On Families...

I come from a large family, three older brothers, two parents, dogs, cats, mice, myself and once even a pet chicken. Because of growing up in a house full of people, I have come to value my personal space, and like to have time to myself a good majority of the time. I guess this makes me "a bit of a loner" as referred to by a former professor recently.

However, if I am a loner, the other strange side effect of this, is that one tends to surround yourself by groups of friends which can also be determined as "families" Because they all share a common bond. Such examples are:

1) The Office family...Co-workers who you actually give a damn what happens to. I work in a small office and so I like to make sure everyone is doing ok.

2) The Grad School family...This is the group of people I went to Architecture school with. We still keep in touch. I assume this is very similar to people who have gone through a traumatic experience together will bond.

3) The Church Family...This is the group of singers and musicians I sing with. This one seems to change a lot.

4) The Childhood friends...This is about 3 or 4 people that I grew up with. Still see them at least once a week.

Now, the interesting thing about this is that these groups are entirely separate from each other. I sort of drift in and out of these groups at will. They have never crossed over. One of these days I will have a party and see if they can mix.

...I guess this makes me a family man...

A diatribe about the Papacy...

Since Pope John Paul II has passed from this world into the next, and the difficult and arduous task of choosing a new Pope will begin soon, here are a few things I would like to see the new head of the catholic church address:

1. The role of women in the Catholic Church as keepers of the faith. Who made you go to church as a kid? Mom, of course. When young people leave the church and then later after getting married and having children, it is usually the wife who brings the family back into the church. Women are usually running the education programs and directing the liturgy. Nowadays, little girls aren't officially allowed to be altar servers, but there is a "don't ask, don't tell" policy in place which gives individual parishes a loophole to allow it. The original Diaconate was made of of women. The Pope should acknowledge this, and allow women to be altar servers, deacons, and priests.

2. The new Pope should attempt to open a dialogue with the leaders of the Islamic, Protestant, and Jewish communities in order to establish the proper reverence and tolerance for people of all faiths, and even people who have no faith. The first step towards understanding someone is to realize that they do not think the same way as yourself.

3. The acknowledgement from the church that 60-75% of all funding for the church comes from the United States.

4. The church should become less ritualistic and instead spend the money that would be used for elaborate ceremonies on helping the poor and destitute.

5. The acknowledgement that abortion should be kept legal for public health reasons in cases of rape, incest, and the safety of the mother. Either this or the acknowledgement that a church or government has no right to tell a woman what she can do with her body.

6. The new Pope should acknowledge the cases of Priests molesting young children, by having them forcibly removed and subjected to criminal charges in all cases.

more later possibly...I still have opinions on married priests, transubstantiation, and confessions.