Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Prayer for a New Pope

May the new pope acknowledge that God bestows his grace equally on women and men, and recognize this in granting the all sacraments to women, including ordination the priesthood, bishoprics, cardinals, and even the throne of Peter.

May the new pope acknowledge that protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox Christians are real Christians and work for restoration of the whole church (not, as the Vatican declared in 1999, that they are "not proper churches" and that there is no salvation outside the Roman church).

May the new pope recognize that celibacy is a medieval tradition that has outlived its usefulness, and allow priests to pursue love as they find it, even to marriage.

May the new pope recognize that homosexual persons are sons and daughters of God, as He made them, whose sexuality is a gift and who have the right to love and live with one another in committed relationships.

May the new pope recognize that contraception and family planning are not evil, and permit especially the poor and desperate in Africa with facing an AIDS epidemic and too many children to wear condoms.

May the new pope open his heart to the victims of pedophilia in the church, recognize the pain they have caused, and encourage priests to have a healthy sex life in their service.

May the new pope oppose dictatorship not merely where it threatens the church, but everywhere, including Africa and Central America.

May the new pope advocate against the death penalty as strongly as he has against abortion, and insist that no American bishop speak out only against those opposing criminalizing abortion while turning a blind eye for political reasons to those who support the death penalty.

May the new pope recognize that a dogmatic insistence that life begins at conception has no authority in scripture or history, and permit women to have early term abortions, particularly when they are victims of rape or incest.

May the new pope advocate on behalf of debt relief and support for the poor with the same insistence that has been reserved for abortion, demanding that the energy that has been put into opposing abortion be, instead, put into serving the poor and the third world, and supporting the dignity of work and the living wage for all.

May the new pope see protection of the environment as part of God's work, and teach that pollution is a sin.

May the new pope acknowledge the many sins of the church in the crusades, the inquisition, and silent acquiesence to the Nazis during the holocaust, and seek repentance and renewal.

May the new pope not value the treasure or traditions of the church above its mission to minister to the world.

May the new pope recognize that no human is ever infallible.

We can only hope for a new spirit of renewal in the Roman church, not just a turn to right wing doctrine.

7 comments:

Dr. Strangelove said...

A beautiful prayer, LTG: thank you.
sic transit gloria mundi

Raised By Republicans said...

Is that white smoke I see coming out of your ears?

USWest said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
USWest said...

I hate to tell you, but I believe the Pope rendered the policy on the ordination of women infallible, which means it cannot be overturned. This Pope did a great many amazing things, and thus deserves honor and gratitude. However, he was a product of WW II and the Cold War and once that was over, he focused on the "evils of materialism" and failed to recognize its realities and the exigencies it places on modern societies. Somewhere, time passed him by. At what point does "stability" of doctrine and respect for sticking to ones values become denial of reality that grows into a denial of humanity itself?

Guess we can't expect one man to be and do all things.

Alex said...

Ha! Thanks for the good laugh, LTG. Let's remember that it took the Roman Catholic church centuries to admit that the earth revolves around the sun. I think we can wait at least another century before they come around on gay rights.

Raised By Republicans said...

Yes, the process by which a new Pope is selected is designed to pick a conservative leader. The college of Cardinals are appointed by the previous Pope (in this case, John Paul II appointed all but three of them or something). That isn't a recipe for a revolutionary or even progressive Pope.

Its odd, there are really only two differences between the Vatican and the Soviet era Kremlin: no guns at the Vatican and no praying in the Kremlin. Institutionally they are very similar...elitist and very mysterious.

The Law Talking Guy said...

Actually, papal infallibility has been invoked twice, once to proclaim the Assumption of Mary and once to proclaim the doctrine of infallibility itself. The ban on the ordination of women remains mutable.