For Pope Francis--A Smile; a Frown


       Pope Francis made a number of bishops happy and a number of nuns sad recently.

            The bishops could rejoice in the news that the Pope appointed a panel of eight bishops from around the world to overhaul the secretive and some say scheming Vatican Curia.

            America’s nuns and their many Catholic and non-Catholic admirers and followers are saddened because the Pope reaffirmed his predecessor’s reprimand of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

 The Conference, an umbrella group, represents 80 percent of the nation’s 57,000 nuns—including the popular “Nuns on the Bus,” who toured the nation in June 2012. The small group of nuns stopped at food pantries, schools, homeless shelters, and health care facilities run by nuns to highlight the work they do. In effect they were protesting the Vatican’s criticism of them.

The protest apparently has had little effect. By Papal edict the Leadership Conference, will be subjected to a “program of reform,” a scary-sounding phrase with echoes of the Inquisition or the old Soviet Union.

            But about the bishops:

It has been widely reported that bishops over the globe have complained of the curia’s intransigence and controversial decisions and for blocking access to the Pope. The curia, a powerful clique of clerical bureaucrats, has for decades—even centuries—run the affairs of the church.  It was thought that the entrenched bureaucracy was too powerful to change.

 Until now.

The new task force that will consult with Pope Francis includes Archbishop Sean O’Malley of Boston and archbishops from Chile, India, Germany, Congo, Australia, and Honduras.  There is one holdover from the Curia, Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the Vatican city-state’s administrative president.  The panel will hold its first meeting in October.

Reports in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the National Catholic Reporter state that the idea of such a taskforce was raised during the days before the election of the new Pope. But it apparently originated in the course of the Second Vatican Council that Pope John XXIII called for in 1959. The Council sessions ran from 1962 to 1965.

To the delight of Catholic “liberals” who applauded the changes encouraged by the Council, Pope Francis seems to agree with them.

 In a National Catholic Reporter story dated April 16, Thomas C. Fox wrote that Pope Francis recently called the Council “a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit.” In a homily, the Pope admonished those who “…don’t want to change,” adding,” what’s more, there are those who wish to turn the clock back.” He called such people “stubborn.”

It is difficult to reconcile the spirit of understanding and kindness Pope Francis has so far projected with his stand regarding the nuns.

Repression of the nuns, whose writings, speeches, and decisions regarding conference speakers will be scrutinized and censored, clashes with the openness and free speech cherished by U.S. citizens.

The nuns have been scolded for their “feminism.” This apparently refers to their reported tolerance for the notion that the Church should consider the ordination of women.

 Moreover in the most bizarre charge, the nuns were accused of focusing on caring for the sick, depraved, despised, and needy among us rather than challenging those who countenance abortion rights and gay marriage.

It’s hard to see those who do such good punished so harshly.

                                                                         ---Gus Gribbin

 

Who’s Afraid of North Korea’s Bad, Belligerent Kim Jong-un?


            North Korea, that cruel, destitute,sword-rattling nation, ranks along with such nations as Berkina Fasco, Tuvalu, and Comorous as nations Americans rarely, if ever, think about. Until, that is, North Korea declares it’s goings to bomb Austin Texas and A-bomb South Korea.

            Obviously North Korea and its chub-chub dictator with the shaved sideburns and bowl-shaped haircut don’t like obscurity.

            But the way the country’s leadership goes about seeking attention is odd. No insane.

The country issues warnings that it is about to invade its neighbor. It broadcasts videos of troops in live-fire exercises, and images of its fat dictator studying military maps with ranks of Army officers at his back. And there are photos of armed women soldiers marching—one trooper wearing high heels.

It’s really not common these days for nations to give advance notice they’re going to invade or attack a neighbor or enemy.  Remember Pearl Harbor?

Sure, North Korea owns A-bombs and it may be able to mount one on a ballistic missile. But while North Korea has fewer than 10 bombs with an unknown number “active” (or effective as a bomb) the United States has 7,700 with 2,150 active. And the world knows that if South Korea is attacked, the United States is pledged to defend her. And the U.S. defense is capable of delivering devastation.l

So North Korea’s actions are farcical. We’re witnessing slap-stick comedy.

 North Korea is like a Chihuahua barking and snarling at a Doberman Pinscher. If the tiny dog attacked it would lose its head in one bite.

Indeed tiny dogs bark at bigger dogs because they are fearful and show bravado to assure the big guys won’t bother them. And big dogs mostly just ignore their little K9 cousins.

In fact, even though some news accounts refer to the “North Korea crisis,” most of the world seems more confused than seriously worried about the North’s threats. Still, government and military officials must prepare for the utterly remote chance that either by accident or intent North Korea creates a violent incident.

There is a mildly amusing aspect to the situation North Korea has caused. That’s because media pundits, foreign affairs scholars, and think-tank fellows fall all over themselves on news shows trying to explain North Korea’s unexplainable actions. All eventually concede no one knows what’s in the mind of the Pyongyang dictator or his handlers. All theories seem to defy the test of logic, as some “experts” admit.

However Andrei Lankov, a history professor at Kookmin University in Seongbuk-gu, a city near Seoul in South Korea, has a suggestion. In a New York Times Op-Ed Page article, he writes:

“…It does not make sense to credulously take their [North Korea’s] fake belligerence at face value and give them the attention they want now. It would be better if people in Washington and New York took a lesson from the people of Seoul.” In Seoul, he notes, it’s business as usual.

A final thought though:

If after this blog is posted and read and North Korea actually makes good on any of his taunts and threats--well, let’s just pretend the blog were never written.

                                                                                    ---Gus Gribbin