|
...
the Pope, who was elected in April, also condemned divorce, artificial
birth control, trial marriages and free-style unions, saying all of
these practices were dangerous for the family. None of these
statements from this pope are unexpected ... after all, he has been
responsible for using the financial resources of the church to actively
politic against all progressive ideas. Like so many in the
political world, much of what is publicized by the Vatican is a
diversionary tactic to take attention away from the problems inside the
catholic churches across the globe. Just this past week this news
story was prominent in the headlines:
A Maltese Monsignor with the responsibility of the
promoter of justice for the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, says he will remain silent about the reasons behind the
Church’s decision to stop investigations into accusations of child
abuse by a Mexican founder of an influential religious order.
The news stirred outrage last week as the Vatican made it known that Fr
Maciel Degollado, the 85-year-old founder of the Legionaries of Christ
in 1941 and a prominent religious figure in Mexico, will not face a
church trial on allegations that he molested teenagers.
I
don't have a problem with any religious leader espousing their theology
or re-stating their dogma to their faithful, but where the Vatican has
gone awry in the past couple of decades is in attempting to legislate
their theology and make it part of law in many countries. But, as
evolution of "thought" cannot be stymied or stilled, most
people ignore the edicts of the Vatican as they continue to remain
stagnated on the traditions of the church rather than look intelligently
at what these traditions have created in the world.
The spiritual genius Jesus
was the greatest example of allowing thought to evolve through our minds
and bring into our belief system greater enlightenment. When He
made the great statement that the Ten Commandments could be summed up as
"love God and love your neighbor as your self," the religious
leaders of His time were outraged. They called Him blasphemous and
a heretic. They were so attached to tradition that they could not
accept a more enlightened idea ... the Law to them was understandable
... Love was not. And instead of being willing to rise Higher in
their understanding of the Laws of God as stated by the Radical Rabbi
Jesus ... they wanted to punish Him! The Pope is following in
their tradition ... rather than open his mind to understand that a great
evolution in Love and understanding is at hand for him to open his heart
to ... he wants to punish ... through legislative law if possible ...
with guilt and shame if possible ... but for intelligent people and
people who understand the Love that Jesus made the world aware of ...
the pope just becomes the spokesman for a false idea of the past.
The catholic faithful
are called to view the Pope as the representative of Christ on Earth.
Clearly, this has never had any validity and never more so than in the
past decade as the Vatican has covered up the crimes of its priests,
bishops and cardinals and in truth, co-joined them in their crimes and
continue to do so. Jesus' legacy to the world was not condemnation
... but a loving "lifting up" of the consciousness of those
fortunate enough to study His teachings. Would the Radical Rabbi
"separate" anyone from the Love of God? Of course not.
His teachings are a testimony of forgiveness, Oneness and loving
kindness. "What you do to one of these little ones ... you do
to me," He said.
And
So It Is!
Maximum Love,
Rev.
Hank Bates
|
