But first, an honorable mention and a winner. Then I'll see myself out.
For honorable mention, I was very pleasantly surprised last December when I watched a movie called The Two Popes. It had a limited theatrical release in November of 2019, but made a bigger splash on Netflix when it debuted there the following month. I'm convinced that Anthony Hopkins can make a discussion about the scientific principles behind the speed that paint dries interesting and compelling to watch. As someone who is not a born Catholic, the process that brought me to this movie was very organic. I'm still not a Roman Catholic, but there was a time when I lived about 500 steps from one of the most vibrant church communities I've ever known. It was a small Roman Catholic parish. There was no marble. No elaborate statues. No paintings on the ceiling. The frame was wooden, the siding was aluminum, the walls were plaster, and the heart was massive. The church was rural, far away from urban centers. It stood in a community where less than 500 people live, less than half of them practicing Catholics. Yet the church was filled to its 200+ capacity every week. People traveled from other towns where they had a Catholic church of their own to attend Mass here. There were many reasons for this, but at the core, one of the most often cited reasons was the sense of community that people felt here that didn't exist at their larger more expensive and elaborate churches.
I grew up practicing my faith in protestant churches with aging membership that were trying to find a way to stop the children and grandchildren of their membership from leaving their home church. Some searched desperately for answers. Christian rock bands were started. Youth groups were started. Contemporary services were started. Some of this succeeded. Most of it didn't. St. James Catholic Church did not have this problem. Then in 2005, the Toledo Diocese decided to close dozens of churches due to a shortage of priests. From my perspective, a shortage of priests was a temporary problem, a shortage of active membership was a potentially fatal one. If I could see this, why couldn't the church leaders in Toledo see that? At this time, Pope John Paul II passed away, and he was replaced with Pope Benedict who was even less sympathetic to my point of view. My view that the Catholic Church was being led by an out of touch hierarchy that had lost vision was cemented at this point. I stopped listening to church leadership and didn't grant them an ounce of credibility. Our church family continued without formal recognition from the Toledo Diocese, and without my interest in what the hierarchy would say or do.
The Two Popes is the story of what happened in the most confidential parts of the hierarchy that I had been ignoring since 2005. It is fascinating discussion, invigorating debate, and deep deep soul searching that suggest I was wrong, very wrong in my conclusion that the Catholic hierarchy lacks self awareness. I'll post a preview, but I really do suggest setting aside some time to just watch and ponder what took place between Pope Benedict and his successor Pope Francis prior to their transition.
__________________
Now for the shining moment you've all been waiting way too long for...so long you forgot what you were waiting for.
