Gremlin’s Fireside Chat

“Pope Resigns” said the news – and I had to read it twice to check that I had read it correctly the first time. For the first time in 600 years a reigning Pope has resigned in office and the web and news channels are doing over time over it. Many thought that being Pope was a ‘job for life’ – that is those who have not read their Catholic history no doubt, How many Catholics realize that married priests were the ‘norm’ for the church until the 11th Century where upon the then Pope forbade it – ‘officially’ to allow the Priesthood to concentrate on the word of the Lord, although more probably to do with disputes between Widows and children of deceased Priests and the church over money and property.

I digress somewhat. What a day indeed, and I am still a bit ‘knocked for six’ by the news. The Pope says he is too old and frail at 85 to continue with the rigorous demands of being Leader of the worlds billion or so Catholics and this is very understandable, Cardinals and Priests must retire when they reach a certain age, and I think that the same should apply to the Pope too going forward. I think this will be better for the Church in the long run as part of a more general and fundamental reform of the root-and-branch of the Church itself. The Church is still way to self-absorbed in itself at the higher levels and has moved too far from its fundamental function of teaching the Gospel and helping the poor and suffering of the world – both of which still in the 21st century are far too numerous.The Church has isolated itself from the people and the Lords work and has paid a heavy price in recent decades for doing this. This is an opportunity the Church needs to grasp if its to remain relevant in modern life.

Pope Benedict is, and has been shown to be a humble man; His resignation today shows this and signals to us all his true beliefs and wishes. I wish him well and contentment in the Lord.

Today is truly an historic day.

Happy Chinese new year!!! – and there is the rub. Our daughter Maeve – the elemental force of day to day life these days – comes home and announces that she is a ‘Rat’ and is very proud of it. Rat – what do you mean ‘Rat’? Maeve attends the excellent ‘educate together school’ in Donabate and as part of their multi-cultural view of education they have been learning about the Lunar New Year which is also known as the ‘Chinese New Year’ despite being common across many cultures and areas of Asia.

As part of this it was explained to Maeve by ‘teacher’ (a nice young lass) that based on her birthday (Jan 16 2008) Maeve was a ‘rat’; No problem there you might think – according to Chinese mythology Rats have many positive characteristics. The problem was though Maeve was told by Teacher she was a ‘Rat’ where as in reality she is a ‘Pig’. Maeve was born in the year of the Pig (2007-2008) rather than the year of the Rat (2008-2009) and because Teacher told her she is a ‘Rat’ rather than a ‘Pig’ Maeve won’t accept what I am saying – even though I have doubled checked it.

Meeting Teacher tomorrow (as I do most mornings recently) is going to ‘interesting’. How do I tell her that she was ‘wrong’ and how will she tell Maeve? As the chinese say ‘we live in Interesting times’.

Before you ask … I am a ‘Dragon’ and good lady wife is a ‘Pig’.