Another Letter, though not to a fool
tagged Adam Rozenhart, God, JP2, Mother Teresa, The Gateway and the Pope
So I was reading The Gateway again. I don’t know why I keep leafing through my University’s student-published newspaper, although I suspect that it is simply to ensure that the level of stupidity has not crossed the line into flagrant error, especially theological error.
To that end, when I saw Adam Rozenhart’s editorial on the apparent lack of God’s mercy in allowing the Pope, suffering as he is, to live as long as he has, I was again moved to respond. Here’s what I wrote:
Rozenhart comes close, but misses
Adam Rozenhart actually answers his own question in his microtorial ("Hey, God: show some mercy", March 15th), although it seems doubtful that he realizes this. He asks, pointedly, why God cannot "show some mercy" and let the Pope pass away. He furthermore questions the effectiveness of the Pope as head of the (Catholic) Church, given his present illness.
But he also says, and I quote: "The Church needs a strong leader in these trying times…", and later notes "…JP2’s a courageous guy…". He even goes so far as to finish his microtorial with "He’s likely just a figurehead at this point…". The first two statements are correct. The last is not.
Why is it that the Pope, in spite of everything that has happened to him and all the illness that even now wracks his body, continues to live? Because he continues not merely just to live, but also to profess, unfailingly, the glory of God and serve as a voice of moral constancy in these dynamic and, yes, "trying" times. The Pope, despite all the adversity facing him, continues to be a critic of the Iraq invasion, a champion of the poor and downtrodden, a voice of moral certainty in a time of rampant relativism. He demonstrates, through his perseverance, the power that only comes when a truly humble person fully allows God into his or her life. In living and professing in spite of his pain, the Pope shows the power of God in a way no other this century, save Mother Teresa, has. The Church could ask for no better leader.
Kenneth Kully
Computer Engineering V
