Oh, yes, a conclave

O Gracious Father, we humbly beseech you for your holy Catholic Church; that you would be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, re-unite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever lives to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

There is much speculation (especially in this, the first conclave since the Internet was begun) about the papacy ahead - amusing (such as the bookmaker in Ireland), interesting, frustrated, sad, whatever. I am enjoying being able to consider this from a distance, in a sense. I'm not about to reveal just which candidates, for whom Paddy is giving nearly even odds, I am hoping do not end up on Peter's throne...

Many people are discussing what they should like to see change during the reign of the next pontiff. (I am sorry that it seems that all anyone remembers of John Paul, or perhaps any other contemporary pope, would make it seem that we mortals were composed of bodies that went only from the waist to the knees...) I am far from old, but, even if I copy the longevity common in my family, forty years from now I'll be gone. There is much hope that I have for the future of the church (and my use of Catholic hardly means Roman only), and which I shall not live to see if indeed it does occur.

I'm becoming quite 'patristic' in my 'old' age. I shall save lengthy essays on that for another time - but I do believe the papacy needs to move more in the direction of the early centuries. John Paul began his reign when the church was in quite a mess - his centralising authority may have kept things from crumbling. Yet one with less hard life experience - or less warmth - could not sustain a similar stance without becoming an autocrat.

I should like to see Rome finally admit that the judgement about Anglican Orders has "evolved" since the days of Leo. I cherish my own celibacy, but believe that it further is time to allow married men to be ordained. Yet what I should like to see change most of all is uncommon, and therefore merits mention here.

Though John Paul cannot be faulted for this, I should like to see far more respect for, and encouragement of, consecrated life. It saddens me greatly that the Roman Church, which its vast and rich heritage of monastic and 'active life,' lost so much in that area during my own lifetime.

Where does the 'universal call to holiness' (which I frankly doubt ever was in question!) become compromised by a life dedicated to monastic norms - and dating from the early centuries? Why has the 'age of the laity' and 'getting the people involved' , for all the value there can be in those efforts, led to a denial of the value of permanent, vowed commitment to the counsels? We need to recover the eschatological dimension of this witness - not merely emphasise the 'work' or the 'corporate identity' of such religious as are still here.

One old joke in the days when I first studied logic and rhetoric was this fractured syllogism: "God is love. Love is blind. Therefore God is blind." Perhaps a little understanding of the use of the predicate in logic is in order. Edvard Schillebeeczx, some years ago, made a statement about how, once a strong theology of marriage became common, vocations to consecrated life would decrease. (It is a surprise to me, since I never noticed that the married doubted the value of their vocation, but be that as it may.) Even if this were true, and I believe there are many totally unrelated factors which led to the situation today, let us not 'argue backwards.' It does not mean 'here is a candidate for religious life - she therefore must not realise the value of marriage.' Nor should religious (as they often did in the years following Humanae Vitae) see the Church as oppressor of women - therefore fighting such 'oppression' as their own major focus.

All right... I have one last wish (fulfilled only when I attend Westminster Cathedral, it seems, as far as RC churches go.) Let us remember the musical heritage as well... and that the eleventh commandment is neither mediocrity nor 'everyone must sing everything.'

Blessings on the conclave - and on the entire Roman Catholic Church - ubi et orbi.