Category Archives: Religious Quest in the Modern Age

Conclave: An Explosive Ending          

American Fascism, Authoritarianism, Movies, Populism, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

For those of you who have not seen the film Conclave and expect to, perhaps you should consider reading this post after you have seen.  The scene is quite shocking.

 

In the film  Brother Tedesco is the favorite of the conservative Cardinals who believed that the most recent Pope was much too liberal. They believe the Pope risked shaking the Church to its foundation. It would be shook to its foundation if any one of a number of candidates for the Papacy were elected.

 

The actual voting procedure in the film is quite interesting. At the exact moment that Brother Thomas Lawrence is delivering a vote in his own favor, because he seems to be the only candidate that might be able to stop Tedesco, like a bolt of lightning from God, there is an explosion and part of the ceiling of the huge hall collapses onto him and injuring him. It appears a terrorist suicide detonated a bomb that killed himself and also killed 52 people. Hundreds lie injured. There were also reports of attacks in Louvain and Munich. Perhaps it was a bolt of lightning from the God or the devil?

Brother Tedesco is quick to rise with a shaking finger:

 

“Here at last we see the result of the doctrine of relativism so beloved by our liberal brothers! A relativism that sees all faiths and passing fancies accorded equal weight. So that now, when we look around us, we see we see the homeland of the Holy Roman Catholic church dotted with mosques and minarets of the prophet Mohammed.”

 

Brother  Bellini says Brother Tedesco  should be ashamed. Father Tedesco replies,

“we should all be ashamed. We tolerate Islam in our land, but they revile us in theirs. We nourish them in our homeland. But they exterminate us. How long will we persist in this weakness.? They are literally at our walls right now. What we need now is a leader who understands that we are facing a true religious war…We need a leader who will put a stop to the drift that has gone on almost ceaselessly for the past 50 years. How long will we persist in this weakness? We need a leader who fights these animals,”

 

as he points to the crumbled ceiling.  Like so many political leaders, including Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, he tries to take advantage of an emergency to grab absolute power for himself. Demagogic leaders love to take advantage of emergencies.

Sometimes, when people are fearful it is difficult to resist the authoritarian leader. Fear is a very poor guide for human conduct.

 

 

 

Conclave: Unholy Ambition

Catholic Church, Movies, Politics & Religion, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

Ambition is complicated. I remember when I was young in school if you were nominated for a position, on student council or something like that. you were expected not to vote for yourself. It was not conisered seemly

The candidates for the papacy in the film Conclave, as in real life come from rough timber.  There is not perfection there. Everyone of them is flawed, just as we all are.

Early on in the film Brother Aldo says, “no sane man would want to be Pope.” There is some obvious truth to this statement. He says he has no interest in being Pope. He also says, “the men who are dangerous are the ones who want it.” Yet later he makes clear he wants it too. But later he says every Cardinal has a desire to be Pope. In fact each has already chosen the name he wants to be called.  Was he lying?

Is this the moth of holiness? Or unholiness?

Brother Aldo Bellini and Brother Thomas Lawrence argue about who should be Pope.  Aldo believes Thomas should vote for him. If the Liberals don’t unite, Tedesco (the arch conservative) will win and undo 60 years of progress. He is vehement about it so Thomas reminds Lawrence this is not a war.  To this Aldo replies, “It is a war. And you have to commit to a side… Save your precious doubts for your prayers.”

Father Lawrence throughout the film says he does not want to be Pope. In fact, he assures everyone, that just before the Pope died he asked him to release him from his role as a Cardinal, for he wanted to return to the role of an ordinary Priest. He does not want power or glory or status. He tries to convince others not to vote for him.

Yet, later, we see, he votes for himself, at least once.

 

 

 

 

Conclave: Faith, Doubt and Ceremony

Movies, Religious Quest in the Modern Age, Skeptical Philosophy

 

Director Edward Berger who directed the film Conclave, told the BBC that the conclave was thought of as “an ancient spiritual ritual.”  We must remember that one of the wonders of the Roman Catholic Church is its ritual.  I remember that when I was young, a friend of mine, who was a Mennonite boy raised by an aufgelna (‘fallen off the branch’, Mennonite) whose father scandalously had weekly “Sunday School” in his little gazebo that included alcohol for those so inclined so early in the morning. Much to my surprise at the time, my friend told me he was attracted to the Catholic church because of its ceremonies.  I was surprised by that comment, as I had been brought up to think that ceremonies got in the way of faith.

The film demonstrates some of those ceremonies thrillingly in ways only good cinema can do. Watch it and be amazed. Clearly, ceremony can be part of a religious quest, no matter what us dullard Mennonites may think.

Another major issue in the movie is the question of doubt and its relationship to faith.  Can there be faith without doubt? It is an old and important question.  Brother Lawrence speaks warmly of doubt

Brother Cardinal Lawrence, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, gives an opening address to the Cardinals gathered in conclave which is a majestic homage to the twins, doubt and faith:

 

“Let me speak from the heart for a moment. St. Paul said, ‘Be subject to one another our of reverence for Christ. To work together, and to grow together, we must be tolerant. No one person or…or faction seeking to dominate another. And speaking to the Ephesians who were of course a mixture of Jews and gentiles, Paul reminds us that God’s gift to the church is its variety. It is this variety, this diversity of people and views which gives our church its strength. And over the course of many years in the service of our Mother the Church let me tell you, there is one sin, which I have come to fear above all others. Certainty. Certainty is the great enemy of unity. Certainty is the deadly enemy of tolerance. Even Christ was not certain at the end. My God, My God, why are you forsaken me? He cried out in agony at the ninth hour on the cross. Our faith is a living thing, precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery and therefore no need for faith. Let us pray that God will grant us a Pope who doubts. And let him grant us a Pope who sins and asks for forgiveness and who carries on.”

 

I think these are wise words for us all on our religious quest. Certainty is the enemy of faith, not its defender.

Is it even possible to have faith without doubt?  There is no faith in mathematics. No one has faith that 2 + 2 =4. That is a certainty. No faith is needed. If you don’t understand that you don’t understand mathematics.

 

Conclave: The Abyss calls Out

Movies, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

In the real-world conclave, which started one day after I watched the film Conclave, a majority of the cardinals who went to Rome right after Pope Francis die, were appointed by the late pontiff, within the past 13 years, and as a result had never experienced a conclave. Just like in the film many of those Cardinals came from small dioceses around the world and were not well known.  Apparently, some of the Cardinals, just like me, watched the film to learn some of the protocols of the Church.

 

In the film Conclave, one of the Cardinals was so obscure he had never been revealed to be a Cardinal. So at least he claims.  This was Cardinal Benitez a purported Cardinal from Afghanistan, who had been secretly appointed by the previous Pope, if you can believe that. Is he a real Cardinal? Can he be believed? No one there had ever heard of him before, but apparently the Pope appointed him in secret. Here is a very surprising candidate but in the first round he collects a vote.  Clearly some Cardinals had doubts about the legitimacy of the alleged appointment. Yet he received one vote, but perhaps he voted for himself.  Yet, he denied that he voted for himself.

 

Father Thomas Lawrence, who is managing the process of the Conclave, accepts this Cardinal Benitez for real and sees this as “a marvellous testament to the Universal Church.”   He also said, “so many men of different nationalities bound together by their faith in God.” It sounds miraculous, to use that word again.  It is a testament to pluralism. After all, if the Church is truly universal it must have leadership from every part of the world. Such as Africa from where many priests now come because the Church there is thriving. As it is in the Philippines. Why should the Pope not come from one of those places?

 

One of the brothers, Brother Tedesco, a very conservative Cardinal, who thinks the previous Pope was too liberal, insists the Pope must come from Italy. After all, looking around it is clear that each Cardinal naturally moves to his own circle. Africans to African Cardinals. French to French. And the like. He said what holds them together is the Universal Language—Latin. But sadly, The Roman Catholic Church, the Universal Church, has given up on Latin services and he thinks that is where their problems originated. The Church should go back to Latin. As he says, “Without the dead language…without Rome, things fall apart. The centre cannot hold.” He uses the stirring words of W.B. Yeats to reinforce his point.  He says, pointing to the black Cardinals, “the abyss calls out.”

 

 

Conclave:  Imperfect Men

2024 Trip to Eastern Canada, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

I mentioned in my first post on this wonderful film that the ancient procedures of the Roman Catholic Church in choosing a new Pope are insane. But that is not all. Not only is the process far from perfect, so are the candidates. They are imperfect men. Some of them very far from perfect.

Father Ayemi, one of the candidates,  admits he had “a lapse” when he was 30 years old with a nun who was 19 years old.  She made a dramatic unauthorized appearance in the conclave where she caused a stir. The secret is already out.  In addition, there is a child who might be his.  Yet, surprisingly perhaps, he also said, “I sensed the Holy Spirit this morning. I am ready to take this burden.” He believes God has chosen him to lead the Roman Catholic Church, even though if this “lapse” was discovered, it would no doubt rock the Church. As a result, he refuses to excuse himself as a candidate and he has wide support among the Cardinals.

Imagine the carnage to the church if it came out that the Pope had fathered a child!  Eventually it is revealed that other Cardinals are also less than impeccable men. Some Cardinals search for the “least horrible” candidate. Some of the cardinals examine their own hearts and find themselves wanting. One begs others not to vote for him yet they do. Many have deep ambition, but hide it. Is that bad?  Humility is more attractive, but is it better? One Brother says, with a shudder, “It is shameful to be this age and still not know yourself.” Then quotes this: “Ambition is the moth of holiness.”  I don’t know who said that? I am not sure what it means.

 

Clearly, none of these men who are candidates are perfect. But who is perfect? Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “the last Christian died on the cross.”  Some are very far from perfect Christians. Every political or religious process is imperfect. So too is every candidate for any office.

The process actually mirrors our current political malaise.  I wish we could have a thunderbolt from heaven to make things right in our political world. But its not likely to happen.

What that process has never achieved, no matter what Catholics believe, is infallible leadership. That might be the only certainty in this process. Even though in some cases the choice of leadership seems almost divine, in others, the choice seems more Satanic.

So how can such an imperfect process with such imperfect timber create a good Pope? Or a great Pope?  It must be a miracle.

Conclave: An Insane Process

Religious Quest in the Modern Age

I strongly recommend that everyone watch the film Conclave. It tell the story of a fictional conclave conducted by the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church to choose a new Pope.

 

Since the Roman Catholic was recently having a real conclave, I thought it would be a good idea to watch this film, before they did. I finished it just in time, one day before the actual concave.  The concave in the film was much more interesting than the real one, which ended swiftly after two ballots. The rule is a Cardinal must achieve 60% of the votes of the Cardinals.

 

I also wanted to consider this as part of my continuing efforts make a religious quest in the modern age.  This is certainly modern quest for a very ancient church.

 

Ralph Fiennes who starred brilliantly in the film along with Stanley Tucci, and one of my favorite actors, John Lithgow. All of them are brilliant as Cardinals. I also heard Fiennes interviewed a couple of days earlier on Amanpour & Company. He indicated that he was not a believing Catholic but said “the God question has been in family for centuries.”

 

What Fiennes emphasized is that the formal ancient procedures for “electing” a Pope are really an insane political process. First, and I think most important, the only ones who can vote are Cardinals under the age of 80 all of whom are males.  Secondly, they can only appoint a man!  Women are out. Obviously, this is not a democratic process in any sense. Cutting out half of the members of the Church is ridiculous. Every one of the other 1.2 billion Catholics has no say whatsoever in who becomes Pope. In the modern age who could accept such a procedure?  Catholics that’s who. None of the Cardinals were elected to their positions either. Popes appointed all of them. In fact, Pope Francis appointed most of them.

 

Yet, the mystery—the real mystery I would submit—is that somehow the procedures work.  How is that possible? After all, the Roman Catholic Church has been around for 2,000 years. No other organization—religious or otherwise—can say that. Even those like me, who think the process is insane, must respect the longevity of the Church.

 

So one of the themes is to reveal how against all odds, the procedure works. Usually the “right” Cardinal is chosen.

 

One of the Cardinals in the film, Brother Ray says one day before the conclave, “I’d say this is a pretty fair vison of hell.”  The Cardinals are called Brothers.  To this, Brother Lawrence, replied, “Don’t be blasphemous Brother Ray, hell arrives tomorrow with the Cardinals.” Such a procedure can’t work. Yet, somehow it does.  At least, so it appears.

Intimations of Immortality

Nature, New Attitude to Nature, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

Professor John Moriarty was more than a a keener for Indigenous spirituality. After all he was also a long time professor of English literature and a poet.

The English poet Wordsworth put this well in his poem, “Ode and the Intimations of Immortality”:

“In the beginning like trailing clouds of glory do we come. This is from the poem

“Our birth is but a sleeping and a forgetting

The soul that rises with us,

Our life star hath had elsewhere setting

And cometh from afar

Not an entire forgetfulness and not another nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From god who is our home.

Heaven lies above us in our infancy,

Shades of the prison house begin to close upon the growing boy

But he behold the light and whence it flows he sees it in his joy

The youth who daily farther from the east must travel,

Is still his nature’s priest

And by the vision splendid is on his way attended.

At length the man perceives it die away

And fade into the light of common day.”

 

 

This story is of course not unlike the Ojibwa story of the origin of agriculture. What we all must do is unlearn what we have learned from corrupt or dirty devices and become once more the child who can enter the kingdom of god. The prison of ordinary life can be a prison for a young boy if it squeezes out nature and can lose the “vision splendid.”  The old man must learn to walk beautifully on the earth to regain that vision and escape the prison of the ordinary day. I think that is what Professor Moriarty wanted to do. It was part of his religious quest.  I hope he managed to do that. Most of us never do.

 

Into the Mystic

Nature, New Attitude to Nature, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

I am meandering back to that Irish professor of English literature I encountered at the University of Manitoba in 1967, John Moriarty . But first I want to consider another Irish poet. Van Morrison is one of my favourite singer/song writers. Here is part of a song of his that I greatly love:

 

Into the Mystic

 

We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic

And when that fog horn blows I will be coming home
And when the fog horn blows I want to hear it
I don’t have to fear it

And I want to rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will flow into the mystic

…

 

Professor John Moriarty in his wonderful lecture that I heard on You Tube after he died, admitted that paradise is lost, but it is only lost in our minds and our senses. In the 17th century we did enter this ‘nothing but universe,” as he called it, “but the day we take our shoes off our feet and walk on the ground of the world, and our eyes are open again, then we are back in our home in this stupendous earth… And if we could only open up to that again then we would never again misbehave on the earth.” Moriarty says we must take off our shoes and walk the earth knowing it is a great and sacred earth. This is what he meant by walking beautifully on the earth. That is what he wanted to do.

John Moriarty enlisted the help of 3 mystics to his cause. He said these are 3 people on whom we can rely absolutely and totally.

The first of these is a Rhineland mystic called Heinrich Suso, (Suso also spelled Seuse). He joined the Dominicans with whom he had a re-awakening. One day he walked into his chapel while he was suffering greatly and, as we know, suffering is often a door to grace and wisdom and enlightenment. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said there is no spiritual enlightenment without suffering. Suso talked about “heavenly lightnings passing and re-passing in the depths of his being.” Moriarty likens this to the northern aurora borealis of Canada, or Scotland or even sometimes Connemara,  where he lived in Ireland, after he left Winnipeg, and other places where great curtains of light can be experienced in the sky. He says besides cosmic auroras there are also “auroras of soul.” For example, if you walk into Chartres Cathedral in France that is what you experience there. The stained-glass windows you see there “are attempts to make manifest the heavenly light within and without,” he says. Suso experienced the hidden auroras of soul that are within him. These had occluded in him but eventually the eclipse was over and the auroras of soul were revealed and he could see these heavenly lightnings passing and re-passing in the depths of his being.

The second mystic Moriarty brings to our attention was Teresa of Ávila, OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; 28 March 1515 – 4 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus. One day she saw one of the highest of angels, one of the cherubins, beside her. The angel held a golden spear with a tip of fire that he plunged into her again and again. She experienced incredible pain and joy at the experience. That was called her trans-vibration in which she experienced a heavenly fire inside of her.

The third mystic Moriarty asks us to consider was Pascal. He was one of the great minds of Europe. In a waist coat of his after his death a servant of his discovered a tiny parchment that has come to be called the memorial of his night of fire.

Each of these 3 mystics experienced in some way the fire of God inside of them. Then says Moriarty, everything in the universe can also experience the same thing, the same light, the same fire.

It is import that we enfranchise women, but, says Moriarty, that is not enough:

 

“We must enfranchise the universe…the truth about the universe is really ecstasy. The truth of the universe is a boon of heavenly lightnings…the truth about it is a night of fire.”

 

From all of this Moriarty says,

“If only we could come back to the fact that we live in a stupendous universe, if only we could know that every bush is a burning bush, if only like Elvira Madigan we would come down from our tightropes to our tears and creeds and stand on the earth then we wouldn’t be harming the earth…then we wouldn’t want to go up in space.”

 

Then we would have a new attitude to nature. Then we would know that nature—the earth—is sacred.

The Grand Inquisitor and Faith without End

Books, Classic Books, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

In the novel The Brothers Karamazov there is a very interesting story about the Grand Inquisitor. That was the head of the Inquisition. The story is part of Ivan Karmazov’s religious quest. This is a deeply religious story that challenges much of what we think about God and religion. It is a must read.

Ivan tells the story of the 16th century for in those days, “it was usual to bring  heavenly powers down to earth” and people “staged plays in which the Virgin, angels, saints, Christ, and even God Himself were brought out onto the stage.”

Ivan’s story is one of those stories and it is brought down to life like that. He brings God to life. As an example, Ivan mentions a story where the Virgin Mary, “the Mother of God visits hell.” Can you imagine how such a story would have disturbed people in the 16th century?  Ivan’s story was as disturbing as that.

In hell Mary sees sinners being tortured and her guide, the Archangel Michael, tells her God has forgotten about these sinners. The sinners are floating on lake of fire and try to swim out of hell to no avail. “The Holy Virgin kneels before the throne of God and beseeches Him to forgive all those she has seen in hell everyone of them without exception.” We must imagine this.  The Mother of God, who in the 16th century was worshipped nearly as much as God himself, falls on her knees to beg for God to forgive these poor sinners. They actually argue about it.  Have they not suffered enough already?  How long must they suffer? After all, 15 centuries have passed since men tortured his son on the cross. After all, 15 centuries earlier Jesus had promised he would return quickly, even going so far as to suggest that some of the people who heard him speak would still be around.

In the end, the Mother of Jesus wins a concession from God. We might think it a pretty minor concession.  God agrees that for one day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday each year all torture should cease. Yet the sinners are overjoyed at this brief reprieve. Yet humans have waited for 15 centuries without losing faith. And they still have the “same love” for God.

People prayed to Him every day but for 15 centuries God appeared to some lucky few, but he did nothing to relieve the torture of sinners. This was a mighty stern God. And yet the people loved Him and continued their faith in Him.

This reminds me of a dog who continues to love his master even if his master constantly beats him.  Dogs show undying devotion. So do some people.

Is Hell the Answer?

Classic Books, Morality, religion, Religious Quest in the Modern Age

 

Some people think Hell provides an answer to the problem of evil. The parents who tortured their 5-year old child will be punished with eternal damnation for their crime. Does that make it right? What is hell? It is only divine vengeance? Some people believe in vengeance. Ivan didn’t. Neither do I. Even if the vengeance is levied by God. Vengeance brings no justice. It heals nothing. It makes nothing right.

As Ivan asks of the hideously cruel parents who made their 5-year-old girl stay in the freezing cold stinking outhouse all night, begging gentle Jesus for help, what good does it to do put them in hell. Ivan asks this question: “What good would it do to send the monsters to hell after they have inflicted their suffering on children? How can their being in hell put things right?” That’s not the help the little girl was praying for from gentle Jesus. She wanted Jesus to stop the pain. And he failed at that.

Ivan asks another good question

 “Besides, what sort of harmony can there be as long as there is a hell? To me harmony means forgiving and embracing everybody and I don’t want anyone to suffer any more. And if the suffering of little children is needed to complete the sum total of suffering to pay for the truth, I don’t want that truth, and I declare in advance that all the truth in the world is not worth the price!…No I want no part of any harmony; I don’t want it. I don’t want it out of love for mankind. I prefer to remain with my unavenged suffering and my unappeased anger—even if I happen to be wrong.

 

That is the truly amazing part of Ivan’s rebellion. Even if he is wrong and God provides a satisfactory answer for why he permitted children to suffer so cruelly, Ivan wants no part of that, even if he is wrong!

Unlike all the modern terrorists, or revolutionaries, he does not look for some harmony in the future to justify the pain. Nothing justifies the pain of that 5-year-old girl. “Such harmony is rather overpriced,” says Ivan.

Ivan tells his brother Alyosha that he is returning the ticket from God. Echoing, Albert Camus, Alyosha says “that is rebellion. Ivan finishes this discussion by asking Alyosha another question:

“…let’s assume that you were called upon to build the edifice of human destiny so that men would finally be happy and would find peace and tranquility. If you knew that in order to attain this, you would have to torture one single little creature, let’s say the little girl who beat her chest so desperately in the outhouse, and that on her unavenged tears you could have built that edifice  would you agree to it?”

 

And Alyosha replied, “No I would not.” Even the one truly deeply religious and most saintly of the Karamazovs would not accept such a price.

As moral philosophers would say,  that end does not justify that means!

And of course, neither Alyosha nor Ivan is like God—all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving. God should have been able to find a better way. Why didn’t he?

None of the Karamazovs are able to answer that question.