tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237368575415340913.post3122607692881494503..comments2023-01-17T07:07:30.034+11:00Comments on Booknotes: The Priest, the Archbishop and a very unedifying stoush.Peter Donoughuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02697552041984454181noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237368575415340913.post-89135231508289593522009-03-11T07:09:00.000+11:002009-03-11T07:09:00.000+11:00SteveAs much as I'd like to claim the ambivalence ...Steve<BR/><BR/>As much as I'd like to claim the ambivalence was intended, it wasn't!<BR/><BR/>I was being fairly cynical. <BR/><BR/>PeterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-237368575415340913.post-21527175754462606722009-03-10T12:01:00.000+11:002009-03-10T12:01:00.000+11:00The most illuminating book I've read on Catholic p...The most illuminating book I've read on Catholic politics is Elaine Pagels' wonderful book on Gnosticism. She talks about how the early Church Fathers (sic) recognised that for the Church to go global it had to have a proper control structure, which they duly seized - and thereby deprived women of their rightful (but less hierarchy-conscious) place at the top table. Something big was gained - a global powerbase that has lasted two millennia; and at the same time something valuable was lost - a direct, personal relationship between the individual and God (who, of course, is made in our image).<BR/><BR/>Your closing comment - that Kennedy's inability to handle the politics is a measure of the man - is nicely ambivalent. Are you classing political ineptitude as a virtue in itself, or evidence of a deeper virtue, simplicity or purity perhaps? I'd always thought that the very greatest - Jesus, Gandhi, Mandela - were able to turn their weakness to their advantage, to out-politic the politicians. Spiritual judo, perhaps.<BR/><BR/>Or maybe you're saying the opposite: that the lack of political smarts actually shows him to be a man small in spirit and intelligence?<BR/><BR/>Or maybe both...Steve Careyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04136410371969829005noreply@blogger.com