The Scarlet Cap

Francis.

For those of us worried about the sustainability of Pope Francis' policy changes or the robustness of his legacy in the church as he ages, hope arrives today in the form of nineteen newly appointed Cardinals.  Pope Francis, perhaps aware of his progressing age, is appointing nineteen new Cardinals, the equivalent of replacing the entire US Presidential cabinet. What is exciting about these appointments is the potential for trickle-down reform. Cardinals serve as liaisons and advisers to the Pope, but also run individual archdiocese which set policy and for entire regions. Cardinals are powerful and influential. And now, thanks to Pope Francis, they are also multicultural, hailing from traditionally unrepresented Catholic regions such as Haiti. If the good decision making of Pope Francis holds true, these men will embrace his vision of their new position.

 " This does not signify a promotion, an honor nor a decoration: it is simply a service that demands a broader vision and a bigger heart," 

Indeed.

Listen to Meryn Cadell's "Pope" Here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Meryn+Cadell/_/The+Pope

/References:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/22/world/europe/vatican-pope-new-cardinals/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2488748/Pope-Francis-dons-red-nose-congratulate-newlyweds-volunteer-clown-therapy-charity.html

White Smoke

Francis.

This week the conclave ended and the new South American Pope was declared.  He chose to call himself Francis I.  This is an encouraging sign, if any credence is given to the idea that that a popes chosen name reflects something of their faith and whom they choose to emulate.  

St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment is universally revered for his liberalism, acceptance, and protection of the innocent.  Never ordained, St Francis was born into wealth, but chose a life of simple poverty.  He was humble, kind, and compassionate.   

The world, and its more than one billion Catholics are ready for a new kind of pope; one with compassion, humanity, and a sense of modern times.  Regardless of your religious affiliations, the pope and what he thinks and says are important to you, because all  those Catholics are listening to him. Worried about population growth? Then you had better care what the pope has to say about birth control and abortion.  Concerned about the environment? Then hope the pope is too, he has a lot of people listening.

The prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Update.

Pope Francis I is living up to the hopes of liberal and progressive Catholics; and terrifying and scandalizing the institutional powers that be as well as his handlers.  Two cases in point: after a recent hotel stay, Pope Francis I went down to the front desk and did what we all do, paid the bill, himself, like a real human being.  And this; he has taken to going out to into the streets to greet the public, and shaking their hands.

I find this so refreshing.  A humanized Pope is long overdue in the church and perhaps the only thing that will salvage the Catholic religion from the trappings of its own institutions and politics.  Moreover, it stands as a good reminder for everyone, that all of us, especially in the face of success, money, and power, can use a little humility.  We can all be more human to one another.

Photo Courtesy of:

http://www.saintalbansepiscopal.org/2012_09_01_archive.html

Airing Dirty Laundry

Jezebel.

From 1920 to 1996 the Catholic Church in Ireland ran "homes for fallen women" called the Magdalene Laundries.  Taking in girls as young as nine, those with nowhere else to go because of poverty, abuse, poor choices or just plain bad luck worked long days in hard labor without pay.  They were outcasts, stripped of their names and dignity.  They were held in service to the the church that housed them, the government and military that commissioned the work, and the common people who ostracized them.  The UN Committee Against Torture called upon the Irish government in 2011 to investigate the Magdalene Laundries and the report of the findings was recently released.  The report not only describes these women as slaves, but acknowledges the collusion of the state in their treatment.  Today, more than 10,000 women, after a legal request for reparation, received an apology from the church. 

The apology was rejected.

Listen to Joni Mitchell's Tribute Song to the Magdalene Laundries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_KK6qOlb30

References Cited:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21345995

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/magdalene-laundries-hunger-strike

Sarabaites and Gyrovagues

...

 The Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia  is a book of precepts, holy rules of obligation and practice, written in the mid-5th Century and widely adopted even today by convents and monastic communities throughout the world.  In it, St. Benedict outlined a way of life that addressed the needs of monks living in closed community.  One of these needs was theosis, a divine transformation.  Saint Benedict believed that in order to obtain theosis one had to live a life of peace, prayer, and work.  Essential to this way of life  was moderation in the use of words and extended periods of silence.  

 Practitioners of many faiths, Buddhists and Catholic most notably among them, have long taken vows of silence.  These vows are taken because it is believed that silence clears the mind and body from the distractions of worldly things and allows us to to clear the smoke that that prevents us from seeing the nature of the world. It was also believed that silence would keep the peace within the Abbey walls, that speaking little would prevent discord and and dispute among the devotees.

There is something to be said for holding ones tongue. Do not we all, actually, live in close community?  Do we not share the same basic needs and face the same struggles as anyone else? Do we not all strive for a sense of the divine in our lives?  Saint Benedict began his precepts with a description of the types of monks; Cenobites, those living in a monastery; Anchorites, the hermits; Sarabaites, those living in small family groups of two to four living under their own rules of law; and Gyrovagues, the wanderers, living at the will of their own impulses and desires.  I suggest that we are all Sarabaites and Gyrovagues.  All monks, trying to keep the peace, and it may do us some great degree of good to be careful what we say and to embrace more fully the silence in our lives.

Listen to the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo De Silos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ela-Z7HqqS8