Five Suggestions to the Cardinals: Pope Benedict XVI - Auf Wiedersehen Gott segne Sie

As Pope Benedict leaves the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, good wishes are deserved, in German:  Auf Wiedersehen Gott segne Sie (Good bye and God Bless You).

But, the challenging work ahead is in the diverse hands of the Cardinals of the Church, who were largely (as Cardinal Dolan expressed) caught by surprise by the Pope's historic abdication or resignation, to become a living Pope Emeritus. 

Although the Cardinals are not accustomed to accepting advice, especially from women, I humbly offer five priorities they must consider.  My advice is driven by a deep regard for the Cardinals who will need all the help they can get to protect the future of the Roman Catholic Church, at this precarious time.  As Pope Benedict so eloquently stated in his farewell address, there have been times during the recent turmoil within the Church when God was sleeping.  Although the Cardinals know they must completely eliminate the sexual scandals within the church, the future really depends on evangelizing and spreading the Gospels.  

So, let's wake God up, with these five points of advice.  Cardinals must select a Church leader who is willing to prioritize the needs of the Church over the traditions of the Vatican hierarchy. 

Following is my list:

1.  Married Clergy:  Select a leader who supports married clergy- St. Peter was married and there's no reason why his 21st century successor should uphold an antiquated man made law that's preventing many faithful men from ordination to the Catholic clergy.  Moreover, many sects of Catholicism allow married clergy, including the Eastern Rite.  

St. Matthew writes about how Jesus cured St. Peter's mother in law - so, it's confirmed, the first Pope was married! (Matthew 8:14)

2.  Latin:  Mass is a priority, but the regressive Latin Mass is not.  Rather than allow conservative factions in the church to dictate about the language of the Mass, the priority should be to bring the Sacrament of the Eucharist to as many people as possible.  Speaking Latin prayers in the Mass is absolutely fine, but Roman Catholics should not be separated from the Eucharist based on how Latin is included in the Mass, versus English or any other language.  Select a new Pope who can rise above conservative Latin Mass regressive.

3. Women:  St. Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, the new Pope must be open to supporting women who desire to pursue ordination as Deacons, authorized to administer certain sacraments and minister to the faithful.

4.  Laity control - Roman Catholics support churches and parochial schools. Nevertheless, the Bishops decide what parishes live and which schools will survive.  There was a time when Roman Catholic Churches were not always formal structures, but communities of believers.  Roman Catholic Bishops should support, rather than obstruct, faithful people who want to protect religious institutions. Rather than closing churches and schools, the new Pope must support Bishops who will work to retain churches and schools rather than closing them.  Laity must have much more control over management of parishes and schools. Sacraments are the exclusionary role of the clergy and deacons, but management should be delegated totally to the faithful laity.

5.  Politics and women's rights-  Out new Pope must stop the clergy from being involved with political candidates or parties based upon abortion, at the exclusion of all other human conditions, especially in the United States. Sociologists will correlate abortion with women who are desperate, either because of their poor socioeconomic situation or because the pregnancy may have been forced.  Therefore, the new Pope must support women's rights and the root causes of abortion, and reign in clergy who obsess about abortion as a sin.  As every Catechism explains, a sin includes the intention of the sinner, as well as the act itself. The new Pope must take a bigger view about women's rights, if the spiritual priority of evangelizing will be successful, because women are the teachers of the faith.  Women rights and health care must be understood and supported by our new Pope.

These suggestion are not rocket science and they're certainly not my original ideas. Nevertheless, the new Pope will be successful if he takes my blog advice.  Although my presumption is haughty, I know these five attributes are vitally needed in our new Pope,so I pray this blog somehow finds him. 

Of course, to Pope Benedict, "Auf Wiedersehen Gott segne Sie".

Roman Catholic Cardinals and Selecting St. Peter's Successor in the 21st Century Church

It's an awesome responsibility to select the successor of St. Peter the Apostle in Rome, the man who will next lead the world's Roman Catholics, as our Pope.  Some Cardinals of the church only participate once in their lifetime to select one of their own to lead the world's Roman Catholics. But, the last time the largely same group of Cardinals met in conclave, about 8 years ago, they didn't have much of a challenge.  Cardinal Ratzinger was obviously prepared and ready to step into the position as Pope Benedict VXI, so there really wasn't much point in challenging him.  If another Cardinal were selected, other than Cardinal Ratzinger, the new guy would just have to  put  up with the respected leader of the  important Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, anyway, so might just as well make him the boss, so to speak. 

Pope Benedict is a visually appealing Pope.  He looks the part and, no doubt, he's a very devout man.  Nevertheless, he seemed to come up short on the humility scale, or, at least, that's how I saw him, until he decided to resign.  His nearly unprecedented resignation in the Church's 2,000 year history indicates a man keenly aware of his mortality and shows me a passion to live up to the life of prayer and meditation he seems to thrive upon.  Perhaps, by resigning, he could turn out to be the very best, or most sensible, Pope, in the history of Roman Catholicism, depending, on what happens next.

If Pope Benedict's resignation leads to a popularity contest among the Cardinals for his successor, then his bold act of humility will have been in vain. People will justifiably say, "he shouldn't have done it".

Therefore, this is an opportunity for the Cardinals to finally exert unified change within the Church and elect someone who will lead, unite, evangelize and teach us how to be better Christians. 

But most of all, Roman Catholics need a Pope who will allow for the ordination of more priests.

It's essential for the Cardinals to elect a Pope who will make his number one priority for all Catholics to have more priests to minister to us.  Rather than protect the tradition of celebrate clergy (we're finding more evidence they haven't been so celebrate, anyway) and keeping the religious women of the world away from even becoming ordained deacons, the Church is preventing Roman Catholics from evangelizing, even among our faithful selves.  We need priests! There's absolutely and virtually no reason for this shortage except for the obstinate Roman Catholic hierarchy who, for no good reason, is obstructing the ordinations of more married clergy and, at the very least, women deacons.

There are precedents for both of these in Church history.  First of all, there's been a centuries old debate about whether or not St. Peter was married.  It's really hard to believe he was a single man, so unusual for his time.  Additionally, St. Mary Magdelene was as  much of an apostle as the rest of the men selected by Jesus to spread his faith around the world.   

Moreover, in the Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, priests have married and supported families for centuries!  

All the Cardinals must put their egos aside and look the future for what the church needs.  

Selecting Pope Benedict's successor is the most challenging process the Catholic Cardinals will ever be engaged in.  Of course, most of them have practice and experience, because many were together 8 years ago, to elect Cardinal Ratzinger. This time, the Cardinals must get the right man, for the right time, for the right job. Our access to the Sacraments depends on their humility in finding a highly moral man, who will rise above tradition, and bring the clergy we desperately need to our patiently waiting faithful.

Dear Pope Benedict XVI: "Du warst nicht da!"

Pope Benedict XVI is about to publish a book where he deconstructs the traditional Christmas nativity scene, the story image of how Jesus Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago.  

Certainly, I'm not qualified to describe the nativity, because I obviously wasn't there.  As a result, I can unequivocally say to His Holiness, with all the authority of any mortal being, that the Pope wasn't there, either, when these mystical events unfolded.  

In his native German, "Du warst nicht da".  (He was not there.)

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/22/world/europe/vatican-pope-jesus-book/index.html

"According to the Pope's research, there is also no evidence in the Gospels that the cattle and other animals traditionally pictured gathered around the manger were actually present. He also debunks the claim that angels sang at the birth, a staple theme of Christmas carols. The (Pope's) book, which is being published in multiple languages in time for Christmas, is the third in a series by the pontiff. The previous two volumes dealt with Jesus' adult life and his public ministry."  

With all due respect to Pope Benedict XVI, it makes no sense for him to deconstruct the traditional image of the nativity scene in his book, because, (to make the point in his native German language):

"Du warst nicht da" ie "He was not there".

To coin an age old cliche, if the Bible says angels and animals were present at the original nativity in Bethlehem, then I accept this as being closer to the facts of the actual occasion than anything the Pope has written in the 21st century.  Any historian prefers to accept the recorded description written closer to the occurance of events, over those of another analyst, especially when the revisions are created over two thousand years after the fact. 

Obviously, I have only read the reports about how Pope Benedict XVI has described the nativity, not his original text.  Reportedly, the Pope describes a simple nativity scene in his book, absent animals or angels.  Even the birth year of Jesus Christ has been challenged by Pope Benedict XVI.

Certainly, it seems like a waste of energy and time for Pope XVI to deconstruct the beautifully familiar nativity scene, with Mother Mary, St. Joesph, Baby Jesus, the shepherds, stable animals and angels signing in the star studded skies over Bethlehem.

Although the Pope doesn't appear to take issue with those who prefer the traditional nativity over his stoic reality, it seems the Pope could find other aspects about the life of Jesus to deconstruct, rather than the nativity. Instead, he took time to over analyze the birth scene of Jesus, just because "he can".  Moreover, he is publishing his point of view on this information just prior to the celebration of Christmas.  This is terrible timing!

Well, Pope Benedict is a very holy man and I'm certainly in no position to challenge him on any spiritual subject.  

Nevertheless, I am completely certain, when it comes to describing the nativity of where Jesus Christ was born, in Bethlehem, "Du warst nicht da".