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Goodbye, John Paul
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
(Edmund Burke).
I have conflicting emotions over the passing of John Paul. He seemed a good man. He was willing and eager to embrace the lame, the halt, the poor. He cared deeply about the downtrodden. He was a man of peace who was unafraid to criticize makers of war, no matter where they were to be found. Under his leadership, Catholicism made major incursions into Africa and South America, usually through extensive charitable work.
Nevertheless, in terms of doctrine, John Paul was a strict constructionist. Many of the policies and beliefs that drove me from the Catholic Church in the first place were reaffirmed during his papacy. I wish that John Paul had done more to address problems such as the world AIDS epidemic and the status of women in the church. The Church continues to condemn not only abortion, but even birth control. The Church continues to teach that gays and Lesbians are not merely forbidden to marry; they are, by virtue of their sexual orientation, intrinsically sinful. The list goes on.
I believe that many practicing Catholics pick and choose the tenets of the faith that they find reasonable. That is what I would do, if I still practiced the religion. The Church, however, does not accept picking and choosing. Cardinal Bernard Law, that paragon of moral authority who presided over the clergy sexual abuse scandals here in Boston, said it plainly: follow the teachings of the Church to the letter, or get out. I, for one, got out.
The sorrow I felt over John Paul's passing was tempered by the chilling re-emergence of Bernard Law at the Vatican in recent days. He has been sheltered there since resigning in disgrace. Law's practice of reassigning and hiding pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese is well-documented--currently, dozens of parish churches face closure to pay the cost of Law's malfeasance. No one knows how many children were subjected to additional molestation due to his failure to address this outrage.
I do not know at what point John Paul became aware of the extent of the horror in Boston, but I do know that his response was one of passivity. In the crucible of the abuse crisis in Boston, John Paul was a good man...who did nothing.
For more on this topic, go here.
belfastcowboy75 at 4:46:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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I liked this entry because I was so tired of listening to how wonderful a man he was... when in fact there are many things he did (or didn't) do that were highly offensive to me..... opposing condom use in AIDS endemic Africa, doing little through the child molestation scandle, speaking badly about gay and lesbian people, and let's not forget how the catholic church treats women as second class citizens..... to name a few.
You essay was a more balanced honest essay than most of what I have heard said about the man.
Thanks.
Virginia -
Hello-
I couldn't agree with you more. His passing is sad, but he did not do enough for the disgusting violations done to so many children. What has happen to shame and intolerance?
Thanks for a great entry,
Schoolgal040 (Gayla)
http://journals.aol.com/schoolgal040/SoMuchMore -
The dogma of the church drove me away years and years ago. I never looked back. I feel every individual needs to be able to customize their relationship with God/dess. The Pope did his best in many respects...but the relative indifference to the molestations is inexcusable.
BTW - a visit to the Vatican left me overwhelmed. I was not prepared for the opulence that exists there. Somehow...it all strikes me as wrong... -
I agree. A good man who does nothing in the face of human suffering is not...infallible.
5/14/05 8:47 PM
It was said that he tried to reitire and move back to Poland but he saw the world as torn apart and needing his help. He forgave the man and then he set about sponsering and attending huge international youth conferences on God,etc. Young people remembered his kind words and his touch and even attended his funeral.
Then, when he became ill he decided to show people his suffering because he believed that we should eb okay with suffering and dying naturally.I do not agree with his abortioan, women or Aids policy but he did sahre alot of love and spirit wiht a suffering world adn he asked us to solve our difficulties peacefully.