"Christopher Stasheff - St Vidicon to the Rescue" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

"Yes, I knowтАФI've seen your programs. But do remember St. Jude, Monsignor."

"The patron of the desperate? Why?"

"No, the patron of lost causesтАФand with those antique cameras, you'll need him."

The door opened, and a monk stepped in. "Father Vidicon, you're summoned to His Holiness."

Father Vidicon blanched.

"You'd best remember St. Jude yourself, Father," the Monsignor gloated. Then his face softened
into a gentle frown. "And, Lord help usтАФso had we all."

Father Vidicon knelt and kissed the Pope's ring, with a surge of reliefтАФif the ring was offered,
things couldn't be all that bad.

"On your feet," Pope Clement said grimly.

Father Vidicon scrambled up. "Come now, Your Holiness! You know it's all just in fun! A bit
irreverent, perhaps, but nonetheless only levity! I don't really believe in Maxwell's DemonтАФnot quite.
And I know Finagle's General Statement is really fallaciousтАФthe perversity's in us, not in the universe.
And St. ClareтАж"

"Peace, Father Vidicon," His Holiness said wearily. "I'm sure your jokes aren't a threat to the
ChurchтАФand I'm not particularly worried by irreverence. I don't really think the Lord minds a joke now
and then. But I've called you here for something a bit more serious than your contention that Christ acted
as a civil engineer when He said that Peter was a rock, and upon that rock He'd build His Church."

"Oh." Father Vidicon tried to look appropriately grave. "If it's that feedback squeal in the public
address system in St. Peter's, I'll do what I can, butтАж"

"No, I'm afraid it's a bit more critical." The hint of a smile tugged at the Pope's lips. "You're aware
that the faithful have been leaving us in increasing droves these past twenty years, of course."

Father Vidicon shrugged "What can you expect, Your Holiness? With television turning everyone
toward a Gestalt mode of thought, they've become more and more inclined toward mysticism, needing
doctrines embracing the Cosmos and making them feel vitally integrated with it, but the Church still
offers only petrified dogma and logical reasoning. Of course they'll turn to ecstatics, to a video
demagogue like Reverend Sun, with his hodgepodge of T'ai-Ping Christianity, Taoism, and Zen
BuddhismтАж"



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"Yes, yes, I know the theories." His Holiness waved Father Vidicon's words away, covering his
eyes with the other palm. "Spare me your McLuhanist cant, Father. But you'll be glad to know the
Council has just finished deciding which parts of Teilhard's theories are compatible with Catholic