Actions and Reactions: The Death of the Bishop of Rome

Many people have had a gut reaction to the life and death of Pope John Paul II...

Here is a piece by a fellow farmer, Douglas Blanchard:

On the Death of Pope John Paul II
The Good Pope
-his decisive support of the Solidarity movement in Poland helping to spark the revolutions that eventually ended the Soviet Empire and European communism. (He deserves much more credit for that than Reagan ever did. He showed much more imagination and courage).
-his very articulate and forceful criticism of market capitalism for its nihilism and exploitation pointing out that there is no salvation through economics.
-his ecumenism; his respectful outreach to other Christians, to Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists; and especially his efforts at reconciliation with the Jewish people.
-his opposition to the death penalty world wide.
-his opposition to the invasion of Iraq by the USA.
-his incorporation of non-Westerners into the life and leadership of the church.
-his great courage and determination in the face of physical pain and weakness.
-his willingness to forgive his would-be assassin.
-his travels and his great efforts to be as accessible to the public as possible.
-his insistence upon a right to life with decency and dignity for everyone.

The Bad Pope
-his authoritarianism, centralizing church authority in the papacy; encouraging secrecy in the Vatican; tolerating a culture of privilege and unaccountability in the hierarchy; and shutting out the laity in any decision making that affects them.
- punishing dissident intellectuals in the church; and preemptively ending discussions of difficult and divisive matters.
-his opposition to women¹s emancipation.
-his opposition to the emancipation of gays and lesbians.
-his resistance to changes in sexual mores; and taking too abstract and rigid a position on matters of human reproduction.-his underestimation of the magnitude of clergy child-molestation scandals and of their impact on broad opinion in the laity.
-his suppression of liberation theology movements in Latin America.
-infantilizing both clergy and laity by concentrating so much decision making in the papacy and by requiring a hierarchical absolute obedience.

-- Douglas Blanchard
New York City
and something I wrote for St. Bartholomew's blog last Friday:
The Courage to be Vulnerable

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!!After the drought and subdued nature of Lent, the introspection and participation of Holy Week here we are in Eastertide (yes, it DOES last more than one Sunday), it's joy, thanksgiving, celebration and relief.... well, the clergy en masse are recovering from a long - usually lonely - week. It's over and it isn't.

I sit here, this Friday night, writing these words after listening to NPR and the decline in the health of Pope John Paul II. HE valliantly made it through Lent, Holy Week and Easter. And he too is about to take his rest.

Having been a Roman Catholic until age 21 I look back on this man with a mixture of awe and disbelief. It was the first time that the world has ever had unprecedented access - through the press and through his globe traversing travels - to the man holding an office in a city unto itself. He had a colorful, passionate past which most of us discovered only after the commencement of his papacy.... for Pete's sake, the man loved to ski!

Now, I cannot say that I agreed with some of his decisions or writings or the directions in which he decided to point the Church under his authority. I can say that it was obvious that - with his entire being - he loved God and did everything he could to follow the Jesus he knew.

During the last twelve months, I have developed an admiration for this man, this world figure. He has been courageous enough to show his frailty, his vulnerablility even when it must have been uncomfortable for him; even when it has been painful for us. The photographers of today did not adhere to a Franklin D. Roosevelt rule of withholding unflattering pictures or candid photographs. No. We have seen the Pope's aging, illnesses and frailties in the unflinching light of day and flash photography. Perhaps it has been a videography of surrender. There were no videographers at Calvary... and we strain to imagine the amount of courage and determination it took for Jesus to be THAT vulnerable.

We have, however, seen the faith it has taken another man, walking in the footsteps of St.Peter the apostle, to embody the courage to be vulnerable to the end of his earthly journey. And we are all: Christian, Jew, Muslim, Confusian, agnostic, Taoist, women or men, old or young, disabled or fit...... we are all better for it. For this, we thank you, John Paul II and wish you a pea
ceful transition to your next destination.