Posted by Kevin Bates We thank God for the many gifts he has left with us, and we pray in hope for a new direction, a new energy and a healing of the divisions that still mark the Church's life. The unworthy struggle for power, doctrinally, politically and ideologically in the Church has been exacerbated over recent years, and despite the hopes of some that the new Pope will follow exactly in the footsteps of John Paul, I pray for a new direction, a certain healing and a gentler sharing of responsibility for the Church's life envisaged by the teachings of Vatican II. Some Church leaders in recent interviews have indicated not only a hope, but a confidence that it will be business as usual. My sense is that our God is a God of the Living, and that living means moving forward, that Christ will come again, and that we do not simply live where we used to live. Some have claimed that central to John Paul's legacy is a sense that Catholics felt secure in their identity. I think he was better than that. He called us to an engagement with our cultures so that the light of the gospel could be tasted there. Similarly, Jesus' legacy was that we might have life, not safety as our first port of call. I remember an old Dominican writer, Gerald Vann, writing for his own confreres, saying that Jesus came that we might have life and not safety - and that we could not have both as our first point of reference. He continued: "Better to have an occasional scandal thana refectory full of dead men"!! May the Holy Spirit get to work over these coming weeks. In our tradition, hope is a priceless commodity!
on April 6, 2005, 10:57 pm
What a remarkable moment this event has become - the death of Pope John Paul, a man whose influence will surely endure long after his passing within the Church, and a man whose charisma will draw one of the biggest funeral crowds in history, including the largest gathering of World Leaders that the world has ever seen.
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