The Pope Eats His Porridge

The Pope Eats His Porridge

I'm at the Anacortes Library this Sunday afternoon. Thousands of visitors are swarming over the farm roads near my home in LaConner -- come to see the blooming tulips -- so I drove over here to avoid the crowd.

I might take the ferry to Guemes Island later on, like at 5 p.m. It's a five minute boat ride, costs $2 if you walk on. When you get off the boat on Guemes Island, there's a nice beach walk, which takes about an hour, and then you can get back on the 6 p.m. ferry.

The weather is delicious, mild, almost warm, and the skies are blue.

Meanwhile the Pope is having a hard time. Maureen Dowd at the NYTimes is laying into him pretty hard. Myself, I made a decision in 2005 when he became Pope Benedict, following the great John Paul II.

I looked at the new Pope and thought, "He's a funny-looking guy with a name that sounds pretty weird in English, so he's going to need a friend."

So, I decided to be his friend. It's as simple as that. And that doesn't make the Pope right or anything like that, it just makes him my friend.

I just hope he doesn't do one of those awful apologies like Tiger Woods or John Edwards or Bill Clinton. Those public displays are deeply unsatisfying to me.

No, the Pope needs to do something much better than that -- something papal, like a public penance.

Since the papacy is a truly medieval institution, let's look back in time:

In 1170, Henry II of England arranged for the murder of Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury. Now Becket was a much-loved man, and the reaction to his murder was a widespread public condemnation of Henry's evil deed.

Kings back then were not as powerful as they wished to be. Henry had to win back his people. So he did penance. He rode to Canterbury, but walked barefoot the last few miles in ragged clothes -- not looking the king at all in velvet and furs.

Henry prostrated himself before the monks of Canterbury -- his own subjects -- and the monks beat him with rods until they were done with him.

That was his penance and most people then and now think that Henry had it coming.

Becket's murder has inspired many plays, such as T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" and also many movies, such as "The Lion in Winter" with Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn.

Becket's tomb became a shrine and the destination of pilgrimages, made famous by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, which take place as pilgrims ride to Canterbury to pray at Becket's tomb.

They have long memories at the Vatican, and are well aware of Becket's murder -- a prince of the church and he was slain by a murderous monarch. That was in 1170, but it was only yesterday at the Vatican.

So, it would be far better if Benedict made a public penance in a dramatic style, as they did in medieval times. Penance for what he let happen. Not because he was solely responsible, or more responsible -- I don't think that.

But penance because he was responsible, and because he is the symbolic figurehead of thousands of other people who bear just as much guilt.

This is satisfying to me, which is why I propose it.

I object strongly to the modern methods of apology, like going on Larry King and Oprah with expressions of remorse, looking for "closure" and and then saying "now the healing can begin." Then someone writes one of those awful confessional books -- called "soul-baring." Ugh!

There is no closure. After Henry II did his penance for the murder, he went on to commit other crimes, some much more awful. He invaded Ireland and slaughtered peasants by the hundreds. He fought and killed and lied and cheated, because he was a king and that's what kings did. Henry did not improve or become a better man, but he did his penance.

So there's the Pope, over in Italy, and he's still my friend. He gets up every morning and he goes to the room where he eats his breakfast.

He is being served by an old German nun who has been fixing his breakfast every day for forty years. She has no awe for Pope Benedict, she knows him too well. He's a man, she knows, just like the rest of us. He never wanted to be Pope. He was happiest working for John Paul II.

"It really isn't my fault," the Pope might be saying to the German nun over his porridge. "This has been going on for centuries. John Paul II knew about it too, but John Paul was great and magnificent and handsome, so he wasn't blamed. But I will be blamed because I am a funny-looking man with a name that sounds weird in English.

"Why is it my fault?" he said. She says back to him, "because you're the Pope."

Spring Subscription Drive. Many thanks to those readers who have sent in checks. Your dollars are greatly appreciated. But there is still time -- the spring drive is not over. You can support Frog Hospital by writing a check for $25 made out to Fred Owens, and mail it to Box 1292, LaConner WA, 98257. Or you can go to the Frog Hospital blog and pay $25 with the PayPal button. Thanks a bunch.

T-shirts still on sale. Frog Hospital t-shirts are now available in three sizes -- XL, L and M. You can buy them in LaConner at La Crema coffee shop, or order them from me direct.














--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

send mail to:

Fred Owens
Box 1292
LaConner WA 98257

Tulips

Crowds of people are coming into the Skagit Valley to view the tulips -- 500 acres of tulips in many colors. It's quite a sight.

The weather has changed about six times so far today, like the sun is trying on clothes and keeps changing its mind. People are looking at the sky to say, "You're kidding, right?"

I have put the garden in good shape. I planted sugar snap peas, onions, and Swiss chard. Why do they call it Swiss chard? Well, if they just called it "chard" nobody would want to eat it.

We bought five pounds of seed potatoes, but not to plant for a few weeks until the soil gets warmer. I figured to buy them now because the store might run out by planting time.

I don't dig if I can avoid it. I had this pile of leaves, getting nice and moldy and full of worms, so I spread that out on the bed, then I covered that with a layer of straw. Later on I'll tuck in the seed potatoes and put on more straw. That should work.

Ralph and Helen Dexter up in Marblemount always gardened that way -- just kept spreading straw on the soil, which decomposes over time. They never dig, just spread the straw aside and put in the seeds. The soil remained soft and fluffy.

I haven't seen Ralph and Helen for some time, but I hear from their son Lane who also lives Up River.

Frog Hospital is famous for dramatic changes in subject matter. I don't do this on purpose, but all things are connected, and talking about the Dexters Up River reminded me of someone else I haven't heard from in years.

The Vatican. Another friend I don't hear from lately is Bill Sheehan. He's a priest. He used to live in Rome and worked for some years in the Vatican library studying medieval manuscripts. I always thought that was such a cool job because I am a great fan of medieval history.

I sometimes wonder who is really running things at the Vatican, but I never asked Bill about this. He probably didn't know, and if he did know he probably would not have told me.

How I knew Bill is that I went to a Catholic college and we were friends back then.

But the Vatican has been in the news lately. I have no comment to make on the particulars, but I could mention some broad outlines that I think are true. The Catholic Church is a very large and very old institution. They are quite capable of very long-range thinking, as if to say "this will blow over in a hundred years."

I'm going to say that this long-range thinking can be a good thing because most of our institutions, governments and corporations can barely think five years ahead.

Next, the Church is the largest, most powerful, and wealthiest organization on earth without a military force. That's a good quality too. As Josef Stalin famously said, "How many divisions does the Pope have?" None.

That does not make the Church harmless, but they are tank-less and bomb-less, which is a good thing.

Finally, the Church is a formal patriarchy. It's run entirely by men. If I said that was a good thing, then somebody would bite me. But that's clearly what it is.

I avoid using the word unique, but this organization is truly like no other that I can think of. We are all accountable in some way, but I have no idea how to hold the Pope to account. I didn't vote for him and I can't impeach him.

I think it's very reasonable for people to criticize him, whether they are Catholic or not. But I don't know that the Pope is compelled to respond.

As I watch this crisis unfold, I don't think anybody is asking the right questions. That's the key -- when you ask the right questions, you're more than half way to a resolution of the problem.

Think Globally but act Locally. Isn't this newsletter a perfect example of how this is done? The Vatican, the Pope, global warming, the war in Afhghanistan and so forth -- all global problems, all serious and worthy of our attention.

And what can do about these things? We can act locally -- we can tend our gardens.

Spring Subscription Drive. Many thanks to those readers who have sent in checks. Your dollars are greatly appreciated. But there is still time -- the spring drive is not over. You can support Frog Hospital by writing a check for $25 made out to Fred Owens, and mail it to Box 1292, LaConner WA, 98257. Or you can go to the Frog Hospital blog and pay $25 with the PayPal button. Thanks a bunch.

T-shirts still on sale. Frog Hospital t-shirts are now available in three sizes -- XL, L and M. You can buy them in LaConner at La Crema coffee shop, or order them from me direct.





--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

send mail to:

Fred Owens
Box 1292
LaConner WA 98257