“Sock it to ‘em, Francis”!
Having said that, I have more than a passing interest in the Catholic Church, as well as many other religions. I am fascinated by the Jewish faith, for example, and Muslims are common throughout the world (though we may not know or want to know that).
All told, I am a firm believer that religion is an element to anybody’s spiritual and intellectual “self being.” “It has to be done, Jeffrey,” as my longtime Irish Catholic friend Marty from the Bay Area — also a father — reminds me about embracing a religion.
My only caveat: Just don’t take it too seriously or you risk becoming intolerant of others — the biggest irony of all for religion.
My own opinion is that the Catholic Church could be “refreshed,” so I was glad that the new Pope Francis (AKA, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio) is not such a stuffy “Old World” fellow:
•He took the name Francis. Our son’s middle name is “McKenzie” (a family name), so now I can tell him that the Pope also has a name that could be mistaken for a girl’s name – a concern of his as he grows into a “tween.”
•Francis is our first pope from the New World. I believe this is a breakthrough, and it’s “safe” for traditionalists because of the large number of Catholics in Latin America.
•He is from Argentina. My wife and I have been to Argentina twice, and we love it: the food, the culture, the people. And it’s nearly on the same time zone, so there is no jet lag. It used to be very expensive to go there, but now the dollar is more closely pegged to their currency.
*He is from the Jesuit order. This is a distinctly California perspective to Catholicism. Gov. Jerry Brown was a Jesuit, and some of our finer universities (St. Mary’s and Santa Clara University, and Jesuit High School in Sacramento, for example) are based on the Jesuit teachings.
I am hopeful that Pope Francis can figure out a way to meld the Catholic faith with the reality of our New World, increasingly a challenge in our diverse world.
Since Popes are around for a long time, Francis could be the last Pope in my lifetime. I celebrate that if it’s true. Change is a good thing, in the Catholic Church and elsewhere.
Here’s satirist Tom Lehrer singing the “Vatican Rag.” If you don’t know about Tom’s work, you should.
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Francis of Assisi and San Francisco values…yikes! I wonder if the Roman Curia will be installing a hotline to Lone Mountain: https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/7416/campus_at_dusk2.jpg
BRILLIANT, educational post, links and all.
It was politically smart to elect an Argentinian as the head of the Catholic Church. That said, I have a hard time understanding the vast and obscene wealth of the Catholic power structure, its bias against women, its tacit approval of sodomy perpetrated against thousands of children and the edicts emanating from chaste (really?) males who will never actually have an opportunity to understand the joys and responsibilities of parenting.
Religion based on the worship of a supernatural being is delusional, IMHO.
Earth-based spiritual practices and beliefs such as those held by our Native American ancestors make so much more sense. So, congrats to the Catholics, but I’ll stick with what works for me.
“Earth-based spiritual practices and beliefs such as those held by our Native American ancestors make so much more sense.”
Do you also find that to be true of the original untwisted teachings of Jesus?
He lived very close to the earth.
Greg,
I am not a Christian but, Jesus is just alright with me.
Good vibes.
Growing up in an Episcopalian family, my grandmother refered to us as the “Bad Catholics”. As a kid, I reveled in the fact that I could get away with more than my Catholic buddies and still get into Heaven. This was a fact my Catholic buddies did not appreciate.
Robin Williams once described the Episcopalian religion as “Catholic Light: All of the pageantry but none of the guilt.”
So what we’re talking about is a entity that “created” the world, but this entity has never produced a shred of evidence that he/she actually exists.
The only evidence is a book that was :”written” before man actually invented language (or a way to record these stories).
I always loved the following biblical quotes as they seem to be completely off track to what people conceive as religious actions of today.
“Treat others, as you would have yourself be treated”
“Wherever possible, live and let live”
“Be kind to beings less powerful than yourself”
“Respect the privacy of others”
“Respect the environment we all share”
What’s wrong with this picture as should a “God” be correcting these actions or could it be that there is no such entity, and we’ve just made him up to stop feeling so small and weak?
I always liked the following sections of Genesis: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
God says that if Adam eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, then the day that he does so, he will die. but then Adam eats the forbidden fruit (3:6) and lives for another 930 years (5:5). 2:17 – Where’s this tree? I want one of those Apples!
Let’s try to understand about a more recent issue in WWII….. Our “god” allowed for Hitler to kill several million Jews, so would that put him on the same scale with the devil?
Oh soooooo many questions with so little proof to back all of these thousands of years of stories…..
Brad,
We hear the saying that God created man in his own image. In truth it is the other way around. The J/C concept of God as a supernatural male, like Zeus, is an attempt to explain things we cannot yet understand and to gain control of our fellow humans. Don’t get me started on the Catholic hierarchy’s response to the centuries of systematic rape of children by many of their priests.
If there is a single omnipotent God, he is murderously cruel, has no sense of humor and is one lousy communicator.
He also has a lot of explaining to do about Sandy Hook for instance, or My Lai (which we now know was not an anomaly but standard practice by our forces repeated many times over the years of that awful conflict) and yes, the Holocaust, many holocausts, too many.
Life is such a great privilege and our planet so beautiful. Caring for one another and our surroundings, so that future generations can thrive and enjoy the miracle of living in this amazing world is our one solemn duty.
We aren’t doing such a good job.
We rationalize by saying bad things humans do are part of “God’s plan”.
If that is true, I wouldn’t trust him to build a .
We do need a spiritual life, but one that comes from communion with nature, and respect for all living things. We do need to be grateful and give thanks to the myriad mysterious powers that have provided each of us with a glimpse of the amazing pageant of life. But we are ill served by the commodification of the divine. In human terms it would be totalitarian.
A word from one of our greatest poets:
“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”
― Walt Whitman
He’s right, IMHO.
Judith:
Nice Whitman quote. Thanks.
Here are the words of another great poet:
http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/god-our-side
I think the final verse sums things up pretty well:
So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war
Judith – we’re on the same boat here…
. . . I meant to say “an outhouse”.
I get it; I filled in “outhouse” before you said it.
It is still confusing, though. Could the idea of there being “our one solemn duty” be another projection of “god’s” design?
I think what Whitman is saying is that “it” is in our nature but only the “animals” let it shine freely.
Greg,
It is our duty to care for each other and the earth not because of some edict from a Nanny-God, but because nothing else makes sense.
Thanks Steve, that’s a good verse.
Judith,
Yes, we are not alone in time.