Posted on 04/07/2005 1:35:08 PM PDT by Coleus
Pope had critics, too
As Pope John Paul II is laid to rest this week, debates he fueled in churches throughout the Americas continue to swirl.
In the United States and Latin America, John Paul left a church with declining membership, short on clergy, and attempting to heal from the priest sex-abuse scandal.
For critics and lay reform groups, his biggest weakness was his refusal to engage in open dialogue.
Polls have shown the majority of American Catholics out of step with church doctrine on issues such as contraception, divorce, homosexual unions, married clergy, and women priests, even as they praised the pope's stance on Third World debt relief and opposition to the Iraq war.
"It's clear there was a certain amount of disappointment attached to his papacy in terms of the way he handled matters within the church," said Maria Cleary of Parsippany.
Cleary is a member of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay organization formed in 2002 in response to the priest sex-abuse scandal. The group has more than 700 members in New Jersey.
"He never really apologized to survivors nor did he acknowledge the vastness of the problem in any kind of an official way," she said.
"I think that because of his training he wasn't molded to look for these kind of problems," said Stephanie Zonenberg, of Paterson, also a Voice of the Faithful member, who said she otherwise had "tremendous respect" for the pope.
Mary Ann Hain, 908-665-0919, a member of the New Jersey chapter of Call to Action - a nationwide lay organization that supports the ordination of women and optional celibacy for priests - said she was saddened by the pope's death. Although she admired his strong advocacy of peace and human rights, she was sometimes frustrated by his leadership.
"In some ways he was very authoritarian," said Hain, a resident of Berkeley Heights. "He silenced people. He spoke very highly of collegiality, but he didn't really practice it, he didn't consult with lay people.
"On the one hand, he spoke of the dignity of gay people, but on the other he would deny all their rights, including gay unions," she said.
"He spoke of the equality of women often, but yet he silenced women when they wanted to talk about women's ordination."
Hain cited the case of Sister Jeannine Gramick, an American nun who in 1999 was ordered not to speak publicly about homosexuality by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
One of the biggest issues confronting the American Catholic Church is the shortage of priests to say Mass and administer the sacraments.
Even self-described "conservative Catholics," such as Clifton City Councilwoman Gloria Kolodziej, said they would support the ordination of women and married priests in order to resupply the ranks.
"We're told all the time that the shortage of priests will have a very direct impact on all the churches in the Diocese of Paterson," Kolodziej said. "Would I like to see women ordained? Absolutely. Do I think the pope is going to do that? Not really. The attitude from the pope has been 'this is not part of Church tradition and never will be.'"
In Latin America, the pope's legacy was a complex one. Although he traveled to the region more than any pontiff before him, his condemnation of priests who mixed revolutionary politics with liberation theology - an interpretation of the Bible that emphasizes solidarity with the poor - alienated many Catholics in the region.
It wasn't the message that the Church should serve the poor that John Paul opposed - he had often emphasized it himself - but the way certain priests implemented it.
In his most public rebuke, he denounced four priests who held cabinet positions within the revolutionary Sandinista government during a visit to Nicaragua in 1983.
The pope's stance on liberation theology created a rift within the church in Latin America that was part theological and part political, according to Jo Renee Formicola, a professor at Seton Hall University and the author of John Paul II: Prophetic Politician.
"A lot of the liberation theologian priests were saying that the church should play a major part in changing the economic and political structures of power in Latin America," Formicola said.
"The pope said they were supposed to be pastors, not politicians, that their job was to teach the social magisterial of Jesus Christ, and not ally themselves with ideology; left or right."
Formicola said that the Vatican was also uncomfortable with liberation theology teachings that depicted Jesus as a radical revolutionary figure.
Others saw the pope as an astute politician, continuing the legacy of a church that helped colonize Latin America.
"The pope was always supported by powerful forces," said Jose Juarez, owner of a religious goods store in Clifton. "I don't have anything against him, I never did, but I have some issues with his power."
Juarez said the pope's many trips to the region may have had another purpose, such as stemming the exodus of Latin American Catholics to Protestant sects.
"Why was he lauded as such a world traveler?" Juarez said. "He traveled a lot as a form to reorganize and re-enforce the Catholic religion. There was always a strong agenda behind it."
Throughout the Americas, devout Catholics like Zonenberg do not see criticism of the church hierarchy as contradicting their faith.
"We need to challenge!" Zonenberg said. "It's OK to challenge our priests and our other laity to uncover evil and expose it to the light."
Good point, I stand corrected. Be well and be safe.
Jeff
For the record, Nancy Pelosi describes herself as a conservative, traditional Catholic.
How big of you to forgive the pope and who may I ask forgives you?
Unless you have some direct connection to the Lord it is not up to you to forgive someone else's sins that are not related to you.
I can forgive a debt that is owed to me by you.I can't forgive a debt that is owed by you to someone else.
In hindsite, it was wrong of me too even bring this up at this moment in time, disregaurd my initial post, and I do apologize for my lack of respect to the Pope and to all on FR.
Jeff
Common decency would dictate to shut the blank up
until our Holy Father is buried. But they are totally lacking.
For the record, Nancy Pelosi describes herself as a conservative, traditional Catholic. >>>
Barf, you had to tell me that before dinner? How could she?
Southern gentleman...
and our state produces the finest!
Thanks.
Easy.
She's a democrat. :)
Polls have shown the majority of American Catholics out of step with church doctrine on issues such as contraception, divorce, homosexual unions, married clergy, and women priests, even as they praised the pope's stance on Third World debt relief and opposition to the Iraq war.
At least they got this right..."the American Catholics are out of step with Church doctrine", not that Church doctrine out of touch with the American Ctholics, which is the way they usually posit it.
How quickly they applied label of "priest sex abuse" to bunch of homosexuals who creeped into the ranks of the church. I have not seen that outcry of "american sex abuse" by our lovely gay compatriots was attributed to America and President and demanding apologies.
When Jewish rabbi molested young boys you didn't hear echoes through MSM and lawsuits.
Not a problem, Muddy.
Well of course - you can't agree with everything someone says, that's hardly a flaw.
In the United States and Latin America, John Paul left a church with declining membership, short on clergy....
I don't know about the US, but the church is most certainly NOT in decline in Latin America - it's part of the Third World - it's on the rise in those parts of the World!
See my reply on
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1379713/posts
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