***
Dear Fred,
Thanks for your email.
As you may have read in my a.m. email: "I have never been less interested in a papal successor. With the death of Milan's Cardinal Martini (who figured in the last batch of papabili), Rome has purged liberals from the College of Cardinals as effectively as The Tea Party has purged reasonable people from the GOP. Both institutions think this mono-polarity is cause for celebration. It is not. At bottom, right-wing monopolies represent an essential leave-taking from Reality. According to "creation's plan," Reality plays out in bi-polar frames of reference. If we would avoid Christianity's perennial temptation to Manichaeism, we must accommodate this fact."
Semitic religions -- including Christianity -- "love them some Manichaeism!"
Indeed, Semitic religions are so convinced of Manichaeism's "righteousness" that they don't even consider it heresy (by which I mean deviation from Truth).
In Mani's radically dualistic view of Reality (the same Reality that God created in Genesis and "saw was good"), "the good guys" and "the bad guys" are perpetually preparing to duke it out in The Final Battle.
The same cowboy motif that drenched our youth in visions of "holy blood" is prima facie evidence of this silly Persian tendency.
What an irony that so many American "Christians" have been mortally wounded by an Iranian heresy!
***
Still, it would be interesting to have a black pope - even a conservative one.
Viewed pragmatically, it is a fact that Africa generates more vocations than Latin America - with the result that many African priests become missionaries to pick up "pastoral slack" elsewhere in the world.
I have known a couple African missionaries here in North Carolina. They are good fellows.
***
Speaking of "conservatism..."
Catholic columnist E.J. Dionne published a splendid opinion piece in this morning's Post. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/02/ej-dionne-jrs-mom-nothing-self-made.html
I have always liked -- and trusted -- Dionne.
Over the last year, I have come to trust him even more.
Aquinas would applaud E.J.'s balance, just as he would be appalled by the Church's current mono-polarity and -- joined at the hip -- "conservatism's" determination to make the deliberate destruction of perspective-and-proportion its cornerstone of belief.
Pax on both houses,
Alan
On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm really bummed out that the Pope resigned. I always liked him. I supposed I liked him because nobody else liked him, and I figured that he needed me to be his friend, so I have been his friend. But I wish he hadn't resigned. He's a good man and he always meant well.
The Pope's resignation will set off a wave of changes downstream. Expect the wholesale resignation of cardinals and priests. A general house-cleaning. They will be falling on their swords in droves. Anyone who has been tainted with scandal will be invited to step aside.
The new pope will come from Brazil. He will be 50 to 55 years old. And he will not live in the Vatican......
Further changes -- a much younger Pope from South American or Africa might actually mean a more conservative tilt. The following changes -- marriage for priests, women as priests, divorce, changes in "life" issues -- are still hoped for by many, but I wouldn't bet on it.
--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214
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Fred Owens
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