SayUncle on the Pope’s Christmas message:
He says don’t be selfish and help those who live in places where the basics needed for survival are missing. He said this from an extravagant mantle, on a gold throne with jewels, wearing a priceless gold cross, and some expensive clothes.
Good message there, chief.
UPDATE: The spiritual leader Governor of the Anglican Church, gets her Christmas message right, I think. The message is appropriate, and the backdrop is not ostentatious:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gOdaPvGsw0[/youtube]
UPDATE: More from Wolfwood here. I was incorrect as to the title of Queen Elizabeth within the Church of England.
It IS a good message….. regardless of how the message was “wrapped”. I am not saying we should be feeding the 250 lb. people living in public housing all their lives, but we SHOULD be doing what we can for people in places where “the basics for survival are missing.” The alternative is unacceptable.
Sounds like SayUncle has come up with some good socialist criticism — the poor are poor because others have exploited them.
If the Pope dressed in sackcloth and ashes would that somehow better the plight of the unfortunate?
The poor are poor because of failures of their political, economic and cultural systems, not because some have “too much.”
‘the poor are poor because others have exploited them.’
yeah, that’s what i said alright.
SayUncle is hardly the first person to comment on the Church’s ostentatiousness. I think that’s been happening in some form or another since Martin Luther.
Oddly enough, his statements make lovely bookends with madonna’s moralizing.
Any the hoo – happy Christmas anyway! :P
Funny how it’s nearly always non-Catholics who see the Church as “ostentatious.” Catholics tend to see it as appropriate and as a symbol of heaven on earth.
And always, the commenters are those who do far less to alleviate poverty and save lives than the Church, which is why the comment is laughable at best.
I’m not bashing the charitable work The Church does, but I think it’s still pretty laughable PR on the part of the church. SayUncle’s criticism was something I am sympathetic to, because it’s one of the reasons my mother left the Catholic Church.
Of course, once she realized protestant churches were full of politics and bickering between various factions in the church, she hated that too.
The Queen of England is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, not its “spiritual leader.” If we assumed that every Anglican priest worldwide suddenly disappeared, she’d still not be any more the “spiritual leader” than any other Anglican. Her position is purely administrative.