Not MY father

I can’t contain my disappointment at the selection of my Church’s new pope. It’s a slap in the face to everyone who argues for logical, just reform within our institution. This insults every person who believes that it’s time for Catholicism to reconsider dated traditions, like the gender-based stratification of the Church. Ratzinger is such a hard-line theologian; I fear that my Jesuit mentors back at Seattle U will be silenced by his policies as pope. He has never supported liberation theology, nor does he understand that the Church’s policy on AIDS is killing thousands of faithful Africans. This is such a shame.

I’m not sure what I’ll do now. I’ve been dancing around the Church for several years, coming in for an occasional embrace but spinning away in the end. It might be time for me to consider another faith – and yet, I don’t want to leave! Why must the stubbornness of a few old men have such an impact on everyone else?