[Oe List ...] Pope Francis

Wed May 8 00:17:51 PDT 2013

Thanks to Marshall and Randy.  Will no longer apologize for my bad taste.  The Pinoy in me that laughs when it is painful is mother nature's gift in my upbringing.

On another note, here's something I am thinking of having Saipan Tribune print for their Friday edition.  It is a draft.  Correction and commments welcome.

TheUltimate Encounter

Peter Whitney at 45, is the son of colleagues Claireand Ken Whitney, erstwhile of the Order: Ecumenical, the Ecumenical Instituteof Chicago, and the international Institute of Cultural Affairs.  He died last week ahead of his parents.

I did not know Peter much save as a young kid when hisparents and I were experimenting together with our being what it meant to be a global responsible persons in the late 20th Century alongthe imaginal thoughts of theologs like Bultmann, Tillich, Bonheoffer and theNiebuhrs, the movemental forces of Christian renewal that followed Vatican II,as well as the emergence of secular contemplatives following the historic bumpof Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama.  

In the natural response of a father contemplating the incidence of parents presiding over the demise of an offspring, we hit the bottomless abyssof grief.  Though Peter’s 45 would havejust been ripe age in an earlier era (Jesus at 33 was an old man, the averagelife expectancy in his time was 33!), he is less than a decade older than mytwo eldest daughters who might have met him somewhere in the heyday of mysocial (aka, human development) activism.  That puts him on theyoung side of my ledger.

News of Peter’s death came while we werelistening to Whitney Houston’s One Momentin Time, a song we appropriated long time ago as ours, with theone-moment-in-time metaphor now referring to our chosen 86-year journey.  We were thinking of using the song topractice oral English’s listen-repeat sessions. The diva’s plaintive voice is so much more resonant on this side of hergrave, tragic as her exit was, and it was while listening to her whiledescribing the wordsmithing “weeping willows along the banks by our polluted school streamfinally full of green tender tears” that we caught our ownteardrops streaming down our cheek.

I am not generally this sentimental, though we noticedlately that the years seem to trigger the opening of the tear ducts faster thanusual, but our present state of mind was assisted by a mailing we received fromanother colleague.  Michael May inIndiana is spending a lot of reflective time on being a story warrior – audiovisuallyand literary.

He produced a book from his 35-yr family’s bedtimerituals as a “story for the time between the myths.”  Michael May is a story warrior, and I thoughthe might have something I can use in my work of teaching oral English to youngChinese children and their parents. 

So I asked Michael if he can give me a sample of the bookonline, not having the wherewithal to get a hardcopy sent to China.  He did me one favor better.  He sent the book along with a DVD, acollaborative production of www.storywarrior.net and www.transparentworks.com,on The Ultimate Encounter, using the relational practice formerly known asContemplation as a format.

I did get the chance to review the Children’s BedtimeRitual book online, and familiar with the language, some we used with our ownchildren, there was nothing earthshaking about it save the delight of seeing ittogether in one piece with engaging photos.

It was the DVD that pulled the rug from under our feet.  The first of a projected decade-long project,the program promised the use of contemporary clinical language that is cleanand clear, devoid of the heavy poetic metaphors of many traditions.  There are no actors or performers.  Video images are from ordinary human beingswho have plumbed the depths of their existence to face what ultimately isdescribed in the language of awe and wonder, of life in ecstasy, destiny andmystery, and have enough courage to talk about it.

Presented in 12 stations (the Lenten practice ofStations of the Cross comes to mind, but it is best not to associate the DVD to it sincethe demythologizing needed in the RC practice takes more effort before one canget to its kernel), we discovered the narratives to be painfully unadorned and joyfully direct.  

The fact that some of the faces and voices are familiarforcefully thugs at the heartstring but it is the general message and itsspecific parts that got us reminded of the global collegiality that we keep,not just with fellow wayfarers in the journey that officially ceased in the ritualizedclosure of the journey of the Order: Ecumenical, but also with the on-goingparade of prominent historical characters named in Kenneth Boulding’s“invisible college”, a dynamic of social pioneering present since the Neolithicperiod in Brian Stanfield’s reckoning. The tears that flowed on Peter’s death are both for the grief and joy ofbeing part of a finite movement with a radically shaken foundation of humanconsciousness, and a profound program for sustaining the depth, height, andbreath of its greatness.

May’s Internal Mythos Journeys series shows ademocratization of the secular contemplative practice that he and hiscollaborators are promoting, the DVD being just a beginning.

The DVD’s narrator advised us not to take the seriesin one sitting.  We didn’t but we sawenough to know that we will be returning to the program again and again.  

Can anything good come out of Indiana? The hell, Yes!

j'aime la vie

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!

-----Original Message-----
From: Randy Williams <rcwmbw at yahoo.com>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Cc: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Wed, May 8, 2013 10:39 am
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Pope Francis

Marshall, good point. I agree. 
Randy

Sent from my iPhone

On May 7, 2013, at 9:01 PM, "W. J." <synergi at yahoo.com> wrote:

Instead of complaining about your poor taste in managing to offend a whole lot of sensitive people with one punch line, Jaime, I simply quote Little Richard's original lyrics (according to Wikipedia):

"Tutti Frutti, good booty
If it don't fit, don't force it
You can grease it, make it easy"

This lyric is culturally interesting, but I doubt it would significantly advance global human evolution to distract this listserv with jokes or commentary about these words. We can no longer afford to resort to stereotypes to joke about the imagined sexual activities of any minority groups. Little Richard was both black and gay. So if you have any understanding of how these two groups have suffered historically, you wouldn't resort to humor at their expense. I like watermelon, but I don't make watermelon jokes. Et cetera.

Marshall

From: Jaime R Vergara <svesjaime at aol.com>
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Sent: Tue, May 7, 2013 5:14:51 PM
Subject: [Oe List ...] Pope Francis

Subject: A Roman Catholic Recognition

Here is the latest from our newly ordained Pope Francis.  If you are Catholic, particularly a Filipino Catholic who takes controversial issues to the side of levity, you'll appreciate this.

Pope Francis recently finished his sermon. He ended it with the Latin phrase, "Tuti Homini" - Blessed be Mankind.

A Woman's Rights Group approached the Pope the next day. They noticed that the Pope blessed all Mankind, but not Womankind.

So the next day, after his sermon, the Pope concluded by saying, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini" - Blessed be Mankind and Womankind.

The day after, a Gay Rights Group approached the Pope. They said that they noticed that he blessed Mankind and Womankind and asked if he could also bless gay people.

The Pope said, "Sure."

The next day the Pope concluded his sermon with, "Tuti Homini, et Tuti Femini, et Tuti Fruiti."

*****

With apologies to those who might receive this as beyond the pale of hilarity.

j'aime la vie

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, Celebrate!

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