The Failure of Black Robes Cinematic Redemption :: Black Robe Research Papers

The Failure of Black Robes Cinematic Redemption Works Cited MissingMusings oer Talk Radio1 Ive been listening to talk radio lately. Not hardly sure why. I suppose I derive a complacent sense of superiority over callers who are a little overly concerned with high quality mulch or the Phillies relief pitching. wad become incensed over the most ludicrous things. Recently, though, I comprehend callers venting over something a little closer to my heart, and I couldnt listen with the same ironic distance from which I usually stand. Pope tin can Paul II had issued (at a papal Mass on furthert against 12) an apology for the sins of the church over the past 2000 years. As a papistical Catholic embarrassed by many parts of my church buildings history--the Crusades, the Inquisition, silence in the midst of the Holocaust--I was gratified to hear that the Pope was asking forgiveness for the Church as a whole. As can be expected, many were dissatisfy with the apology. Some fel t John Paul II was not ad hoc enough, failing to mention Pope Pius XIIs failure to condemn Hitlers mass implementation of Jews and separate minorities in the Holocaust. However, when listening to the radio phone-in show, what struck me was that many of the callers were Catholics who resented being implicated in the Popes apology. 2 I can understand the callers indignation. I hark back elementary school days, learning the Catholic doctrine of original sin, the creative thinker that the first sin against God--whether you believe it was the Adam and Eve story or some other version of humanitys origins--stained all descendants of those first sinners (in other words, everyone). How unfair, I thought, that the sins of some stupid people from the past would cause me to be stained in the eyes of God. And what did the thirty-something caller from Jenkintown, PA, have to do with the Inquisition? Partial Membership3 Its been a long time since Catholic elementary school, and origina l sin is still a tough pill to swallow. However, Ive come to understand it (and my problems with it) as a matter of my identity not just as an individual but as a section of a group. I may not have sampled forbidden fruit, but as a part of the human race I am affected by that act (I say this not to proselytize, but to give tongue to my perspective as a Catholic).