Sad little Theology

Sometimes, when I drive down 24th Street and past Holy Spirit Catholic Church, I think of St. Thomas Aquinas, who worked very hard in a small room to prove that God existed and then worked just as hard to prove that He didn't. That must have taken a long time and involved a lot of tough thinking. Or sometimes I think about St. Jerome out there in the desert translating the Bible into Latin. Pretty hot out there, in the desert, I bet. Oh, oh and then there's Augustine, who gave up the flesh-pots of Carthage (whatever a flesh-pot might be) to live purely and worry a lot about some apples he stole when a child and write the world's first autobiography when he had some down time from writing several hundred pieces of closely-reasoned theology concerning the Pelagians, the nature of good and evil, and the ineffability of heavenly communication.

And I think of these smarty-pants theologians because I'm pretty convinced that they wouldn't think much of what they see on the giant billboard peddling the intellectual wares of Father Jack, which run along these lines:

Heavenly forecast: Eternal Reign

If God is your co-pilot, switch seats

Life is like tennis: serve well and you'll probably win

Sure, I think the Catholic Church should probably ordain some women priests, stop bashing gay people, and come to its senses about condoms. But mostly I think the Catholic church should STOP BLATHERING AND REMEMBER WHO IT IS.