It is recommended to switch page set up to 'lanscape' for printing.
Thoughts from a Member
We offer you the following for consideration. If you're long enough in the tooth and not afflicted with failing memory, you'll fondly recall the Kigmy, a 1949 creation of the brilliant cartoonist/philosopher Al Capp, artistic father of Li'l Abner and the other delightful denizens of Dogpatch. The Kigmy was a pudgy little doughball whose principal delight in life was to be kicked, without need of provocation, by anyone willing to give it a buttful of foot. There is, arguably, a Kigmy gene in anyone who allows any opinion to escape the confines of his/her subconscious mind. This is because - regardless of its benignity, veracity and good intention - it is certain to evoke rebuttal after the first few airings. (Try, for example, to share some of your wisdom on the subjects of child-rearing, politics, or mixing martinis.) Kigmyosis is an occupational disease among those of us who recklessly invite scorn, condemnation and trips to the woodshed by publishing op-ed articles, a.k.a., the world according to us, or the dark practice of columny. I am a cradle Catholic, reared by devout parents and educated by Sisters of St. Joseph and Jesuits. An AC (Assenting Catholic) until my mid-thirties, I was drawn toward the "DC" (dissenting) ranks by the dynamic impact of the Second Vatican Council. I saw in it, as did millions of my co-religionists, a reaching out by the hierarchy to those in the pews who had previously been exhorted to merely pray, pay and obey, blindly following the Vatican dicta. During the ensuing years, I welcomed Masses in which the dialogue was understandable, the faithful participated and the priests presided, rather than performed. I saw young people flocking to church, twanging their guitars, singing their faith and doing good works, led by an abundance of clergymen, some only slightly their elders. Fast-forward (maybe reverse is a better word) to the present, when the ranks of the priesthood have been decimated by deaths, defections, defrockings and pathetically few new recruits. Churches are closing, pulpits emptying and, as a tragic result, the admonition of Christ to "feed my sheep, feed my lambs" is being honored in the breech. Okay, what to do about it? I don't know - and it's not my place to decide. What I do know is that not much is being done, beyond encouraging the faithful to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Recent meetings of Church leadership have produced little more than minor changes in ritual and a subtle retreat toward the status quo before the reign of Pope John XXIII, who must be at least frowning "up there." What MIGHT be done is the immediate convening of a Third Vatican Council to discuss such critical issues as birth control, lay control of temporal parish affairs, divorce, a married priesthood, female ordination, the gay culture and serious dialogue with separated Christian groups. Say what you will about tradition, solidarity and other historical precedents, the undeniable facts are that we are losing our young people, not relating to the wants and needs of the "fallen away," not facing up to the realities of modern life and not, as a result, feeding a hungry and dependent flock. We, the sheep - a growing number of us, at least - feel that we have been shunned by the shepherds, particularly those in the hierarchy, some of whom seem more bent on control than on bending to the needs of their people. No, I'm not leaving the Church, but neither am I abandoning the free will and willingness to express it which are God's gifts to us Kigmies. Freelance wordworker Joe Klock, Sr. (joeklock@aol.com) is a winter Floridian who summers on Golden Pond in New Hampshire. More of his "Klockwork," is at www.joeklock.com.
|