which jumped out at me from the newspaper stand over at Seven Eleven seemed really stupid.
I'm not Roman Catholic (I'm Episcopalian,) but I was raised a variety of Protestant denoms, and have a ton of Catholic and Orthodox friends and family. (Episcopalian is also basically English Catholic (Church of England with very very similar structures, a LOT of Catholics wind up Episcopalian, -especially if they've Divorced and Re-Married.)
Fresno however is an overwhelmingly 'non-denom,' and 'protestant,' based town. The mega churches usually are some sort of evangelical (ish) usually majority white and Calvinist.
There ARE Roman Catholics and Orthodox (High) churches here,
---but the most part it's a lot of Baptist-ish
(and) anglo Charasmatic/Penticostal kind of a church base.
--This, actually is a total flip of what we have in the East, as the Catholic Churches are huge, they have schools, (etc.) and Catholicism is massive in many of the towns. (We have crossections of society: Italians, Poles, Ukranians, Germans, Irish, various Spanish Speaking, --that are mostly Roman Catholic.)
I'm finding that the 'other,' churches (here in Fresno, which includes Roman Catholicism, -that are more ethnically based,)
are seen as sort of '...hmm, what do THEY preach??? oh well nevermind...' by most Fresnans I talk to.
(The average church goer around here is kind of in their 'own little world,' of their church and that church's practices...
different religious practices are not really something I find most people interested in, nor caring about, and there really doesn't seem to be a whole lot of intermingling even between the mega-churches or non-denoms.)
It just struck me as a real disconnect, as (arguably,) the most revered leader of what is the largest and most powerful denomination in the world, is referred to in such a ridiculous fashion.
I mean, I don't know if I'd call it 'demeaning,' it's more just ignorant.
I was thinking of sending it to some friends (not from here,) but thought... nah, the town's got issues as it is, why make the place look worse...
It shows that the folks who picked the title really don't understand the meaning of what a Pope is to someone in a High Church (meaning in this case Roman Catholic,)
and would strike me as being disrespectful,
IF the average reader had much of a serious clue as to what Roman Catholicism and the Pope is,
but most folks don't,(it's kind of a distant concept, and truthfully, because there aren't that many Catholics here? I don't think most folks would be all up at arms.)
It's kind of like people in the area who tell jokes about Jews and the Polish,
---yet don't know Jews or Poles, have never met one, WILL never meet any, and have no clue as to why the punchline is biting, funny, insulting, (etc)
(I mean, I hear '..well, you know the Armenians are basically our Jews, they're just LIKE them,,,, (right?)
-to which I sort of ask '...um, which type of Jewish person are you referring to when you say that?'
and they're like:
'...you know JEWS.'
It's like hearing a baby using dirty words in another language...
I just shake my head and blow it off.
What is also kind of intersting?
A LOT of Mexicans I know are very very Catholic.
-IT shows a lot how the Bee sort of sees (if this were to be a real barometer,) the Spanish (Catholic,) population as not being a readership that they need to pay much attention to, nor show a whole lot of reverence to (Mexicans) leader of their church..
(I need to see how they handle this in the Mexican/Anglo paper that they put out, I've been getting the thing since I moved here.)
-Hopefully it's just a fluke, but it kind of points out who the money and power behind the newspaper is: (like, a bunch of white protestants???)
I don't know whether to chalk it up to the general disconnect in the town towards other people's cultures (Try walking into a supermarket and asking for the 'kosher,' section...
I got five stores worth of blank stares, until I finally said '...you know, the stuff that Jewish People eat.'
--to which I got
'...oh, Jew Food??! over there, by the Orientals stuff...'
(...great, we have a kosher section referred to as 'Jew Food,' (right up there with 'Fish Food,' or 'Baby Food.')
AND somebody who had no clue that 'Oriental' to an asian person is kind of insulting, as they will tell you 'an Oriental is a carpet, I'm Asian, (or their country of origion.)
So, no, Josh...
I don't think it's really going to make a whole lot of difference here, because I don't think most folks know enough about the level of the insult to really get it.
Am I saying the average Fresnan is stupid?
No.
I just think the average Bee Reader is oblivious to other cultures social and religious practices and figures,
---and has no desire to really be otherwise.
(Kind of like when I was back East, knew who Joe Paterno was, knew who Cheney was (Temple,) and couldn't care less about Pat Hill.)
PS:
---the Pope was VERY direct in his comments condemning the behaviors of the pedophiles, AND was saying that there was no place for anyone to be a Priest in the Holy Roman Catholic Church and do this, and that it would not be tolerated.
He said also that it was a deep shame for the church, and used very specific language about the issue
(read the NewYork Times article from today.)
--This Pope (by the way,) had the nickname 'the Rottweiller,' under JP2 because he was such an enforcer.
He's not taking this lightly at all, and is making very direct remarks about the whole thing, stating that he's going to be very intollerant of this sort of thing, has been, and will be.
---and is noticibly separating the whole 'pedophile priest,' issue from a priest being simply gay.
(Which I think helps in helping to discern and have a more healthy mindset on the issue.)
the word
which jumped out at me from the newspaper stand over at Seven Eleven seemed really stupid.
I'm not Roman Catholic (I'm Episcopalian,) but I was raised a variety of Protestant denoms, and have a ton of Catholic and Orthodox friends and family. (Episcopalian is also basically English Catholic (Church of England with very very similar structures, a LOT of Catholics wind up Episcopalian, -especially if they've Divorced and Re-Married.)
Fresno however is an overwhelmingly 'non-denom,' and 'protestant,' based town. The mega churches usually are some sort of evangelical (ish) usually majority white and Calvinist.
There ARE Roman Catholics and Orthodox (High) churches here,
---but the most part it's a lot of Baptist-ish
(and) anglo Charasmatic/Penticostal kind of a church base.
--This, actually is a total flip of what we have in the East, as the Catholic Churches are huge, they have schools, (etc.) and Catholicism is massive in many of the towns. (We have crossections of society: Italians, Poles, Ukranians, Germans, Irish, various Spanish Speaking, --that are mostly Roman Catholic.)
I'm finding that the 'other,' churches (here in Fresno, which includes Roman Catholicism, -that are more ethnically based,)
are seen as sort of '...hmm, what do THEY preach??? oh well nevermind...' by most Fresnans I talk to.
(The average church goer around here is kind of in their 'own little world,' of their church and that church's practices...
different religious practices are not really something I find most people interested in, nor caring about, and there really doesn't seem to be a whole lot of intermingling even between the mega-churches or non-denoms.)
It just struck me as a real disconnect, as (arguably,) the most revered leader of what is the largest and most powerful denomination in the world, is referred to in such a ridiculous fashion.
I mean, I don't know if I'd call it 'demeaning,' it's more just ignorant.
I was thinking of sending it to some friends (not from here,) but thought... nah, the town's got issues as it is, why make the place look worse...
It shows that the folks who picked the title really don't understand the meaning of what a Pope is to someone in a High Church (meaning in this case Roman Catholic,)
and would strike me as being disrespectful,
IF the average reader had much of a serious clue as to what Roman Catholicism and the Pope is,
but most folks don't,(it's kind of a distant concept, and truthfully, because there aren't that many Catholics here? I don't think most folks would be all up at arms.)
It's kind of like people in the area who tell jokes about Jews and the Polish,
---yet don't know Jews or Poles, have never met one, WILL never meet any, and have no clue as to why the punchline is biting, funny, insulting, (etc)
(I mean, I hear '..well, you know the Armenians are basically our Jews, they're just LIKE them,,,, (right?)
-to which I sort of ask '...um, which type of Jewish person are you referring to when you say that?'
and they're like:
'...you know JEWS.'
It's like hearing a baby using dirty words in another language...
I just shake my head and blow it off.
What is also kind of intersting?
A LOT of Mexicans I know are very very Catholic.
-IT shows a lot how the Bee sort of sees (if this were to be a real barometer,) the Spanish (Catholic,) population as not being a readership that they need to pay much attention to, nor show a whole lot of reverence to (Mexicans) leader of their church..
(I need to see how they handle this in the Mexican/Anglo paper that they put out, I've been getting the thing since I moved here.)
-Hopefully it's just a fluke, but it kind of points out who the money and power behind the newspaper is: (like, a bunch of white protestants???)
I don't know whether to chalk it up to the general disconnect in the town towards other people's cultures (Try walking into a supermarket and asking for the 'kosher,' section...
I got five stores worth of blank stares, until I finally said '...you know, the stuff that Jewish People eat.'
--to which I got
'...oh, Jew Food??! over there, by the Orientals stuff...'
(...great, we have a kosher section referred to as 'Jew Food,' (right up there with 'Fish Food,' or 'Baby Food.')
AND somebody who had no clue that 'Oriental' to an asian person is kind of insulting, as they will tell you 'an Oriental is a carpet, I'm Asian, (or their country of origion.)
So, no, Josh...
I don't think it's really going to make a whole lot of difference here, because I don't think most folks know enough about the level of the insult to really get it.
Am I saying the average Fresnan is stupid?
No.
I just think the average Bee Reader is oblivious to other cultures social and religious practices and figures,
---and has no desire to really be otherwise.
(Kind of like when I was back East, knew who Joe Paterno was, knew who Cheney was (Temple,) and couldn't care less about Pat Hill.)
PS:
---the Pope was VERY direct in his comments condemning the behaviors of the pedophiles, AND was saying that there was no place for anyone to be a Priest in the Holy Roman Catholic Church and do this, and that it would not be tolerated.
He said also that it was a deep shame for the church, and used very specific language about the issue
(read the NewYork Times article from today.)
--This Pope (by the way,) had the nickname 'the Rottweiller,' under JP2 because he was such an enforcer.
He's not taking this lightly at all, and is making very direct remarks about the whole thing, stating that he's going to be very intollerant of this sort of thing, has been, and will be.
---and is noticibly separating the whole 'pedophile priest,' issue from a priest being simply gay.
(Which I think helps in helping to discern and have a more healthy mindset on the issue.)