The Pope Proposes and I Accept to Exchange Ideas via E-mail

by Raymond Fontaine Ph.D.- June 2005

E-mail 1: The Pope's Proposal 

   Greetings from my private chamber in the Vatican. Here I have installed a computer that is connected to the Internet and guarded by a password that no one knows but me. With that guarantee of secrecy you can speak freely.  

    I suspect that you wonder how I got to know about you and why I am asking you to exchange ideas via e-mail. In December 2000, you sent Pope John Paul 2 a Christmas letter and a copy of your book entitled: My Life with God in and out of the Church. Before reaching the Pope, however, it had to be screened in my office for its orthodoxy. Its title and cover picture of a bird escaping from a cage caught my eye. I opened your bio for a quick glance but continued reading it for hours.

   Your life story begins much like mine. I entered the seminary at 12 years old; you did likewise at 13. We were both ordained priests in our early twenties. Then we proceeded to obtain doctorate degrees: you in philosophy and I in theology. Later we taught our respective subjects for several years. After that, we parted ways during decades. Finally in the sunset of our lives, our paths cross again.

    I have become the chief caregiver of the Church while you are the caregiver of your paralyzed wife. Both of us will continue as such until we die. We have something else in common: we both believe that the designs in nature presuppose supreme intelligence called God. 

    We share another bond required for any fruitful discussion about God and his world - we both value truth. You do for sure, as revealed in your life history. Let me assure you, Ray, that I do too. I will never lie to you. In my public pronouncements, I must never waiver; I must be definitive. Alone with you, however, I can confide my uncertainties. 

    Tonight before suggesting a topic for discussion, I must know for certain whether you accept my proposal as stated above. Please reply as soon as possible; I am eager to get started. Moreover I'll let you begin the discussion. Adios, my good fellow. Benedict.

E-mail 2: My Acceptance of the Pope's Proposal

    Thank you for your e-mail of June 15. My caregiver chores for my wife prevented a prompt response. Sorry for the delay. Here's an instance where my duties as a husband interfered with my enlightening the world about Nature's God. To prevent such interference, the Church wants a celibate priesthood. 

    But now I know firsthand that a married priest can have a more balanced view of God's creation. A celibate priest does not experience and cannot appreciate the travails of married life. A celibate priest's view of humankind is almost inevitably myopic, unbalanced and slanted. I know from experience.

    Like you, I believed without questioning the teaching of the Church for many years. For example, we both were told by priests and bishops that using birth control devices was always wrong - never right. We both learned that Catholic marriages are  insoluble. Only the death of one or both partners ends the marriage. Sexual activities of unmarried persons are always seriously immoral. Like all good Catholics, we both accepted without a doubt what the Catholic Church teaches.

    Having  believed that for years, I found it extremely difficult to stop believing what the Church teaches. For me, the process of doubting and disbelieving and rejecting the doctrine of the Church was difficult and painful.

    Therefore I realize that for you to disbelieve and denounce the Church is well-nigh impossible, especially now that you are not only a Catholic and a priest but the Pope himself, the supreme head of the Church. How can you publicly reject as false the dogma of papal infallibility, the dogma of Mary's Assumption, and many more.  

    Of course, you could commit suicide and let another cardinal take the helm of the Church and hold it on its traditional course. Before dying, you could say nothing or you could get on the Internet and announce worldwide your rejection of the Church's teaching.

    But the best action, if and when you no longer believe in the Church, would be to write a book and then publish articles on the Internet. Doing this I succeeded to lead a few people to the true God as revealed in nature. If you too did that, millions would quickly follow you and embrace Nature's God. In my actions, truth (what truly is) was and is my goal. I feel that truth is also your goal. So since there is only one God, our paths should cross again as they did in our youth and merge into one. 

    With that happy thought, I leave you. In a few days, I will send you an e-mail and my view on an interesting  topic and then await your response. To return to bookmark, click here