Somewhat more seriously
Apr. 3rd, 2005 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcI stand in bold opposition to the Catholic Church on many issues: I support family planning, sexual health, women as true equals to men, and reject the notion that suffering is spirtually superior to contendness and serenity. I cannot count how many times I’ve fought directly against the Church and it’s stances on these sorts of issues. Pope John Paul II consistently put forth the antithesis of these stances, was a social reactionary, who comfortably wielded his authority as pontiff to marginalize dissent in the Church. And his veneration of Mother Theresa, who refused to support birth control in the slums of Calcutta, quite frankly infuriates me. Heartless.
However, I have also rejected attempts for those who are outside the body of the Church seeking to change it; Catholics have a right to change the Church, not anyone else. I believe that secular societies can only be sustained when theology is excluded from public policy--and religions are left to hold their own values, short of criminality. If we don't want theocracy, we have to allow genuine religious institutions (those which operate autonomously of tax/ratepayer support) to hold their own views. Quite often, along with the hideous stuff are some very good thing. That may be unpopular with some of my friends.
His Holiness John Paul II, however, was formidable. He spoke 11 languages fluently. He lost his entire immediate family before and during World War II. He study for the priesthood when to do so (under Nazi occupancy) meant facing the firing squad...or the death camps. He broke hundreds of years of Church complicity in the oppression of working peoples (Ireland would’ve been independent perhaps 200 years earlier, were it not for the Church), by supporting Solidarity in Poland (one example of many). He argued that human rights were a part of the Gospels, and that obscene capitalism was as evil as communism. And he travelled the world, repeatedly, when his predecessors largely remained in Italy and Europe.
And he also made it clear that the spiritual fight for justice was not synonymous with politics. He made it nearly impossible for persons with Catholic religious vocations to hold public office--though he clearly gave opinions on all sorts of issues of political importance and encouraged Catholics as citizens to involve themselves in public life. As Pope he made more apologies for the Church’s historical wrongdoings than all his predecessors combined.
So very far from perfect. So often an adversary. But he endeavoured to live vigorously within the principles he espoused.
I shall not miss him, but I acknowledge that, in many respects, he changed things for the better. And never seemed driven by ego.
I’ll leave it to Gawd to judge him.
However, I have also rejected attempts for those who are outside the body of the Church seeking to change it; Catholics have a right to change the Church, not anyone else. I believe that secular societies can only be sustained when theology is excluded from public policy--and religions are left to hold their own values, short of criminality. If we don't want theocracy, we have to allow genuine religious institutions (those which operate autonomously of tax/ratepayer support) to hold their own views. Quite often, along with the hideous stuff are some very good thing. That may be unpopular with some of my friends.
His Holiness John Paul II, however, was formidable. He spoke 11 languages fluently. He lost his entire immediate family before and during World War II. He study for the priesthood when to do so (under Nazi occupancy) meant facing the firing squad...or the death camps. He broke hundreds of years of Church complicity in the oppression of working peoples (Ireland would’ve been independent perhaps 200 years earlier, were it not for the Church), by supporting Solidarity in Poland (one example of many). He argued that human rights were a part of the Gospels, and that obscene capitalism was as evil as communism. And he travelled the world, repeatedly, when his predecessors largely remained in Italy and Europe.
And he also made it clear that the spiritual fight for justice was not synonymous with politics. He made it nearly impossible for persons with Catholic religious vocations to hold public office--though he clearly gave opinions on all sorts of issues of political importance and encouraged Catholics as citizens to involve themselves in public life. As Pope he made more apologies for the Church’s historical wrongdoings than all his predecessors combined.
So very far from perfect. So often an adversary. But he endeavoured to live vigorously within the principles he espoused.
I shall not miss him, but I acknowledge that, in many respects, he changed things for the better. And never seemed driven by ego.
I’ll leave it to Gawd to judge him.
