Saturday, July 29, 2006

Where "Ratzinger" was a Swear Word


Those educated in Catholic institutions know of what I speak and not a few converts have been surprised to encounter someone in a parish who was less than enthusiastic about the faith...all of this contempt seemed to reach its zenith with the mention of one name "Ratzinger."

As I tell people I'm planning to write a book "Where Ratzinger Was a Swear Word" they share with me their own experiences, and I'd like to start sharing them here. I'd also invite readers to email me their own experiences with the caveat that in doing so they are giving me permission to use them in the book insuring of course their anonymity.


From a Campus Minister who is faithful, charismatic and was shocked the first time he attended a national conference of campus ministers and at Mass witnessed a priest shadowed by a woman who repeated everything he said as he said Mass. He wasn't terribly thrilled when Sister Minus Mary got up and invoked the four winds in imitation of the Native Americans she was sent as a missionary to and they evidently succeeded in converting her. But the relevant point to my story came when the campus ministers: clerical, religious and lay gathered for a small group session and brainstormed what they would do if they could be pope for one day.

My friend said that in his group there was a nun, two priests and himself. The nun spoke up first and she had only three words to say as to what she would do if she were the Supreme Pontiff and she said them loud enough for the adjacent groups to hear, "I'd fire Ratzinger." The two priests nodded approvingly. One of the priests spoke up next, "I'd make the church more gay-friendly, more inclusive." My friend wondered what he had gotten himself into.

10 comments:

  1. While watching the white smoke on the computer stream (thanks to MSNBC, among others, for streaming live video) preceding the announcement of the election of the new pontiff I enjoyed the looks of expectation on everyone's faces. As all but one of the 12 or so people huddled around the computer monitor, in a cramped office of the Newman Center cheered, we were silenced as the then acting director of the Newman Center actually cursed "sh*t" and walked out of the room when Benedict XVI walked onto the balcony.

    Literally, Ratzinger was a swear word to this particular Catholic.

    It was mind-blowing to sit with this respected woman who has dedicated her life to working with young Catholics and see her express dismay at the election of our new Pope. I sometimes find it incredible that any Catholics escape the student centers at our universities with any hint of orthodoxy.

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  2. I was very excited when I heard the news of Pope Benedict's election, and my first thought was to run and find someone to celebrate with. I knew two students who worked in the campus ministry office, so I decided to go there. I walked in and saw my friend grinning as she pasted a picture of the new pope onto a posterboard. I started jumping up and down and said, "Isn't it great?" She put her finger over her lips. "I know how you feel. I'm thrilled! But not everyone here is so happy. Sister X stormed into her office an hour ago and slammed the door. The only time she's come out since was to tell some people who were out here celebrating to be quiet."

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  3. I came across this when reading someone's blog. I should not be shocked, but I am. I am a 28 yr old and all I want to say to this guy's accusation about Ratzinger's "sins" is "DUH!" Isn't that the job of the Church?!

    "For those of you who are not Catholic, selecting Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Pope is a lot like selecting Attorney General John Ashcroft as President. Ratzinger has been the enforcer of orthodoxy for years. No women priests. No gay unions. No questioning authority. Fall in line." www.nosojunet.blogspot.com

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  4. Aloha from Hawaii ...
    Well, it's not exactly a moment, more of a journey ...

    In the 1980's at the height of liberation theology, gay rights, etc .. I was in the HUB of what must have been the CDF hunting grounds - In the Pacific Northwest, in a Jesuit University with many professors in the graduate theology program who worked in Latin America (even with Gustavo Gutierrez).Our dear Archbishop was under investigation by CDF. We were very unfriendly towards the "Wuerl-wind" co-adjutor ... and did I mention that the Gay Pride parade passed right by my dorm and we would all rush to open the dorm windows to wave hello to some of our classmates who were participating?!!

    The name "Ratzinger" was always pronounced with a bit of a snarl, for sure.

    Naturally, on April 19 when he was elected, my first words were - "Oh, God ... I'm so disgusted!!!" I felt like all my hopes had gone down the sinkhole.

    But today, after I finally decided that I couldn't spend the next years being disgusted about my Vicar of Christ, I decided to actually READ something he wrote! What a grace to pick "Milestones" and "Salt of the Earth." I discovered a PERSON. A holy, gracious, humble person - brilliant in mind and spirit.

    So today, the name "Ratzinger" is, at least on my lips, pronouced Papa Bear and my friends in the parish say "She's fallen in love with the Holy Father." I share his book titles and thoughts as much as possible with my catechumenate and CORE Team and with my pastors. What a grace ...

    Linda

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  5. I might never have heard of Cardinal Ratzinger until he became Pope, except that at one point Father Greeley started talking about how bad he was. I also remember seeing 60 Minutes or something like that do a story where they made this cardinal look bad. They got in his face with a camera and he looked very annoyed.

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  6. In a conversation with another church musician, I was startled when she suddenly interjected, "I don't see why God would cure Cardinal Ratzinger's cancer. We'd be so much better off if he were dead." Since this was literally "a propos of nothing," as my mother used to say, I could think of no response.

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  7. I was at our Provincial Assembly the day after the election, and as people were looking at the headlines on the newspaper they were making many disparaging remarks, but the one I remember came from our Secretary General. "Oh God, where was the Holy Spirit?"

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  8. Nothing profound, but two of my best friends from college in the early 60s considered Cardinal Ratzinger to be a "traitor" because he had been a "liberal" they say, and they don't understand how he could have changed.

    One friend spent five years in a seminary and the other has a PhD in theology after having studied at the Universities of Muenster and Munich while then Father Ratzinger was a shining light in Germany (and probably was in the process of changing after experiencing the student unrest there in 1968.

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  9. A minor incident. At dinner with a friend (liberal, Christian, not Catholic) we mentioned the upcoming Papal election, and he instantly snapped, "I hope it's not that fascist!"

    One didn't need to ask who he meant.

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  10. I was at a wedding about 5 or 6 months after the papal election and trying to make conversation at the table with the parents of an old friend, I brought up the fact that we have a new pope in a 'how 'bout that' sort of way. I then followed by saying that I really thought they had made the right choice in electing Ratzinger/Benedict.

    The reaction I got was so strange. He just shook his head and started ranting about how he was too old, they should have term limits, age limits, time for new ideas, blah blah blah....

    I gave him all the (incredibly good) reasons I knew for why they don't have these things.

    He then went on about how that it was bad because if people don't like it, they will go to the Anglican church down the road blah blah blah.

    I thought, "Oh no. What have I started here?" and I tried to change the subject.

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