Bless you, Friend, for your soulful response. Between the Ideal and the reality.... sigh... this is the problem of 'any organization that has humans in it!' as you say.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, absolutely. Call me naive (and grossly uninformed) but I could not fathom the extent of the Vatican's power or corruption, until I did my latest research...
I know what you mean, too, about the difficulties of one man going up against a (deeply flawed) system, and how much can be achieved and how fast.
After a fairly heated discussion with my wife's religion teacher from school, whom I hold in high regard, I decided to step back a bit & put away my wagging finger.
As you say, "there is no time to waste with this issue and it seems so simple to come out fully against any and all abuse!" But, how and who will do so, God only knows...
Wishing you a safe, restorative, creative weekend, dear Ruth <3
That heated discussion must have been interesting, I would have liked to be a fly on the wall ;-)). When intelligent and thoughtful people debate this kind of deep moral dilemma, all kinds of light can be shed on matters even if they never agree.
Thanks for your response! Watching the snow falling this evening and looking forward to waking up to a fresh 8" and going snowshoeing!
Ah, enjoy the snow. Here, in Sunny Florida, we're beginning to get a taste of Spring -- wafting warm ocean breeze your way :)
Y'know, re: said heated discussion, I regret I may have gone too far, and crossed a boundary in my righteous indignation. Retreating into silence after that outburst, and in this chastened state meditating on Thomas Merton's advice to a young activist:
"You are fed up with words, and I don’t blame you. I am nauseated by them sometimes. I am also, to tell you the truth, nauseated by ideals and with causes.
.
This sounds like heresy, but I think you will understand what I mean. It is so easy to get engrossed with ideas and slogans and myths that in the end one is left holding the bag, empty, with no trace of meaning left in it."
ah yes I know all too well that righteous indignation and idealism and getting so caught up in them that I forget to connect with the human in front of me. Ironic since no conversation, debate has any real impact unless we are actually connecting with person in front of us! I have done this too.
The good news of course is that this is all about caring and caring deeply - even if a bit wound up out of control - which means that we will always come around again to caring for the individuals (beyond our passion for the cause) and will ultimately reach to connect and understand.
And those are some wise Thomas Merton words.
And thanks for the warm ocean breezes, love those!
Thank you, for your understanding. We've since 'made up' and left on a respectful, compassionate note. People, first. Have a lovely day, Ruth
_/|\_So glad to hear it :-))