-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Add your name to the CLEAN GOA INITIATIVE | | | | by visiting this link and following the instructions therein | | | | http://shire.symonds.net/pipermail/goanet/2005-October/033926.html | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- i have been following the mixed marriages thingy closely for a couple of weeks now and i just had to comment...
i must say that the church is becoming increasing irrelevant for young people and it is shortsighted and insensitive directives like these that only alienate them further. i fail to understand (call it lack of faith or stupidity, if you may) why the people who make these directives are bent on excising the very members who lend vitality and charisma to the church...i will not be wrong if i said that this directive is discriminatory and will only cause people who are directly affected to fall away. there is a great movement in young people today, it comes from being geographically mobile, being connected to people from all over and being in constant touch with global events... the average youth has many more options today... even in the choice of spirituality... it is time that the church sheds its exclusivity and becomes truly Catholic... of what use is a faith if it doesnt allow you to live ... if it stifles your creativity and potential... if it doesnt allow you access to resources if you choose to be different...if it binds you to archaic, irrelevant 'rules', if it doesnt let you enjoy the sacrament of marriage with the person you love... i think we need a new reformation, that will be burn the church as we know it...to cinders if necessary... the old must go away if the new is to come... we need popes, bishops and priests and other religious 'of' the people because We are the Church... we need fellow travellers not shepherds... we are anything but dumb sheep... the patronising must go... the empathizing and loving must begin... this is probably more of a cry of a person who is deeply discontented of institutional hegemony and the marginalisation that it creates within the Church.. it is definitely anguish over the hipocrisy and insensitivity that is so deeply embedded in the structures and codes... where does the average young urbane person fit in today within the church? no where! i think the key considerations that should be the backbone for any church directive should be inclusiveness and equity, social relevance and sensitivity.. this can come only from a deep sense of love of the Christ and his message. I dont know if ive said enough...this is not meant to convince...or create controversy it was jus a sharing ryan Ryan Figueiredo Naandi Foundation Trendset Towers Banjara Hills Hyderabad
