The Pope has come and gone, and after four days of media focus on him I'm begining to articulate some of my thoughts about his visit. I was initially quite alarmed at many of the anti-pope comments that were posted of facebook, not by atheists, but by protestant Christians. Many of these were due to the Pope's ethical stance on issues such as abortion, contraception and homosexuality and other comments due to the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the church. On these issues my socially liberal leanings, and desire for justice, I agree with the opinion that the the catholic church has got it very wrong.
However, I was still alarmed at the anti-pope rhetoric that was being used by so called missionally minded Christians. I think that unity plays a very significant part in our theology of mission, and hence when I see division being created through language or action I have to question it. My theology of mission says that mission is an overflowing of the love of a Trinitarian God, a love that grows out of the unity of the father, son and spirit. It is that unity that enables the mission to happen, enables the son to be sent, as without that unity the son is not sent from a place of love. Mission and Unity go together.
How then do I, as a protestant Christian, relate to the Pope? Do I ask to be ex-communicated from Rome? Do I insist on calling him Jospeh rather than Benedict? No,I think that I strive for unity - unity in diffence - but in that unity I carry the hurt and the pain of the people abused, the gay people, those who have had abortions and I cry with them in their hurt. I stand with the hurt people in the Catholic church feeling let down by their Priests, confused by their Pope but striving for a better world and a more just society. Somehow I convinced that seeking a common sense of unity and standing with my rather conservative brother is what I am called to do rather than pointing the finger and saying that my denomination is better than yours.
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