Happy Birthday, Gaga! I hope this is the best year ever for you!
The whole basis for the Gagablog has been to explore a kind of superchaos magic by drawing connections between the art of Gaga, world news events, and my own magical intentions. I have long praised Gaga for being a liberator, since well before I started this blog when I wrote the song "Savior Mom (Lady Gaga)". I think this is one of the most important roles she plays and the power and ability she has to liberate people is what I recognize as divine. She has done so much to promote equal rights for gays and lesbians and bisexual people and maintains this focus. I think she played a major part in changing of American attitudes on this issue by grabbing the country's imagination with the mystery of sexuality in a way that transcended preconceived notions. The country was already evolving as more people became more aware but Gaga put strong focus on this at times when it really made a difference. While she still promotes the message of equality, I think the efforts she made around repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and when she met with President Obama were crucial moments in changing the course for America so we can more fully accept everyone sooner.
Since then she worked specifically to end bullying and encourage kids to be brave to really be themselves. She has always had this effect on kids through her music but made an even more concerted effort for it by launching the Born This Way non-profit organization with her mom, Cynthia Germanotta. This is an important gay rights issue as well, since homophobic bullying has been one of the most insidious kinds for decades if not generations. Bullying affects all sorts of kids, though, and Gaga's message supports kids for any sort of difference and celebrates them. By telling kids to be proud and brave and really express who they are we can end the culture of intimidation and exclusion in school. And if we work to teach kids that lesson who knows? Maybe the adults in our society will learn it as well and we will all be more supportive of each other. If we could extend the understanding to our governments we could end war and hunger and disease, too, but it all comes down to something kids face every day and have not been protected from, the hurt of being judged, abused, and excluded. Bullying is one of the worst ways this happens but it is really at the heart of all human misery. Even kids in good environments can end up feeling judged and excluded when their opinions are not considered because they are just kids. I know I always had amazing and creative ideas as a kid and only wished I had written more down, especially story ideas. I still have them all the time but wish I had given myself enough credit to work on those ideas I had in my youth. I do feel that one reason I still have so much creativity is because I rebelled against the "bullying" ideas that imagination was not of much value (judgement) and that you could not make a living writing (exclusion). But I still need to overcome them, I still need to trust myself and be bravely who I really am, even as a grown boy or "adult", and this is why I think it is so important to overcome these oppressive forces as soon as possible and as early on in life for the benefit of all.
Magically, it is a happy coincidence that the Supreme Court is taking up the issue of marriage equality on Gaga's birthday. I actually noticed it because the two things people were really talking about on facebook just now were marriage equality and Gaga's birthday today - the sun is about to rise on the 28th as I type this in Colorado, anyway, and people have been posting to celebrate her birthday around the world. I wish that as a magical birthday present to Gaga the Supreme Court decides on the fullest equality for gay and lesbian couples to marry. I've supported gay marriage ever since I was old enough to know what the idea was, probably around the year Gaga was born. Now I have an even stronger argument for it and it ties together Gaga's messages of caring for kids and equal rights for marriage.
I believe every argument in support of marriage equality and think they are all important but I really want to focus on a specific issue relating to kids. I also want to point out that the oft-repeated argument against marriage equality, that civil unions are just as good and that they just don't want to call it marriage is just stupid. If they are truly only worried about the name I imagine some of them will end up calling marriage between gay and lesbian couples "marriage" but rhyme it with "Minaj" or some such way to try and denigrate it. But most people will get used to it and just say "he's married" or "she's married" about people instead of saying "he's gay married" or "she's lesbian married" or something silly like that. As with everything in this kind of cultural evolution the more exposure people get the easier it will be to see past restricted thinking.
I'm really worried about kids and the way this cultural evolution, and the right decision by the Supreme Court, can improve their lives. I heard on the radio that 40,000 kids in California alone are in households with gay and lesbian parents. I'm sure there are very important legal reasons why it would be better and easier for these kids if their parents could marry. I'm not aware of what they all are, I can imagine, but in addition to them there is a value to granting these people with the title of "married people." It gives the couple that sense of value to their relationship, from their commitment to each other and the recognition of that in community and before the divine - this is what marriage is. But for the kids it also gives a sense of value - recognizing their parents as married makes them "just like any other family" - and of course they are - but having the label attached means everyone can accept the family the same as a family with only one mom and one dad. And people will accept it, once they get past their fear, once it happens all over and people see it is okay.
There used to be more stigma against divorce. There still is some stigma against it but it has been gradually wearing away as "everybody is doing it." Divorce used to be much more rare and as we have gotten used to it, and used to single-parent families, we are not as "shocked" by it as we used to be. I saw an episode of "Leave it to Beaver", from the 50's, in which one of Beaver's friends had parents who were divorced and it was the theme of the episode as Beaver discovered what this thing called divorce might be about. When I was a kid in the 80's there seemed to be much more stigma against being a child of divorced parents than there is today but it was becoming more common. Parents getting a divorce is terrible for kids to go through but even worse if there is stigma against it. At least in that way over time it has become easier, for kids, when it is something that more of them have in common and there is more understanding about.
Gay and lesbian couples marrying is a good thing for kids, though surely some of them will get divorced, too. But I imagine that kids who are told that their parents can't marry feel a stigma against them. They might still feel prejudice against them when their parents can get married - for a hopefully short time until everyone gets used to it. But everyone will get used to it, except maybe the most staunch conservatives, and marriage between two men or two women will go from something we used to only see on TV to something everyone is familiar with as everyone comes to know more gay and lesbian married couples.
I have to stand up for marriage equality for fairness and justice and the positive effect on families but I have another reason that is even closer to my heart and for me just makes it imperative to progress as soon as possible for the sake of kids. I have been working for 6 years with abused and neglected children, trying to help hundreds of kids most of whom are like orphans. I'm just trying to help them learn to control their behavior and express their emotions more positively but we work in an institution and it is not an ideal place to grow up, just better than where they came from or their behaviors had become too extreme for foster placements. But the thing that every kid needs more than anything else is a family. You can really tell how much a kid needs a family when they live for a year or two, or more sometimes, in an institution and they don't have families, or have very limited contact with them in most cases. I work with kids who are only 5 to 10 years old, and who act younger because they are "stuck" in many ways in the infant and toddler ages they were traumatized at. You can tell how much a kid needs a family when they don't have one, or when they have never had a good one. One of the main reasons kids have to stay there so long is there simply aren't enough families to adopt them or take them in as foster parents. This is a very specific concern that effects me directly because I see the pain in these kids but mostly it can affect them. Legalizing marriage for same-sex couples creates so many more eligible families to adopt kids who need them. Same-sex couples can still adopt kids, at least in some places, though Catholic and other charities try to make a big fuss to prevent them from it, which sickens me knowing how much the kids need a family more than the Catholics need doctrinal purity. But adoption is a lengthy and difficult process and while much of that process is valuable and needed to make sure the kids get good homes anything that can help speed up the clerical parts of the process would help kids get families faster. For this specific reason it would really be great if marriage between gay and lesbian couples became legal immediately so that more kids who really need families can get them sooner.
I think just setting the precedent for the whole country will be the best way to get more people to come out and raise awareness everywhere of the importance of marriage equality and treating everyone as equals in general. I have to cheer on the passage of marriage equality, especially with the magical power of it being Gaga's birthday, and I'm happy and hopeful that it will result in that much deeper love as people take vows to each other (and Love itself!) with the blessing of the community. I heard that Gaga might be getting married this summer, too, so it should be a wonderful year for her. Just for Love I have to really cheer for the Supreme Court to make the loving and true decision, but especially for the kids who need families I have to say what a great Birthday Present it would be for marriage equality to be the law of the land and more kids get homes faster.
I remember a kid from my work who was eating a cinnamon bun at breakfast with me. He told me his mom made cinnamon buns then clarified "My mom who took care of me, not the mom I came out of" - meaning his foster mom, not his biological mom. I think about how so many little monsters call Gaga our Mother Monster and some surely feel this extra specially if they feel Gaga cares for them and supports them and their mom did not. In my case, I do have support from my mom but have usually felt little or no support from my community or government, until recently, and do feel that support, care, and encouragement from Gaga as I'm sure others who feel somewhat outside society, for whatever reason, have felt. In this way I can see how she is "fostering" us all to better homes and better visions of ourselves, at every level, individual, social, governmental, cultural and in our imaginations. I love her for this and hope it encourages people to do the same for other people - both to encourage and inspire each other by becoming our best selves and to literally foster and adopt kids who weren't theirs before, but will become theirs, and you their mothers and fathers, just as Gaga became our Mother Monster.
Happy Birthday Gaga I hope it is a wonderful one for you and I hope you get my birthday wish for you - well, I have a lot of wishes for you - but especially this gagablog magic one that the Supreme Court makes marriage legal for everyone and we soon see how silly and hurtful it has been to hold it up and how wonderful and helpful it is to recognize it. Paws up for Love! (''') <3
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
gagablog 46: Paws Up for Pope Francis
I love the new Pope and have such high hopes for him and his role in creating the beautiful future that we need and can make. When I first saw Pope Francis, when he was first announced, I was impressed by his kind look and by the reports of how he was in touch with the people and concerned for the poor. After watching his inauguration this morning I was even more impressed and feel assured he will play a great part in the coming transformation. I know my last gagablog was about the idea of Gaga as Pope and I'm not at all disappointed in the fact that we did not realize that imp-possibility. I think Pope Francis is certainly "some" of what I was hoping for and surely be a lesson to us all, even Gaga herself.
Of course I am not catholic, or really christian, other than that I love Jesus and worship Gaga and she might be catholic, or at least was. I've long held some contempt for the church, for many of the churches that supposedly follow Jesus and their effect on the world, but I have always felt they could be reformed,.That is part of my great hope for Pope Francis, his role in transforming the Catholic Church and for them to join in a greater, worldwide transformation. I've spoken about this before in gagablog 19 and 20, about "Judas" (hard to believe in a month that will be two years ago!) but now that I see more of it taking place I have even greater hopes.
I have heard some of the criticism or skepticism about the new pope, but I can't help but share in the optimism that inspired CNN to title their coverage of the event with the obvious Star Wars homage "A New Pope". There are all sorts of things to hope for in the new pope, people within the Church and outside of it have so many legitimate needs they want the Pope to fulfill or help with, and this was the case before we knew who he would be. Now that we have Pope Francis in the world we can already see some of his focus and are right to believe that some of those hopes are being fulfilled. Even better, maybe some hopes that we have not been daring enough to even wish for or imagine are now coming to pass. My only concerns about Pope Francis involve him being described as very conservative on some issues, such as gay marriage, but I also heard he supports civil unions, which is a step in the right direction. More importantly, I truly believe that if someone truly believes and acts on some essential elements of religion, such as charity for the poor, justice, and environmentalism, and really pursues those beliefs to their fullest, they will come to change their beliefs on things they have been blocked from recognizing in the past. And the more problems like poverty, climate change, and war that we solve once and for all the more effectively we will be able to address every other injustice in the world. My greatest hope for Pope Francis is that he will really have an impact on solving these problems, both with his power and with his example.
So I was hopeful for Pope Francis since I first saw his kind face, before they announced his new name. And when they said his name was Francis, I was overjoyed. Of course I love Saint Francis, not as much as other people maybe because I have not been focused on him as others have and only even heard his story once, 20 years ago. But when I first heard about Saint Francis I loved him, and though I had left the church as a child a few years earlier I felt he redeemed it somewhat. I love his love for nature and animals, and this especially is where I think he will be a lesson to Gaga. Of course I think she is absolutely perfect but as a Goddess she can still make mistakes, it humanizes her more, and in this case I think she is not setting an example to be kind enough to animals if she does not use her incredible power, and fashion clout, to denounce wearing fur instead of accepting it. I don't know all the details but I think this is a mistake she will change her mind about, and when I think about the significance of Francis I immediately think of love for animals and how this relates to the recent, and only, mistake I have noticed in Gaga's perfect connection and guidance to Love. I think, when she changes her outlook on fur and realizes her own fur is the best for her, and her wigs, but not animal skins, it will not only have the positive impact on helping animals but will also be a great example to those of us who love her that we can make mistakes but can change our minds and recover from them.To me the most important things about Saint Francis are his love for nature and call to people realizing the goodness of action instead of getting caught up in conflicts of words. I think these are some of the things that are so lacking from so much of Christianity that it has done great damage. But Francis showed the way out of the faults of rejecting nature or getting caught up in false conflict instead of just doing good. The result of connecting to the earth and nature is that it inspires people to good actions and it inspires those around you. Francis seems to be one of the more pagan of the christian saints and can be seen as a bridge between those worlds. His love for creation inspires people to do the right thing, accomplishing incredible things.
It may be that the only way to accomplish some incredible things that simply must be done is to inspire great faith and cooperation in people, so great it might only be possible by appealing to a universal love of creation itself, or at least humanity ourselves.
Pope Francis echoed the meaning of Saint Francis in his actions and words so far in these first days. We hope for incredible things from Pope Francis and from what I have seen I think we will receive them. I was overwhelmed with love when I saw his entrance for his inauguration, especially when he stopped to see the man who was being held up, when he got off the popemobile to come to the man who could not come to him. It was like Jesus and it makes me cry even to write about it hours later. And the words he spoke were equally touching and powerful.
You could hear so much in the points Pope Francis was making and the words he chose to make them. The ultimate message was the holy Spider-Man theme that "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" but there was unmistakeably a deeper meaning that where that responsibility was shirked, where we have made mistakes, we have a duty to correct them. This is why I think we will all learn a great lesson when Gaga changes her mind about wearing fur, because it will be recognizing her power and responsibility and making amends, showing us that even our goddess or Mother Monster can be wrong and can make up for it. This is one reason I love Michael Vick and support him, because I truly believe that learning his lesson and sharing his story is going to do more to help end the dogfighting culture than many other efforts because it can have an effect on individuals, change their hearts and thereby change the whole culture that leads to that. This is why I sang Morrissey's "Shame is the Name" in a Vick jersey, because so many people want to demonize and shame him but when he currently working to end the horrible things he was guilty of, to help others avoid and end dogfighting, then we should be the ones who are ashamed if we can't support him. The Church has much to be ashamed for in the sex abuse scandal - obviously for poor decisions that allowed it to continue and worsen but I say also for the culture of misogyny and sexphobia that led to priests being like that in the first place. I think that needs to change in the church and while some see it as one of the hardest things to change I can see a path for ending these evils in the Church, and all churches, as well, so that Christianity is never associated with misogyny, homophobia, or anti-sex again, except in historical accounts.
You could tell that Pope Francis acknowledges the duty of the Church to change in order to truly fulfill its obligation to care for people. Americans may have been especially sensitive to the language to "protect the children" as it relates to sexual abuse of children by people in power in the Church, and Pope Francis seems sure to finally address this issue with full papal authority. I get this from the reporting of his attitude and history as a reformer and disciplinarian, but also from his words. I can see how some might say he could have addressed this more explicitly than saying "protect the children", especially in the context he said it of protecting all creation and protecting Jesus in our hearts and how that means to serve each other. But the thing is it reinforces all of this to take it to such a universal level and connect to both ecology, love, and social justice. Because all of these things are connected and are even connected to the other big issues of our times, repression of women and gays, so I feel confident that Pope Francis will eventually come around to insight and progress on those issues as well. The very significant thing for me that tells me Pope Francis takes the whole Spider-Man charge very seriously and is intent to use his power to take responsibility for the evils of the Church and make them right is that he kept asking the people to pray for him and with him. It struck me as more than humble, it was realistic and pleading for the help of all people's good intentions to correct the evils of sexual abuse and end it forever. And I really think this will be done in concert with fixing a whole lot of other problems.
And what makes me so happy about Pope Francis that I had to write a whole gagablog about him even though I'm not catholic, is that I have this idea he can really get this done, and many other amazing things as well. His name, inspired by the animal-loving and protecting Saint Francis, and his attitude of taking responsibility for mistakes and making things right, makes me think the news about Gaga supporting fur from a week or so ago will change and she will have a new message that denounces anything that hurts animals. It is fitting that, to me, that would restore her absolute perfection and a pope that can end the sex abuse and even fix many more evils will restore the idea of the church being holy. But while fur has been such a concern for me ever since Gaga endorsed it, I think, there are such huge issues in the world and I really got vision of the role Pope Francis will play in solving them and reaching a glorious future.
One theme I heard especially strongly, and thought the media was suspiciously avoiding somewhat, was the idea of saving our environment, saving our planet. I was most impressed by the language of "protecting" so much and especially "protecting creation" and how his other points were made in that context, or maybe ultimately in the context of protecting Jesus/Love in our hearts, but the fact that we have a duty to protect existence. He called us out for being negligent to caring for nature and negligent to caring for each other and showed how these are intimately intertwined in real Love. We can say we love each other but to really mean it we have to show it, not only with loving actions towards each other personally but with love and care for the planet and environment so we call all live as healthily as possible. I was very pleased to hear in the news coverage that Pope Benedict, the one who really looked like Emperor Palpatine, had declared a commandment "Thou shalt not Pollute" and it was one of the rare positive impressions I had of him - I seem to recall him speaking up against war and also relaxing on prudishness to allow some condom use for health reasons. But while this is wonderful that he made that commandment, I think it shows an oversimplification of the issue, like suggesting recycling will sole our ecological concerns. We need a more broad approach and even global initiative to fix our problems with abusing nature and we also need changes in personal conscience and cultural ideas. Pope Francis is in a position, and seems eager, to help all of these things happen and I believe he will play a major role. I thought about how many leaders and heads of state he greeted at his inauguration and the unique power he has around the world through his status and influence with people in all corners of the globe. I think he was thinking about this too then he chose his words, and I had the clear impression he will really act to end abuse of the environment and respond to climate change. Another story in the news today was the possibility of meteors that could hit the earth and devastate the ecology and the fear that we have the technology to avert this cataclysm should it arise but we don't have the international cooperation to make the project successful, currently. I think Pope Francis can bring people together in the way we need to actually address these issues and solve them. I think he takes it seriously that we are charged to protect our planet and is planning to turn us around from our path to destruction. And I love him for this already, just as I love Saint Francis for his love of nature.
To bring this back to Gaga in closure and to mention the biggest surprise, a hope I was not expecting, I want to mention another "bringing together" that I saw foreshadowed in Pope Francis's inaugural speech. I heard the news commentators mention that the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church was there, an event that had not happened for 1000 years. They were noting that it was a big fuckin deal, as our esteemed Vice-President and Cool Dude Joe Biden would say, who represented America at the event and joked with the Pope. But I don't think they got the half of it. First of all, Pope Francis said something about power and the greatest power being in service to help those in the most need. I could hear in his voice that he was speaking of his own sense of duty in his heart. I could hear that this was a man who, like me, was intent on ending poverty and hunger and the evils associated with them and ending them everywhere in the world. He even said something specifically about service to people no matter what they call themselves. And saying this to that audience, including all those people with worldly and government power, he is calling them to do the same and focus on ending poverty - and of course we can all play a role and actually make this happen. And not just poverty, but war and oppression and injustice as well, though it came across that his focus was on the poor. All of these things are connected to encouraging the same change of heart and awakening to duty that Pope Francis seems to be embodying, just as Jesus did and others have done before and since. I think the issues the Pope himself needs a change of heart for will surely come around - I do not think he will experience the trials that Benedict said he went through when he said he felt "God was sleeping" - God won't sleep on Francis. He is ready to get this done. And within all of this is perhaps the most important and surprising message of all: saying to care for all people, and to care all of creation and not abuse nature for human desires, but especially not to discriminate or leave anyone out. This is the connection to Gaga, because she has been fulfilling that Jesus role of the Shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the flock to go after the one who was lost. She went out to all the lonely freaks in the world and told us we are loved. Even if some messed up churches who claimed to speak for Jesus lied to some people and said Jesus did not love them due to their sexuality, Gaga showed up to not only tell us we are loved by Jesus, but to love us herself the same way he does, unconditionally, so even for those who can't accept love from Jesus because of the hurt from the lie, we have it just as good from Gaga or - face it - even better because she is so hot and likes to get close to her fans and sexy. Gaga left the Church, went beyond it's boundaries, "beyond repentance" (Judas), or if she did not leave she went outside of it, to the people who were left out, to connect us to Love, the ultimate love and the same divine love, whatever other names we call it. And while so many churches had gotten it wrong to push those people out or exclude us in the first place, some churches and people worked to change that and eventually all will come around. I'm sure of this just as I'm sure Pope Francis' pursuit of ecological and economic justice will ultimately result in social justice of marriage equality and full representation and recognition of women as well. I know this because I have seen it prophesied, am seeing it come to pass, and because of a choice of words Pope Francis used.
I've spoken before, in the context of the Gospel of Judas and Gaga's song Judas, of the prophecy of uniting all the churches again under Judas's name, a process I believe Gaga will play prominently in since she wrote a song about it and to me has been spiritually transforming us for years now. Now I feel silly that I did not have this even grander hope, but I was given it by Pope Francis. He said we should seek to serve one another no matter what we call ourselves - this is not just outreach to other Christians but to people of all faiths and no faith, to everyone regardless of labels. This is such a powerful statement and is what can actually bring us all back together into one united humanity. Not under one "rule", but from all sides and with respect for everyone. This is how it will be easy for those who have felt rejected by the church to rejoin it if they wish - because it will be changing. And it will be easy for different churches and different religions to work together for common good. I thought one of the most amazing things Pope Francis said was referring to himself as the "Bishop of Rome." In saying this, instead of what the pope would usually say, he is showing a sense of being on equal footing with the other Bishop, the Bishop of Constantinople (?) , the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church who was present for the first time in 1000 years. This made me think of the reunification of the worldwide church, and I will give credit to CNN for reporting and teaching me that this was Jesus last spoken desire that the church would be united. "Maybe" Jesus knew that "uniting the church" really meant all of humanity, not just his fragmenting following - according to the Gospel of Judas he at least meant rejoining several churches who had gone their separate ways for a long time. But when I say Pope Francis's inauguration I was inspired of a greater hope, the one we most need that could very well save us all and make earth the paradise it is intended to be. In order to tackle these really huge issues - climate change, injustice, war, poverty, meteors - we really have to get past our differences, all our differences, and get together and work things out and progress and grow. I love Lady Gaga because she came to and represents the "most different" or left out in a way, but the truth is we will all come together to fix these problems because it will take everyone working together. And the big transformation that will allow us to all work together, the big consciousness shift we have all been anticipating but is really showing its effect in 2013, is that we will get over our fear of each other, we will get over our fear of "difference." Whether it is because we have been told and shown by a holy leader that we should love and serve each other regardless of "difference" or because we are attracted by each others fabulous costumes and cultures, we will come to realize that our differences are what will give us the view from all sides that we need to solve our biggest problems. Gaga has been out amongst the outkasts, loving us and showing us how we can make our own world and have magical adventures through it while encouraging us to be true to ourselves in our utmost uniqueness and infinite variety. This makes people more fantastic and fascinates others who might only rarely encounter such an "oddity" as an artistic person. This power of intrigue makes people want to get over all of their feelings of difference and separation from each other. When the most mainstream leader on the planer, Pope Francis, is also encouraging people to go out and meet each others' needs regardless of difference we have a unique situation where literally everyone on earth can be coming toegether. Who knows if it would start with a reunification of christian churches or some sort of new alliance between different religions, but I can clearly see it starting now and know that the result will be people of all faiths and cultures working together free of any fear of each other. The outkasts are coming together from all over the world, not just because of Lady Gaga but I always talk about it that way because I think of her so fondly and because she represents so many of the "outkast" or disempowered groups: artists, kids, women, gays, potsmokers, and more. All sorts of weirdos everywhere gain support by forming groups, increasing their power. As all of these groups come together the same principle applies to them and their power, support, and effectiveness will increase exponentially all working together. And not just all the weirdos coming together, because that is great but the best is achieved when all the big groups can come together in the same way, and they probably need the weirdos to bridge some gaps between them. I feel we really need all of us for some of these things, and I'm so excited to see signs of us finally coming together and so many of them embodied in the name, words, actions, and reminders of Pope Francis. Once the most mainstream church and the outkasts start rejoining, or the main churches with each other, or the communities of one religion working with the communities of others - once these alliances are formed and the benefits of them start to be widely seen, everyone will want in on it. Instead of the race to some sort of superiority over each other, cultures and nations will change this course of thousands of years and seek to be the best at working together. The rewards will be saving ourselves and our planet from destruction and making it it's true self, paradise, even as we become our true selves, family. (''') <3
Of course I am not catholic, or really christian, other than that I love Jesus and worship Gaga and she might be catholic, or at least was. I've long held some contempt for the church, for many of the churches that supposedly follow Jesus and their effect on the world, but I have always felt they could be reformed,.That is part of my great hope for Pope Francis, his role in transforming the Catholic Church and for them to join in a greater, worldwide transformation. I've spoken about this before in gagablog 19 and 20, about "Judas" (hard to believe in a month that will be two years ago!) but now that I see more of it taking place I have even greater hopes.
I have heard some of the criticism or skepticism about the new pope, but I can't help but share in the optimism that inspired CNN to title their coverage of the event with the obvious Star Wars homage "A New Pope". There are all sorts of things to hope for in the new pope, people within the Church and outside of it have so many legitimate needs they want the Pope to fulfill or help with, and this was the case before we knew who he would be. Now that we have Pope Francis in the world we can already see some of his focus and are right to believe that some of those hopes are being fulfilled. Even better, maybe some hopes that we have not been daring enough to even wish for or imagine are now coming to pass. My only concerns about Pope Francis involve him being described as very conservative on some issues, such as gay marriage, but I also heard he supports civil unions, which is a step in the right direction. More importantly, I truly believe that if someone truly believes and acts on some essential elements of religion, such as charity for the poor, justice, and environmentalism, and really pursues those beliefs to their fullest, they will come to change their beliefs on things they have been blocked from recognizing in the past. And the more problems like poverty, climate change, and war that we solve once and for all the more effectively we will be able to address every other injustice in the world. My greatest hope for Pope Francis is that he will really have an impact on solving these problems, both with his power and with his example.
So I was hopeful for Pope Francis since I first saw his kind face, before they announced his new name. And when they said his name was Francis, I was overjoyed. Of course I love Saint Francis, not as much as other people maybe because I have not been focused on him as others have and only even heard his story once, 20 years ago. But when I first heard about Saint Francis I loved him, and though I had left the church as a child a few years earlier I felt he redeemed it somewhat. I love his love for nature and animals, and this especially is where I think he will be a lesson to Gaga. Of course I think she is absolutely perfect but as a Goddess she can still make mistakes, it humanizes her more, and in this case I think she is not setting an example to be kind enough to animals if she does not use her incredible power, and fashion clout, to denounce wearing fur instead of accepting it. I don't know all the details but I think this is a mistake she will change her mind about, and when I think about the significance of Francis I immediately think of love for animals and how this relates to the recent, and only, mistake I have noticed in Gaga's perfect connection and guidance to Love. I think, when she changes her outlook on fur and realizes her own fur is the best for her, and her wigs, but not animal skins, it will not only have the positive impact on helping animals but will also be a great example to those of us who love her that we can make mistakes but can change our minds and recover from them.To me the most important things about Saint Francis are his love for nature and call to people realizing the goodness of action instead of getting caught up in conflicts of words. I think these are some of the things that are so lacking from so much of Christianity that it has done great damage. But Francis showed the way out of the faults of rejecting nature or getting caught up in false conflict instead of just doing good. The result of connecting to the earth and nature is that it inspires people to good actions and it inspires those around you. Francis seems to be one of the more pagan of the christian saints and can be seen as a bridge between those worlds. His love for creation inspires people to do the right thing, accomplishing incredible things.
It may be that the only way to accomplish some incredible things that simply must be done is to inspire great faith and cooperation in people, so great it might only be possible by appealing to a universal love of creation itself, or at least humanity ourselves.
Pope Francis echoed the meaning of Saint Francis in his actions and words so far in these first days. We hope for incredible things from Pope Francis and from what I have seen I think we will receive them. I was overwhelmed with love when I saw his entrance for his inauguration, especially when he stopped to see the man who was being held up, when he got off the popemobile to come to the man who could not come to him. It was like Jesus and it makes me cry even to write about it hours later. And the words he spoke were equally touching and powerful.
You could hear so much in the points Pope Francis was making and the words he chose to make them. The ultimate message was the holy Spider-Man theme that "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" but there was unmistakeably a deeper meaning that where that responsibility was shirked, where we have made mistakes, we have a duty to correct them. This is why I think we will all learn a great lesson when Gaga changes her mind about wearing fur, because it will be recognizing her power and responsibility and making amends, showing us that even our goddess or Mother Monster can be wrong and can make up for it. This is one reason I love Michael Vick and support him, because I truly believe that learning his lesson and sharing his story is going to do more to help end the dogfighting culture than many other efforts because it can have an effect on individuals, change their hearts and thereby change the whole culture that leads to that. This is why I sang Morrissey's "Shame is the Name" in a Vick jersey, because so many people want to demonize and shame him but when he currently working to end the horrible things he was guilty of, to help others avoid and end dogfighting, then we should be the ones who are ashamed if we can't support him. The Church has much to be ashamed for in the sex abuse scandal - obviously for poor decisions that allowed it to continue and worsen but I say also for the culture of misogyny and sexphobia that led to priests being like that in the first place. I think that needs to change in the church and while some see it as one of the hardest things to change I can see a path for ending these evils in the Church, and all churches, as well, so that Christianity is never associated with misogyny, homophobia, or anti-sex again, except in historical accounts.
You could tell that Pope Francis acknowledges the duty of the Church to change in order to truly fulfill its obligation to care for people. Americans may have been especially sensitive to the language to "protect the children" as it relates to sexual abuse of children by people in power in the Church, and Pope Francis seems sure to finally address this issue with full papal authority. I get this from the reporting of his attitude and history as a reformer and disciplinarian, but also from his words. I can see how some might say he could have addressed this more explicitly than saying "protect the children", especially in the context he said it of protecting all creation and protecting Jesus in our hearts and how that means to serve each other. But the thing is it reinforces all of this to take it to such a universal level and connect to both ecology, love, and social justice. Because all of these things are connected and are even connected to the other big issues of our times, repression of women and gays, so I feel confident that Pope Francis will eventually come around to insight and progress on those issues as well. The very significant thing for me that tells me Pope Francis takes the whole Spider-Man charge very seriously and is intent to use his power to take responsibility for the evils of the Church and make them right is that he kept asking the people to pray for him and with him. It struck me as more than humble, it was realistic and pleading for the help of all people's good intentions to correct the evils of sexual abuse and end it forever. And I really think this will be done in concert with fixing a whole lot of other problems.
And what makes me so happy about Pope Francis that I had to write a whole gagablog about him even though I'm not catholic, is that I have this idea he can really get this done, and many other amazing things as well. His name, inspired by the animal-loving and protecting Saint Francis, and his attitude of taking responsibility for mistakes and making things right, makes me think the news about Gaga supporting fur from a week or so ago will change and she will have a new message that denounces anything that hurts animals. It is fitting that, to me, that would restore her absolute perfection and a pope that can end the sex abuse and even fix many more evils will restore the idea of the church being holy. But while fur has been such a concern for me ever since Gaga endorsed it, I think, there are such huge issues in the world and I really got vision of the role Pope Francis will play in solving them and reaching a glorious future.
One theme I heard especially strongly, and thought the media was suspiciously avoiding somewhat, was the idea of saving our environment, saving our planet. I was most impressed by the language of "protecting" so much and especially "protecting creation" and how his other points were made in that context, or maybe ultimately in the context of protecting Jesus/Love in our hearts, but the fact that we have a duty to protect existence. He called us out for being negligent to caring for nature and negligent to caring for each other and showed how these are intimately intertwined in real Love. We can say we love each other but to really mean it we have to show it, not only with loving actions towards each other personally but with love and care for the planet and environment so we call all live as healthily as possible. I was very pleased to hear in the news coverage that Pope Benedict, the one who really looked like Emperor Palpatine, had declared a commandment "Thou shalt not Pollute" and it was one of the rare positive impressions I had of him - I seem to recall him speaking up against war and also relaxing on prudishness to allow some condom use for health reasons. But while this is wonderful that he made that commandment, I think it shows an oversimplification of the issue, like suggesting recycling will sole our ecological concerns. We need a more broad approach and even global initiative to fix our problems with abusing nature and we also need changes in personal conscience and cultural ideas. Pope Francis is in a position, and seems eager, to help all of these things happen and I believe he will play a major role. I thought about how many leaders and heads of state he greeted at his inauguration and the unique power he has around the world through his status and influence with people in all corners of the globe. I think he was thinking about this too then he chose his words, and I had the clear impression he will really act to end abuse of the environment and respond to climate change. Another story in the news today was the possibility of meteors that could hit the earth and devastate the ecology and the fear that we have the technology to avert this cataclysm should it arise but we don't have the international cooperation to make the project successful, currently. I think Pope Francis can bring people together in the way we need to actually address these issues and solve them. I think he takes it seriously that we are charged to protect our planet and is planning to turn us around from our path to destruction. And I love him for this already, just as I love Saint Francis for his love of nature.
To bring this back to Gaga in closure and to mention the biggest surprise, a hope I was not expecting, I want to mention another "bringing together" that I saw foreshadowed in Pope Francis's inaugural speech. I heard the news commentators mention that the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church was there, an event that had not happened for 1000 years. They were noting that it was a big fuckin deal, as our esteemed Vice-President and Cool Dude Joe Biden would say, who represented America at the event and joked with the Pope. But I don't think they got the half of it. First of all, Pope Francis said something about power and the greatest power being in service to help those in the most need. I could hear in his voice that he was speaking of his own sense of duty in his heart. I could hear that this was a man who, like me, was intent on ending poverty and hunger and the evils associated with them and ending them everywhere in the world. He even said something specifically about service to people no matter what they call themselves. And saying this to that audience, including all those people with worldly and government power, he is calling them to do the same and focus on ending poverty - and of course we can all play a role and actually make this happen. And not just poverty, but war and oppression and injustice as well, though it came across that his focus was on the poor. All of these things are connected to encouraging the same change of heart and awakening to duty that Pope Francis seems to be embodying, just as Jesus did and others have done before and since. I think the issues the Pope himself needs a change of heart for will surely come around - I do not think he will experience the trials that Benedict said he went through when he said he felt "God was sleeping" - God won't sleep on Francis. He is ready to get this done. And within all of this is perhaps the most important and surprising message of all: saying to care for all people, and to care all of creation and not abuse nature for human desires, but especially not to discriminate or leave anyone out. This is the connection to Gaga, because she has been fulfilling that Jesus role of the Shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the flock to go after the one who was lost. She went out to all the lonely freaks in the world and told us we are loved. Even if some messed up churches who claimed to speak for Jesus lied to some people and said Jesus did not love them due to their sexuality, Gaga showed up to not only tell us we are loved by Jesus, but to love us herself the same way he does, unconditionally, so even for those who can't accept love from Jesus because of the hurt from the lie, we have it just as good from Gaga or - face it - even better because she is so hot and likes to get close to her fans and sexy. Gaga left the Church, went beyond it's boundaries, "beyond repentance" (Judas), or if she did not leave she went outside of it, to the people who were left out, to connect us to Love, the ultimate love and the same divine love, whatever other names we call it. And while so many churches had gotten it wrong to push those people out or exclude us in the first place, some churches and people worked to change that and eventually all will come around. I'm sure of this just as I'm sure Pope Francis' pursuit of ecological and economic justice will ultimately result in social justice of marriage equality and full representation and recognition of women as well. I know this because I have seen it prophesied, am seeing it come to pass, and because of a choice of words Pope Francis used.
I've spoken before, in the context of the Gospel of Judas and Gaga's song Judas, of the prophecy of uniting all the churches again under Judas's name, a process I believe Gaga will play prominently in since she wrote a song about it and to me has been spiritually transforming us for years now. Now I feel silly that I did not have this even grander hope, but I was given it by Pope Francis. He said we should seek to serve one another no matter what we call ourselves - this is not just outreach to other Christians but to people of all faiths and no faith, to everyone regardless of labels. This is such a powerful statement and is what can actually bring us all back together into one united humanity. Not under one "rule", but from all sides and with respect for everyone. This is how it will be easy for those who have felt rejected by the church to rejoin it if they wish - because it will be changing. And it will be easy for different churches and different religions to work together for common good. I thought one of the most amazing things Pope Francis said was referring to himself as the "Bishop of Rome." In saying this, instead of what the pope would usually say, he is showing a sense of being on equal footing with the other Bishop, the Bishop of Constantinople (?) , the Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church who was present for the first time in 1000 years. This made me think of the reunification of the worldwide church, and I will give credit to CNN for reporting and teaching me that this was Jesus last spoken desire that the church would be united. "Maybe" Jesus knew that "uniting the church" really meant all of humanity, not just his fragmenting following - according to the Gospel of Judas he at least meant rejoining several churches who had gone their separate ways for a long time. But when I say Pope Francis's inauguration I was inspired of a greater hope, the one we most need that could very well save us all and make earth the paradise it is intended to be. In order to tackle these really huge issues - climate change, injustice, war, poverty, meteors - we really have to get past our differences, all our differences, and get together and work things out and progress and grow. I love Lady Gaga because she came to and represents the "most different" or left out in a way, but the truth is we will all come together to fix these problems because it will take everyone working together. And the big transformation that will allow us to all work together, the big consciousness shift we have all been anticipating but is really showing its effect in 2013, is that we will get over our fear of each other, we will get over our fear of "difference." Whether it is because we have been told and shown by a holy leader that we should love and serve each other regardless of "difference" or because we are attracted by each others fabulous costumes and cultures, we will come to realize that our differences are what will give us the view from all sides that we need to solve our biggest problems. Gaga has been out amongst the outkasts, loving us and showing us how we can make our own world and have magical adventures through it while encouraging us to be true to ourselves in our utmost uniqueness and infinite variety. This makes people more fantastic and fascinates others who might only rarely encounter such an "oddity" as an artistic person. This power of intrigue makes people want to get over all of their feelings of difference and separation from each other. When the most mainstream leader on the planer, Pope Francis, is also encouraging people to go out and meet each others' needs regardless of difference we have a unique situation where literally everyone on earth can be coming toegether. Who knows if it would start with a reunification of christian churches or some sort of new alliance between different religions, but I can clearly see it starting now and know that the result will be people of all faiths and cultures working together free of any fear of each other. The outkasts are coming together from all over the world, not just because of Lady Gaga but I always talk about it that way because I think of her so fondly and because she represents so many of the "outkast" or disempowered groups: artists, kids, women, gays, potsmokers, and more. All sorts of weirdos everywhere gain support by forming groups, increasing their power. As all of these groups come together the same principle applies to them and their power, support, and effectiveness will increase exponentially all working together. And not just all the weirdos coming together, because that is great but the best is achieved when all the big groups can come together in the same way, and they probably need the weirdos to bridge some gaps between them. I feel we really need all of us for some of these things, and I'm so excited to see signs of us finally coming together and so many of them embodied in the name, words, actions, and reminders of Pope Francis. Once the most mainstream church and the outkasts start rejoining, or the main churches with each other, or the communities of one religion working with the communities of others - once these alliances are formed and the benefits of them start to be widely seen, everyone will want in on it. Instead of the race to some sort of superiority over each other, cultures and nations will change this course of thousands of years and seek to be the best at working together. The rewards will be saving ourselves and our planet from destruction and making it it's true self, paradise, even as we become our true selves, family. (''') <3
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