UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
If “bad news” for this month’s and next month’s Popes restores the Catholic Church closer to its original consensual structure, it is “good news” for Catholics worldwide by making the neglected Gospels the “New Gospel” once again.
Catholicism is based principally on the broad guidelines left by an actual historical person, Jesus. But he left nothing in writing for his followers. Decades after Jesus’ crucifixion and oral devotional reports of his unique “after death experience”, several writings, called Gospels or “Good News”, began to appear in different communities about Jesus’ message and unique experience. The Gospels were written for purposes, by persons, and used sources, all mainly unknown with certainty today. These often impressionistic reports have errors and inconsistencies. They are contained in thousands of often conflicting copies of key manuscript fragments that were transcribed in multiple languages centuries later often in ancient language idioms. Over the centuries, these reports were included with other similarly problematic, often unrelated and sometimes inconsistent writings into the New Testament. Moreover, at the insistence mainly of Constantine and his imperial successors, these various and often Palestinian scriptural strands were prematurely squeezed into mandatory creeds using Greek philosophical terminology.
Problematic or not, Jesus’ message overrides all Popes’ statements, of course, especially since church history indicates many Popes were selfish autocrats who interpreted the Gospels for personal advantage or with incomplete information. Moreover, some papal statements cannot clearly be reconciled with the Gospel message. Popes since 1869 claim to be infallible, but Pope Benedict’s error-prone performance as Pope, and now especially his unexpected resignation, suggest otherwise.
Among some of the relevant guidelines generally ascribed to Jesus are that he was opposed to a self-important, excessively scrupulous and overly indulgent religious hierarchy and that he thought children should be protected from harm. These points have neither been consistently understood nor respected in the Vatican for decades, even for centuries. The “Good News”, or the Gospels, have often been disregarded by the Catholic hierarchy where a Renaissance culture of opulence and celibate incomprehension of children still predominate today. Where in the Gospels did Jesus say predatory priests are to be protected before innocent children? Where did Jesus instruct his followers to wear $30,000 outfits? Where did Jesus tell his followers to launder money? Prosecutors are steadily moving in and soon, new Pope or not, one Pope or two, international courts will resolve these major contradictions. Hence, current “bad news” for the Pope and his Vatican Cardinals’ clique that should undermine the Vatican’s ideological, self-serving and unsupportable interpretation of the Gospel message is “good news” for Catholics. …
We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:
[Click here for the petition.]
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