Let me start by removing a popular misconception. It is entirely unfair that the agents of change and reform in the church, including Richard McBrien, and your humble scribe, are said to lack loyalty to the Pope. When not understood in their proper contexts, acts of disobeying repeated papal requests, burning Vatican documents, and speaking gleefully to newspapers about the demise of Peter’s successor can so easily be miscontrued as lack of charity. I am not trying to deny the facts but only the interpretation that is often given to these facts. When understood within a dynamic eco-womanist-heraclitean perspective, these acts appear very life-affirming. After all, disobeying Petrine mandates signals a church alive to the call of conscience. Burning Vatican documents draws attention to papal teaching and entirely eliminates the chance of misinterpretation of that particular text. And sharing a hopeful confidence that the next pope will be chosen from our enlightened ranks speaks volumes about our confidence in the guidance of the Spirit in papal conclaves.

In fact, it is from an intense loyalty and love of the Roman Pontiff that our concern for change springs. Arising from the realization that "we are church", our task, including the Pope’s, is to become who we are. The Second Vatican Council holds that we are to be an inclusive church. (Don’t ask me where. After all, "the letter kills but the spirit gives life.") What this means is that the role of the "Holy Father" must be reevaluated in light of the many ways in which the Spirit is moving among us. Even the Oxford speech was a bit too modest in this respect.

Hence, let me propose that we speak no longer of the Holy Father but (at least until women are ordained) of the Holy Grandfather. The role of this venerable personage in the Catholic Church should be akin to that of the Queen Mum in the Royal Family. Both would be sure-fire crowd pleasers. Both would be cute and cuddly. And both would be no more challenging than Barney the Dinosaur. Surely, we can still draw tourists to the Vatican and maintain a "Catholic mystique" without papal authority, infallibility, and all the rest. If the Queen Mum does not endanger British democracy, a Holy Grandfather would not endanger our vision of church. He would be a kind benighted figure who enjoys our antics at a benevolent distance, visits at holidays bringing presents, but otherwise in no way disrupts our lives.

The development of doctrine is entirely in accord with the very origins of the papacy. The very word "Pontiff" means "bridge builder". For too long the pope has not lived up to his name. Hence, when controversial questions arise the Holy Grandfather the Pope should be sure to affirm both sides of the matter and make sure that all involved feel affirmed in their self-esteem. What could be more "bridge-building" than that? Of course, we would need to keep some wraps on the Ratzinger, Latin Mass, Opus Dei, and Apparition of Mary crowds. Hence, if questions arise of the utmost urgency, threatening the very nature of church today, such questions should be resolved by a crack team of theologians elected by committee. As a service to the People of God, I would be happy to draw up a list of the committee members myself.

Sr. Mary O’Dernity, Q.E.D., holds an M.Div. degree from a Jesuit University and is writing a book tentatively entitled A Vision of Church: Up-to-Date and Out-of-Sight.