals have done enough damage to Marriage without trying to blame gay people for ruining it.
I and my wife love our children Equally - we're on our 53rd year of Marriage together...we stuck it out thru thick and thin, and love each other very much - and have 8 happy and healthy, loving and respectful children to prove it.
I fought in WW2 - for Freedom and Liberty -- NOT Hate and Discrimination in America......This needs to stop! I used to vote Republican as did my wife for years - but this last election made us go Democrat --- I will not tolerate discrimination against my children PERIOD!
John Rex Costello
Philadelphia Pa
------------
As a 75 year old man and father of 8 children - 2 whom are gay - I find this all to be very disturbing. Since when did we allow Preachers - deacons & ministers to tell us what GOD wants?
MY children are all grown and range from mid 30's to 50 - they are ALL law abiding citizens and tax payers......do not my gay
children deserve the same rights and the other 6 ?
This whole Right Wing Agenda has gotten way out of control from their original concept of Concern for peoples well-being - to Hate Mongering & Bigotry ... trying to use "God's word" as scare tactics to get people to vote their way.
I'd like to know.... when is this country going to wise up and practice what it preaches. America is constantly telling other countries about Freedoms and Liberty, and the ever famous Justice for All.....All?
Does America mean - only Heterosexuals??? This is the 21st century.....the sky won't be falling. I think heterosexuals have done enough damage to Marriage without trying to blame gay people for ruining it.
I and my wife love our children Equally - we're on our 53rd year of Marriage together...we stuck it out thru thick and thin, and love each other very much - and have 8 happy and healthy, loving and respectful children to prove it.
I fought in WW2 - for Freedom and Liberty -- NOT Hate and Discrimination in America......This needs to stop! I used to vote Republican as did my wife for years - but this last election made us go Democrat --- I will not tolerate discrimination against my children PERIOD!
John Rex Costello
Philadelphia Pa
09 April 2005
Buried at last!
Thank goodness the pope is now buried and gone. All this hype over his ‘death’ is really too much and the fact that people (especially the Catholics) are crying over his death is ridiculous!
We are an ‘Alleluia people’ wrote St. Augustine, where is our Alleluia now? We are to rejoice in the death of a faithful because that is what Christ taught us, death is not the end but a beginning. I agree that we should feel sad because the person is no longer with us but I think for our sadness to over shadow our joy in being an Easter people is really too much, this was really shown in the actions of Catholics the world over. And to think we are still in the Easter season!
Now that he has be buried, we can go back to living our lives again. Has anything changed? No. Has the world become a worse or better place? No. Is God still working in this world? YES! I think what my priest said in his homily on the day the pope died (3rd April 2005) that our faith is built on Christ, our Risen Lord and nothing else, not his birth or his death but by the simple fact that he rose from the dead. It was a real slap in the face for all who were grieving for the pope (a man), provided if the people who heard it could understand the greater meaning of what he said. Christ in the foundation of our faith, nothing else, not the pope, not the Vatican and definitely no the religious. And here we are moaning for the death of a man like there is no tomorrow.
We are an ‘Alleluia people’ wrote St. Augustine, where is our Alleluia now? We are to rejoice in the death of a faithful because that is what Christ taught us, death is not the end but a beginning. I agree that we should feel sad because the person is no longer with us but I think for our sadness to over shadow our joy in being an Easter people is really too much, this was really shown in the actions of Catholics the world over. And to think we are still in the Easter season!
Now that he has be buried, we can go back to living our lives again. Has anything changed? No. Has the world become a worse or better place? No. Is God still working in this world? YES! I think what my priest said in his homily on the day the pope died (3rd April 2005) that our faith is built on Christ, our Risen Lord and nothing else, not his birth or his death but by the simple fact that he rose from the dead. It was a real slap in the face for all who were grieving for the pope (a man), provided if the people who heard it could understand the greater meaning of what he said. Christ in the foundation of our faith, nothing else, not the pope, not the Vatican and definitely no the religious. And here we are moaning for the death of a man like there is no tomorrow.
03 April 2005
The pope has died
I’m glad that he has died. Firstly, at least his suffering is over and he has returned back to the Father’s house. Secondly, it is time for him to let go of the chair (of St. Peter) and let another person take over the duties.
I don’t feel a great loss at the passing of this pope, for the Lord will appoint another person to lead the Church, whether for the better or for the worse, we will not know until the now pope starts his reign.
A lot of people in the world (especially the Catholics) have no idea how much this pope has done to halt the progress of the Church (halting Vatican II). The following are a few things that I can remember:
1) Women are not allowed to preach in Church, he even made it clearer during his reign although there have been Churches that broken this law and I applaud them for it.
2) The no ordination of women as priest. I'm still wondering why? What is wrong with having women priest? I believe that the Church is losing the ideas and inspirations of half of its population because of this bigotry.
3) His Pro-family stance. Of course this is a good thing but his definition of a family is the one father and mother and kids. Because of his non-acceptance of the gay population many families have been broken because a son/daughter came out of the closet. This is so "Pro-family", destroying the ones that don’t meet with his criteria of a family.
4) His unwavering stance against contraception. This really caused uproars in the world because most people are not Catholics but all because of his position as the 'moral compass' the world hears his voice. It made it more difficult for AIDS activist to educate people because most governments frown upon the preaching of condom usage but abstinence. Abstinence is good but how many people believe it? How can you preach to the world when majority of them don't believe in what you preach?
Somehow bringing the Church up to date with the progress of the world was not in his agenda. He would prefer to please the conservative people in the Church and in the ranks then to allow God's love to flow through the land. The Vatican has always had this problem of trying to put the Holy Spirit in a box but the Holy Spirit cannot be contained or controlled, too bad they just don't understand it.
"Give to Caser what belongs to Caser, give to God what belongs to God". I have realised that most preachers and leaders of the Church never follow this teaching of Christ, only one I have encountered was Mother Teressa, who in my heart is a much greater person then pope John Paul II will ever be. Her life was the Gospel and she believed in loving all regardless of race, language, class, sexuality orientation, education qualifications; something I pray that all leaders and preachers of the gospel will be one day.
When will the Vatican realise that God loves everyone and anyone. Not just the people who adhere to their own brand of morality. Too bad they never remember the times when the Church was corrupt and the times when they made mistakes*, too bad they didn't learn.
I pray that the next pope would be a champion for humans, not for popularity or power but for the belief that every human being is a child of God.
* The Church used to preach that people without white skin are spawn of the devil and unnatural. And let us not forget because of the pope's need for power and control the reformation was born.
I don’t feel a great loss at the passing of this pope, for the Lord will appoint another person to lead the Church, whether for the better or for the worse, we will not know until the now pope starts his reign.
A lot of people in the world (especially the Catholics) have no idea how much this pope has done to halt the progress of the Church (halting Vatican II). The following are a few things that I can remember:
1) Women are not allowed to preach in Church, he even made it clearer during his reign although there have been Churches that broken this law and I applaud them for it.
2) The no ordination of women as priest. I'm still wondering why? What is wrong with having women priest? I believe that the Church is losing the ideas and inspirations of half of its population because of this bigotry.
3) His Pro-family stance. Of course this is a good thing but his definition of a family is the one father and mother and kids. Because of his non-acceptance of the gay population many families have been broken because a son/daughter came out of the closet. This is so "Pro-family", destroying the ones that don’t meet with his criteria of a family.
4) His unwavering stance against contraception. This really caused uproars in the world because most people are not Catholics but all because of his position as the 'moral compass' the world hears his voice. It made it more difficult for AIDS activist to educate people because most governments frown upon the preaching of condom usage but abstinence. Abstinence is good but how many people believe it? How can you preach to the world when majority of them don't believe in what you preach?
Somehow bringing the Church up to date with the progress of the world was not in his agenda. He would prefer to please the conservative people in the Church and in the ranks then to allow God's love to flow through the land. The Vatican has always had this problem of trying to put the Holy Spirit in a box but the Holy Spirit cannot be contained or controlled, too bad they just don't understand it.
"Give to Caser what belongs to Caser, give to God what belongs to God". I have realised that most preachers and leaders of the Church never follow this teaching of Christ, only one I have encountered was Mother Teressa, who in my heart is a much greater person then pope John Paul II will ever be. Her life was the Gospel and she believed in loving all regardless of race, language, class, sexuality orientation, education qualifications; something I pray that all leaders and preachers of the gospel will be one day.
When will the Vatican realise that God loves everyone and anyone. Not just the people who adhere to their own brand of morality. Too bad they never remember the times when the Church was corrupt and the times when they made mistakes*, too bad they didn't learn.
I pray that the next pope would be a champion for humans, not for popularity or power but for the belief that every human being is a child of God.
* The Church used to preach that people without white skin are spawn of the devil and unnatural. And let us not forget because of the pope's need for power and control the reformation was born.
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