How are all of you dealing with the Popeathon?

[cally]

It's the MSM portrayal of Christianity. First we get the dead Pope and now we get the conclave. All else is ignored.

I know that many Catholics are truly mourning but what the MSM is doing is pathetic. It's a cartoonish version of christianity. Worse, it makes protestants realize their estrangement from the Catholic Church.

I'm dealing with it by turning off the TV for the most part. I peek for a few minutes a day. I refuse to buy the popeathon news magazines but I have read the newspapers. I think this media onslaught hurts Christians of faith but shores up the base.

[RevCheesehead]

1. What I find interesting is how the media just doesn't get it.

They keep trying to compare what's happening to elections of political candidates, and the Catholic priests have to keep correcting them about church practice.

"They vote in secret!"
Well, DUH - so does a jury!

"They are sequestered until they reach a decision!"
DUH.

"Only those few selected will get to actually vote."
Duh.

It's actually pretty funny. I keep expecting to see Scott Peterson or Michael Jackson there.

[Princess Turandot]

2. Are you objecting to the coverage of the Pope's funeral..

the coverage of the conclave, the fact that it was covered at all or the way it is being covered?

The coverage of the period leading up to the funeral, altho occasionally insipid, was meaningful to 100's of millions of people. Largest Church body in the world, in fact. I didn't think the Pope's funeral itself was a 'cartoonish version of Christianity'. I thought it was moving & beautiful.

With the 24 hour news cycle, it was inevitable that there would be a lot of coverage of the Pope's death for multiple reasons. They've been waiting for this for 10 years. It gives them something to talk about.

The coverage of the conclave is just silly since they have no real information on what is happening, nor will they. NBC nightly news had abt a 3 minute piece on this tonight. Pointless but not excessive. Most of what they wanted to talk about was Ratzinger being a member of the Hitler youth.There is one article on the NYT online page.

I'm not sure what you mean by "I think this media onslaught hurts Christians of faith but shores up the base." Catholics are not 'Christians of Faith'?? What base am I a part of?

[RevCheesehead]

3. Of course you are.

I thought cally was pointing out the way the media "trivializes" such meaningful, important moments by providing endless coverage, even when there just isn't anything to report.

The part I find offensive, as a Christian, is how they're over-focusing on the "ideal" qualities of the new pope. He needs to be liberal, more open to change, allow men to marry and remain priests, and perhaps allow women priests.

Well, fine and dandy, but that's an American perspective, and does not necessarily reflect the priorities of the Roman Catholic Church (which is, of course, world-wide). These media hounds just can't fathom an organization that doesn't consider "what America wants" to be of relative importance.

The priests get it, most Catholics get it, and I get it. They're portraying religion as a political activity, not a spiritual endeavor.

[Princess Turandot]

4. Respectfully..

when you feel the need to use the word 'Popeathon', and talk about not purchasing news media to avoid reading about the pope & the conclave, it doesn't sound to me that one is concerned that this is being trivialized. Personally, I'm managing to pay very little attention to the conclave w/o much of an effort. If this was only a comment abt the coverage of the conclave & the foolish 'odds-making' et al, I would have ignored it, but it seemed to be more than that:

"First we get the dead Pope"

"It's a cartoonish version of christianity."

" Worse, it makes protestants realize their estrangement from the Catholic Church."

I did not interpret that to mean the coverage of the funeral.
I interpreted it to mean the Catholic Church's funeral rites for Popes & how new Popes are elected. Especially since it sounds like a lot of the GD comments at the time. After all, how could insipid media coverage cause a 'protestant to realize their estrangement from the Catholic Church'?

[regnaD kciN]

5. I think you're being too sensitive...

...especially since the original poster explicitly decried "the MSM portrayal of Christianity," not anything to do with Roman Catholicism per se.

[Princess Turandot]

10. Analyze your own sensitivities..

not mine.

One could easily comment on their view that the coverage of JP II's death & the conclave was too extensive without including sentences such as 'first we get the dead Pope'. That certainly has everything to to with Roman Catholicism.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Estrangement...

Worse, it makes protestants realize their estrangement from the Catholic Church.

I think, more to the point, that what it makes many non-fundamentalist Protestants (as well as Anglicans and Orthodox) realize is their total irrelevancy in the eyes of the media.

Now, I will grant that the Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest Christian denomination, and so is going to get more media coverage by default. However, the hierarchical structure of the RCC is, by chance, tailor-made for the deficiencies of the current Corporate Media. To wit, they don't cover issues with any competence, but are great at elections and good at speeches. So, this is their great chance to cover a religious election, with lots of coverage about the positions of the "candidates" on a few hot-button issues, speculation on conflicts and who is lining up on which "side," etc., etc. All building up to a great crescendo with the reporting on "the winner" -- after which coverage will subside into the week-to-week routine of papal appearances, speeches (I mean "sermons"), and so on. Unless it has to do with a scandal, coverage of "religious issues" will be merely reporting on what the "president/prime minister/monarch" of the Church is going to do. (And I mean no disrespect to Roman Catholics by using those terms to refer to the next Pope -- merely that the media will look at Church matters through the eyes of secular politics.)

In my more cynical moods, I can't help thinking that the only way for the Protestant/Anglican wings of Christianity (i.e., the more liberal mainstream non-Roman denominations) to make an impact would be for them to join together in a "United Reformation Church" and recreate their structure to allow for a single elected individual to be in charge of the whole structure, with near-absolute powers to change things as he or she sees fit. (Maybe even the power to make infallible pronouncements?) Sure, this would go against everything those denominations have stood for for the last half-millenium or so...but the only way the Corporate Media Cartel is going to cover a denomination or group of denominations is if they tailor themselves to the CMC's laziness about religion, and given them a single absolute leader who they can check up on whenever they want to report on "what's going on in Christianity." Even better, that would mean that, anytime that leader died, they too could have an "election" that the media would be eager to cover.

:eyes:

[SCDem]

7. This is exactly how I see it

It's like the media likes to cover it because it is the closest thing (in appearance) to a monarchy or royalty. I mean even though the Pope had no will per se they still talked about it on the MSM because there is such opulence in and around the Vatican it gave the appearance to the non-Catholic MSM.

I was raised Catholic so I'm not saying anything bad about the Catholic church I am just saying why the media is in a frenzy reporting it.

[RevCheesehead]

8. You get extra points

for using CMC instead of MSM :thumbsup:

I begin to wonder if this is the time for the NCC (National Council of Churches) to come together and address all this political crap. It seems it is one avenue already in place, and might be big enough for these issues to be addressed "with a big voice."

[cally]

9. I apologize for the offense

of my post. I do think the media has portrayed this as a popeathon instead of a religious ritual. I find it offensive.