I Am So Gonna Be Blasted For This!

I have been watching some TV tonight and been inundated by information and images of Pope John Paul II. It freaked me out so I retreated to the blasphemous Sci-fi channel for a crappy old movie. However, I can say this, I was not brought up in a religious household and have very little practical experience with practising religion, but I have had a long time fascination with all religion and the concept of faith.

When I went to Jewellery Design school both my year-end projects were religious in theme. My first collection was called ”Hagiography” that contained rings formed with typical and very familiar religious iconography like angel wings, haloes and harps. My second collection was a series of rings named “Kiss My Pope Ring” which was loosely based on the Vatican’s (not all Catholics!) tacit indifference to The Holocaust during WWII. None of the rings were wearable and most were actually painful to place on the finger. I didn’t have any bold statements but wanted to provoke thought and discussion. My Polish instructors especially liked the theme and were very encouraging of my exploration. I think my fascination with religious art and iconography started in my travels in Western Europe and subsequent art history classes; most art is of a religious nature until the Renaissance or so.

A couple years ago I took a university Western Religious Studies class for my own personal interest. My instructor was Tim Stevenson, a local liberal politician and the first openly gay man to be ordained a minister in the United Church of Canada. How cool is that? He has had a long-term relationship with another minister and they were recently married when the laws changed. I specifically wanted him as an instructor because I thought that he would offer a very open minded and wide-ranging view of the course material. I enjoyed the class immensely and I left every evening with my brain aching with all the information. It was particularly interesting to be taught by a person, a gay man and a thinking man, who maintained his faith in God, yet questioned and challenged ideas amidst very conflicting tenets and concepts. The contradictions were never glossed over.

An interesting off topic tidbit is Tim warned us in the first class it was his experience that there was at least one fundamentalist Christian student in the class not to learn about Judaism, Christianity and Islam but to attempt to convert classmates to their way of thought. He mentioned this is an offhand way with his wry sense of humour. He was right! In fact there were two students who fit that description and the rest of the class really didn’t give them any slack. Nobody was converted and they had their horizons broadened a little. Tim knew what he was doing. I really enjoyed that class.

So I learned a little bit and even less has stuck in my brain over the years but a few things stood out for me tonight. In the Catholic belief system followers accept that the Pope has direct communication with God and what the Pope says is in fact the actual word of God. So when the Pope speaks it is really God speaking. This troubles me a bit. I would like to hope that every single person on this planet has the ability to talk to and hear God if they chose to do so. We are all human beings, after all. How did this Polish guy get the direct line? Why does he get that subscription to The Inside Observer?

The second thing that created a lot of conflict and, well, anger in me is the role of women in the Catholic Church. I know Pope John Paul II had a particular interest and spiritual relationship with The Virgin Mary. We all know the Pope and Catholic Churches’ policies on birth control and abortion and the invalidity of a woman’s calling to God by not ordaining female priests. It seems to me that the Pope really only felt that women should be pure and fulfil their biological destiny. However, didn’t Mary have a choice when Gabriel ascended to earth and offered her the opportunity to give birth to the Son of God? She had a choice but Catholic women don’t? Huh?

And don’t get me started how they get to pick and choose what tenets are taken figuratively or literally. It seems very convenient.

I asked a friend of mine who is Catholic how she reconciles her role in society as a mom, wife, friend and equal provider within her household to her status in her church. She assured me that the women were very powerful behind the scenes. This idea pissed me off! Why can’t women be front and center along with the men? Surely everybody has figured out these days that women have different perceptions and experiences in life and would really benefit from Catholic representation.

So what I am hoping is that this next Pope is a little bit more open minded and will accept that abolishing birth control amongst the faithful in third world countries only perpetuates poverty. That women are more than their uteruses. That having an exclusive relationship with God should not elevate him above others but can offer him an amazing opportunity to bring the religion up to date and change some serious inequalities and injustices. I hope this happens and look forward to it!

Now I know I am going to be fried for this-and I mean figuratively!!! I know a lot of people are going to think me very ignorant and simplistic and I couldn’t agree more. The topic and its ramifications are so vast I could never know all there is to know. I never said that this was going to make sense or enlighten anybody. These words and ideas have simply popped into my head since the Pope’s death. Treat them like you would my jewellery projects. Look, think, walk on or don’t at all. Faith is a very individual thing and something I wonder about all the time. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who can maintain their faith amongst the contradictions and challenges of life today.

Within the context of my breast cancer all I can say is that I have complete faith that I don’t know what will happen at any given time. The universe (my concept of God) is a strange, weird, beautiful and astounding place.