Sensitivity

I heard a joke the other day about a pious soul who dies, goes to heaven, and gains an audience with the Virgin Mary. The visitor asks Mary why, for all her blessings, she always appears in paintings as a bit sad, a bit wistful: Is everything O.K.?

Mary reassures her visitor: “Oh, everything’s great. No problems. It’s just ... it’s just that we had always wanted a daughter.”—Taken from a column by Nicholas D. Kristof.

The column sent to me by friend Paul the other day lamented the overabundance of masculinity in the Catholic church. Then, on the news I heard that a Wisconsin Judge ruled that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. Now we have two examples that could challenge our sensitivities.

We can agree that Mary is both over emphasized and under emphasized just as we could say that a National Day of Prayer might be a collision of Church and State. Frankly, some of us believe that some have misunderstood the Church and State relationship, that it initially meant that our country should not go the way of Europe with an official State Religion; not that it should erase religion from our culture.

Finding a good balance between masculinity and femininity in religion or society isn't always that easy. Nor is it a simple task to interpret the Constitution. In fact, it is a monumental challenge to do what is right rather than what is expedient. Incidentally, I took another peek at that word “expedient.” Here are some of the so-called synonyms: advantageous, politic, appropriate, opportunistic, timeserving and convenient. Go figure, huh?

Here again is where sensitivity is so crucial. Our sensitivities range widely in many areas. What is sensitive to one is insensitive to another. We see this is so many ways. And it is not only an issue between seniors but all ages although our senior moments should be sensitizing us ol' timers more perhaps than youngsters.

Personally, I thought Kristof's joke might be touchy to some, inappropriate to others, but suitable under certain conditions. Sometimes to make a point we have to be a bit insensitive. He was making a point that in particular the Roman Catholic church is too male oriented which could also be true of some Protestant congregations. Finding a happy balance isn't always easy, and at times, unlikely, but worth our efforts.