[4-4-05]

As Presbyterians we join with our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers around the world in grieving the death of Pope John Paul II on Saturday, April 2.

While many of us, like many Catholics, would differ with some of the Pope’s strongly held views on matters such as birth control, a woman’s right to make choices affecting her own body, the proper role of women in the church and in the ministry, and the rights of gay and lesbian people to full, loving, committed relationships, nevertheless we know the world has lost a leader of immense importance.

You may have heard and read more than enough about the Pope over the past couple days, but we offer here links to a number of comments that you may find worth looking at.

The Papal Legacy: Questioning Capitalism

John Paul II is difficult to understand for many Americans. He, like the church he led, was neither Democrat nor Republican. This Pope was more pro-human rights than Jimmy Carter and more anti-communist than Ronald Reagan. But it was in economics that the Pope was even more challenging to the American mind. Polish scholar Marcin Król explains John Paul II's "Third Way" between capitalism and communism.

Read this on TomPaine.com >>

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Papal Legacy: No to the Death Penalty

Sister Helen Prejean, made famous in the movie Dead Man Walking, has a vocation to end the death penalty in America. As a Catholic nun, Sr. Prejean sought the support of John Paul II in overturning the Catholic Church's 1,600-year old loophole allowing states to kill their own citizens. It worked. In 1997, John Paul changed the catechism of the church, and last month, the American Bishops finally made it a priority. Now comes the hard part. (NYTimes , free reg. req'd.)

Read this in the New York Times (free registration required)

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Two perspectives on the pope — one from outside, one from inside

David Gibson, a veteran religion reporter and author of The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful Are Shaping a New American Catholicism, sees John Paul II as having had a great impact on the world beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church – using his Polish roots to help bring down the Berlin Wall, and eventually the reign of Communist governments in much of Eastern Europe; advocating for justice and human rights, especially for the poor in Asia, Africa and Latin America; turning his criticisms on the evils of capitalism; standing passionately against armed conflict, including American adventures in Iraq and elsewhere.Yet within the Roman Catholic community there is a mixture of admiration and affection, and a regret as the Pope’s refusal to be more open to progressive changes in the world, including the role of women, understandings of sexuality, and more. At the same time, Catholics on the right wing of the church view him as having sold out to modernism. And even in "the deep middle" of Catholicism (which I guess is sort of like the Presbyterians’ "broad middle" ) moderate Catholics want to see a more pastoral style of leadership, a less centralized church, and more openness for discussion, even on issues that the Pope has rule out of bounds.

Read from Presbyterian News Service >>

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George Weigel, one of America’s leading authorities on Pope John Paul II and the author of his 1999 biography, Witness to Hope, points to some of the transformations John Paul achieved within the Catholic Church – his call for the Church to recover its evangelical zeal, his transformation of the papacy into a pastoral office; his appeal to young people; his building of relationships with Orthodox, Protestant and Jewish faith communities.

Read this, too, from Presbyterian News Service >>

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Do you have thoughts to add?
Please send a note, to be shared here!

The Rev. Dudley Sarfaty, a retired Presbyterian pastor and member of the Witherspoon Society, lives in Chateaugay in northern New York State. He shared this letter to the editor of the Malone Telegram with us on June 23; we are posting it here on 6/27/02.

To the editor:

All the Great Protestant Reformers were Roman Catholics. This is true of Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Switzerland, John Wycliff in England, Menno Simon in Holland, John Hus in Bohemia and Peter Waldo in Italy. They were seeking to be faithful in their day, as are the devout Roman Catholic activists who are hoping to reform their Church today.

The recent sex scandals among the Roman Catholics have brought to light the need for checks and balances, and democratic participation of the faithful. It seems that until pride and power are replaced by serious humility the faithful will remain in an increasingly rebellious mood, hurting the Church and perhaps themselves as well, as they struggle to make their Church more true to itself. Rev. Wilton Gregory, President of the U. S. Catholic Bishops, certainly stated it clearly in Dallas last week.

Whether the hierarchy welcomes it or not, democracy and reform have already taken their place in the life of the Roman Church. The pioneering work of Pope John XXIII will simply be further refined as the Church seeks to maintain the core of its essential Christian insights, integrating into its developing tradition the interpretations and modernizations which the 21st Century demands.

The blunt cartoon which Msgr. John found offensive (6/20) certainly did make a radical criticism of the Church and its power persons. However, the cartoon was far milder than the things Jesus, himself, angrily said about people who hurt children. It may be difficult to accept criticisms of any church's power structure. I remember my own reaction when I heard the Chicago Cardinal mix up the issues when he said in Dallas that his Church was threatened by an "American Secularist Protestant" conspiracy. I think it is far better for all of us to interpret criticism as a positive sign of an opportunity for the development of democracy and a rebirth of the Holy Spirit in a being-born-again Church.

The main issue is a direct loyalty to Christ, which puts all our human vanities under critical judgment. It seems to me that Paul Tillich's "Protestant Principle," which affirmed continuing universal Reformation, is a hopeful guideline for us all - those in the various the Protestant denominations and also among our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers.

Peace,

Rev. Dudley E. Sarfaty, Pastor Emeritus

A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of Violence

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