A Letter to the Vatican

Dear Vatican,

Let me begin with my congratulations to you on successfully choosing a new pontiff.  Pope Francis I, Jose Mario Bergoglio, is certainly a “fresh” choice — first from the New World, first Jesuit, first non-European in over 1,000 years, etc.

You know what, though?  Pope Francis seems pretty exciting and new at first glance.  But if you look a little closer, isn’t he just like all the others?  Gay couples adopting kids is “discrimination toward children” and gay marriage is a “destructive pretension against the will of God”? Condoms are “okay,” but only if for stopping the spread of infections.  As a member of the Society of Jesus, which is generally open-minded on issues of bodily theology, Francis seems a staunch conservative.  Then there was that whole thing back in the 1970s, where the then-priest seemed to turn a blind eye to the persecution of Jesuits (his own community) and killing of thousands of Argentinians by the former dictatorial Argentinian government.

I’m not here to make digs at the new pope, though.  Pope Francis has his moments.  He has been known to criticize bishops and priests refusing to baptize wed-lock babies. Single mothers are people, too, you know. He’s also spoken up against economic inequality, especially in South America where the gap between rich and poor is extremely high; he himself lived in a simple flat and rode public transportation to work, rather than choosing a traditional bishop’s housing and the extravagance that comes with it.

I just want to point out that, while electing Bergoglio may have seemed like a game-changing, “Can we really do this? It’s so new and different!” move to you, the reaction of some of us laypeople around the world is, “Oh. Cool. Another old dude who is slightly less out of touch than the last old dude.”

You know what would be really cool, Vatican?  What would be really cool is if you decided to get with the times, and more importantly, the people.  A lot of people are beginning to question the need for a leader such as the pope.  Isn’t the Vatican just an anchor holding “normal” Catholics back (not to mention dragging them into a swamp of scandal)?  Isn’t the whole “pope thing” outdated anyway?

I don’t think so.  I think the Catholic Church might still benefit from popes.  A shepherd leading his flock, and all that jazz.  With 1.2 billion Catholics running about in the world, we need something to unify and represent us —  Or else we might have even more crazy than could be imagined (instead of concentrating all the weird ideas in a small patch of land near Rome).  However (and this is a big one, guys), I believe that the Office of the Pope is in serious need of reform.

Seriously, ever since the Roman Catholic Church was gifted with land and it started getting ridiculously wealthy (did we forget that whole thing Jesus said about spiritual possessions>earthly material?), the Pope has been more of a king than a shepherd.  Instead of barking down orders about who we can love, how we can love, what we can and can’t do with our bodies, etc., shouldn’t the Pope be guiding us toward those main themes of the Bible like loving your neighbor and doing good works?

And shouldn’t the Pope listen to what his flock is saying? You at the Vatican are aware a majority of Catholic women have, in fact, used contraception at sometime, right? And that we think the whole sex abuse scandal is pretty horrific? And have you heard our tongues stumble over those awkward rewrites of prayers you came up with for Mass? Some of us also think it’s pretty silly that women can’t be ordained:  We would make great popes.  Seriously.  If you don’t think so, read what E.J. Dionne Jr. has to say.

What we need is a Pope that listens to and echoes the people he (or she!) is leading.  A Pope that understands the importance of community but also welcomes individual choice and expression.  A Pope who is open to new ideas and embraces the current time, instead of mindlessly promoting stuffy, alienating, and outdated teachings.  A Pope who doesn’t get caught up in the luxuries of being pope.  A Pope that follows Jesus’ message, not the Vatican institution’s. And, just as important, we need a papal system of equal opportunity.

In the past few decades especially, there’s been a discrepancy between the Vatican’s representation of the Church and the Church on the ground.  I think you could easily attribute Catholic youth inactivity to this.  As someone who was born and raised Catholic, the stories and teachings I grew up with — from Mass, my nonna, and school — are hardly reflected in what the Vatican does.  My generation, besides intelligent, is also pretty direct:  We see that hypocrisy, and we’re not just going to accept it.

As Nicholas Kristof writes, the Vatican seems like an old boys’ club and the real soul of the Church is alive in the grassroots.  He spoke with a woman named Sister Cathy who is afraid that if Jesus were here today, he would say “they got it all wrong!”

And maybe they did.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t fix it.

My Week with the Sandviks

This past week Erik and I were lucky to have a visit from Erik’s parents! It gave me a nice little break from work, and the opportunity to spend some quality time with one of the coolest families around (cool in the sense that they are both cold and awesome). Here are a few pictures from our trip!

Sorry I haven’t been posting so much. Things are really picking up with tutoring and my other activities. I’ve also gotten the opportunity to do some travel writing via Pink Pangea, a website for women travelers. My first article is due tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to attach a link here!

Jilted at the Sidewalk

People of the world, I have been stood up.

I met a guy a few days ago, and it seemed to go well.  We met via a flyer I had hung in a cafe.  He spoke almost no English, let his friend do most of the talking, and was an all-around awkward gentleman.  I thought we had something.  He left in quite a hurry that day, but his friend called me later to say that he would meet me Monday at 6.  I waited and waited outside the cafe where we first met, but sadly he was a no-show.  I was jilted at the sidewalk.

If by now you’re thinking, “What are you talking about, Amanda? You already have a boyfriend,” then I should inform you this was no ordinary date.  In fact, it wasn’t a date at all.  I had posted a few flyers about tutoring — something I’m looking to do on the side here — and this guy was supposed to be my first client.  So perhaps it’s not exactly like being stood up on a date, but being stood up for an appointment (regardless of its nature) well… sucks.

Don’t think I was too hasty to give up.  I didn’t expect him to be right on time, mostly because being “on time” here doesn’t exist for most things.  I remember the first time I was here neighbors would say, “We’ll stop by in the afternoon” (so, a six hour window or so?) or others would say, “I’ll meet you at 2” but they’d really mean 2:30.  Time is a bit more flexible, a little more relaxed, here.  Bearing this in mind, though, I still figured that a half hour would be a reasonable amount of time to wait.  After that half hour came and went, though, I accepted the fact that this guy wasn’t going to show.

Earlier I thought I might be slightly relieved if he just decided not to come (He was starting completely from scratch and had determined that actual language classes “weren’t what he needed.”  I was therefore concerned about having to construct an entire “class” for him without textbooks or previous experience.).  Though I was still super nervous, by today I had actually managed to get a bit excited — planning what drills to do, what vocabulary and grammatical concepts to introduce, how I would explain things in Arabic (if need be, which was highly likely) — and I was looking forward to finally putting my TEFL certificate to use.

A disappointing start to the tutoring portion of my stay in Jordan, but I haven’t quite given up yet.  Just now, in fact, I’ve gotten a message from someone asking to meet tomorrow to talk about lessons.  Luckily this guy speaks more English and so can actually communicate with me to set up a meeting.  He’s trying to study for the TOEFL, not starting from scratch.  I’ve also been talking to a girl about getting help with business writing (memos, emails, cover letters, etc.).  She is practically fluent, but wants to fine-tune her writing so she can get a job abroad.  I have a feeling that these more experienced students will be a bit easier to coordinate with and plan things for… I can be more of a tutor than a teacher, which is okay by me.

So yes, I’ve been jilted, but I’m getting back on the horse even faster than Kim Kardashian post-Humphreys-split.  I think we can all agree that’s pretty impressive.

Til next time!

A Stroll through the Streets

Well, it’s been a pretty uneventful week.  Not much to say for these past few cold, dreary, rainy, windy days.  I’ve been working and shivering in the office, mostly contemplating the lack of insulation/heat retention available in this country.  Lucky for me, the sun came back today, and it just happened to be my day off.

I began my day putting up some flyers for English tutoring around the neighborhood.  I’d like to be able to tutor while I’m here to make use of my TEFL certificate and supplement my income.  After spreading the word, we pit-stopped for lunch at al-Quds.  We were unfortunately interrupted before and during our lunch break by a few young children asking for money.  This is perhaps one of my least favorite things about Jordan.  Seeing children begging on the streets is not uncommon, but what’s worse is that very often their parents drive them to these places and wait in cars to see just how much the kids can bring in.  It is truly sad to see children being exploited in such a way, but what do you do about it?  If you give them money, you feed the cycle; if you don’t, they follow you, curse you, or look miserable.

After lunch, we decided to walk around various less-explored parts of our neighborhood and downtown to see what we could find.  One of our first finds brightened my spirits immensely after the awkward lunch:  a group of kids being, well, kids.

We didn’t do much else besides walk around and snap photos at the things we saw.  As I said, it’s been a pretty relaxing day.  I’ll let the pictures do the entertaining for this post:

This kid introduced himself to us as Christiano Ronaldo.  He totally was.

Eat your heart out, Kelsey.

“Allah” graffiti and cement in dumpsters.

You can find things to furnish your entire house on this street!

 

 

My Job, Jesus, and Jebel Weibdeh

If you didn’t already know, my main reason for coming back to Jordan was to work at the Jordanian Interfaith Coexistence Research Center.  For the most part, I am a lowly intern, but since Father Nabil (my boss) finds this title too belittling of the work interns do, I’ve been promoted to “colleague.”  In fact, I got this promotion before I even had my first day of work, so I guess I’m doing pretty well for myself.

What is the JICRC, you ask?  Well, let me tell you.  The JICRC is an NGO established in 2003 that seeks to promote religious coexistence in the region.  The organization often works with other organizations, governments, and communities on peace-building initiatives — mostly between Christian and Muslim communities.  It’s office is connected to a church in Jebel Weibdeh.  This much, however, you can learn from the JICRC website (see link above), so what can I tell you that you can’t just find out yourself?  I visited the organization in the fall of 2011, on a trip with my Washington Semester Program, but upon my arrival here little over a week ago, I really couldn’t tell you more about the JICRC’s work than what I have just told you.  That is partly what drove my curiosity and led me to work here.  What does this actually mean?  What sort of changes, if any, are brought about on the ground in real life by an organization dedicated to such endeavors?

I have only had two days of work, so I can’t decisively say yet.  I do know that this internship will surely be an interesting experience.  Currently, the organization is working on developing a program for Interfaith Harmony Week — a global initiative born from a speech King Abdullah II made to the UN General Assembly, inviting countries to foster better interfaith communication and respect.  So far, we are still in the planning stages; and even though it is supposed to be a week long event, it seems like there will be events throughout February.  Most of the events will be organized as workshops, with papers, presentations, guest speakers, and discussions.  Topics range from the role of women in interfaith peace-building to the emigration of Arab Christians.  A number of religious leaders, from churches and mosques alike, will attend and participate, along with foreign leaders and academics.

I am very interested to see what will actually take place at these events — where the conversations will go and what will be concluded.  In my experience, it seems as though Jordanian Christians and Muslims live side by side in relative harmony, especially in contrast to other countries in the region.  I am sure there is discord from time to time, but in general it seems like Christians and Arabs are neighbors and partners.  However, in my time here I have only begun to skim the surface of these relations.

Those who know me know that I have never been the most pious person (Well, there was that time when I was four and my family suspected that I might become a nun, but that’s beside the point).  I have my beliefs, but I am not much interested in orthopraxy and I often find fault with established religious dogma.  Regardless, I have always been interested in religion — the many commonalities between the world’s traditions, the way people worship, the relationship between faiths, etc.  It was mostly out of this curiosity that I decided to go to Sunday Mass at the church where my boss preaches.  Born and raised Catholic, I figured that this would be a normal Mass, the only difference being the language it was conducted in.  Man, was I wrong.

Though the church says “Roman Catholic” on the outside, if you look it up online it is sometimes referred to as Melkite Catholic.  I now understand why it is often referred to as Melkite.  There were many similarities between this Mass and Mass at home:  They do transubstantiation, the Apostle’s Creed, the Our Father, the constant flux between stand/sit/kneel, etc.  However, I felt out of my element.  I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I don’t think I’m so far out of touch to have missed this many changes.  No, there were obvious Greek influences on the Mass that are not part of a standard Roman Catholic ceremony.  The pictures of the saints and holy family are styled in a sort of Greek Orthodox manner, and parishioners often pray in front of them and kiss the feet of those depicted.  There is heightened devotion for the Bible and Eucharist, both of which are walked around the pews during Mass by the priest and kissed/touched/bowed to by church-goers.  There are also quite a lot of pre-Vatican II throwbacks:  the priest doesn’t face the parish and chants the entire Mass, women cover their heads, and Eucharist doesn’t touch the hands.  Then there were things that I just didn’t get — a man who volunteered his head as a temporary pulpit during the Gospel, for instance.  All of this took place in a cloud of incense.  So much incense.

All in all, I was quite surprised by the end of the Mass.  I was even more surprised, I think, than Erik.  Erik at least assumed from the get-go that things would be quite different from the Church of Norway.  I, however, expected a “normal” Mass conducted in Arabic.  Let me reiterate, I was confused, not disappointed.  That was one of the coolest experiences I have had here.  It was different, and loud, and full of incense, but it was also peaceful and interesting.  We even got two loaves of bread at the end of it, though neither one of us was quite sure if we were supposed to eat it.

There are quite a number of churches on Jebel Weibdeh, including this one.  Though it is now a pretty diverse community, it seems to have been an early settling place for Arab Christians.  In the early days of Christendom, Catholics had their local basilica here, due to its proximity to other Roman Empire establishments (the amphitheater, citadel, etc.).  I’m interested in checking a few more of them out, just to see what they’re like.  Luckily, Erik is doing his master’s thesis on Arab Christians, so I’ll hopefully be able to tag along to a few more. ;)

Til next time!