Father was a Rolling Stone...

Earlier today, Gabino Zavala, an assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles of the Roman Catholic communion, resigned.  Zavala's resignation came as it was discovered that he had a secret family complete with a side piece and teenage children.  Naturally, the names of the children have not been released.

Of course, the Catholic church has been plagued with sexual issues.  The church, has paid over a billion dollars in settlements of sexual abuse of minors cases in 2007.  What's more, there have been notable cases of priests in academia abusing seminarians and priests within the pastorate maintaining secret families for decades.

Matthew 19:10-12, certainly are controlling scriptures in this case.  The passage says:  "The disciples said to him, 'If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.'
Jesus replied, 'Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.  For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.'

Christ says in the passage that there are people who are born to not have sexual relations, people called by the Creator to not have sexual relations, and people who have not been so called.  Both those who have been separated to not have sexual relations and those who have no such calling, are equal in the the eyes of the Creator.

Now, I'm not trying to renew the centuries-old debate of whether clergy within and outside of the Catholic communion should be able to marry, but Christ makes it clear in the passage above, that it doesn't matter to Him whether a member of the cloth has sex or not.

What is gets me about Zavala's resignation is that it was quick and efficient and quiet.  While the Catholic church can handle its clergy any way it wishes, it sends a message that Zavala's sin is more egregious than other sins of clergy.  You see, for decades, some clergy within the Catholic communion were caught molesting children, and those clergy were quietly moved to other churches or assignments.

There was no moving Zavala.  No rehabilitation.  No reassignment.  

It's ironic almost.  What message does this send to the pew?

Cee Lo Green to John Lennon: Forget You...

On New Year's Eve, recording artist and reality TV star, Cee Lo Green performed in Manhattan's Times Square.  Naturally, this is a great honor.  And for his part, Green treated the sublime honor with aplomb.  He chose to sing John Lennon's "Imagine," a timeless piece about unity, peace and harmony.  The piece, "Imagine" while timeless, advances some fairly timely messages in the American and global political environment.

What Green most certainly meant as a tribute, offended both Lennon fans and fundamentalist Christians alike.  In Green's rendition of "Imagine," he sang,“Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too,” Green sang, “Nothing to kill or die for, and all religion’s true.”

Beatles' and Lennon loyalists are angered with Green because he tampered with Lennon's lyrics (any tampering with Beatles' lyrics are not just frowned upon, it's downright wrong.)

Fundamentalists have taken umbrage with Green's rendition because they believe there is only one true God and if "all religion's true," it directly contradicts their beliefs.

Now, the outrage from either side is expected and not unreasonable.  Beatles and Lennon fans have a reasonable desire to keep Beatles lyrics pure and intact.  And fundamentalists have a right to believe that their God is the one true God and anything--lyrics, television shows, popular trends or other religions--serve as a threat to their faith. 

However, Green appears to have meant no harm, and debating a song in which paradoxes are juxtaposed (almost to the absurd) to make a point about unity, it should go without saying that Green deserves a little leeway.

Love Don't Cost a Thing...Except in Grand Rapids

Prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan have authorized a warrant for Author Pearson.  Pearson is the senior pastor of Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, who is accused of embezzling over $200,000 from his congregation's operating funds.  Naturally, the prosecutors in Grand Rapids intend to file criminal charges against Pearson.

The church has also taken action against Pearson.  On December 30th, the church filed a suit in civil court to recover the money Pearson allegedly embezzled from the church. 

But, the story isn't that Pearson will be charged criminally, or that the church has filed a civil suit against him to recover the money.  The story is in how some of the members of the church are defending Pearson, even ones who believe that he embezzled funds.  Some are even fighting to keep Pearson at the helm of the church.

"This is hurting Pastor.  Pastor loves all his members," one member of the pew exclaimed recently.

If Pastor loves all his members, his love is pretty darn expensive.

One Thing Fundamentalists and Science can Agree on...

Happy New Year.

As with all new years, in the coming days and weeks, there will be plenty of reflection over the most significant events of 2011.  And there will also be predictions about what will happen in 2012.  Some of the predictions will be silly.  Others will be sublime.  And some predictions will actually turn out to be accurate.

One prediction that will most certainly get some attention in this week, is the Mayan Calendar prediction.  You know, the theory that the ancient Mayan civilization predicted the end of the world--an Apocalypse, complete with asteroids colliding into earth and other natural disasters--would occur on December 21, 2012, because their "Long Count" calendar does not contain days after that day. 

The theory has been rejected by the descendants of the ancient Mayans and the scientific community, but has its supporters in the United States (There must be some people who still believe this theory because there has been a moderately successful movie and four major books written on the subject in the last year). 

Surely, in anticipation of the predictions we will hear, NASA, has issued a statement indicating that there would be no Apocalypse as no planets or asteroids are set to collide into the earth in 2012.

So the world will not end in 2012.  Finally, something fundamentalist Christians and scientists can agree on.  Now, if we can just get the whole Creationism argument worked out...

Tebowing for a Better Way...

This weekend, we will see the last games of the NFL regular season.  Some of the games this weekend will be meaningless, and others will be pregnant with opportunity--a few teams will be able to make the post season playoffs with a win or a loss of another team or a combination of the two,


(Mother Teresa "Tebowing" for an end to poverty)

No doubt the Denver Broncos are one of the latter teams.  While the Broncos and their quarterback Tim Tebow have had some exhilarating 11th hour wins this season, they were humbled by two sizable losses last week and the week before.

Those sports reporters and social critics that were quick to dub Tebow "God's quarterback" who was performing "miracles" in football games, have been silenced by these losses, while people like Bill Maher has used the loses at an attempt to mock Tebow, God and Christians.


(Nelson Mandela "Tebowing" for unity)

Maher and others have been out of line in their recent comments about Tebow, about God and about Christians.  However, we should have anticipated them.  Calling Tebow "God's quarterback" and referring to the games he and his team have won this season as miracles has been most



(President Obama "Tebowing" for guidance)

irresponsibly done to satisify our need to have everything packaged neatly with a cute name.  You know, Jennifer Lopez can't be Jennifer Lopez, she has to be JLo.  There's a ScarJo, a Brangelina, and a KFed.  All packaged neatly with cute names.

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(Dr. Martin Luther King "Tebowing" for peace)

And so when God is packaged in the form of a Denver Broncos fan and communication with that God is cutely referred to as "Tebowing," its easy to mock.  God becomes easy to mock. 

This isn't Tebow's fault.  He didn't create this mess.  I wish him well.  But I wish Tebow's humbling would teach us that there are somethings that don't need slick, cute packages or names and the Creator is on of them.

 I'm not optimistic that we will learn from Tebow, but I am Tebowing right now that we do.

The Pope and Me...

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI articulated his support for sweeping political and social action to end the death penalty internationally.

Pope Benedict, like Pope John Paul II, has been a consistent voice against the death penalty.  He has called on governments within the United States and other countries to commute sentences of criminal offenders facing the death penalty.  Indeed, the Catholic church has been opposed to the death penalty for decades, but ramped up its opposition in the early 1990s.

The death penalty, particularly as used and applied in the United States disproportionately affects people of color, the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised of our community.  While there are some within fundamentalist Christian circles that have sought to justify support for the death penalty (while incidentally in the same breath vehemently opposing abortion) using Old Testament passages, any Christian support for the death penalty is contrary to every one of Jesus' teachings.

While the Catholic church is not perfect, it is refreshing to see a Christian communion standing firmly and consistently against the death penalty,

Playing God and Newt at the Same Time...

Recently, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich signed a pledge, promising in writing that he would defend and strengthen the family and uphold the institution on marriage. 

The pact, called the Marriage Pledge, is a construct of a group called Family Leader, a socially conservative group based in Iowa.  The Family Leader has called on all 2012 GOP presidential candidates to sign the Marriage Pledge, which is, among other things, a veiled litmus test to sure up strong opposition for and of same sex marriage.  Clearly, the pledge is also a call for fidelity in marriage.  Newt has had his issues with past marriages.

But, I don't care about what Newt does with his wife or anyone else.  We have all sinned--from lying about how well someone looks, to the failure to help someone in need, to sending military troops into a war to kill.  (Yes, all of those are sins.)  No sin is more egregious than another.

But, what is troubling about this pledge is this:  all of the GOP presidential candidates are married and call themselves Christians.  By accepting Christ as their savior and reciting wedding vows, they have already made the Pledge to the entity that matters.  You know, the Creator.  Newt, the other GOP presidential candidates, and the rest of us for that matter are only answerable to the Creator for how we construe marriage.

Defining the terms or construct of marriage is wholly the job of the creator, not the Family Leader.  Why don't we just let the Creator do the Creator's job.  She has it covered.