After many years of not having ONE SINGLE positive thought about the Catholic church whatsoever, I finally have to come back on that. Yesterday, on Sunday, October 11 2009, Father Damiaan from Belgium was officially granted sainthood by pope BenDick-16. With that action, this loathsome institute of faith has inched itself slightly towards my good side.
Not that I all of a sudden am in danger of becoming a devout Catholic, because the chance of me winning the jackpot in both lotteries I play in, is much greater. But as I was watching the excerpt of the service held by BenDick-16 on the news, in which he sainted 5 people in total, I must admit that I did recognise something positive in the theatrical happening that was taking place on the Saint Peter square.
Enter Father Damiaan. Damien de Veuster was a Roman Catholic missionary who helped and nursed lepers on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. He exchanged the relative cosiness of a 19th century Belgium sacristy for a harsh life on an Hawaiian island, to take care of people who were regarded as outcast by everyone and who were isolated to keep others free from disease. In doing so, he offered medical assistance as well as solace to people who knew they were dying, and who must have been well aware of the fact that the rest of society had written them off. Leprosy was like leprosy indeed.
After performing this amazing service, or better said: because of this, Damiaan himself died at the age of 49 in 1889. He was killed by the same disease as the people he had supported. I remember this story from my childhood, and I had always revered this man as THE example of selflessness and humaneness. It stuck in my head as one of the very few positive stories that came out of catechism at school. And then – as my life as a self-thinking and faith-free individual took off – I forgot about him.
The sainthood service, conducted by BenDick-16 yesterday, saved my memory of Damiaan from total oblivion. All of a sudden, the childhood story came back to me and I remembered again what this man had actually stood for, and how he had sacrificed his life to ease that of others. And out of the blue came a tiny spark of appreciation for the same church I have hated during the better part of my life.
I must admit: if the pope is going to make a habit of putting people like Damiaan into the global focus, even if it is by such a ridiculous institute as sainthood, then he stands a genuine chance of gaining a minute splinter of my sympathy. Juicy detail: Damiaan is now the patron saint of people with AIDS; one disease the church is definitely NOT helping to get rid of with its persistent refusal to condone the use of condoms. This makes the appointment also a political one.
BenDick-16 still has a long way to go; either to get away from under the dictate of the conservative elements in his Curi, or to get wiser – thus more progressive – himself. Eventually, we will be able to tell by the sainthoods BD-16 might grant in the future. In any case, what happened yesterday was a good thing. For the first time since I remember, I had a positive feeling about the church to which a have turned my back a long time ago. And that feeling was as heart-warming as it was unexpected.
Note for future reference; no need to get soft on the church though.
