Yawn. Speak for yerself.

A June 24th opinion piece in The Age bears the title, "Catholicism should lower the drawbridge", and the subhead, "Some changes to church doctrines would make it more appealing."

That should read: "Some changes to church doctrines would make it more appealing to me."

Any guesses what changes should be made according the author, Barney Zwartz, who is religion editor of the newspaper?

1. More reverent Masses with increased number of Latin hymns.
2. Improved catechesis that stresses objective truth over subjective responses.
3. Better homilies and an emphasis on vocations and improvements in seminaries.
4. Priestettes, condoms, and more power for anti-Vatican laity.

Hey, how'd you know it was #4? Yep:

They want to curb papal power and the Curia — the Vatican bureaucracy that is virtually all male, all clerical and unaccountable to the wider church — and to re-examine certain doctrines, peripheral accretions over time, that could be readily changed. These include allowing married priests, contraception and greater involvement by laymen and women.

Ah yes, greater involvement by laymen and women. Like a certain typical parish I attended a couple years ago that featured some 12 to 15 women up front along with one man, the priest. He was allowed to say a few things here and there, but it was obvious who running the show—and it was a show, complete with fourth-rate music and fifth-rate banners draped on the wannabe-Costco walls. At times the only way I knew I wasn't at a Protestant service was because Protestant music is never that bad. Ugh.

One more nugget of knowledge from Zwartz:

Despite all this, there is a strong similarity (not coincidental) between Christian and democratic values, such as equality, freedom, conscience and human dignity. Politically, these values are protected by the constitution, universal suffrage and an array of checks and balances. Why shouldn't the church operate the same way? Why not let laypeople vote for the Pope? They did for the first 1000 years. And it took centuries for today's authoritarian structure to emerge out of a variety of local systems.

That's right, the Acts of the Apostles doesn't even exist. Don't bother reading, say, chapter 15. Or what the early Christians actually said. After all, none of that is as appealing as creating one's own Catholicism For Me, shouting the motto: "Our kingdom for condoms!" 

• The Role of the Laity: An Examination of Vatican II and Christifideles Laici | Carl E. Olson

Comments

[Augustine II]

ugghggghhhhhh.... It all smells of sulfur. There's an excellent book called The Deceiver: Our Daily Battle with Satan that those tempted to swallow this tripe should read. It was the best-selling religious book in Italy in 2000, and it's now been translated into English. Have a look:

http://tinyurl.com/47m4g7

[M. Jordan Lichens]

Might I suggest that if one is not happy with the Catholic Church being the Catholic Church than perhaps they are not actually wanting to be Catholic. Just a thought.

[Dan Deeny]

Some questions: Is Zwartz right or wrong when he says that laypeople voted for the Pope during the first thousand years of Christianity? What was the name of the parish that had all the women lay ministers? And did you interview the parish priest to find out why things were done the way they were in his parish?

[Gail]

Lay people voted for the pope??? What a bizarre interpretation. And he says it very cunningly, allowing the reader to infer (wrongly) that everyone in ancient Europe, Asia, and the Middle East somehow got a vote. I suppose he wants us to set up a ballot system for several billion people. Geez, can people like Zwartz ever get it through their heads that EVERYONE IS NOT LIKE THEM? The way the U.S. government works (and it works very well) is not the way everything in the world can or should work. It isn't even possible, much less desirable. But that doesn't stop him from writing and, what's even more astonishing, being published, as if he had something to say.

Dan Deeny: The answer to your question is complicated. Certainly the system we have now, with cardinals sequestered in conclave to choose a pope, was not around for the first 1000 years. And certainly, lay people had a lot of say in who was made pope, or bishop, and often even in being ordained a priest, in various countries at various times. The Church's current independence from lay rulers was a hard-won victory over many centuries in many countries. And it is still being fought in places such as China. But there has never been a general election for the pope.