Pope
James Lileks has an insightfully amsuing (or maybe that should be amusingly insightful) post on the new Pope. I like his line about people professing shock that the head of the Catholic Church might be a traditionalist!
I was raised Catholic but haven't been practicing since the end of high school. Still, I think the Church is a pretty impressive institution in so far as they have a rather well-developed body of thought that has been adhered to for centuries. These guys don't take this stuff lightly. They dedicate their lives to trying to interpret what they see as divine truth, and I think it's understandable that the institution is reluctant to change in accordance with the latest social trends.
Lileks has a good point when he says if you don't agree with the Church, don't call yourself Catholic. There are plenty of other branches of Christianity out there, or whole other religions if you're so inclined. To ask the Catholic Church to change is sort of like asking nihilism or existentialism to change because you don't agree with some of their basic tenets. It's like saying, "I'm a nihilist, but I don't agree that the universe is without meaning or fundamental truth. In fact, nihilism should change to conform to this view." At that point, you've stopped being a nihilist.
None of this is to say that Pope Benedict XVI (hey Mayor, you've forgotten to call him Pope Eggs Benedict. You can use that if you want. And Pope Benedict Arnold, too) is a great choice or that the Catholic Church is always correct and woe be to those Hell-bound heretics who disagree. I'm just saying, you know?
I was raised Catholic but haven't been practicing since the end of high school. Still, I think the Church is a pretty impressive institution in so far as they have a rather well-developed body of thought that has been adhered to for centuries. These guys don't take this stuff lightly. They dedicate their lives to trying to interpret what they see as divine truth, and I think it's understandable that the institution is reluctant to change in accordance with the latest social trends.
Lileks has a good point when he says if you don't agree with the Church, don't call yourself Catholic. There are plenty of other branches of Christianity out there, or whole other religions if you're so inclined. To ask the Catholic Church to change is sort of like asking nihilism or existentialism to change because you don't agree with some of their basic tenets. It's like saying, "I'm a nihilist, but I don't agree that the universe is without meaning or fundamental truth. In fact, nihilism should change to conform to this view." At that point, you've stopped being a nihilist.
None of this is to say that Pope Benedict XVI (hey Mayor, you've forgotten to call him Pope Eggs Benedict. You can use that if you want. And Pope Benedict Arnold, too) is a great choice or that the Catholic Church is always correct and woe be to those Hell-bound heretics who disagree. I'm just saying, you know?
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