I dunno. I think it's appropriate to discuss the flexibility of the Catholic Church here. Time and time again, I see remarks here about how the Pope is the absolute ruler of the Catholic Church. That just hasn't been my experience. I'm at church three to five times a week for various classes and activities, and I work as a volunteer in a women's center run by nuns from three orders. I'd be surprised if I hear the Pope mentioned twice a month in these Catholic institutions (other than the brief mention in the prayers of the Mass). He just doesn't have much effect on ordinary Catholic parishes and institutions. For the most part, Catholic parishes and institutions are autonomous. Even the local bishop rarely interferes with the operation of a parish. Rome and the Bishop's office are around enough to be occasionally irritating, but they really don't have all that much to do with the day-to-day lives of Catholics and Catholic institutions.

No, Catholics aren't going to ordain women or homosexuals without approval from the Pope, but most things go along unhindered. Rome and some bishops may bar people from communion for various reasons, but they are not going to direct priests to refuse communion to those people. Some priests will refuse communion, but most won't.

If you hold to a strict, top-down theory of organization and apply that theory universally, then I guess you're not going to be able to understand how the Catholic Church operates. A pope may have all the trappings of an absolute monarch, but he has very little power over Catholics who aren't ordained. What can he do to me, fire me?

Many organizations can seem from the outside to have a rigid structure, but that may not be the actuality. I worked as a federal investigator for 25 years, through the administrations of two Presidents I hated, Reagan and part of Nixon's term. Their policies had some effect on me as an employee, but not all that much. During the Reagan Administration, I took delight in digging up dirt on Reagan's political appointees - and nobody raised a finger to stop me from digging up that dirt. In fact, I got a lot of praise and a number of good bonuses. I'm a pacifist and a believer in socialism, but nothing was done to stop me from working during these conservative administrations.

I've worked in the Catholic Church all my life, and I'm often asked to teach or to lead various church activities. I was selected as a delegate to our diocesan synod, in a diocese with a conservative bishop. A few lay people have written nasty letters about things I've said, but nobody in authority has ever questioned what I've done as a lay leader and teacher.

Oh, and at that Call to Action reform conference last weekend, there was good representation from the staffs and administration of most of the Catholic social programs in town. Five nuns from the staff of the Women's Center were there, as were directors of our Loaves and Fishes Dining Room (which also has schools, shelters, and bank, a library, and lots of other services for the homeless). Most of the 390 people in attendance were leaders in church institutions.

Rome can suspend a theologian's credentials, but that's about the only repression that goes on in the church nowadays. Catholics are supposed to obey the Pope's directives in certain matters - but that obedience is voluntary.

So, maybe it's time to take another look at the Catholic Church. I see it as a loose network of largely autonomous centers of worship, education, and service. There is unity in the church because of our shared beliefs and sacraments - but uniformity in the church is in short supply. Catholics are a lot more diverse and a lot more free than some people would think - and even some Catholics don't understand that.

And Esteban, I'll bet you are in the "state of grace." It takes a lot more than a few broken rules to get out of God's good graces.

-Joe Offer-