Comments | devifemme: Francis in Washington -- Part I

devifemme

Francis in Washington -- Part I

Sep 24, 2015 13:32

I'm not pretending to report to you lovely readers about the Pope's US visit -- you're getting a good picture from the media, which I cannot do nearly as effectively as they are doing. However, I do want to share a few sidelights and personal thoughts that may enliven your own impressions ( Read more... )

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Comments 7

ggary September 24 2015, 18:39:56 UTC

My Dad had his fill of the Catholic religion when he was very young, and pretty much gave up on it by the time that he grew up. His attitude towards any faith that we might have was "I'm not going to force you to follow any religion, and you'll have to make your own minds up". My sister married a Catholic, and joined for his sake (although I'm not sure that she would ever have done so otherwise). I'm not an Atheist, but rather a sort of wishy-washy Pantheism involving a 'do-unto-others-as-you-would-have-them-do-to-you' attitude.

The BBC News made the point that Pope Francis managed to steer a course between the Left and Right (he's all for 'Family Values' but he also wants the US to help prevent Global Warming). He seems a good man at heart, but I have a silly problem with him that he does resemble a British comedian from the 1980s called Jim Bowen, meaning that whenever he makes a speech I sort of expect him to launch into a full stand-up routine.

Absolutely! devifemme September 24 2015, 19:57:19 UTC

Gary, thank you for these really APT comments. Your dad's timing -- as my mom's -- surely reflect the Church during its post-WWII, pre-VaticanII nadir. Albeit much less harmed than, say, the innocents who suffered priests' sexual abuse (which continued well after Vatican II), we're small-scale victims of that epoch ( ... )

RE: Absolutely! devifemme September 25 2015, 21:50:08 UTC

Gary -- just replied to your response to my second post on the Pope's visit, but wondered if you had, in fact, heard of Garry Wills's take on Catholic Church history. BTW: yes, he spells it differently than you do...

resonant September 25 2015, 00:35:57 UTC

I dated a Catholic priest for a while, and got to understand a bit of it. It's rather hierarchical, which can be a bit offputting. Like worshiping in a large corporation.

Thread 5

khall September 28 2015, 19:29:18 UTC

Huh, that's interesting about pontiff.

K.

devifemme September 29 2015, 04:57:01 UTC

I took a couple of years Latin back in junior high; every once in a while, it comes to mind...