Pope Francis and the Conservatives
P. Schultz
November 10, 2013
The NY
Times published an article today entitled “Conservative U.S. Catholics Feel
Left Out of Pope’s Embrace.” And while I don’t usually comment on religion
herein, I cannot resist doing so about this article, or rather about the
substance of the article.
I am not
only not a biblical expert but I am also quite ignorant of the Bible and especially
it’s words. But from what I recall, I can’t recall Jesus talking about
abortion, gays and lesbians, married or otherwise, the trinity, attending mass
on Sunday, or papal infallibility. Of course, that might be because Jesus was
then still Jewish and the Catholic Church was not even a twinkle in the eyes of
his disciples, who were, if I remember correctly, also Jewish. I do recall
something called “The Sermon on the Mount,” but that “sermon” – and I am sure
that is not the word used in the Bible to describe this event – seemed to focus
on other matters, such as who would inherit the earth…….and that would be the
meek, as I remember it.
Conservative
Catholics as described here remind me of those politicians and political advisers,
many of them Democrats, who bemoan the fact that elections often turn not on
“the issues” as they define them but rather on the persona of those seeking
office. Well, I guess the same thing could be said of Jesus, viz., that he
ignored “the issues” and focused his “ministry” on, well, on people, real, live
people and not on abstractions like “pregnant women in ‘crisis’” or those lovers
deemed “deviants.”
“When a pope makes a statement off the
cuff or in an interview, it’s not an infallible statement,” said Chris Baran,
the president of the clinic’s board. “What he said in a statement does not
change any teaching of the church that’s been around over 2,000 years.”
This
would be Chris Baran, the president of “the Pregnancy Aid Clinic in Hapeville,
Ga., a Catholic-run nonprofit center where women who come for pregnancy tests
are counseled against abortion,” and as an “educator” I must point out that the
Catholic Church is not 2000 years old and its “teachings” – if enforcing
commands disguised as absolute truth can be called “teaching” – are not 2000
years old either. Mr. Baran seems to think that “the truth” appeared whole at
one moment in time, which isn’t, as I understand it, even the opinion of his
church. But then, doesn’t he have to believe this to maintain and justify his
“conservatism,” conservatism that is difficult to distinguish from obstinacy?
Just wondering.
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