So Pope Benedict XVI sez, the world's financial systems are "built on sand" and that only the works of God have "solid reality".
Okay.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but "solid reality" means food, shelter and heat. Especially to zillions of Catholics under the pontiff's jurisdiction.
Now.
Exactly HOW is the head of the church fulfilling the works of God to ensure His faithful are getting some "solid reality" in the face of a world financial threat?
Not sure, me. Especially when I see my man's own pocketbook.
4 comments:
When it comes to religion, I think there's a sort of dichotomy. Personally, I think the true purpose of religion is to act as a philosophical force, but at the same time, religion can do some very good things should it set its' mind to it.
I think I'd prefer it though, if religion's default was as a philosophical presence, with the occasionaly foray into the world of charity.
Ah well.
I think you and I are probably on the same page, just from different perspectives, Walk-Man.
Religion was never meant to become a power tool in despots' arsenal, but there you have it. People being the way they are.
Laura Ingalls Wilder's Pa once said, no sooner do people start organizing too much, than they pay more attention to the organization than to why they organized in the first place. The example in Mrs. Wilder's book was the town trying to get different entertainments set up each Friday night, but the parallel with religion is apt.
The very first thing that got lost in Christianity, for example, was Christ's message of love one another. From then on, it was down the rabbit hole.
So, yes. The underpinning of any religion should be philosophy. Follow a philosophy of helping one another, rather than amass riches in some ivory tower, and you're on the right track. Otherwise, you're either a greedy, or well-meaning, parasite. Thinks me.
To the extent that Catholics DO help one another, is admirable. But it's always the ordinary Catholics who don't have two nickels to rub together that wind up helping one another -- not His Nibs and his massive bureaucracy. And that's basically my beef.
Oh exactly. It seems to always boil down to the common man just getting it done. No matter the grandstanding, and the policies, and the bureaucracy. It always seems to come down to someone giving his fellow man a hand, and ultimately, I think that's what charity is and should be: a mindset of doing what one can to make this world at least somewhat better, in one's own small way.
But whenever we seek to take that mindset, and harnass it to use it to sustain any kind of large administration, then we lose sight of the forest for the trees.
Unfortunately, I think we have started to focus upon the religious institution to the extent of making the institution the religion for many, if I'm making any sense at all.
Absolutely.
You've got to keep the message. Is it inevitable that the original mission gets lost the bigger the bureaucracy? Probably. That's why bureaucracies should be kept to a bare minimum.
So sez this libertarian!
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