The Modern Catholic Amnesia

A good number of Catholics who teach and preach seem to suffer from some strain of memory virus that make them forget about many of the holy saints of the past so much so that they seem to only direct their attention to the current pope and a new contemporary saint, namely, JP2, whose saintliness I have always doubted.

To all who find JP2 to be saintly, especially those who have prayed to him for his intercession, I would like to ask, what was so saintly about him in life so that he was placed on the fast track to sainthood?  Was it that he was so forgiving of the pedophiliac priests who thrived under his papacy?  Was it his writings that I surmise were written by someone else and attributed to him?  Was it the bullet that did not kill him?  Was it the total absence of miracles that he performed during his lifetime that made him so humanly acceptable to these forgetful Catholics?

To them I would like to pose additional questions: what was so ordinary about San Francesco d'Assisi that he is no longer in the forefront of your consciousness, or what was so extraordinary about him that frightens you so much that you dare not mention his name?  Was it his close relationship with Christ Whose footsteps he walked in?  Was it the numerous miracles he performed during his lifetime?  Was it the stigmata he received?  Was it his humility and holy poverty that reflect your underlying hypocrisy?  And in what ways was JP2 so holy that as a man he deserves your praises and as a saint he deserves your prayers for intercession when your Mother in Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the to be praised for her constant love and unceasing intercession for all?

I write this entry because I came across an article where high school students were asked to reflect on the words of Theresa of Calcutta, JP2 and the current pope on a number of issue.  My thought was, how about reflecting on the words of Francis of Assisi, or the words of Christ Himself, why reflect on the words of three individuals who cannot reasonably be considered as truly holy?  I also write this entry because I cringe every time a new priest on the scene says that he was inspired by JP2.  Perhaps I am spiritually blind because nothing about JP2 inspires me.
 
In comparison, I also do not consider Theresa of Calcutta to be saintly, but at least I respect her for what she did, even though her motives and the manner in which she executed them might not have been all that holy from what I have read and personally concluded.  She, too, was slated to be on the fast track to sainthood, but for one reason or another, be it political, economic, discriminatory or otherwise, she was abandoned a wait list by the current pope whose popularity seems to befit a manipulative politician and whose "closet" remains buried under Argentinian shadows that has yet to be exhumed, opened and examined for cleanliness.

That will likely not come to pass, nor will much of what has occurred and continues to occur behind the Vatican walls see the light of day anytime soon because the artificial bright lights of the media, savvy staging and talking heads of priests who fear their boss's retribution (possibly banishing them to South Sudan) has drowned out the Truth and covered up the stains of sin, and will likely continue to do so, so that the general population of Catholics who teach and preach can continue to live with their amnesia and feed the virus of forgetfulness with selective and purposeful denials.