The Pope

The Pope left the USA today after a six day visit. I did not know what to expect of him when he was elected although the bits that I did hear over the last few years gave me hope for the Catholic faith and their new leader. He was supposed to be an interim Pope, a stepping stone for the next one if you will. That's what the experts thought. Boy were they wrong.

He is a great man, a truly great man. Every time I heard him speak I got a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. The look in his eyes every time he was introduced and stunned by the roar of the crowd told me what a humble man he is. And the topper was that he not only addressed the child abuse scandal several times in his sermons. But he also read the riot act to the Bishops and Cardinals and basically told them that this had better not happen again, especially the cover ups and the transferring of problem priests from one parish to the next. The crowning moment was when he met privately met with some of the victims of this terrible scandal to apologize and pray with and for them. The Catholic Church should rejoice and thank God almighty this selection.

To bad some people like that moron Bill Mahr couldn't resist taking shots at him and the Church. I won't dignify that dope by repeating what he said, just turn him off when he comes on the air.

Finally, understand that I am not Catholic anymore. I belong to one of the Vineyard churches here in the valley. However I still follow what the Pope says and does, and in this case it fills my heart with joy.

I hope and pray that I could somehow make that kind of a difference in the classroom when I finally finish school and begin my career in earnest because then I would know that during my brief time on Earth that I made it a better place to live.



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A Line in the Sand

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/03/13/pope.vatican.ap/

For many of it's failings the Catholic Church has stood firm on many issues, some I agree with and some I don't. The main one I have a problem with is the whole divorce issue. I don't understand the RC stand on this issue, especially if one spouse walks out on the other one. At that point the marriage is over, and unless the RC Church has an efficient means of annulling such marriages they do themselves and their parishioners a great dis-service.

It's one thing if you do the walking out for no good reason, or because you found a young hottie or cabana boy. At that point I totally agree with the RC church that you've sinned against God and need to make it right. I totally agree that if the marriage can be saved every effort needs to be made to make the marriage work. I know that marriages go through rough patches. I've been married for almost 14 years, and we've had some VERY rough patches, but we worked through it, and our marriage is stronger than ever.

It's a totally different scenario if one spouse is addicted to drugs, or is abusing the spouse or kids. That happens more often than not and it's not fair to punish one for the sins of the other. Your husband is raping your kids and abusing you? Too bad stay married is the message the Church is sending and that is very very wrong.