How The World Is Run

[poliphilo]

It happened again. They put the ballot papers on the fire and the smoke coming out the chimney was white. Everybody in the square was jumping up and down, weeping and clapping their hands- we have a new Pope! And then the smoke turned black. Sorry, folks, no Pope today.

Quaint.

But communicating by smoke signals isn't the half of it. We're choosing a man to fill one of the most powerful posts in the world and the electorate consists of a handful of (supposedly) celibate old gents in their seventies.

Why aren't we laughing?

This is the 21st centry, not the 14th.

But I guess you and I don't get to vote for the chairman of Microsoft either.

Comments

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Oh, but it gets worse. Some 115 men who not only have little experience in the human experience because they are not fathers, businessmen, dock workers, farmers, people trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck, etc. but live in a world that prides itself in part on its removal from it, are being asked to crown a man who will inevitably make grand statements on the nature of that human experience and how it should be.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

C'mon holy spirit - we need you!

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

I sometimes like the fact that we still hold onto old rites and rituals, even though there might be a better logistical way to do things. There is so little ritual in our lives now, and I think that's been to our detriment. It's so easy to laugh at someone who still adheres to rituals, but in some way, I think we've lost something that fed our psyche. Much like Joseph Campbell talks about the rites of passage between childhood and adulthood that are missing for young men now, and how he believes that's one reason we see such things as gangs and violent acts - the young men are instinctively seeking something to take the place of those old rites.

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

a rabbi once told me that he sometimes envied priests for their solitude, that it can be hard to sheperd a group of people and be their spiritual advisor when you have all the domestic distractions of a husband and father as well.

of course, it also makes them massively out of touch with the lives of the laity. but i think maybe both perspectives are important.

Eastern Catholic priests are allowed to marry, so i don't see why we can't allow all priests to make that decision for themselves.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Okay, Tony, you have to see this, the real story!

Pope John Paul put it in his will, a big secret until Cynnerth figured it out.

I guess they are still bumping around in the Sistine Chapel, fighting over chairs, while Gregorian chants play and then suddenly stop.

I wonder what religion will be like in 200 more years? Will there still be a Roman Catholic Church?

<B>We're</B> choosing

[jubal51394.livejournal.com]

Now, I AM laughing!