Bud Talkinghorn: John Paul's Papacy was a Mixed Blessing -- & My Comments

Continuing the media's almost total death watch coverage of Teri Schiavo, we have been treated to an orgy of coverage over the Pope's passing. Certainly John Paul accomplished a lot of good during his life, notably his help in bringing down the Communist regimes in Europe. However, his legacy is not unblemished. By restricting the priesthood to supposedly celibate men, by not opening the priesthood to the married, by emphasizing the celebacy in a world of extreme indulgence in one's own personal desires, unwittingly, he opened the door to even more human failure. What men would join the priesthood in this age? Over the years have come accounts of homosexual priests and then stories of pedophile priests. Naturally, this led to a reduction of candidates. The nunhood is even more depleted. This recruitment problem may account for why a blind eye was turned what were mainly homosexual pedophile scandals. Also, think of his ministry in Africa. Uncountable deaths from AIDS. Throughout the world the burden of unwanted pregnancies has accrued through his prohibition against condoms. His papacy was a mixed blessing.

© Bud Talkinghorn


My Comment

Bud, I, too, wrestle with the idea of not allowing women in the priesthood and with the practicality of celebacy for priests. I suspect that the idea of sacrificing the self for the spirit--for the betterment of humanity, for anything beyond the self--is just about dead in our individualistic, selfish, self-centred world, a world battered by unprecedented attention to the individual and to the pursuit of material goods. Talk of the life of the spirit has been dying for years. Either the life of the spirit is accorded respect in society, or no-one will enter the priesthood with the idea of actually following the rules of that life which require an acceptance of sin and redemption, as Charles and Camilla acknowledged yesterday. The idea of putting the elderly away in homes is part and parcel of this attitude that nothing must interfere with the pursuit of one's own life. Sacrifice of the self is out of fashion. For would-be priests in a world of indulgence, where the ultimate crime of killing will net you little jail time--think Karla, particularly difficult is to be celebate in a world long past the idea of self-sacrifice for a greater good. NJC