Stuff to See!

Not So Happy New Year

Death rears its ugly head again.
Pope John Paul II is near death, and may well die today. The office of the Pope has been quite involved with the passage of history over the last 951 years, or whenever it was created (I feel no urge to look this up right now). There have been warrior popes, peaceful popes, political popes, running back and forth across the continuum from praiseworthy to unworthy of praise. This particular pope, who was named pontiff in 1979, has played an interesting and influential role in the world since that time, and for the most part he's beloved by all people, regardless of religious background. I wouldn't say that I love him per se, but I have a sincere respect for the man's intelligence and his devotion to peace. Along with Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II was most influential in the drastic changes that swept across Europe in the late 80s and early 90s.
Having lost a relative of my own recently, I can feel somewhat for the pain that the reverent will experience with this pope's departure from this mortal coil.
I'm sure someone out there will eventually be brazen enough to mention the various crises concerning widespread child molestation in the Catholic Church, connecting it somehow with this soon to be deceased pope. I'll make the connection first, hopefully, but not in the way that one may expect.
Yes, it's a horrible shame and a high-profile problem (having been swept under the rug by more pressing issues of the moment such as the life/death question of the mentally indigent Terry Schiavo, who, in my opinion, is much better off dead, or by the latest shenanigans of some strange couple called Nick and Jessica). In other words, this problem, while having been brought to the international stage, has not simply disappeared just because people have stopped talking about it for now. If nothing else, I praise John Paul II's role in bringing this deep dark secret out of the shadows of a morally corrupt very small minority of a respectable Catholic priesthood and deciding to tackle it head on. While it may be true that this has come too late for far too many people (and one is too many for my tastes), it is a dark chapter that has no doubt wound itself throughout the history of the Catholic Church.
Let me say here that I have nothing but the highest respect for the true men of the cloth. To attain the heights of learning alone is worthy of my respect. To couple that with the willful diminution and absolution of the most basic human drive, the drive to procreate, and to stay the course with honor, is more than I could ever do. Those who succeed in both are truly exceptional men.
Unfortunately, the very fact that such people are so exceptional has allowed a number of sexually confused and sexually devious men into a position of implicit trust over the years. While I can sympathize with the dilemma, I can by no means sympathize with the willful destruction of innocence that has happened to too many people, even before this became a cause celebre. How could such a thing happen? I'm sure that the reasons are many, and in some cases, innocent, in and of themselves.
For one thing, the Catholic Church has become by degrees a worldwide institution. The demand for personnel to fill the role of priest exceeded the available talent pool, those exceptional few who can truly exemplify high call of the priest. That seems simple enough, and while the simple answer has great benefits to simple minds, I think that as one factor, it bears any amount of scrutiny.
As the Church grew, it evolved, or mutated, from a primarily religious institution into a political one. Even if the Pope is only the nominal Archbishop of Rome, his words influence millions, possibly billions, around the globe. In the past, the political fingerprints of the Church were easier to spot. Today they're more subtle, but still very much intact. Politics breeds corruption of many stripes, and turning a blind eye here or there to a decrepit priest, or transferring a priest from diocese to diocese, became part of the political culture, a habit, a custom, and as with all habits, this one, too, is damned hard to break. It's starting to be broken now, to John Paul II's credit, as well as to the credit of many other honorable people.
Religion and religious issues fascinate me. I know in my heart that I'm unable to hold to the course of any one particular doctrine, so I've eschewed all of them equally, while trying to maintain a certain level of decency that can weirdly be reconciled with harmless insanity. Still, I can understand how those who have been trained to a particular doctrine, or political affiliation, can overlook the faults of their own while condemning all others. John Paul II, while a Catholic to the core, has always come across as tolerant and open-minded, condemning actions rather than philosophies, deeds rather than doctrines.
He is a very charismatic figure, even for non-Christians like myself. Yes, I find it amusing that his likeness was sold on a hand towel during his visit to Baltimore in 1995 (which I didn't witness, unfortunately), although I doubt that he openly approved of what seemed to be a sacrilegious idea. Besides, I needed a towel and this one was on sale for crazy cheap, so where's the harm? I wish I still had it, as well as the commemorative sweatshirt I purchased at the same time. Oh well.
If the next Pope is half the man John Paul II is, I might just have a soft spot for him too.