http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489 A Rare Bird, A Strange Duck, One Funky Blog Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:07:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-954 theomorph Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-954 "[T]he awesome knowledge members of the clergy possessed..."<br /><br />Sure, whatever. The more I learn the more I know that <em>nobody</em> possesses truly awesome knowledge. Clergy are just human beings, too. They don't impress me in the slightest.<br /><br />But some people feel the uncertainty of life (which is real, I might add) and like to think that somebody, somewhere has All the Answers. I have a friend who is a former member of the clergy. He tells stories all the time about people who came to him full of doubts and expecting him to have a perfect solution for everything like he was some kind of theological apothecary. Except the priestly model has always been a sham. Priests don't have any secret knowledge. They're just people who do religion for a living.
Sure, whatever. The more I learn the more I know that nobody possesses truly awesome knowledge. Clergy are just human beings, too. They don't impress me in the slightest.

But some people feel the uncertainty of life (which is real, I might add) and like to think that somebody, somewhere has All the Answers. I have a friend who is a former member of the clergy. He tells stories all the time about people who came to him full of doubts and expecting him to have a perfect solution for everything like he was some kind of theological apothecary. Except the priestly model has always been a sham. Priests don't have any secret knowledge. They're just people who do religion for a living.]]> http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-955 EmilyE Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-955 I attempted to post feedback on their website. I gave my name, my profession, my e-mail address, and tactfully told the writer that he should consider taking an expository writing course. <br /><br />My feedback was rejected. No reason was listed in the automated e-mail I received from the moderator. Apparently the Pitt News doesn't want to post criticisms of their columnists.
My feedback was rejected. No reason was listed in the automated e-mail I received from the moderator. Apparently the Pitt News doesn't want to post criticisms of their columnists.]]> http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-956 Funky Dung Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-956 I learned that the priest involved is Joseph Scioli and he doesn't plan on dignifying McCarthy's article with a response. Other folks hanging about the Oratory, however, might. http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-957 Jerry Nora Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-957 Maybe this would be best dealt with on another posting. I'll get to it. http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-958 EmilyE Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-958 Not that I'm necessarily surprised, mind you. A fellow journalism major and I wrote two letters to the editor criticizing the Pitt News' journalistic practices and urging them to develop some sort of code of ethics -- just because one *can* print something doesn't mean one *ought* to. Needless to say, we never heard from them or had our letters printed.<br /><br />Still, I think it is worth criticizing the Pitt News. If they are criticized often enough, perhaps (just perhaps) they'd be willing to change a little.
Still, I think it is worth criticizing the Pitt News. If they are criticized often enough, perhaps (just perhaps) they'd be willing to change a little.]]> http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-959 Jerry Nora Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-959 True, they don't have secret knowledge. Nor are they necessarily the most saintly folk. Nor do they necessarily know more than laymen. This may contradict the shaman/mystery cult model of priesthood, but not the Catholic/Orthodox understanding, where the priest is taking on a role in administering sacraments, not through his own power, but by God's. It is an office (which is used by the Roman Church in the sense of its Latin root, which means "duty", I recall), and one of great honor, as one is following the footsteps of Christ in a particular way by continuing His work as a pastor. Everyone's understood that following Christ does not mean perfectly imitating Him. Otherwise, the Church would not have survived St. Peter's vacillations or cowardice. Or St. Paul's considerable temper. <br /><br />So I don't know what exactly you mean by the priestly model when you call it a sham, but insofar as you're denying those more superstitious ways of thinking of priesthood that I mentioned above, I can agree with you. The "just doing religion for a living" is perhaps a bit too simplistic and dismissive, but not without truth, either.
So I don't know what exactly you mean by the priestly model when you call it a sham, but insofar as you're denying those more superstitious ways of thinking of priesthood that I mentioned above, I can agree with you. The "just doing religion for a living" is perhaps a bit too simplistic and dismissive, but not without truth, either.]]> http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-960 theomorph Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-960 What is "priestly" religion? This is the religion that interposes an individual or a small group of individuals between the greater population and the god they worship. These individuals regulate access to the divine--er, "administer sacraments"--by deciding whether a person can participate in the sacraments. In order to make that decision, this priest, this ordinary human being, must have something the laity does not have--knowledge, authority, or both. Even if you claim that he does this "not through his own power, but by God's" then you are setting up the question of why this particular power of God's flows through some people and not others. How is that different from a shamanic system where a shamans perform rituals and duties not through their own power, but by that of the spirit world? The only difference is the theological content and the outward ritual. The social function--an individual who mediates the divine to the rest of the population--is the same. http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/archives/1489#comment-961 Jerry Nora Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000 http://alesrarus.funkydung.com/wordpress/archives/1490#comment-961 With the Pitt News, I am always at a loss about I should begin... Is it worth it, critiquing them?