I blog gluten-free

Thursday, March 3, 2011

That Was Copacetic

Over the past few years, I've heard numerous questions:
What should happen to pedophiliac priests?
Same thing you would any pedophile. Remove them from the source. Remove their Holy Orders. They ceased being servants to God when they acted in such a base manner. Put them in prison. Ensure they can no longer physically act on their desires. Take the case of Peter Abelard , who later became known as a great theologian, but whom impregnated his teenage lover. While Heloise's uncle did wrong...dispatching a small group to remove Abelard's manhood, I can see the good in removing capability to act on those desires. I can also see the idea of locking a repeat pedophile away for good. Away from his/ her temptations. (I must of course, be fair, and not only males are capable of this.) Make it easy for victims to speak up, maintain dignity, and make sure they have NO FEAR OF RETRIBUTION.

Should women become priests?
In which religion? Catholicism doesn't allow this. When JPII made the ruling, he was protected by that supposed papal infallibility. Which, actually has limits. First, I'll explain that.
Papal infallibility is the doctrine that by action of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from even the possibility of error.
See both Wiki Article... simplified English and The Catholic Encyclopedia for details, as well as Catholic Dot Com
In other words, on matters of faith, the Pope cannot be wrong and his rulings are final.
Now--- female Roman Catholic priests. It's iffy, particularly as I'm working on this myself, however, in my case, it's knowing I'd have to leave the Church if I chose to follow in the affirmative.
The idea is based not on Timothy... but on a letter FROM St. Paul TO Timothy.
"Thou shalt not suffer a woman to teach". (Do I also stone to death a child who tells me "no"?)
I read, and admittedly had a moment of confusion, reading a Catholic-based blog by a lay-person, which is informative, but occasionally, inflammatory. (And contains the scariest ticker: ____ babies have been aborted since you opened this blog). A Lenten project by some laity is to "Adopt a Priestess"- (do they get a puppy?)
Acts of the Apostasy Adopt a Priestess Program
Norma Jean Coon, Renunciation of Priesthood

I do not believe women should be precluded. Also,  I know there are also married Catholic priests who converted to Catholicism and believe all priests should be allowed marriage. There must be more done to allow for health issues and addictions. The restrictions on the host and wine can also help turn away the faithful.
The Catholic Church, to survive, to reach those who need it, must leave behind inflammatory behaviors and words, make peace with the past, and focus on faith, NOT religion. Strict rules leave those with illnesses and those alcoholics who need an alcohol-free communion in the dust. Why shouldn't everyone spread the faith? Why shouldn't those, who abused in the name of a religion, abused children and their powers, be locked away forever, not just moved parish-to-parish? And why shouldn't everyone be safely able to commune with God?
*I am not writing this because I wish to inflame, nor is this an indictment of the Church as a whole. This is me "thinking out loud" while struggling, not with faith, but religion.

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