Within hours of each other, two men of enormous power died. One was the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il, who has kept a powerful hand on the throat of the North Korea that he and his family have dominated for generations. The other was the artist, playwright, and sometime President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. Havel, whose criticisms of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia landed him in prison where his health suffered tremendously, rose to world prominence in 1989 when the “Velvet Revolution,” led largely by the young, wrested power from the Communist regime.
It is easy to characterize Kim Jong Il as evil and Vaclav Havel as exemplary. Yet both men raise the issue of power and powerlessness, an issue that the Church has a checkered history of dealing with, to say the least. There have been times when the Church–whether on a macro level or in its neighborhood incarnation–has wielded great power, indeed with the scepter of Empire in its hand. There have been other times–one thinks of Oscar Romero–when by standing by the side of the powerless, Christians have given their blood defying the forces of oppression.
What can we understand as Christians about the exercise of power, including our own? Is it good to have power, and if so, how and why? On the other hand, should the Church always be wary of power, to the point of becoming one with the powerless? And when we use institutional power even for good purposes, how do we keep our own power from being corrupted, or can we? In short, how does the Church–and how do you–rate power? Good, bad, both, neither, what?
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