Hello Gentle Readers:

Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers over the past week on behalf of my father and niece. Very good news: My father greeted me and Delinda (my housemate and awesome friend) at the door when I came to visit him and mom over the weekend. Dad is walking around, albeit with a very fluid-filled and bruisy looking left leg. His foot is fine and when both his leg and brochitis are healed, then he's going in for bypass surgery (as yet unscheduled). My niece Sara has been pretty much re-diagnosed. Out is the polycystic kidney disease, and in is a diagnosis of lymphoma. The lymphoma, currently found in her neck, near her heart, her kidneys, and liver, is operable and can be cleared out. Polycystic kidney disease is not operable. That's why this cancer diagnosis is great news. Please keep them both in your prayers. Oh, and my mom managed to cook dinner for nine of us... so at 86, she has regained her usual blessed vigor despite the recent trials she has faced.

Rant:
Pope Benedict arrived on "Shepherd 1" (an Italian jetliner) on US soil today for his first visit to the US as Pope.

I'm currently reading "Son of Man" by Andrew Harvey, a great scholar and mystic. This book about Jesus goes at length into who the Historical Jesus was -- a radical whose vision of "The Kingdom" was a place of radical inclusiveness and humility, having nothing whatsoever to do with human institutions, which by their very nature are hierarchical and create divisions between people.

Which brings me to Benedictus, the Holy Father.

Imagine a man of Jesus' stature/influence/message doing his work today. Would he arrive on Shepherd 1, or would he fly economy arriving unannounced and without fanfare? The more I think about it, the worse I feel about the idea of a church institution such as Rome has been for centuries. So much about what is good and delightful about life is SQUASHED.

Benedict, of course, is facing the fallout from the pedophile scandal, and is responding that the church will not admit pedophiles into the ranks of the priesthood, and that quality, rather than quantity, is to be aimed for in recruiting priests.

Meanwhile, the median age of the priesthood is somewhere around 60 years old.

Of course, homosexual men will bear the brunt of this backlash, whether or not they have any interest in kids. I feel for these guys.

And of course, the pope will not consider a married priesthood, or even woman priests. Never mind the historical evidence indicating that Mary Magdalene was the most "enlightened" of the disciples and commanded their and Christ's respect the most. Any justification for a celibate clergy holds about as much water as a pasta strainer. Do you want an active, engaged, relevant clergy? Try people who have worked through some of their basic issues related to sex. Oy vey.

It feels to me like Jesus' message is being internalized on a massive scale, but not by "Christians"; rather by eco-activists, peace corps volunteers, healers, and anyone who is willing to hold up a vision of human dignity over human comfort.

Meanwhile, the churches will languish as Christ's kingdom sprouts up in moister, more fertile soil.

Photo: Credit WKBW