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More recently, in White
Smoke; a Novel About the Next Papal Conclave one of the fictional contenders for the
papacy, Don Luis says in a public speech
Above all we must not be afraid. . . . We
must change in order to remain the same. We must not confuse what is essential in the
Church with that which is mutable, no matter how ancient it may be. . . . No custom and no
tradition which is not of the essence of our message, no matter how old, should escape
reexamination. And no custom and no tradition, no matter how new, should be abandoned
until we carefully consider the costs of doing so. We must be willing to experiment, to
modify, to refine before we change.
We must be open, sensitive, and above all
hopeful. We must be ready to dialogue with everyone.... While we must certainly recognize
the presence of evil in the world and the threats to human dignity and freedom that evil
poses, we must also recognize the goodness and good will in the world and become partisans
of goodness and good will.
... So many of our lay people believe that
ours is a Church of rules, that being Catholic consists of keeping rules. They do not find
an institution which is like that very appealing. Nor should they.
In fact, we are a Church of love. Our message
from the Lord himself even today is the message that God is Love and that we are those who
are trying, however badly, to reflect that love in the world....
More important for us today, however, is the
reaffirmation that we exist to preach a God of love, we try to be people of love, and we
want our church to be, insofar as we poor humans can make it, a Church of radiant love.
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Does such a Church have a
future? |
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How could it not? |
This platform speech and the
church that emerges from it set the parameters for our list.
While nuanced, scholarly discussion
is encouraged (I've published three academic books dealing with Greeley and scads of
articles), this list is as much an extension of Father Greeley's mailbox parish as it is a
seminar in story theology or the sociology of religion. GREELEY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU is an on-line
community for Greeley's parishioners all over the world. Objective, respectful criticism
supported by evidence is acceptable.
Flaming will not be
tolerated.
Offenders will be warned, and any
repetition will result in immediate suspension.
To subscribe, please send the command
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Please, introduce yourself to the group
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Excuse duplications of this message, since
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Peace 
Ingrid Shafer
facshaferi@mercur.usao.edu
ihs@ionet.net
http://www.usao.edu/~facshaferi
http://ecumene.org
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