As many of you might have guessed, this post has been spurred by the recent announcement that the current pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, will resign by the end of the month. According to what I've read, it is the first time this has happened in 600 years. Wow.
I was pretty shocked to read the news, and for some reason, my immediate reaction was to inexplicably giggle for several long minutes. I certainly meant no disrespect, but it is the honest truth. This might have been brought on by my inability to fall asleep before 1 a.m. the night prior (believe me, 1 a.m. is way past my bedtime), but I suspect it also had a deeper root in my confusion about my own opinions on the pope. I was shocked by how few of my non-Catholic friends were interested, and it got me thinking about this whole situation.
As my Mom so astutely says, Pope John Paul II is a hard act to follow, and my main views of the papacy grew during the last years of his leadership of the Catholic church. He was a great man by almost all accounts, traveling to different countries and continents to foster peace and goodwill, and not just among Catholics, but among all peoples. He was the first pope ever (score!) to visit a Jewish synagogue, and worked hard (and unfortunately unsuccessfully) to bring peace to the Middle East. He was well loved by many around the world for his sincere efforts to make this world a better place. I once heard from an English professor of mine that JPII (John Paul II) held some antiquated views on women, but otherwise he seemed to stand as a representative of all that a human being can hope to achieve during their life on earth. I must admit I found him very inspiring. He is on a fast track to being beatified (I just love that word, it means "to be made a saint") because he was so holy during his lifetime.
Pope John Paul II
The most recent (still-current) pope, Pope Benedict, did not reach nearly the same popularity or recognition around the world, nor among non-Catholics, as Pope John Paul II did. He was the second pope ever to visit a Jewish synagogue, though, which is awesome. Otherwise, I do not know much of what else he has done over the past few years outside of the Catholic Church. He apparently feels that he can no longer physically serve in the role of pope because of his age.
Many questioned the decision several years ago to elect a pope who was so old (he's 85 now) and I even heard the quite cynical theory that he may have been chosen because there were no extremely strong candidates and his age would mean he would not live much longer (sounds horrible if it's true). But what about all of us non-Catholics? With Pope John Paul II, the great interfaith champion, gone now for several years, should we put any thought into the changing of leadership of a major world religion that is not our own? Simply put, should people care about the pope?
My quick answer would be this: everyone should probably care about the pope more than most non-Catholics do and less than many Catholics do.
Allow me to explain. My experience with the Catholic religion has been long and deep. Growing up I learned a whole bunch about the religion from my mother, from various friends at school, and most recently by living with several Catholic girls for a few months last fall in college. I would consider myself fairly well-versed in Catholicism, and I probably care more about the "changing of the pope" than I should as a Jewish person. But it affects many people I love very much, and I will continue to hope that the next pope will use his power in a way that he will live up to the interfaith legacy Pope John Paul II left behind more than Pope Benedict has.
I think non-Catholics should certainly care about the pope to some extent. Whether or not it makes us happy, the Catholic church, with its millions of members around the world, has a lot of power, with its members, with various governments, in the media. Just as with any other large world organization, we should maintain some awareness of the pope because of the power he holds. It may not be fair that the world follows Catholic changes of power more than they follow decisions within movements of Judaism, or Zoroastrianism, or Presbyterianism, or Unitarian Universalism, for example, but that is the way it stands today.
Which points to another opinion I have, which is that those directly invested in the outcome of the choice of the new pope (Catholic people) and other very interested observers (like me) should probably be less interested than we are. Yes, even Catholic individuals should only care about the pope to a certain extent. The pope is a man like any other man, possibly holier than some (I do not know enough about any popes other than JPII to claim this definitively) but also probably less holy than others. No one is perfect. (Though I have loved the images of "brackets" a la March madness that have popped up regarding who might become the next pope. The odds are unfortunately against any American becoming pope next. Darn!)
In Judaism, being a rabbi is synonymous with being a teacher. Rabbis are meant to lead us in our religious learning, and are not seen as being selected directly by G-d (as far as I know). I think a lot of people assign too much weight to their religious leaders, not just members of the Catholic Church, I am simply using this as a case study. Religious leaders are people, certainly much more educated in their religion than lay people are, but still: just people. I think my giggling on hearing the news was really just my shock at how much I cared about the news about the pope's resignation, a feeling I imagine stems from my close relationships with some wonderful Catholic people, like my Mama.
So I vote that we non-Catholics pay attention. Religious news in important, whether you are an atheist or a devout adherent of some religion, religion affects us all to some extent. But we also need perspective, because in the end, isn't religion supposed to just help us live our lives in a better, more moral and loving way? Whether or not a leader here, or in Rome, or in Israel or India or China or Utah or wherever decides to make decisions about our religion, in the end, we all have to do what we feel is right. Religion can only take morality so far.
With that said, I have a question: Does anyone have any good JPII quotes? Please write them in the comments if you do, I'd love to find some to add to my quote book (yes, I have a quote book).
Oh, by the way, a bit of foreshadowing: The rumor going around is that an article of mine will be up somewhere else online on Monday. I'll re-post it here as soon as it goes live.
Now go out and love one another.
<3,
Allyson
6 comments:
I recall saving a bunch of quotes of his last year or the year before, but I don't know where I put them. PJPII was a rhetorical all-star, in my opinion. :) Especially some of the things he said about hope.
A quick google search got me this one, though:
“Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.”
― Pope John Paul II
I agree with a lot of what you're saying here. The Pope should be more a shepherd to Catholic people of the world, not necessarily a director. Not all the sheep are always going to listen, but it's nice to have someone to watch out for the Church's interests on Earth. At the same time, the fact that he IS only human, combined with the varying degrees of belief within the church (i.e. the existence of "cafeteria Catholics," or, some might argue, all Catholics), means that the buzz around his resignation and the election of a new Pope really won't have much effect on the behavior of people within the church. If they believe that they are Catholic, who is going to tell them they are not, when (in some cynical way) the church wants to keep its numbers up.
PJPII shook things up a little bit, mostly for the better. It will take a man of great power and faith to do something similar, and I'm not sure the world is ready to let another Catholic do that. We can always hope, though... that's what he would have wanted.
Sorry I haven't been keeping up with your blog. I hope this essay-like comment makes up for it!
Allyson, You must see the HBO documentary "Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence In The House of God" that recently debuted. It gives tremendous insight into the current pope and his culpability in the pedophilia epidemic amongst Catholic priests. It is a very powerful film. I believe the hierarchy of the Catholic Church needs to be dismantled: priests should be allowed to marry, women should be allowed to be priests, and the belief that priests, bishops, cardinals, and the pope are somehow infused with more holiness and power than those they care for (parishioners) should be denied. As you said, the pope is a human being. The film really shocked this former Catholic in regards to the Godly powers that priests believe they have. The patriarch of the Catholic Church is a diseased culture. It must change or the Catholic Church will cease to be. Great post! Thank you for your thoughts on why we should care about all faiths. Elise
Thanks for commenting, Monika.
Glad to hear that some of this resonates with you. I am not a fan, though, of the term "cafeteria Catholics." I think it is a term that has negative connotations (much as "goy" or "goyim," aka non-Jews, do as well, which is why I try to refrain from using the word "goy," even though it would be very helpful in many cases rather than saying "non-Jews"). It also gets into the tricky task of drawing circles: who is in, and who is out, and who gets to decide. My lack of a "Jewish" bloodline means many people (including some who do have "Jewish" bloodlines but may have never even been into a synagogue) would say I'm not Jewish. Who are they to decide whether or not I'm Jewish? Another blog post perhaps...
I like your point about whether the world is ready for another strong Catholic leader. I hope your faith could lead to another great man like that! Time will tell.
Let me know if you find those quotes! Thanks for reading.
Thanks for writing, Elise.
I certainly I agree that the Catholic Church would be strengthened by introducing marriage for its religious leaders, female priests, and for that matter also full inclusion of homosexuals. However, I would not go so far as to call the Church diseased. I do not think the culture needs to be dismantled completely, because I am sure a lot of good comes from having the rigid structure for organization for so large a group. I do disagree with a lot of their practices on a fundamental level, but then I am not Catholic.
I have lately posed the question to some of my more religious friends: Would the world be a better place if we were all the same religion? I do not have a definite answer for myself, but I lean towards the belief that we gain a lot from having different points of view, so I do not think making all religions the same is necessarily the right answer, even if I fundamentally, in my soul, disagree with some of the Church's practices/beliefs (and those of other faiths as well, including my own). I do not know.
That documentary sounds very thought-provoking, thanks for the suggestion and thanks again for posting.
I don't have any particular qualms with the Pope (except disagreeing with some of his views, but all that aside)...
On a theoretical note: honestly, I am always suspicious when one person has so much power within any given religion (like I would be within a government, or other societal group). The plus side is that the religious views within a given group may retain structure and a set of "rules," but I think that there is potential for a situation where there is too much power in the hands of one person.
The idea that followers of a religion may begin to put more stake in what another individual says (an individual he or she has probably never even met, at that) can be dangerous. So...I say, keep your role models, religious figures, and governmental leaders in mind, but continue to think critically for yourself.
I didn't realize that you responded to this!
A friend of mine posted this recently on facebook: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/12/no_matter_what_im_still_catholic/ It made me feel like a really conservative Catholic, even though, as you know, I am not. I agree that "cafeteria catholic" generally a negative term, but it may mean everybody, according to this person. I (personally) can't say that all people should have complete liberty to claim their identity, but I could be convinced.
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