Catholic Church Reform: What Is It?

     Catholic Church reform.  What is it?  What should it be?  Who decides?  Who should decide?
     What is it?
     Hot button issues come to mind.  Women's ordination.  Married clergy. Liturgy--lay involvement.  Liturgy--inclusive language.
     These are valid, worthy issues central to Catholic Church reform.  Yet, in defining what it should be, dangers need to be identified--dangers to effecting reform.
     Herd mentality.  Rote support of hot button issues.  Rote support of advocates, who can speak the loudest.
     I write cognizant of time's luxury, which long-term disability affords me.  I write cognizant of my time's responsibility--God's time to me.  I must not squander that precious time--that precious responsibility.  Were I to squander, I would aggravate the problems--the issues--I sought to address.
     Who decides?
     "Church Hierarchy!" is the rallying cry of church reform campaigns.  Yet, hierarchy, to some degree, is necessary for the advancement of any organization's issues.  In the extreme, anarchy is hierarchy's adversary.  Effective Catholic Church reform lies somewhere in the middle.
     Catholic Church Reform.  Who decides?
     I know my place.  I make no submissive cry to avoid responsibility.  No.  I know my place.  I have been asked to help clarify issues.  Research.  Write drafts of recommendations.  Listen.  Heed direction of individuals who will make recommendations based in part upon my research.  Revise. Rewrite.  Submit.  Listen.
     I have tremendous respect for the knowledge, experience, convictions, and beliefs of the individuals I will work with.  I pray that I will nurture and maintain that same level of respect of and for each individual I meet.
    I pray that I will seek a broad understanding of the people, issues, organizations, and perspectives within the catholic church.  I pray not to imprison myself within the popular positions on hot button issues just to do so.  Already I sense myself doing just that.
   Catholic Church Reform.  What is it?
   It is not for me to define in isolation.  For now, I shall act as a squirrel might.  I shall gather nuts--food for thought--for the work ahead--nuts that may sustain me.  Websites.  Blogs.  Publications.  These are but three of the nuts I gather for the exciting, daunting, scary, exhilarating, unknown journey ahead me--ahead of us.

Compassion

     Compassion.
     Compassion gets a bad wrap.  Weak.  Idealistic.  Hopeless.  Unrealistic.
     I am not among those bad rappers.  I believe in compassion.  I believe in its ideal.  I live by its hope.
     Never before this week have a found a haven of individuals willing to admit--to affirm--their commitment to act with compassion--to live with and by compassion.
     We live in a world of instant gratification.  Impatience.  Deadlines.  As unsavory as those realities may be, these are facts of life.
     So, how do we counteract those societal pressures--those necessities of a working world--a healthy economy?  Some may say that there is no way to achieve those objectives.  We live in the world of Facebook, Twitter.  So, what hope is there to affirm--to advocate for--compassion?
     Compassion.  Achievable.  If so committed--if so wiling--you do have opportunities.  You do have options.
     PeaceNext.  Charter for Compassion.  Two opportunities.
     PeaceNext.  Social media need not be frivolous.  Peace Next.  The Facebook of Compassion.  Global.  Ecumenical.  Faith-filled.  Committed.
      I am new in my understanding of Peace Next.  Yet, I am committed to following my instincts.  As a lifelong pacifist, I am more than willing to open myself to this venue of hope.
      Interreligious dialogue.  Ecumenism.  A Parliament of World Religions its aspiration.
      In developing the World Wide Web--the human exchange of information and knowledge--within the architectural structure of the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee wrote of the opportunities for free, global communication, which are offered by such forums as PeaceNext.
      Given a forum, concrete actions are the next steps necessary to give Compassion a firm foundation.  So, what actions?  Where do I give my voice to compassion???
      The Charter for Compassion offers a wellspring of opportunity.
      The Charter is distinct from PeaceNext.  The Charter for Compassion sets forth commonsense principles to commit yourself to--to make yourself accountable to others.  The Charter for Compassion offers the space, where you may commit yourself to intentions of compassion not listed.
     In my humble opinion PeaceNext, and  The Charter for Compassion are the World Wide Web at its very best.
     Commit yourself to Compassion.
 

Compassion. Read. Consider. Sign. Live.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

I encourage you.  Please affirm with your name.  Embrace commitments of compassion the charter offers.  Commit to your own.  Share.  Live with, by, and for compassion.