‘All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered, the point is to discover them,’ Galileo Galilei

From time immemorial a battle, within the Church, has been going on between some powerful congregations. The problem is some blind people tend to lead other blind. Even in darkness, a blind with a torch light could hardly afford to lead another. Friction is at the reach of hand. There will be a fierce battle between both of them.

All the participants in this complex battle –in the Church- are claiming supremacy in running world events and dealing with thorny matters. On their shortlist are conspicuously found spiritual issues, temporal share of power and un-due privileges.

For the minds conversant with Church matters, this not so fraternal war is unofficial. So far, no major congregation has come out to admit verily the existence of any such contentious opposition. But over the time, this heterodox fight has claimed many casualties over some issues of acute realism.

Nobody has ever admitted the fact of being the champion of confusion. But the point of the matter is about who has the monopoly over what and how does all this peculiar in-fight affect the daily running of the Church business.

If one may use the canonical terms, how does this situation affect the souls of the faithful? Some traditional major congregations are involved from head to toes in this in-fight.

And that is true for the Dominican Friars, the Poor Friars of Saint Francis of Assisi and not uninterestingly with the Jesuits. The most involved in this show are these three congregations. According to whom? That is the question!

They lead the festival of the world fair of religion due to their relevance and influence throughout the making -or unmaking- of the church and the world history.

These Congregations labeled as major, so far had come to limelight through their knowledge management, their hold on information and their grip on leading world events or their unseen and unwanted influence on key front stage actors. The major point will be who is the lead actor? Who is having the upper hand in this ghostly battle?

Unavoidably, the cracking of jokes makes disgruntled people less unhappy. Good to mention, many clerics have become masters at that soul-lifting trade. A good cleric makes funny jokes. And some crude jokes are not uncommon in a set of clerical happy fellows. And some of these very jokes appeared even daring if not unauthorized in such religious realms. Some pretty ecclesiastical jokes, which may be found truly not so much far-fetched and likely to be sizzling for the advised listener -or an inquisitive reader, or simply to the average church observer- are about God.

The fact is the jokes are facts about God.

They deal with the problems God faces out in his daily life and daily running of the universe. God had some management problems over some issues pertaining to certain congregations.

Congregational banking, pronouncements and congregational deeds seem to slip out of the hands of God.

The first joke states that God does not know how much money owns a poor friar of Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides, God does not know the next move of a knight Companion; in other words a Jesuit. Furthermore, God is afraid of the next move of the Devil while the latter is much dreaded by the next move of a Jesuit.

It is not futile to state that the very word Companion of Jesus is carrying, by itself, an inborn germ of controversy.

The controversial character of many Companions, starting from their noble founder through the centuries and in many places, had not created conditions to ease the growing resentment toward the Jesuits. The papal suppression ad tempus of the Society of Jesus was an early ominous sign. Are the other religious syndicates not companions of Jesus? Or what is this funny, otherwise rather an arrogant idea, and probably not so funny for many critics, to hijack, so to speak, the company of the lord. The thirteenth commandment is clear.

Thou shall not seize the exclusivity of the Lord’s company.

‘Which book?’ you are tempted to ask.

‘Mind your language!’

And over the times, many Jesuits have brought their names forward by the divisive stands they have taken on moral issues and some pronouncements they made. The echo of these divisive moves is still resonant.

The moves of the Jesuits may not be so revolutionary -Quod erat demonstrandum. Even their speculative activities are beyond the fathoming of God. They were credited for many controversial moves less expected, less envisioned.

Cases of the controversial Jesuits are legion. Not to cite but one, the great missionary Matteo Ricci who made lasting memories in China. There, he did not hesitate whatever the occasion avails itself to convert Chinese literati to Christianity by making some unprecedented and most endearing moves. He gave equivalence in Catholic faith between Eastern Chinese and Western rites. The move was suspicious to many, the Dominicans on top. It led with much ado about nothing, to the eponymous Ricci controversy. But compare to other Jesuits at the centers of future controversies, Ricci is simply seen as un enfant de chœur.

As if handling issues associated with the bank accounts of a poor Franciscan friar and managing the next moves of a Jesuit were not enough, God had to look into issues pertaining to the speculative trade of the members of the Ordo Praedicatorum.

That such hectic task of God is how to follow the Dominicans in their inquisitorial quest of Truth. It is not uncommon to meet cases of the Dominican friars with new ideas, unquestionably the fruit of their contemplative quest for the Truth. Maybe this effort, not always acknowledged, is made out of necessity to give a trial answer to Pontius Pilate’s question addressed to Christ Jesus.

‘Truth? What is Truth?’

Funny as it seems, God is believed not to know what ideas are sprouting in the head of a preaching ‘Black’ friar as people out of customs call the friar of Saint Dominic de Guzman.

It is however believed that the Friars preachers or firing, if not frying, and even fraying preachers, are good in cooking new ideas. By the yardstick of their worst critics, those ideas are mainly considered simply bad if not inflammatory. This belief might be wrong but who cares? That is another very urgent issue God ought to look at without delay. Poor God!

The very idea of the absence of knowledge attributed to God is pretty provocative if not blatantly blasphemous. That is if one is to judge by the gory gaze of the staunch Catholics; a term fashionable and used in some social groups and defended by all traditional catholic religious circles. Such claims, for the fictional mind, are simply a gross outrage to the majesty of God, punishable by hellfire. But for the minds -too- open to light, or as rightly phrased by the unbiased spirits, liberated from the yoke of cultural conditioning and religious autarky, it is fun giving and quite entertaining to indulge in the exploration of the topic of an ignorant God.

What funny idea to talk of an ignorant God? What could be possibly funny about an ignorant God by the way? Which God are we talking about at all? God is ignorant of what? Maybe, -moronic bigots-, that would have been the first questions to ask prior to feeling overly offended.

The quite idea that God does not seem to know is very interesting. He is however not alone in that predicament where He enjoys the notable company of the Jesuits on pulpit, the Dominicans in pulpit and the Franciscans out of pulpit.

A Jesuit before his going to the pulpit does not know what he is about to say whereas a Dominican while on pulpit does not know what he is saying.

There is therefore a permanent fear, from the church authorities, that the audience might be perhaps taken aback by the next move of a Jesuit. In his case, the poor friar of Saint Francis is at loss on what he just said on leaving the pulpit. By the way if one is not reluctant to give the Devil his due, a Poor Franciscan Friar Minor, a Capuchin or one attached to the Convent is oblivious of what he just said on leaving the pulpit.

From all aspects, there is something wrong with the thought process. Some may quickly conclude that from the elements drawn above, the leaders of the thinking, the spear-headers of the acting or the movers and the shakers of this world are in trouble. And their blind followers who have themselves to blame are not immune from the troubles caused by such a dreadful situation.

There had never been anything worse than a blind follower, unaware of the danger and uncritical of the master staunchly supporting the ideas of the latter. And the most disheartening is put to height by the fact that such ideas are fully unexplored and are not well squared out by the master.

At the beginning and at their foundation, the Franciscans labored ceaselessly to rebuild the fallen House of God. Later on the Dominicans followed in their wake with no less zeal. They wanted to patch up the building of God on the verge of collapse.

The Jesuits, on the contrary, were wantonly concerned in expanding their well-furnished palace for the greater glory of God. Who shall win the race of/for God?

The religious congregations are the stew of the church life. According to the mood of the time they mutually cooperate or gang up against each other. That war over certain issues said to be key issues may be either overt or covert with each other. As time evolved, it appears that the Poor Franciscan friars -not all remained very poor alas. Some of them have become arrogantly wealthy. These are more monkish and have left the front stage of the show to the fiery Friars Preachers and to the controversial Companions of Jesus.

The buoyancy of the latter is not disputed. And they do more often than not cover the headlines of newspapers with the timely daring moves, often themed controversial if not thoroughly un-churched.

Should God be in danger one dark morning, what will happen? My main concern is about the danger awaiting God. Verily, it looks is as if God is at security till one of the competing syndicates takes the unthinkable wrong move, predictably the Jesuits, unpredictably the Dominicans. You back either of the following moves and you will surely be excommunicated with no imminent likelihood of appeal. And you lose communion with the Church of God.

In actual fact, there will be a grave concern, when a Poor Friar of Saint Francis will try to say that God may have existed. Likewise if a Dominican friar suggests the near possibility of the former’s existence in short, that God may exist. Last but not the worst- the worst is yet to be at hand-, a Companion of Jesus may utter the unbelievable but not the unthinkable.

That will be but the idea not yet thought of that God is yet to exist. Hopefully you pray no such thing will happen, lest hell goes loose.

Probably, thanks to YHWH who is GOD things will be different. YHWH is I Am Who I Am and because of it that will not happen. So we hope or don’t you? But will HE be able to prevent the last move of a Jesuit?