October 1, 2007
Barefoot
Yesterday’s New York Times reported that barefoot Buddhist monks with cheek marched through the streets of Myanmar’s cities leading the largest antigovernment protest in twenty years. The headline read “What Makes A Monk Mad.”
The story reported that there are roughly as many monks as soldiers in the former Burma where the military rules by force, but the monks retain the ultimate moral authority. The generals have to honor the clerical establishment and even claim to rule in its name. If the monks march, it matters.
The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops met recently in New Orleans, mostly shod, I suspect, and apparently cheekless. As a clerical establishment the HofB probably wouldn’t measure up to the LSU ROTC. Any question about their moral authority is not often raised.
I wondered when I read about the monks, What makes a bishop mad? From reflecting on their meeting in New Orleans, I couldn’t tell, if anything. So far as I know, they kept their shoes on. They didn’t march. They never mentioned the government so far as I know, let alone its reckless and immoral lack of stewardship and its false promises about Katrina and New Orleans. They fussed a bit about turf, theirs. Statistics reveal that eleven percent of our nation’s population is gay and lesbian. The PB said the House stood at the foot of the cross on the subject of what to do about that population in the church. She just left the question hanging.
I must say, however, that I sympathize. I never cared all that much for going barefoot, myself.
No Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
| TrackBack URI
You can also bookmark
this on del.icio.us or check the cosmos