Tuesday, April 19, 2005
The Election of a Pope
500 years ago Anglican Catholics stepped away from Rome because they could not tolerate political control coming from a single individual (the Pope) whose world view was limited by both geography and culture.
Now, 1/2 a millennium later, little has changed. The 'red hats' have elected Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), an avowed conservative and 'enforcer'' of church doctrine whose world view is limited by his blatant rejection of Vatican II and his inflexibility on marriage, women, abortion rights and other church reforms.
I am not a Roman Catholic, but I am a member of the Catholic tradition, being raised an Episcopalian. If you know your church history, you know that we Anglicans figured out that saying the mass in the vernacular was a pretty good thing clear back in the 16th century. No Vatican Council was needed for us, just a King who needed a son and a Queen to follow who was determined to maintain English independence.
Anyway, I do feel a sense of kinship to the Roman Church. The liturgy is familiar, many of the sacramental practices are similar and our roots are more common than most of the other mainline Christian denominations.
We also share the same hierarchy of ordained ministers with the belief in their sacred call by God: Bishops, the 'lords' of the church who represent the 'governors' of the church's bureaucracy; priests, who are the 'shepherds' of the flock and the conveyors of the sacraments to the people; and deacons who serve the needs of the other ordained and those of the people as well and are able to carry out a limited number of sacramental functions.
The Catholic Church takes the organizational principle further with the appointed offices of cardinals (red hats) and the elected office of the Pope. Over the centuries this religious hierarchy has helped to control the huge political body of the church and has also served to unify the beliefs of the Church throughout the world.
It is through this political oligarchy that the Church has been able to stifle debate and limit reform, even in the face of growing dissent in the Church. Is it any wonder that the number of priests in this country is dwindling? Is it any wonder that resentment over the wealth of the Church in the face of poverty still embitters the faithful in Central and South America? Is it any wonder that charges of pedophilia become reasons for questioning the Church's whole credibility? Finally, is it any wonder that the Church of John F. Kennedy is now being seen to walk hand in hand with the radical right while looking to limit our freedoms in our schools, our courts, our hospitals, our pharmacies and our bedrooms.
For the sake of my brother and sister Catholics, and for the rest of us as well, I pray that Benedict the XVIth will surprise us all.
Now, 1/2 a millennium later, little has changed. The 'red hats' have elected Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), an avowed conservative and 'enforcer'' of church doctrine whose world view is limited by his blatant rejection of Vatican II and his inflexibility on marriage, women, abortion rights and other church reforms.
I am not a Roman Catholic, but I am a member of the Catholic tradition, being raised an Episcopalian. If you know your church history, you know that we Anglicans figured out that saying the mass in the vernacular was a pretty good thing clear back in the 16th century. No Vatican Council was needed for us, just a King who needed a son and a Queen to follow who was determined to maintain English independence.
Anyway, I do feel a sense of kinship to the Roman Church. The liturgy is familiar, many of the sacramental practices are similar and our roots are more common than most of the other mainline Christian denominations.
We also share the same hierarchy of ordained ministers with the belief in their sacred call by God: Bishops, the 'lords' of the church who represent the 'governors' of the church's bureaucracy; priests, who are the 'shepherds' of the flock and the conveyors of the sacraments to the people; and deacons who serve the needs of the other ordained and those of the people as well and are able to carry out a limited number of sacramental functions.
The Catholic Church takes the organizational principle further with the appointed offices of cardinals (red hats) and the elected office of the Pope. Over the centuries this religious hierarchy has helped to control the huge political body of the church and has also served to unify the beliefs of the Church throughout the world.
It is through this political oligarchy that the Church has been able to stifle debate and limit reform, even in the face of growing dissent in the Church. Is it any wonder that the number of priests in this country is dwindling? Is it any wonder that resentment over the wealth of the Church in the face of poverty still embitters the faithful in Central and South America? Is it any wonder that charges of pedophilia become reasons for questioning the Church's whole credibility? Finally, is it any wonder that the Church of John F. Kennedy is now being seen to walk hand in hand with the radical right while looking to limit our freedoms in our schools, our courts, our hospitals, our pharmacies and our bedrooms.
For the sake of my brother and sister Catholics, and for the rest of us as well, I pray that Benedict the XVIth will surprise us all.
# posted by Michael Christopher : 12:24 AM
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