Centrist Pope?

[SaveElmer]

Shows how deep the Catholic Church has sunk in my opinion if this guy is considered centrist...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801478.html

[saltpoint]

1. These days I'm wary of anything the Washington Post does,

at least its editorial board, so I'm not exactly buying the label-job on this Pope.

Hell, he's not even been Pope for very long. We had decades to evaluate his predecessor, but this guy is almost brand new to the job.

Sometimes newspaper pieces are top-down pieces, and inadvertently (or on purpose?) characterize an institution by its top people. Not all Catholics align with the Pope's politics. Especially European and U.S. Catholics, who for many years ignored Popes' admonitions against birth control.

Many Central and South American Catholics are far to the left of the Vatican. I was kind of rooting for one of the Central or South American cardinals to be the new Pope. But then I also voted for John Kerry and John Edwards over Bush and Cheney. My side doesn't always win.

I think we have lots of information on Benedict, but the jury is still out on his reign as the new Pope.

Just my nickle's worth.

[SaveElmer]

2. I agree on the divide between the leadership and worshipers...

I know many great priests, whose focus is on social justice not gays and Harry Potter.

In fact last year when my Grandmother died, the priest officiating at her viewing was talking about my Grandmother's ability to get information out of people they usually did not want to divulge. The Priest said he knew exactly what my Grandmother was saying to God at that moment..."How did we get this guy for Pope?" This from a Priest...

But I have seen enough of this Pope to form a judgement...his pogrom against gays in the seminaries, his judgement on the moral bankruptcy of gays and gay marriage, and his unconscionable opposition to birth control use in African countries hardest hit by AIDS, is just evil...no other way to put it. He is promoting bigotry and hatred against homosexuals.

[saltpoint]

3. Hi, SaveElmer. This is kind of eerie, but in a good way: I just posted

in the Hastings Law School v. Fundy Nutcase Lesbian and Gay Bashers thread. I've re-named it to reflect my bias against any group that bars the door to some but includes others-in-lockstep.

Also in that Hastings case I got a strong flash of Ax-Handle Maddox standing in the doorway steps to universities in the American South, sadly not all that long ago. Etc. You know the story.

As for this Pope, I share a nervousness and even dread that his accumulated work will be way too conservative, but I thank you for citing the individual Catholic clergy and lay folks as well as their dedicated and dazzling charitable arm for the work they do. As I read the gospels I was left with the impression that it tends overwhelmingly to be the "little guy" and not the Head Guy who actually comprises the character of an organization. Jesus himself plainly preferred the Essenes out in the wild desert to the organizational temples of his town.

In my area, it's the Protestant fundies who are after Harry Potter books. Most parents, thrilled to the sky that their kids are reading, take the side of Ms. Rawlins and the young musicians. I don't thik the fundies realize how many of their social positions on censorship and their more direct assault on professions like science make them sound hysterical and unstable.

[SaveElmer]

5. I have since left the Catholic Church...

I grew up going to a very liberal inner-city church in Minneapolis...I loved that place. But moving out into the real world as I grew up I realized there are very few diocese which lived up to that example...and most around here where I live now are very conservative. I just could not, in good conscience continue supporting a church that tells me my sister is aberrant and unworthy of a happy life.

I have since found that the Unitarian denomination suits me more closely. I have nothing at all against folks who are Catholics, and as I have said, there are many Catholic Priests I know are not in agreement with church policy on many of these questions.

So if you see me rant and rave against church hierarchy here, as I do on occasion, know it is not directed at Catholic worhipers, or indeed most of the clergy!

[saltpoint]

7. We're totally solid on that, SaveElmer, and I support your sister's

wish and right to be herself and your support for her for doing it. Heart & mind, up and onward.

And the Unitarians? They're great. I knew a handful from early days and have hung out with several since. Top-drawer folks. I have even been a guest in one of the Unitarian churches in Minneapolis -- this was eons ago now -- when Khoren Arisian was its minister. That day he delivered a blistering assault on Reagan and his death-squad operations in Central America entitled, "Malice in Blunderland." It was magnificent if you were a Democrat, probably less so if you were a Republican.

[noonwitch]

4. There are no centrists in the Office of the Doctrine of The Faith

Didn't Benedict come from there? The new name for the Inquisition? I doubt many liberals or centrists are found there.

[moc]

6. Ratzinger a "centrist"?

I don't know whether to :rofl: or :puke:

Ratzinger was the one behind the church coverup of the pedophilia scandal.

Ratzinger was the one who "slapped down" progressive Catholic theologians. (Mr. moc knows the details on this, but he just left for work.)

Centrist, my ass. :mad:

[Mandate My Ass]

8. Centrist? He says the earth needs to be cleansed of gays and

pedophile priests get sanctuary in the Vatican.

I'd hate to see what a RW pope would be like. :eyes: