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˙uɐɔ I ʍouʞ I ¿sıɥʇ op I uɐƆ

Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clements

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by
Aerif
, 02-11-2013 at 01:11 PM (3563 Views)
Papa Benny is retiring, the first Pope to do so in 598 years. The BBC described him as a 'filler-Pope' after John Paul II, which is sort of unkind in a truthful way - in reality His Holiness didn't do anything all that memorable, this early retirement will likely be the most memorable part of his Papacy. Hopefully this will mean that the College of Cardinals will recognise that voting for an elderly Pope is a bad idea, we'll get a young Pope - he may even be liberal enough to make some meaningful changes to help modernise the Church in a way, such as marriage for the Clergy. Is a change like that a good thing or a bad thing, though? It is believed by some that the liberalisation of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland has led to the decline in congregation. Catholicism remains strong without this liberalisation, and presumably would be left unchanged or strengthened if Priests could marry - I never considered being a Priest due to the marriage laws, but that could change.

Yesterday I watched the BBC's 1954 television film 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', it was okay. the ending of that book was always a little foggy to me, and the film didn't really help it. I just listened to a radio-play version of it on the BBC, which was just recently created and had to tune out of it. Hopefully when I find the 1984 version it will be better, because I haven't enjoyed any of the other adaptations.

I finally got hired for my first 'permanent' job last Monday, I'll be working 8 hours a week at a local small supermarket (the Co-Op, for those Brits aware of it). The pay's okay, and the hours are pretty great for a student. If I'm forced to go into independent development upon graduation then this will definitely help. A job's a job.

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  1. Alpha's Avatar
    "Catholicism remains strong without this liberalisation"

    No it doesn't. I don't know about Scotland, but being young and Catholic in New Zealand is possibly the least cool thing imaginable. We don't even have sectarian football teams to get excited about.

    Priests should be able to marry. The Church shouldn't campaign against gay marriage per se, but the very fact that the sate can perform Marriage at all (it does't do Baptism). I like the French system (a Marriage under God holds no civil meaning); it's more in accord with leaving unto Caesar what is Caesar's. And they should definitely give up on banning contraception... they know the alternative for many is abortion. So it's either support contraception, or indirectly support abortion. One of those things is not very Catholic. I read a survey of Catholics that said the vast majority use or had used contraceptives anyway. 70+-year-old virginal men shouldn't really be pontificating about sex anyway, in my opinion. But maybe I'm just a bad Catholic. At least I'm doing something for Lent this year.

    I like the sound of that cardinal from Ghana.
  2. Aerif's Avatar
    By strong, I meant comparatively. It's almost a wonder that Presbyterianism even exists in Scotland any more, we're having the gay-marriage-debate and the opinion of the Church of Scotland has come up less than the opinion of previous government officials who don't matter any more. Sure, it's not 'cool' to be Catholic, but it's somehow even less cool to be a Church of Scotlander. Or a Jew. Muslims are cool though, even if they don't drink alcohol. It's a strange hierarchy.

    I've been looking at the Papal candidates and haven't been all that impressed. The guy from Ghana isn't as progressive as I'd like, also he spoke about being Pope which is a big no-no apparently. The Austrian cardinal seems like a good one since he questioned the priest-celibacy issue. There are calls for a non-European Pope, but really who cares where he's from? Just as long as he gets the job done.
  3. LocoColt04's Avatar
    Congrats on the job!

    I'm "supposed" to be Roman Catholic. I'm terrible at it, considering I believe in the pantheon of gods. Whoops.
  4. Aerif's Avatar
    Oopsie. But I suppose I've actually met worse Catholics in my life.

    Cheers Loco