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Saturday, April 30, 2011

Is it a sin to ask a few questions about the beatification?

I just read Philip Lawler's essay in Catholic Culture about the John Paul II beatification and a post on Fr. Z's blog, as well as various other blogs that all seem to indicate that if you have any reservations  or questions about the beatification then you are either a foaming-at-the-mouth Rad Traddie or a moonbeam liberal who wants French bread for communion and priestesses. That's too simplistic and it's unfair.  Asking for clarification does not make one a bad Catholic.

Look, I love John Paul II. He was the pope for most of my life and the only one that I remember. I think he was a holy man personally but here's my problem: I was taught, perhaps wrongly that you can look at the whole life of a saint (after conversion in some cases) and imitate what they did and you will get to Heaven. By beatification or canonization, the Church is saying that you can use this person as your model.  Look at their lives and works oh Christian soul and go do thou, likewise.

When looking at the more than two decades of the Holy Father's pontificate it's obvious that he was magnificent in many ways. I read that some cardinal or archbishop in the Curia stated that JPII was being beatified not because of the events of his pontificate but because of his own private holiness. When I first read that I thought, 'Okay', but later I had to ask if that means we are supposed to ignore some of the things that went wrong. I'm talking about the refusal to hear any criticism of Fr. Marciel, for one.

We are all still too close to JPII to objectively look at his life. Many of us are running on emotion and really I do wish the Vatican had waited at least ten years before a beatification.  My father died when I was 13. I love him. I am fiercely protective of his precious memory. He was a great man but I can admit that he made  some mistakes in his life and as a father. Does this mean I'm a bad daughter? No. It just means that I see and understand some things differently that when I was a freshly grieving kid.

Having said all this, I know that I'm not smarter than the pope or the Holy Spirit. I'll say no more about this and just shut up and pray but I do ask that people not be so ready to verbally stone anyone who does raise their hand and admit that they aren't ready to join the bandwagon without having a few things explained to them.