--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "at_man_and_brahman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I'm not Catholic, but I've long had a > fascination with the Roman church, > not unmixed with a habit of > criticizing its excesses, oversights, and > material appetites. > > In the last days, I've been moved by > what I've seen at the Vatican as it > gets a chance to get back to > basics. > > Though I disagree with the Pontiff > on many issues, in retrospect I find > his immense compassion and > dedication to his principles a > profound essence of sainthood. SNIP
I was raised Catholic with 14 yrs of Catholic education. I'm still in touch with school buddies who have one foot in what's known as the "liberation theology" wing of the church. They basically believe in getting down and dirty in working for social justice in the spirit of jesus. In the 80s they were in latin america literally putting their bodies in the way of contras gunning down peasants and now many of them are in palestine doing the same -- while killing peasants goes unnoticed, mercenaries know that killing americans gets really bad press which generally but not always makes them think twice. They're also involved in legal issues, construction, education, and anything else that helps create a better and fairer life for these poor people. In short these people are really close to the def. of a saint. To his credit this Pope tolerated the liberation theology movement (as long as they didn't encourage birth control) but never went out of his way to support it - perhaps he was legitimately restricted by political realities. But I wish the media would give more time to the saints on the ground doing the dirty work than to the guy in the limo waving to the crowds. This Pope also presided over the church's unethical handling of the priest-molestation crisis, which put avoiding bad PR way ahead of dealing with the problem and protecting children. I can accept the Pope's unyielding conservatism on dogma as something I don't agree with but can understand as a part of the historical church, but I see no good excuse for his behavior in this issue -- action was finally taken only when it began to impact sunday donations at mass. Interesting comparison with MMY -- in his later yrs this Pope was known to rant against western (american) materialism but was still happy to accept about $7 billion per yr in donations from americans. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
