Notes from Day Seven: My visit to the Vatican

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Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy, and with a new pope set to take the reins of the Catholic Church, Mike Veenema has some questions he’d like answered.

Recent news from the Vatican: the pope is resigning. Very unusual. But, as far as I can tell, it's not a bad thing to do. Maybe it's a very humble and right thing to do.

The Vatican, in Rome, Italy, is the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church; I haven't actually visited there, and if ever do get there, it is certain that I will not be given any one-on-one time with the pope. Still, sometimes I like to imagine what I might ask if I ever did meet with him.

So, consider this my open letter to the Vatican. It is written with respect because even though I am part of a branch of the Christian community that has separated from the Catholic Church, in one sense all of us who have separated were once Catholic. And the core concepts of the Christian faith, such as the importance of the Bible, the identity of Jesus (both human and God), the meaning of his death and resurrection, and many other things, are held by all Protestants and Catholics. In addition, during my years as a chaplain, and as someone involved in Christian community actions, Catholics have been among my best allies.

One of my questions to the pope would be, could the male-only priesthood be reevaluated? I realize that there are many Catholic objections to opening up the priesthood to women. Perhaps the strongest of them is that Jesus' closest, specially chosen disciples were all men. Not only that, but the written correspondence between those who founded the churches shortly after Jesus' activities strongly leaned towards women leaders.

Nevertheless, most non-Catholic Christians believe that those two developments reflect an incredibly strong bias towards having men, not women, in positions of leadership. This bias permeated the culture of Jesus' time (2,000 years ago) and place (present-day Israel). That bias does not have to be supported. In fact, it is doubtful that Jesus would have supported it. He went out of his way to include women in his retinue, teaching them — something forbidden among his Jewish people.

It seems to me that if the Catholic Church could change its position on this issue, it would go a long way to healing the pain caused by those priests who, out of weakness or with intent, have sexually violated the vulnerable in their churches. And it would make it less likely that such abuses would happen in the future.

A second question I would have is whether the Catholic Church is serious about making Jesus Christ understandable to ordinary people who don't know Jesus from Buddha and probably don't care a great deal about either. In order to get to know Jesus through the Catholic tradition, you have to first deal with a very complicated worship tradition — and I offer this as a quip made with respect — a kind of cirque de religious symbols.

When I attend a Catholic mass, I know what's going on because of my education. But what about those who have very little background knowledge of Catholic worship? The gear that priests wear, the prayers of “consecration,” the ceremonial aspects of the Catholic mass — won't these be very confusing to newcomers or rare-comers?

Without a concerted attempt to simplify, to strip down Catholic traditions, Jesus remains virtually buried under layers of tradition like a fossil hidden by layers of sediment. Ironically, his actions and teachings were, especially in comparison to the Catholic Church, very simple and accessible.

A third question has to do with the central event at Catholic worship, the Eucharist, which is the eating of bread (usually a wafer) and the sipping of wine. According to Catholic tradition, even though the bread may look like bread, it is actually and truly the body of Jesus Christ. And the wine, though it looks like wine, is truly and actually the blood of Christ.

It is true that in the Bible when Jesus provided bread and wine to his disciples at the “Last Supper” he said that they were his “body” and “blood.” However, didn't he mean this in a more symbolic or metaphorical way, and not as a way of saying that they were his real body and blood? It seems to me that the Catholic community is committed to an interpretation of Jesus' words that has gone over the top.

Like many Catholics, I would love to see all of the various churches come together. And I wonder if the Catholic Church would make room for Christians who have a different take on some matters. If there could be accommodation for believers who are not on side with some of the more questionable teachings of the Catholic Church, wouldn't that make some coming together possible?

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