“What the next pope needs to do,as his first act, is to demand an accounting of every act of child abuse in the church. Every priest who is known to be guilty should be routed out, excommunicated and jailed. Every priest, bishop and cardinal who had any knowledge of these heinous crimes and protected a users should be excommunicated and prosecuted in the courts…..If ever there were a time for the church to ask, “What would Jesus do?” This is it”.
(Adapted from an article by Sally Quinn in the Washington Post, February .23
An incoming Pope should set out to re-convert the Vatican to Christianity, explaining to the Italian establishment that runs the place that it is there to offer a message of love and compassion (presumptuous for me to say it, but nobody else seems to be doing so). The behavior of Catholic priests, and those who shielded them, was repellent, and justice has not yet been seen to be done. Once it has addressed the scandals properly the Church could start over, ridding itself of medieval dresses, silly hats, it’s antiquities in the Vatican museum, and the dogmatic accretions of centuries.
Epicureans should respect the beliefs of the religious, just as long as they do no harm, help the poor and help build communities. But we do look forward, however, to seeing superstition wither away, and along with it priests who presume to tell people how they should live.
WHEN to re-form? WHEN to re-convert?–or WHEN to circumvent dysfunctional organizations and turn elsewhere? To me, that’s THE question this generation faces.
Epicurus did not try to “re-convert” Greece to its Republican ethos and I don’t think Lucretius took on the Roman legions nor Montaigne the French kings. To succeed in overthrowing their world, they would have had to raise private armies. Impossible at that point.
Two out of the three men sensibly retired to physical bastions (gardens, towers, castles) They pulled out of the dominant games and sought better explanations of their humanity from like-minded friends, past and present.
Why do people turn to religion or philosophy or literature or art? because humans crave explanations of life and all its complexities. What kind of EXPLANATIONS about life are being offered by the RCC these days? or the mass media? or the world of art? or literature? They are increasingly desiccated.
Epicurus and Lucretius offered helpful understanding, so did Jesus, and Montaigne and many others–whoever they are and wherever they are and whenever they are or were—we need them. The folderol unfolding at the Vatican, draped in red satin and white lace? The situation is not encouraging but (so far!) the world remains the fantastically beautiful place to explore as we circumvent the surrounding noise.